lorenae said:Banana wine is really pretty good. After fermentation, the original sweetness will be gone. Depending on the yeast you used, it may finish completely dry. After it's done, you could backsweeten to taste. I'd stabilize with campden tablets (sulfite) and sorbate before adding any sweetening.
How you do it:
After fermentation is complete, you'd add 1 campden tablet per gallon, crushed in a little boiling water. Mix that with 1 tsp sorbate per gallon. Add that to your wine. Wait a few days and then make a sugar syrup by boiling 1/2 cup water with 1 cup sugar in it. When it's clear, let it cool. Put some wine in a glass and gradually add some of that syrup to taste. When it's right, take a s.g. of the sample. Then just sweeten your whole batch to that s.g. That's the easiest way because then you don't oversweeten your whole batch.
I'm going to be doing banana wine this fall when I can't get other fruit. I didn't think about putting orange juice in it- that's a great idea!
Lorena
lorenae said:I have no idea about the recipe you're using, but I do know this: don't airlock your primary. Cover it with muslin to keep fruitflies, etc. out, but don't cover it with saran wrap or a tight lid. It needs all the oxygen it can get during primary fermentation.
Here's a link to banana wine recipes: (Scroll all the way to the bottom):
http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/recipes.asp
Lorena
lorenae said:It should be in primary until about 1.020, because that's when fermentation begins to slow down and could be vulnerable to oxygen. (Up until then, stir the must a couple of times a day, breaking up the "cap" on top, if there is one.) Rack into secondary, removing all the banana pulp and skins, and leave all the sediment on the bottom of the primary if you can. Then go ahead and use an airlock.
Lorena
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