Bananas Foster Creamy Ale (All Grain) **pic intensive**

[razorbuck]

I have had my batch in the secondary for five days now. I tasted what was left in my siphon tube after I racked onto the bananas and I was blown away! I have never had a beer taste so good that early on in fermentation. I could taste lots of the vanilla and brown sugar. I cannot wait to drink this one!

 

[veritas524]

5.5 in the ferm chamber! Time to buy a sculpture and some pumps, my back hurts :/

 

[LLBeanJ]

Here's an update/postmortem on my batch...

I'll be honest. I wasn't that impressed with it. It's my own fault though. I got very creative with the grain bill and my version hardly resembled one8tvw's at all.

Overall, it wasn't bad, just kind of blah. There were no off-flavors or anything like that. The banana flavor was quite prominent, as were the rum and vanilla, but there was no real malty beer flavor behind it. My wife tried it and she had the same opinion. She could taste the flavors, but said it didn't really taste like beer. I guess that's what having 25% wheat in the grain bill gets me.

On the other hand, I gave away about 2 gallons to a non-homebrewer buddy who prefers lighter beers and is a big fan of fruity wheats and he absolutely loved it. As did his wife. They both thought it was some of the best beer they've ever had. Go figure.

Also, I had a lot of floaties from the banana and though this was a 5 gallon batch, I only got about 3.25 gallons into the keg because it kept clogging my syphon. I guess I could've tried to screen it, but I didn't.

So, where does that leave me? Well, not being one to give up easily, I'm trying again. Just brewed up a fresh 4 gallon batch two days ago. I decided to use the same recipe as one8tvw's, but again scaled back to a lower ABV (retained the original grain %'s, but scaled down to ~1.052 OG - actually came in at 1.056) and used some Cascade hops I had on hand, which I adjusted to match the original IBUs. I pitched on top of the yeast cake from a hefeweizen (Wyeast 3068) that I kegged the same day and am fermenting around 69-70° ambient to get some banana esters from the yeast.

When it comes time to secondary, I'm going to line my fermenting bucket with a sanitized paint strainer and put the bananas and vanilla beans on that so I can pull it out when done to eliminate the problem with floaties I had before.

I'll report back when I have an evaluation of the finished product.

 

[smokinghole]

Not a bad idea with the paint strainer bag. I'm going to use that idea for my banana stout batch.

 

[sfrisby]

Wanted to quasi-hijack to share a slight variation that we brewed today. Banana Split. In secondary: adding bananas, cocoa nibs, vanilla bean and Bacardi torched cherry rum.

 

[gmcapone]

Im gonna try this for my next batch but wanted to clarify something first, you added split vanilla beans to the boil? Why this instead of the secondary?

 

[Copbrew133]

Gravity down to 1.012, time to go to secondary. The flavor of the sample is awesome. It seems you nailed the grain bill on this thing, it also seems the perfect base for the addition of banana, rum, and vanilla.

 

[Copbrew133]

Hey One8tvw, did you ever add any more rum beyond the original 8oz. and that used at bottling? I read one of your posts when you were considering 6 additional ounces.

 

[veritas524]

Any reservations about adding the rum soaked vanilla bean late in the secondary or for the whole tertiary? Mine's going on the "adult baby food" in the morning and I haven't soaked (or bought) my vanilla bean(s) yet! I'm going to leave it on the bannana for 3 weeks then toss it in the tertiary... just debating on when to add the vanilla.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

So Ive been planning on brewing this and now its next in the lineup. I have all the ingredients but the saaz. Should I order the Saaz or is there something else that will do fine with this recipe?

 

[nsrooen]

Mine turned out great with Cascade.

As for the Rum I would not increase the amount it gets stronger as the beer ages. My other experience is that as the beer ages the banana aroma and flavor decreases.

(Been kegged for about a month and a half now.)

 

[smokinghole]

I picked up 9lbs of naners today for my stout. I figured once peeled I'll end up somewhere around 7.5lbs or so. I'll be stealing the idea of a paint strainer bag for the mushed up bananas.

 

[KeyWestBrewing]

Mine turned out great with Cascade.

As for the Rum I would not increase the amount it gets stronger as the beer ages. My other experience is that as the beer ages the banana aroma and flavor decreases.

(Been kegged for about a month and a half now.)

Do you think adding more banana would make the flavor and aroma last longer? Or would that throw off the balance of everything?

 

[Sippin37]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before as I didn't read all 17 pages, but has anyone tried zesting the banana peel to get the banana flavor? I don't know if this works the same as orange peel zest does but thought it might be worth a try. And should take up a lot less space in the fermenters.

 

[turkeyjerky214]

I'm not sure if this has been mentioned before as I didn't read all 17 pages, but has anyone tried zesting the banana peel to get the banana flavor? I don't know if this works the same as orange peel zest does but thought it might be worth a try. And should take up a lot less space in the fermenters.

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but from my experience with cooking, that only works with citrus type fruits (lemons, oranges, limes, etc.)

 

[nsrooen]

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but from my experience with cooking, that only works with citrus type fruits (lemons, oranges, limes, etc.)

The above poster is correct. Have you ever tried biting into a banana peel? Very Bitter and unappetizing.

 

[one8tvw]

whats up people?! Im actually drinking one of my B-Fosters right now and I think the head retention got alot better as it has been aging. I am a big fan of this recipe, I thank my wife for the idea. The only thing I would consider is adding more rum, possibly. At one time during this adventure I considered adding more rum, about 6oz, but never did.

Im not sure about other peoples that have taken a stab at this, but my banana flavor has not weakened.

 

[smokinghole]

I'm getting ready to blend and add my bananas tonight I think. They're finally ripe enough. I've moved slow on this stout but it'll get done. I'll be blending with some Goslings Black Seal.

 

[bottlebomber]

I'm getting ready to blend and add my bananas tonight I think. They're finally ripe enough. I've moved slow on this stout but it'll get done. I'll be blending with some Goslings Black Seal.

Now is also when you're going to want to do this:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/i-added-heavy-cream-my-wort-324694/

 

[jeremydgreat]

Okay, I hate to be "that guy"... but any thoughts about converting the base recipe to extract?

 

[sweetcell]

Okay, I hate to be "that guy"... but any thoughts about converting the base recipe to extract?

OGM - YOU'RE *THAT* GUY!!!

i'm no expert on making extract versions, but this is how i'd do it... the OP's recipe calls for:

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
10.00 lbs 71.43 % Briess 2-Row Brewers Malt 60 mins 1.037
1.00 lbs 7.14 % Oats, Flaked 60 mins 1.037
2.00 lbs 14.29 % Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L 60 mins 1.035
1.00 lbs 7.14 % Briess Corn, Flaked, Yellow 60 mins 1.039

you're going to need to mash the oats and the corn with an equal amount of 2-row (this is approximate, please correct me if i'm wrong). so that means you can cut 8 ls of 2-row from the recipe and replace it with extract. the replacement rule is 1 lb malt = 0.75 lb LME = 0.6 lb DME. so 8 lbs malt = 6 lbs LME = 4.8 lbs DME (AKA 4 lbs 13 oz). so the recipe now becomes:

2.00 lbs 2-Row Brewers Malt 60 mins 1.037
1.00 lbs Oats, Flaked 60 mins 1.037
2.00 lbs Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L 60 mins 1.035
1.00 lbs Briess Corn, Flaked, Yellow 60 mins 1.039
6.00 lbs LME **or** 4 lbs 13 oz DME (one or the other, not both)

mash the first 4 ingredients in 6 quarts of water for 60 min @ 152.0°F (that's 1.5 qt/lb, change per your preference... some people prefer 1.33 or even 1.25). after an hour, have your second pot with sparge water heated to about 174-176*F. pull the bag out, let it drip, then plunge it into the second pot. it should stabilize down to about 168. let the grains soak in that for 15 mins, pull bag out and drip/squeeze. start your boil. you can add your LME/DME at the start and use the same hop schedule as described by the OP, or do a late addition of extract (you might need to scale them back just a little, say 10% or 15%, since you'll get better extraction in the less sugary water).

 

[jeremydgreat]

i always freeze bananas to speed up the ripening of them and make them mushy. I learned this from my mother 20 years ago, its her trick when she is making banana bread.

Won't blending them make them pretty mushy?

Only asking because I'm making this recipe for an event which is about 20 days away, and my initial fermentation is almost complete. I didn't leave time for the week in the freezer.

I was going to just get some bananas, cut them up, spritz with StarSan, blend with rum, let it sit for like a day in the fridge, and then dump it in.

Think that will be okay?

 

[jeremydgreat]

Shoot, one other question. Do you think bananas would work well with a Dunkelweissen? I was thinking about using this recipe as a base:

9# Wheat LME
6oz Munich malt (steeping)
6oz Special B (steeping)
6oz Crystal40 (steeping)
2oz CarafaII (steeping)
1oz Hallertau (4%) @60min
WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale yeast

That's pretty far off the original recipe in this thread, I realize. I just thought the idea of a super-banana-y Dunkel sounded great. Any red flags raised here, or should I just give it a whirl and pray for the best?

 

[sweetcell]

no flags. go for it, and let us know how it ends up!

 

[Wreck99]

Great recipe! I'll have to add this to my list of brews to make

 

[raptorvan]

Did we already cover the banana extract topic? I think we did but oh well...has anyone tried banana extract instead of or in conjunction with real banana? I know real fruit has a habit of fading fast. I used real coconut in a porter i made but all i ended up with is the toasted coconut flavor so i dropped a dram of extract in and it was awesome.

 

[Brett3rThanU]

So I got a little while making this on Sunday and forgot to add the brown sugar in the boil. Should I add it to the secondary with the bananas or just skip it all together?

 

[bottlebomber]

So I got a little while making this on Sunday and forgot to add the brown sugar in the boil. Should I add it to the secondary with the bananas or just skip it all together?

You could add it in the primary. Just use a pint or so of water to dissolve it in, boil it for a few minutes, cool and dump.

 

[sweetcell]

yup, what bomber said.

 

[Brett3rThanU]

yup, what bomber said.

That's just what I did, thanks.