Any thoughs on this mead?

[Kodatech]

OK guys/gals, I have only been brewing for about 6 months. I have made some successful ales, and the presence of mead in Skyrim got me thinking. I went out and bought some plain mead, and liked the taste. It was semi sweet, so I figured I would try some.

Here is my recipie and procedure:

2 Gallons of water
4 lbs pure honey
2 cups raisins
4 bananas
I heated the water SLIGHTLY to help dissolve the honey(about 85*F)
Poured the mixture into the carboy, added my raisins and pitched the yeast at about 75*F and aerated the heck out of it.

Bubbling started after only about 2 hours! Faster than most of my beers! I let it ferment in the closet, and after a week the bubbling slowed WAY down, and another half a week the mead/must looked like it might be clearing up just a touch.

I racked the mead/must into a secondary and added the 4 peeled and sliced bananas.

1. What do you think?
2. How long do you think it will take to clear up and be ready to bottle?
3. What horrible mistakes have I made?


Oh yea.....both my carboys are 3 gallon, so I have about a gallon of headspace at the top. Is this too much?

Thanks.


EDIT>> Oh yea one more thing. PLEASE don't flame me, as this is really an inexpensive experiment, but I used the only yeast I had on hand at the time.....Fleischmann's bread yeast.....

 

[Arpolis]

The bread yeast can be fine but it takes a long while to clear on it's own. I think the recipe is fine if you like banana. The bread yeast would probably dry this out though. As long as there is enough nutrients you yeast can hit around 14% ABV and your 4lb of honey and bananas may not leave the semisweetnes you liked befor. When the fermentation is done if you throw this guy in a fridge overnight you can pitch is some potassium sorbate and campden tablet(s) and then add honey to the desired sweetnes.

 

[Kodatech]

Thanks for the reply. How much time is "a long time" to clear? And yes I think bananas and honey are a great pair!

So from the ingredients you think this might be a bit dry?


Thanks again.

 

[tom_gamer]

Thanks for the reply. How much time is "a long time" to clear? And yes I think bananas and honey are a great pair!

So from the ingredients you think this might be a bit dry?

Thanks again.

Dry because of the amout of sugar and the type of yeast.

I prefer to go dry and back sweeten. I usually make 5 gallons of a standard mead, make it dry and then split it up in secondary into single gallons in which I do whatever.

Also number one thing that they all need is time. Aim for at least 6 month, I try to go longer.

 

[TheBrewingMedic]

2 pounds per gallon of honey will definetely leave you with a dry mead, Ive never used bananas so no sure how long they take to infuse flavors or how much they will effect the clearing just based on their texture, the bread yeast will probably take a little bit to clear out but if you have a decent racking schedule it shouldn't take a horrible amoount of time

 

[CreamyGoodness]

I've heard elsewhere that an old winemaker's trick is to add a blob of banana during secondary to add body. You might end up with less banana flavor and more alcohol and body. Just a thought.

 

[Machalel]

I've done a bit of research into using banana, and currently have a banana wine going at the moment, although it's not finished so don't take this as confirmed...

Banana apparently has enough enzymes to convert itself, so I did a 'mash' with mashed bananas, like you would barley malt in a beer

So far (from taste testing), the banana is quite mild (I used ~1.5kg in 1 gal), so I'm not sure how much banana flavour you might get with only 4 of them in 3 gal.

If you are feeling ambitious, I would try getting a hold of a couple more bananas, mashing them up, freeze them, then add to a pot of hot water at about 65C and let it sit for an hour. Then strain out the banana lumps and add the liquid to your mead. This will help top up your headspace, add more banana, and also more sugars. You may, however, need to buy some pectinase to help clear it (pretty cheap).

 

[Matrix4b]

Something else to consider: Bannana does take much longer to age. In working beer you don't really get the experience of aging a mead. Basically ANY mead is going to take about 6-8 months after it is clear to age properly. Bannana takes about 50-100% longer from what I have heard. This is due to the complex oils that need to break down, much like chocolate needs time so does Bannanas. So When it is finally clear, after you back sweeten it you will need to set it aside for about a year or so, possibley a year and a half before the bannana starts to really shine and become less bitter and more flavorful. Heck even if you do just a strait honey mead then you would be needing to age about 6 months, even then it is a bit raw or green. What helps to speed this up somewhat is during the final stages of the secondary, or tetriary, whatever, you put 1 oz of lightly toasted oak chips in it for about 3 weeks. Trust me it helps smooth out the mead so much.

Also, with your recipie, I would see about adding either 2 vanilla beans, split in the secondary for about a month, or put in about 2-3 tablespoons of vanilla extract in. This wil make it taste better too.

Matrix

 

[Insomniac]

As mentioned it will take a while for the banana to age, but with that head space it will likely oxidise if left that long. I woukd look to adding some more water, honey and banana to make it up to the full 3 gallons. Then, as this is a long aging mead, go get another carboy and get a quicker recipe together. I also did a banana mead as one of my first experiments a year ago, I've not opened it yet.

 

[Arpolis]

When I said a long time, it can be a loos term because different meads act differently. To give one perspective I have a cucumber mead and JAOM with the same yeast and they both were not racked for the first time until about 1.5 months into it and they are just starting to look right for another rack at just over 2 months. I can probably bottle at about 3 months.

 

[Kodatech]

wow lots of info! so you think i have enough time to wait for the weekend before i top it off? the bananas seemed to spark another fermentation, so am i correct to assume that oxidation and fermentation will not take place simultaneously? thanks!

 

[Matrix4b]

wow lots of info! so you think i have enough time to wait for the weekend before i top it off? the bananas seemed to spark another fermentation, so am i correct to assume that oxidation and fermentation will not take place simultaneously? thanks!

If it is actively fermenting then you will have a layer of CO2 on top of it preventing oxidation. By Actively Fermenting I mean that you are getting bubbles out of the airlock. Once that stops or slows down signifigatly is usually when you rack it. After that racking the CO2 is no longer protecting it and it is generally not generating enough to cover it. Some use a shot of CO2 from a tank when ever they rack. Personally, I don't worry about it. A little oxydation does occur but I have found that meads are less sensitive to the effect than wine is. At least I haven't tasted the difference. But then again, I let it degas naturally and don't agitate to degas it. I suppose that protects it through one or two rackings so I have not been able to taste the oxidation effect.

Matrix

 

[Kodatech]

OK cool. I read through the thread and added 2 more frozen/mashed bananas. The mead is actively fermenting right now, so I will try to top it up tonight before it stops.

Thanks again.