Banana Split Recipe - how to add banana to beer

[jayjay]

Hi fellow brewers

So i want to experiment with a milk stout by "dry hopping" with toasted cacaonibs, vanilla and banana process to imitate a banana split dessert.

However, i am worried that raw banana might contain too much fat to work properly in the beer, so i am thinking of using bananachips (and toasting them aditionally in the oven) instead.

Have anyone experimented with banana in beer (apart from using hefeweizen yeast) and want to share their knowledge?

Cheers

 

[VikeMan]

Several years ago, I brewed a Cocoa Banana Sweet Stout. I used bananas in secondary:

- 10 lbs (pre-peeled weight) bananas, ripened until nearly mushy (beyond what you'd normally eat, but not rotten...you want maximum natural conversion of starches to sugars), peeled, frozen, thawed, and chopped/smushed into small pieces.

The beer turned out well. Not sure why you're concerned about fat. Bananas are about 0.34% fat. In comparison, raspberries, which are used in lots of fruit beers, are about 0.65% fat.

 

[smarch0]

A local brewery did a Strawberry Banana Milkshake Sour IPA. They stewed the bananas and added to secondary (with strawberry pure). Was a tasty beer.

 

[jayjay]

Several years ago, I brewed a Cocoa Banana Sweet Stout. I used bananas in secondary:

- 10 lbs (pre-peeled weight) bananas, ripened until nearly mushy (beyond what you'd normally eat, but not rotten...you want maximum natural conversion of starches to sugars), peeled, frozen, thawed, and chopped/smushed into small pieces.

The beer turned out well. Not sure why you're concerned about fat. Bananas are about 0.34% fat. In comparison, raspberries, which are used in lots of fruit beers, are about 0.65% fat.

Sound reasonable - Can you recall how long you let it sit in secondary, and was the 10lbs for a 5gal batch?

Cheers

 

[VikeMan]

Sound reasonable - Can you recall how long you let it sit in secondary, and was the 10lbs for a 5gal batch?

It was about 5 gallons of beer into the secondary. I don't recall exactly how long it was in secondary, but my general practice with fruit is to leave it until CO2 production seems to stop. I'm a kegger, but if I were bottling I'd let it go even longer to be sure. With fruit, I don't really trust early gravity readings to call it stable and done, because the beer/fruit homogenization can be pretty slow.

 

[jayjay]

Several years ago, I brewed a Cocoa Banana Sweet Stout. I used bananas in secondary:

- 10 lbs (pre-peeled weight) bananas, ripened until nearly mushy (beyond what you'd normally eat, but not rotten...you want maximum natural conversion of starches to sugars), peeled, frozen, thawed, and chopped/smushed into small pieces.

The beer turned out well. Not sure why you're concerned about fat. Bananas are about 0.34% fat. In comparison, raspberries, which are used in lots of fruit beers, are about 0.65% fat.

Right Vike
Did you cook the bananas after thawing to sterilise or did you just toss em in?

Cheers

 

[VikeMan]

Did you cook the bananas after thawing to sterilise or did you just toss em in?

I did not pasteurize them.

 

[fragged]

I think there is a banana wine/beer recipe in the specialty or wine section. Wikipedia also has a good write up on the traditional process - Banana beer

Though honestly its pretty much the same as any fruit you want to ferment. Mush it, collect juice, and ferment. I feel like a lot of bananas are needed, they never struck me as a "juicey" fruit.