Banana Wine

[jflongo]

So what do you guys think I should do now? I let this ferment for 6 days down to about 1.040. I transferred it into a 6 gallon better bottle, let it sit for 29 days, when I checked the gravity it was all the way down to 0.898!!

Today, which was day 32 in secondary, I just transferred it into a 5 gallon better bottle, all the way to the top pretty much. Do you think I should let it sit a couple more weeks, add some metabisulfate and sorbate, then bottle? Or do I also need to de-gas it?

 

[BeeVomit]

We used extremely ripe bananas. The drugstore across the street from elementary school keeps bananas at the checkout for after-school snacks and these had gotten too ripe to sell. So...free. If this wine interests you, it might be a good chance to make friends with a grocer and help him dispose of some older fruit.

My original interest in using bananas was after I'd visited a food bank with a friend, seeing all the overripe bananas just sitting there unloved. I'm sure they get tossed out at the end of the day if nobody clears them out.. it would be worth the trouble to wait to the end and see if the people in charge would be willing to part with the bushel or so of overripe fruits. But that would mean doing a couple buckets of wine a week if I really got into it.. I'm not sure that's legal to make so much for personal use.. but if I just kept giving it away, maybe that would be okay? I make my wine to share, not keep. I've already given away half my Wado batch, finished just a couple weeks ago. Now my banana seems nearly done, and I've already got enough overripe ones sitting in the freezer to do another. They just keep coming!

 

[coleandrobin]

I plan on making 3 gal of this. For primary fermentation on this should I use a 5gal fermentor or 3 1 gal? I guess what I'm asking is whether I should be worried about oxidation.

 

[jflongo]

I plan on making 3 gal of this. For primary fermentation on this should I use a 5gal fermentor or 3 1 gal? I guess what I'm asking is whether I should be worried about oxidation.

For Primary Fermentation, you don't need to worry about oxidation. Plenty of CO2 will be generated and push out the oxygen. Many of us ferment 5 gallons in 6.5 - 7 gallon fermenters.

 

[coleandrobin]

Thank you so much, very helpful. Also can you really just loosely cover it? Seems like it'd be risking contamination.

 

[jflongo]

Thank you so much, very helpful. Also can you really just loosely cover it? Seems like it'd be risking contamination.

Many people for the first 5 - 7 days of fermentation for fruit wines, will just cover it with a towel. Then use an airlock in secondary. I personally don't do that, but tons of people do.

 

[coleandrobin]

Is stirring the must daily something pretty important? Or could I just shake the fermentor?

 

[TheManchesterMorgue]

That's mostly to get air into it so the yeast have oxygen to burn while they ferment. Stirring with the top off rather than shaking it under a 'lock.

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[TheManchesterMorgue]

Contamination isnt as much of an issue as everything you read suggests early on. Once the yeast has a foothold and is breeding and feeding it's pretty much top dog in there. Thats not to say its a good idea to go sneezing or shaking your pets over it or anything but your must will be open a fair bit early on so you can aerate and such. You can get away with quite a lot once the yeast is dug in. DWRHAHB.

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[BeeVomit]

Many people for the first 5 - 7 days of fermentation for fruit wines, will just cover it with a towel. Then use an airlock in secondary. I personally don't do that, but tons of people do.

My first cherry wine I did with a friend who bought a primary-like plastic trash bin, brand new, and did the whole ferment with a cloth over the top, covered with the can lid. It worked just fine. I haven't done one like it since, though. I prefer to stick to my bags.

 

[collinsjames1988]

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[Leadgolem]

So what do you guys think I should do now? I let this ferment for 6 days down to about 1.040. I transferred it into a 6 gallon better bottle, let it sit for 29 days, when I checked the gravity it was all the way down to 0.898!!

Today, which was day 32 in secondary, I just transferred it into a 5 gallon better bottle, all the way to the top pretty much. Do you think I should let it sit a couple more weeks, add some metabisulfate and sorbate, then bottle? Or do I also need to de-gas it?

If you get a chance, I'd double check that gravity reading. Your hydrometer might be different, but mine bottoms out at 0.990.

I doubt degassing is really necessary, unless you got some sulphury aromas during fermentation.

 

[jflongo]

If you get a chance, I'd double check that gravity reading. Your hydrometer might be different, but mine bottoms out at 0.990.

I doubt degassing is really necessary, unless you got some sulphury aromas during fermentation.

My last number showing is 0.990, but then there is 4 more ticks above it. And the 0.990 was just below the liquid level. That's why I mentioned 0.898.

This wine tasted fantastic at 1.040. I had another taste at 0.898, it obviously had a pretty good alcoholic bite to it, but wasn't too bad. The reason I ask about degassing is, every wine kit I have done in the past always mentions that. Also, I don't want to age this for a long time in a carboy.

 

[collinsjames1988]

What is the golden raisins for after the second racking in the secondary fermentation?

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[jflongo]

What is the golden raisins for after the second racking in the secondary fermentation?

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Helps to add nutrients and body to the wine. I did mine in primary though not secondary.

 

[RegarRenill]

My last number showing is 0.990, but then there is 4 more ticks above it. And the 0.990 was just below the liquid level. That's why I mentioned 0.898.

This wine tasted fantastic at 1.040. I had another taste at 0.898, it obviously had a pretty good alcoholic bite to it, but wasn't too bad. The reason I ask about degassing is, every wine kit I have done in the past always mentions that. Also, I don't want to age this for a long time in a carboy.

The tic above .990 would be .988, not .898

 

[collinsjames1988]

Dose it matter if the raisins are added to the primary or after the second racking in the secondary sorry for the newbie questions

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[jflongo]

The tic above .990 would be .988, not .898

Doh, that's what I meant 0.988

 

[jflongo]

Dose it matter if the raisins are added to the primary or after the second racking in the secondary sorry for the newbie questions

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I don't know to be honest with you, I think it's their to help with secondary fermentation. However, I put mine in primary, and not in secondary, mine still went all the way to 0.988.

 

[jflongo]

I think I'm going to let mine sit for 3 - 4 weeks now, and then check to see if there is much sediment at the bottom of the carboy. If there is very little, then I'm going to go ahead and rack this into a new carboy with a 1/4 tsp of metabisulfate plus sorbate, and then bottle a week later.

 

[collinsjames1988]

I dont have a gallon primary but banana wine a week ago

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[collinsjames1988]

3 hours after racking it last night

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[collinsjames1988]

19 hours after first racking

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[BeeVomit]

19 hours after first racking

Have you thought about using a clarifying agent such as bentonite clay or irish moss? I happen to think the moss is best. It'll drag that sediment down to the bottom and allow you to rebottle sooner without all that micromaterial hanging about.

 

[BeeVomit]

Irish moss is kelp, if you didn't know. Don't go scraping moss of nearby trees to save a couple bucks

 

[Yooper]

Oh my gosh, it's like 19 hours after racking? It's not even done yet. Don't add finings or any other crap to it. Just let it finish fermenting first before even looking at it.

 

[collinsjames1988]

O no no no I just racked it to the secondary it has only been a week sence I started this batch it has 2 months before I rack it again and 4 months after that with the raisins added before I need to bottle it if you go by the original post

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[trbig]

Have you thought about using a clarifying agent such as bentonite clay or irish moss? I happen to think the moss is best. It'll drag that sediment down to the bottom and allow you to rebottle sooner without all that micromaterial hanging about.

After doing a lot of reading, the bentonite is best added at the very first stage with some warm water, before you even add fruit/fermentables. Bentonite molecules swell to 7 times their size with a negative charge and attract particles that cling to them. With the bentonite added at the beginning, the CO2 in the fermentation keeps lifting it up to grab more stuff. As the ferment slows, the bentonite, laden with particles, sink to the bottom. Adding it after the ferment, the bentonite basically gets one shot at grabbing stuff on its way to the bottom.

 

[jflongo]

After doing a lot of reading, the bentonite is best added at the very first stage with some warm water, before you even add fruit/fermentables. Bentonite molecules swell to 7 times their size with a negative charge and attract particles that cling to them. With the bentonite added at the beginning, the CO2 in the fermentation keeps lifting it up to grab more stuff. As the ferment slows, the bentonite, laden with particles, sink to the bottom. Adding it after the ferment, the bentonite basically gets one shot at grabbing stuff on its way to the bottom.

Yes Bentonite is like clay, you have to stir it in very warm water at the start to get it to mix well then you add everyone on top of that in the fermenter. If you need a clarifier at the end, you can use something like isinglass, that is what a ton of white wines use.

Also be patient, this can take months to clear up on it's own. Mine sat it primary for 6 days, when it was a little below 1.040 I racked in into secondary, it sat there, and about 30 days, I just racked it into another carboy, and it has been in there for 7 days now. It looks a ton nicer than when it was in primary of course, but is not clear yet. If this doesn't drop a bunch of lees this time around, I'm going to probably bottle it in a few weeks.

 

[wooky]

Hi all, I'm new to winemaking and I just brewed up a one gallon batch of this last week. It's doing great so far. I used organic bananas to minimize pesticides on the peels and I let them ripen until they were just about black. They must have had a lot of sugar because the SG ended up being way too high when I added the recommended amount of sugar in the recipe. Oops. I wasn't intending to make Banana Rocket Fuel. I diluted it down with water and now I'm hoping I didn't also dilute out the banana flavor too much.

Here's a pic. I just racked it and it has a nice banana smell. The color is a cloudy beige at the moment. Looking forward to tasting it one day!