Wheat beer, preserving banana flavour

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greggu99

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Hello All,

My wheat beers lose the banana flavour after a few months, can anyone suggest any measures to preserve it for longer? I'm going to try storing colder but would be interested in any preservatives I could add or any other tips or tricks. I do bottle condition so nothing that will kill the yeast!
 
I'm not certain... you *might* be asking for the impossible. Banana esters seem to disappear with age no matter what. The one cheaters' method you might want to try is addition of artificial banana extract, available at any grocery store. It might seem shameful to even suggest such a thing, but I can assure you, the extract contains in part some of the same chemical as the yeast produces, but of course just in very concentrated and more stable form. Start with a very small amount, like 1/4 teaspoon in 5 gallons, and see if it works. Then adjust from there on subsequent batches. I've always wondered if they do this for:

wells_bananabreadbeer11p2oz__66456.1350942179.380.500.jpg
 
I've always heard/read that you just need to drink hefeweizen young.

@dmtaylor Wells Banana Bread does taste extremely artificial, like banana candy.

Using real banana is an option I guess.
 
I'm going to try storing colder but would be interested in any preservatives

It's not a question of preservatives, but physics. The "banana" esters are very small molecules that are very volatile (which is what you want for aroma molecules, they have to come off the liquid to get into your nose), they want to leave the beer. So keeping it cold will help, and maximising ester production in the first place, but once the beer is made then the only option is to drink it fresh. But there's no law that says you have to make 5 gallons of it in the first place....
 
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