Banana Wine

[SudsyPaul]

Oh... I had the same question about the raisins, so I'll be bottling my 2gal from 2015, in a couple months, and then making more, tonight or tomorrow

 

[brcfarmer]

I just bottled some banana wine a week ago that I made from Yooper's recipe: I've been quietly perusing these boards for a while now, even before I joined up.

The only real significant deviations from the original are that I did it without the peels and upped the SG. The result: an incredibly boozy, delightful concoction. The pic doesn't really do it justice...it's actually a deep tiger-eye yellow in the glass. Looks a shade or two lighter here. It needs to be bottle-aged for a bit - the alcohol is a little forward - but the taste is great!

 

[AzOr]

Has anyone tried making this banana wine using staggered nutrient additions and daily degassing? If so, is it drinkable sooner?
I know that bananas and honey are totally different nutrient-wise.

Years ago my meads would take six or seven weeks to ferment out. Using SNA and other techniques, my meads take about two weeks to ferment dry. They still need time to age but they are drinkable at two months now.

 

[Shaddark]

Hi there Yooper . . . .. in the recipe it said to use 1-1/4 tsp. acid blend , would it be okay to use an orange and a lemon in place of the acid blend ?
Many thanks from New Zealand

 

[Yooper]

Hi there Yooper . . . .. in the recipe it said to use 1-1/4 tsp. acid blend , would it be okay to use an orange and a lemon in place of the acid blend ?
Many thanks from New Zealand

Sure, or leave it out and see if you need to add some flavor via acid later.

 

[Shaddark]

Sure, or leave it out and see if you need to add some flavor via acid later.

Thanks for that Yooper . . . . . . .

 

[GeorgiaMead]

Two of my fresh bottles... think its clear enough...

View attachment 1496527131163.jpg

 

[MindenMan]

That is some good lookin' stuff you got there. Now comes the hard part: the waiting. I may sound like a broken record, again, but when it comes to banana wine Yooper is the go-to girl. Woman. Authority. Yes, that's it, the Authority...

 

[GeorgiaMead]

Yeah, i took a sample, it was hot, just a slight banana flavor. So gotta wait quite a while

 

[MindenMan]

In my experience my hot alcohol fruit wines need at least 6 months of bottle conditioning, but the last batch I made and I waited 12 months (as it was a birth-day commemorative bottle) and the wait was well worth it.

 

[Booker140]

Is grape tannin and wine tannin the same thing? I talked to my local wine shop and all they had was wine tannin. Said she never heard of grape tannin. Hope its the same. I just started a batch last night.
Booker

 

[Cowboy77]

I want to make some of this banana wine, but I cannot find any golden raisins that contain no preservatives or sulfites. I know it will be a while before I need them, but don't want to get a batch going and cannot find the raisins. Can anyone direct me to where I can find/order them at? Everything I've looked at on Amazon has preservatives or sulfites. Also, I'm relatively new at winemaking, so could someone tell me what a grain bag is (Yooper's original post says "Put into grain-bag, tie top,.....)? Is this the same thing as a nylon jelly straining bag? Thanks in advance!

 

[Kalaloch]

Looking for clarification on this step: “Remove grain-bag to bowl to catch drippings while pouring liquor over sugar in primary fermentation vessel and stirring well to dissolve sugar.”

So I understand to catch the banana drippings, but what is the “liquor”? Can I use Rum or Vodka and how much?

 

[eigua]

Looking for clarification on this step: “Remove grain-bag to bowl to catch drippings while pouring liquor over sugar in primary fermentation vessel and stirring well to dissolve sugar.”

So I understand to catch the banana drippings, but what is the “liquor”? Can I use Rum or Vodka and how much?

"Liquor" here refers to the banana water created by boiling the bananas in a bag in water. This is the definition of liquor being used here:

2. any liquid substance, as broth from cooked meats or vegetables.

 

[Kalaloch]

When Yooper says “Pour into secondary fermentation vessel”, doses she mean siphon, so no oxygen is added?

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

When Yooper says “Pour into secondary fermentation vessel”, doses she mean siphon, so no oxygen is added?

You'll want to siphon this as there will be a lot of dead yeast and banana settlement

 

[Booker140]

Im just about done a 1 gallon batch. Last step to bottle. I tasted it when i removed the rasins n racked it one last time. Nice hint of banana but extremely booze-y. Does the booze-y ness disappear?

 

[Kalaloch]

I just brewed 5 gallons of this. I figured if I have to wait 2 years, I might as well make a lot of it. But 18 pounds is a LOT of bananas! Here are a few thoughts:

• Took FOREVER for bananas to get super ripe/dark brown. Probably took 3 weeks. Plan accordingly.

• For 18 pounds of bananas it took 3 grain bags.

• Used my 5 gallon beer brew pot. I could barely fit all the bananas and water in it.

• Took F-O-R-E-V-E-R AND A DAY to cool down the liquid once I put it in the fermentation bucket with sugar. 4 hours later it was STILL at 100 degrees. If you don’t have all day to wait you will need to use a wort chiller. I finally added 2 more gallons of distilled water and got it to 80 degrees. I finally gave up and covered it and went to bed, will pitch yeast and nutrients tomorrow.

• I didn’t see instructions that for the first 7 days it is covered with cheese cloth not lid. Make sure you have enough cloth to cover fermentation bucket. I didn’t have any, so I used 2 grain bags and taped it so it wouldn’t slip off and then covered that with a clean cotton T-shirt.

I’ll write back in 2 years and let you know how it tastes!

 

[Kalaloch]

Should I have aerated this before adding yeast? I didn’t, and now concerned.

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

You can aerate now if you like. All you'd be doing is introducing some oxygen for the yeast

 

[Kalaloch]

I think it is too late now it has been 36 hours since I pitched the yeast.

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

if it's happily bubbling away, you'll be fine, aerating just helps give the yeast a hand getting going

 

[Booker140]

Hi all,

I bottled my wine. I thought all was good butwent into my basement and found a cork on the other side if the room n 1 empty bottle. 2 other bottles the corks were halfway out. Thought fermenting was done by this point didnt recall having any lees when i racked it last. Thinking of adding crushed campden tablet to the bottles. Yeast should have benn done with after 6 months. Any thoughts? Ideas?

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

3 options I can think of. Pasteurize the bottle, campden tabs/ pot sorbate in the bottles, store the bottles in the fridge. Campden is probably the easiest.

 

[Booker140]

3 options I can think of. Pasteurize the bottle, campden tabs/ pot sorbate in the bottles, store the bottles in the fridge. Campden is probably the easiest.

Thanks, i put half a crushed campden tablet per bottle.

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

That should be more than enough. It's usually 1 per gallon I think

 

[brewcold]

I think I made a wrong move when making this. It tasted horrible.... I wish you can easily buy this in the grocery. Im into bananas.

 

[zonkman]

Has anyone tried a variety of yeasts? Preferred choice(s)? Sounds like there are many good options....

 

[Kalaloch]

I think I made a wrong move when making this. It tasted horrible.... I wish you can easily buy this in the grocery. Im into bananas.

Did you wait the requisite 2 years to taste it?

 

[zonkman]

Would Wyeast 1388 (Bray's One Month Mead) work here? Possibly slice aging time needed?