Birthday Banana Wine

[rsmith179]

I've been planning on this for quite a while. Finally decided on a type of alcoholic beverage I want to make on my birthday: banana wine! Takes two years to mellow and age, so it'll be the perfect once-a-year batch to make.

Just scored 40 lbs. of "almost over-ripe" banana at the market for $10.00. Pretty good deal if you ask me!! ($.25/lb) Tomorrow morning I'll be starting two separate 5 gallon batches. Recipe and pics to follow tomorrow....

 

[Schnitzengiggle]

I have no idea WTF banana wine is, but I like banana, I like belgina beers that have that estery banana flavor, so I'm thinking you have a good idea and if you can turn that idea into an awesome recipe, then great. Please post your recipe and pics, I am über interested!

God Luck! :rockin:

 

[JeremyCT]

I've seen a few pictures (and reviews) of banana wine and how it cleared (a lot), and It made me want to try.
As soon as I free up a vessel, I think I'm trying it.

 

[Yooper]

We opened a bottle of banana wine last night. It's really good! I bought bananas overripe at $.19/pound a couple of years ago, and froze them, so it was a very cheap wine! It really is a nice wine, but it's probably better to keep the ABV lower than I did, so it doesn't take so long to age!

 

[bmckee56]

I have a Banana/Chocolate wine aging in the cellar almost two years now. First sampled it at 1 year and it was like jet fuel. A year later and it mellowed quiite nicely. The banana flavor is predominate and the chocolate hides in the back ground, but it is there.

It took a long time for my wine to clear as I did not use bentonite or any fining material at all. Nice body, color and aroma too. I love banana shakes, pudding and pie, so this is a treat to keep around. My next attempt at this would be a similar to a Port (Dessert) wine.

Hope yours turns out well.

Salute!

 

[OHIOSTEVE]

I have a small one gallon batch still trying to clear.....taking a long time even with gelatin.

 

[Yooper]

I've been planning on this for quite a while. Finally decided on a type of alcoholic beverage I want to make on my birthday: banana wine! Takes two years to mellow and age, so it'll be the perfect once-a-year batch to make.

Just scored 40 lbs. of "almost over-ripe" banana at the market for $10.00. Pretty good deal if you ask me!! ($.25/lb) Tomorrow morning I'll be starting two separate 5 gallon batches. Recipe and pics to follow tomorrow....

Remind me at Christmas time, that if I have a designated driver and go up to Great Lakes Brewpub, to bring you a bottle of my wine. You'd have to have a beer with me, but then I'd give you a bottle of the banana wine!

 

[Texron]

This intriguing. What is the color of the aged wine? How prevalent is the Banana flavor. Is there a commercial equivalent?

 

[Yooper]

This intriguing. What is the color of the aged wine? How prevalent is the Banana flavor. Is there a commercial equivalent?

I can't think of a commercial equivalent. It's a pale golden color, completely clear. (pictures of the carboy in my recipe).

 

[rsmith179]

Sounds great Yoop! I won't have a bottle ready by then probably... but next spring I'll make sure you get some bottles!

 

[rsmith179]

A quick update on the batches... both are now actively fermenting in their carboys. The OG for both batches was 1.102 which should get me somewhere between 14-16% ABV depending on how dry these come out. When I get home tonight, I'll post the recipe and pics of the batches.

One thing that did surprise me was the color of the batches. In the carboys, they look muddy, just like the pics Yoop posted. However, when I got them in the hydrometer jar, it looked much clearer. You'll see from the pic later exactly what I'm talking about...

 

[rsmith179]

As promised, I return with the recipe and some pics of the day. If you are interested in the entire process, please see this page:

www.homebrewtalk.com/f79/banana-wine-33636/

I got all of my information regarding the process from Yooper. Respect given, where respect due. Anyways, here's the list of ingredients for my particular batch:

Batch Size: 10 gallons
OG: 1.102
40 lbs. bananas (sliced, not peeled)
20 lbs. granulated sugar (just remember, this is two separate 5 gallon batches!)
6 tsp. acid blend (more to come at bottling...)
Pectic Enzyme
Lalvin K1-V1116 Yeast

I actually made two separate batches as I have nothing that would be able to fit 40 lbs. of bananas and water in. Used the trusty turkey frier and a large nylon mesh bag. 4 gallons of water went into the frier with the bananas and came to a boil and then simmered for 30 minutes. Ended up with close to 6 gallons in the fermenter for each batch. OGs are identical and both are fermenting very well now.

Here's the pics...

40 lbs Bananas and 20 lbs of Sugar


Here's what 10 lbs. of bananas looks like after being chopped up. Took 30 minutes or so... 30 lbs to go!


20 lbs. of bananas in the nylon bag next to the kettle...


Took about 30 minutes to bring this to a good boil, then simmer for 30 more minutes...

 

[rsmith179]

Here's about 12 gallons of banana wine right after they cooled down a bit. Notice how brown and cloudy it looks.



The hydrometer sample really shows us that it really isn't that "muddy".



And here are the two batches today... 1 day after pitching. If you look closely, you can see tons of yeast colonies in the right carboy. Tons of action going on in there right now!

 

[Yooper]

Well, that looks absolutely disgusting! Good job!

You don't even need an airlock yet, until you're ready for secondary, but it won't harm it to have it on. Just make sure you take it off to shake it up or stir it, to oxygenate it, especially if the fermentation lags a bit.

 

[rsmith179]

For some reason, I'm just picky about the airlocks. I'd hate to see anything happen to the batch! I've been stirring/degassing daily using one of those mixers you can attach to a drill. Works great! Just a slight stir though, I'm not trying to aerate at this point. I've also decided on using a staggered nutrient addition like the ones in the Mead stickies. I'll post gravity readings when I take them, but I'm expecting by next weekend this should be all but fermented out...

 

[Yooper]

Oh, yeast LOVE bananas. It'll be fermented out in about 5 days, I'd guess, if the must got enough oxygen and the temperature is in the 70s. You won't need any additional nutrients.

I always stir my must daily (leaving it covered with a towel) until the SG gets to about 1.020-1.010. Once it's gets that far, it's ready for secondary and an airlock.

 

[rsmith179]

Nice! I'll be stirring daily and taking gravity readings each day. Checked the batches this morning and the yeast are still superactive in the carboy! The smell is actually amazing, if you like bananas. None of that sulfur smell like I would have with a "regular" batch of wine.

 

[rsmith179]

Gravities on the two batches has continued to fall at a good rate. One batch is currently at 1.040 and the other one is hovering at 1.050. It's funny, both are in the same room, with the same ingredients, and have been treated exactly the same, but they're both going at different rates now. Regardless, I have still been stirring daily and anticipate a move to secondary on Sunday or Monday.

 

[Emerald]

I have a question--Would it work ok with banana's that are riper than the ones you have in your picture? I can sometimes get them with the spots for around 10cents to 19 cents a pound. I usually use them for banana muffins or bread but they are really sweet by then. I have frozen them whole in the skins also to use later in baking and they just moosh right out of the blackened skins. But I guess that a frozen blackened banana might look really yucky if you tried to boil it!

 

[bubbachunk]

I have a question--Would it work ok with banana's that are riper than the ones you have in your picture? I can sometimes get them with the spots for around 10cents to 19 cents a pound. I usually use them for banana muffins or bread but they are really sweet by then. I have frozen them whole in the skins also to use later in baking and they just moosh right out of the blackened skins. But I guess that a frozen blackened banana might look really yucky if you tried to boil it!

That would be preferable to me as the ethylene should have made more sugars.

 

[rsmith179]

Hmm... Not quite sure about the ethylene reasoning, but I'm not chemistry major. I've never read anything about how ethylene affects or can enhance/detract from a wine. Regardless, you can still use "over ripened" bananas. Yooper said that she got an awesome deal on some bananas that were over ripe, she froze them, and then used them later on. By the time she got around to it, they were pretty much black.

The sugar in the bananas should be the same still, and the taste, as you know, it's not bad or anything. You use it to make banana bread and it tastes fine? So will the wine!

The batches are still chugging away right now... #1 is at 1.030 and #2 is at 1.040. Looking at going to secondary here by Monday...

 

[Rossnaree]

Cold makes bananas turn black almost immediately. Freezing - well, that'd definitely do it.

 

[Emerald]

Ok so I can use over ripe banana's but do I have to put the peel in? Or should I just peel them and put the mush thru the rest of the steps? That black nasty looking peel just kinda grosses me out!


On a fun note- if you freeze your banana's and then make ice cream with them it will be smoother and creamer-- just check out Alton Brown's recipe, it is yummy.

 

[rsmith179]

The peels add tanins that are naturally present. You can definitely peel the bananas and not use the skins, but you'll probably want to add some grape tannin power in after the fact before bottling.

 

[Emerald]

The peels add tanins that are naturally present. You can definitely peel the bananas and not use the skins, but you'll probably want to add some grape tannin power in after the fact before bottling.

I didn't think of that. I don't drink red wine due to the fact that the tannins will sometimes trigger migraines. But I wonder if banana tannins are different?
I could always buy a few of the good yellow banana's to add to the peeled ones, or maybe use some nice black tea to add a bit of tannin back--Black tea doesn't trigger my migraines so that is what I have been adding to my wines and so far, so good.
I really am thinking of trying this one even tho the pictures of it are a bit off-putting! It looks a lot like dirty dishwater!

 

[rsmith179]

You could definitely substitute the grape tannins with black tea bags. I have heard of quite a few people who swear by using black tea. I agree that the pictures may look bad right now, but just wait for the final product. More pictures will come as progress is made with the wine. Racking to secondary tomorrow morning and it should start clearing up nicely from there.

 

[Cjacquette81]

Where do you all by these over ripe bananas for such a cheap price? Please point me in the right direction!!!

 

[oldmate]

Just ask at the fruit shop for some over-ripe bananas and they will give you a really good price on them... well that's what I did.

 

[brazedowl]

Just ask at the fruit shop for some over-ripe bananas and they will give you a really good price on them... well that's what I did.

Where are these fruit shops of which you speak. I only know of big coporate stores (foodlion, kroger, walmart, etc). They, to my knowledge, don't negociate on their prices.

 

[Cjacquette81]

I was going to ask what is meant by fruit shops. In addition has ANYONE attempted blending this banana wine with other fruits OR stabilizing and back sweetening with other fruits for a tropical sweet wine? I'm thinking about putting 3 batches together one following the given recipe, another blending fruit and finally back sweetening the last. Ideas thoughts advice and warning welcomed

 

[OneCerebralSamurai]

I was going to ask what is meant by fruit shops. In addition has ANYONE attempted blending this banana wine with other fruits OR stabilizing and back sweetening with other fruits for a tropical sweet wine? I'm thinking about putting 3 batches together one following the given recipe, another blending fruit and finally back sweetening the last. Ideas thoughts advice and warning welcomed

I hope you get some ideas...

I recently transferred a batch of banana wine to secondary, and it was the most horrid thing I've ever created. SG = 0.986 and no, that's not a typo. Tasted like kerosene. I added more sugar and some more bananas... I expect to have to fiddle with it some, but I'm hoping for a not-totally-dry wine with pronounced banana flavor/aroma. I might consider blending this (after at least 6 months bulk aging) if it doesn't turn out good.

 

[Cjacquette81]

LMAO @ kerosene!!!!! I have read that this will take roughly two years to mellow which is why I want to mass produce that way if I like it I have plenty while the next batch is going if I don't like it I will be a lesson earned. What are you considering blending it with. My only thoughts so far have been berries (raspberry strawberries and kiwi)

 

[mayberry]

I fortified my banana wine with a banana-infused brandy and have taken no great care to prevent oxidation. I'm working for a sherry-style result. Recently I added two pounds of honey after stabilizing. It still tastes hot, with a sharp punch on the nose. But the exhale is smooth with a touch of banana that breezes across the back of the tongue. I'm hoping that the aromatics of the honey with accentuate the fruitier flavors. I can already tell this one is going to be very good, but time will be key. There's a lot of mellowing needed.