Banana Wine

[ftlstrings]

Inspired! Now i just need to be in the same place for a coupla years...

 

[crazyboy]

This looks like fun. Do you think I could use a 3 gallon carboy as a secondary fermenter for a 1 gallon batch or is that too much head space?

 

[ftlstrings]

This looks like fun. Do you think I could use a 3 gallon carboy as a secondary fermenter for a 1 gallon batch or is that too much head space?

From what I have read, yes this is too much head space. Why dont you rack intothe 3 gallon, clean your 1 gallon, then rack back into the one gallon and top-up to leave only a little space at the neck?

~M~

 

[maurer19]

I just finished mine up and will be bottling it tomorrow. Yes it looked just like dirty dishwater but wow, it's gold now and I gotta tell, pretty darn good. As good as anything I've made from any fruit or kit so far. I'm really happy with the results. A definite recommend to anyone who wants to give it a try.

 

[rsmith179]

Yooper... Do you by any chance have a 3 or 5 gallon recipe for this wine? I would love to possibly do 1 batch each year and have enough to last through the following year. It just seems easier to have 1-2 5 gallon carboys laying around compared with MULTIPLE 1 gallon jugs.

 

[Yooper]

Yooper... Do you by any chance have a 3 or 5 gallon recipe for this wine? I would love to possibly do 1 batch each year and have enough to last through the following year. It just seems easier to have 1-2 5 gallon carboys laying around compared with MULTIPLE 1 gallon jugs.

Sure! Just multiply the ingredients by the batch size. I often do three gallon batches, since I have many 3 gallon carboys. All ingredients are x3, except for yeast. One package of yeast is enough for up to 6 gallons of wine.

 

[Brandon O]

I'm doing this recipe saturday night.

 

[aardvark]

I weighed mine with the peal. Since the whole banana is cut up and thrown into the pot I think that makes sense.

I really want to try the recipe, but this seems odd to me. You slice the whole fruit, with the peel and add it all to the bag?

 

[bubbachunk]

Have you ever tried this with honey instead of the sugar to make a melomel? I am very intrigued and given the long aging process it seems like a no brainier to me. Also specifically what wine yeast have you used, and if different what differences have you noticed?

 

[Yooper]

Have you ever tried this with honey instead of the sugar to make a melomel? I am very intrigued and given the long aging process it seems like a no brainier to me. Also specifically what wine yeast have you used, and if different what differences have you noticed?

No, I've never used honey. It might be really good, but I just don't know.

I don't think I've been too adventurous with yeast- just champagne yeast or a "regular" wine yeast. I've used mostly Red Star and Lalvin.

 

[Revvy]

I may actually have to make this, it appears my nephew's stopped making wine and quit being the vitner of his club, and I have the very last bottle of his banana wine, that is so crucial to my famous Jamaican Banana Bread that I give out for Christmas. It calls for about a bottle of this and a fifth of jamaican rum for the 50 or so loaves I make....

I will not be able to do it after this batch unless I get cranking...

 

[polk121]

When grain-bag cools, squeeze to extract as much liquid as possible.

Made some of this last night. It was hard to get much squeezed out. I didnt do it but was wondering about putting some of the pulp right in the fermentor to get more of the banana flavor in the wine?

 

[Yooper]

Made some of this last night. It was hard to get much squeezed out. I didnt do it but was wondering about putting some of the pulp right in the fermentor to get more of the banana flavor in the wine?

It'd be very hard to strain afterwards if you did that, I think. Trust me, there is plenty of banana flavor in the wine. It'd be really hard to rack with all of that pulp.

 

[polk121]

That makes sense. Ill take your word on the flavor thanks for the quick reply

 

[Babachewy]

I made this in October of '08 and I bottled it last night. Wow, it has a great flavor. It's like a white wine with a rich fruitiness from the bananas/raisins. It really exceeded my expectations.

I hardly squeezed the bananas out of impatience, but it's hard to argue with results.

 

[arrowgin]

Quick Question... Yooper looking in your direction

I started a 5 gallon batch last night

When racking time, i'm assuming (based on fermented pulp sediment) that im going to lose some volume in the transfer.

Should i top up to 5 gallons again with water, or just scale it back to a 3 gallon batch to preserve the flavor? I'm wondering if the water will dilute the wine.

 

[scinerd3000]

Quick Question... Yooper looking in your direction

I started a 5 gallon batch last night

When racking time, i'm assuming (based on fermented pulp sediment) that im going to lose some volume in the transfer.

Should i top up to 5 gallons again with water, or just scale it back to a 3 gallon batch to preserve the flavor? I'm wondering if the water will dilute the wine.

i racked off with water on one batch and it never came out quite right. The flavor was a bit off and i definitely preferred the none-top-off batch....but thats just me

 

[Jbt]

I made a 3gal batch of this 2weeks ago and I just looked at the bottle of pectic emzymes and it says 1/4 tsb per 5gal and the recipe calls for 1 tsp per gallon. Is this right? I put 3 tsp in it. Did I screw up? If so is it bad??
Thanks

 

[Yooper]

I made a 3gal batch of this 2weeks ago and I just looked at the bottle of pectic emzymes and it says 1/4 tsb per 5gal and the recipe calls for 1 tsp per gallon. Is this right? I put 3 tsp in it. Did I screw up? If so is it bad??
Thanks

No, that should be ok. My bottle of pectic enzyme says "1-2 tsp" on it, though. I assume they'd be the same strength but maybe not. Even so, a bit too much wont' hurt.

 

[DavidSteel]

I only looked at the first 2 pages of comments so my apologies if this has been addressed before, but how did you get it to be that clear? Doesn't boiling fruit give the wine a permanent haze? I only placed the fruit in at flame-out and I still got haze. It tastes amazing (made it a year ago), just has a haze.

 

[Yooper]

I only looked at the first 2 pages of comments so my apologies if this has been addressed before, but how did you get it to be that clear? Doesn't boiling fruit give the wine a permanent haze? I only placed the fruit in at flame-out and I still got haze. It tastes amazing (made it a year ago), just has a haze.

Normally, I don't boil fruit. but in this recipe it works well! It just cleared on its own, thanks to the pectic enzyme.

If the haze doesn't clear, you could use some more pectic enzyme. If that still doesn't clear it up, you could use sparkelloid.

 

[DavidSteel]

Normally, I don't boil fruit. but in this recipe it works well! It just cleared on its own, thanks to the pectic enzyme.

If the haze doesn't clear, you could use some more pectic enzyme. If that still doesn't clear it up, you could use sparkelloid.

I see, maybe I'll throw some more in next time

 

[Dalarast]

My batch finally started today. Did a two gallon batch and can't wait till I can try this... might have to make it my 2012 wine to celebrate the end of the world if your into that Mayan curse and all...

 

[Rowdy]

about to start this, would it hurt any to add some more bananas to this i think i got around 4 and a half to 5 lbs?

 

[Yooper]

about to start this, would it hurt any to add some more bananas to this i think i got around 4 and a half to 5 lbs?

Well, you could. It's pretty banana-y as it is, though. Even a few years later, it's mellowed and is very nice- but still has a banana nose. I guess it depends on what you want- if you want a wine that screams BANANA at you, then more banana would be fine. If you want a fruity table wine with a banana flavor and aroma, then I'd do the recipe as is.

 

[Rowdy]

will do as is and save the rest for a second batch..

what do you think of premier covee as a yeast for this?

 

[Yooper]

will do as is and save the rest for a second batch..

what do you think of premier covee as a yeast for this?

It would be fine, but might be a bit "yeasty" tasting for a while. That will fade, of course.

 

[Rowdy]

cool thanks. after bottling not planning on opening for a couple years

 

[Jbt]

I made a 2nd batch last Saturday. So it is ready to go to secondary today. It is pretty active yet. My question is the recipe says to dump it in to the secondary. Or should I rack? There must be some sediment in there after the boiling fermentation. I did not know if the sediment in it maybe still part of the fermenting. This is my first wine.

Thanks
Jim

 

[Yooper]

I made a 2nd batch last Saturday. So it is ready to go to secondary today. It is pretty active yet. My question is the recipe says to dump it in to the secondary. Or should I rack? There must be some sediment in there after the boiling fermentation. I did not know if the sediment in it maybe still part of the fermenting. This is my first wine.

Thanks
Jim

If it's still pretty active, you can pour it into secondary.