Noobs Banana Cream Ale?

[Derap]

Being new to brewing (only ever brewed the malt cans) I would like to jump into something strange for my first real brew.

Banana Cream Ale!

I would like to do something similar to Wells Banana Bread Ale, and have settled on Schlenkerla's recipe found here:
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=61850

To simplify things can I take a Cream Ale Dry Malt Extract kit, swap out the yeast for WLP300, ferment around 73f to bring out the banana flavors. Add in 5lbs of bananas and vanilla into the secondary and pray?

Am I on the road to disaster or is there a chance it could turn out like a bready banana flavored creamy ale?



Here is the cream ale kit I would like to play with
http://hopdawgs.ca/index.php?route=product/product&product_id=69

 

[corycorycory09]

I just made this one 3 weeks ago, kegged it yesterday.

Haven't tasted it yet (still needs a few weeks) but the smell was great for what it is worth.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?t=291125

 

[Derap]

Very interesting! I would have given that a shot but it's an all grain recipe and too advanced for me just yet.

My main concern is do you think WLP300 will work with a non wheat recipe?

 

[jlinz]

Not sure how wlp 300 will work without wheat, but another way to go could be to get a hefeweizen kit, add lactose, and ferment warm.

 

[Derap]

I thought that might work out better but im having trouble finding a hefe kit in canada.

I may give the cream ale + wlp300 a try but it'd be sad if it turned out like piss water for my first real brew. 😔

Will post here though with results if i do go ahead with it.

 

[Derap]

Well I decided to go ahead with the DME cream ale kit and use WLP300.

- Pitched yeast at 80f
- Fermenting at 75f
- I am also Open Fermenting w/cheese cloth over the top.

After 24 hours my bedroom wreaks of banana!
So far so good

 

[Elkobrewer]

Sounds good. Although you may want to drop your fermenting temp down about 10 deg. Unless that is what the yeast calls for

 

[Derap]

The yeast calls for 68-72 so im not too far off, im actually trying to loosely follow the banana bomb recipe.

On another note SWMBO is now enforcing a no beer in the bedroom policy 😯

 

[Derap]

Alright so, I could not be happier with my first real non canned brew.

I am very happy to say it (to my amazement) Does taste very similar to wells banana bread beer!

I have a bottle of the real stuff and am doing a side-by-side comparison and wow, its just amazing. It's not Exact, but it's damn close. It's smooth, creamy, mildly sweet with a good banana and bready flavor. The only difference between my beer and wells is the bitterness, mine is just less bitter.

Will post an update if anything changes after the 3+ week mark

Thanks so much to all the support I have had on these forums, could not have done it without all the guidance.