Frozen banana chunks in secondary.

[mggray87]

I made mango blonde using 5 lbs of frozen organic mango chunks from sprouts inside the secondary ferm at about 58* after dropping the yeast and the blonde was absolutely delicious. It only lasted about 2 weeks on tap. My girl wants a hefe with a banana taste. I bought Omega bananza yeast for this weekend but I'm thinking so doing frozen banana chunks in secondary at 58* just like I did with the mangos. Has anyone added frozen banana chunks to a mesh bag for a few days in a secondary.

 

[Jag75]

I made mango blonde using 5 lbs of frozen organic mango chunks from sprouts inside the secondary ferm at about 58* after dropping the yeast and the blonde was absolutely delicious. It only lasted about 2 weeks on tap. My girl wants a hefe with a banana taste. I bought Omega bananza yeast for this weekend but I'm thinking so doing frozen banana chunks in secondary at 58* just like I did with the mangos. Has anyone added frozen banana chunks to a mesh bag for a few days in a secondary.

No I haven't, but normally get banana when brewing a hefe .

 

[worlddivides]

No I haven't, but normally get banana when brewing a hefe .

I haven't either, but I will say that the "banana flavor" of amyl acetate is quite different from the banana flavor of actual bananas. I've never had a hefeweizen with literal bananas in it, but I have had some of what I tend to call "dessert beers" (beers that either are themed after desserts such as a chocolate cake stout, a brownie stout, a Neapolitan stout, a banana sundae milkshake IPA, etc. etc.) that had actual bananas in them.

But I do agree with the point of personally not really wanting to mix amyl acetate from the hefe yeast with literal bananas. It's kind of like making a dessert that mixes artificial flavor and natural flavor in the same thing (if I remember correctly, isoamyl acetate is what's used to artificially make things taste like bananas).

I'm sure there are people on here who have brewed with bananas, but not so sure about bananas in a hefeweizen. Your mango blonde sounds absolutely amazing, by the way.

 

[Jag75]

One of my batches was like a banana bomb. Someone tried it and called it banana beer. I've had a choc banana stout that had actual bananas in the process. It was pretty good .

 

[worlddivides]

One of my batches was like a banana bomb. Someone tried it and called it banana beer. I've had a choc banana stout that had actual bananas in the process. It was pretty good .

Bananas are one of my all-time favorite fruits, and I tend to love anything banana flavored, but I've never been much of a fan of the amyl acetate banana-esque ester.

The very first beer I ever made taught me the importance of temperature control because it was around 68 to 70F or so on brew day, but was around 85F the very next day, and I hadn't prepared any way to control the temperature. It was a blonde ale, but it had that massive banana off-flavor. I never had temperature problems with a beer after that one because that flavor nailed home just how important the temperature is on fermentation.

A chocolate banana stout sounds really good.

 

[hotbeer]

Jarylo hops will give it all the banana taste it needs. Use them all in the boil as a single hop brew. No need to risk infection or air getting into the beer during fermentation.

 

[mggray87]

Well I'm gonna start with the omega bananza yeast. Not going to aerate at all. I'm going to leave my blowoff valve wide open and not in any sanitizer to give it that open fermentation without leaving the top wide open on unitank and going to ferment on the top end of the omega yeast 74-75* and see if that gives banana flavor. My lady is obsessed with he Austin brewery live oak hefe. Def banana flavor