# Banana Clove Mead



## vcasey (Sep 23, 2009)

A sale on bananas becomes a mead! 
My husband and I had visited a local micro brew restaurant in Ybor City and one of the beers they had on take was made with a Weihenstephan yeast that gave the beer a banana clove taste &amp; aroma that I thought would make a great mead. I have been waiting for a good sale and finally it happened this past weekend. I made sure to get lots of bananas because they usually don't last very long after I bring them home. 
Today they were looking and smelling perfect so after a bit of slicing and mushing, and an introduction to wildflower honey, cloves, a vanilla bean, and the usual cast along with some D47 they are already fermenting away. And boy are they going nuts - I had to split the batch into 2 fermenters! Not bad since I added the yeast less then 5 hours ago!


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## LittleLeroy (Sep 23, 2009)

Why do you leave the peal on the bananas? Sorry if this is a dumb question I am new to fruit wines or meads.


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## vcasey (Sep 23, 2009)

Actually only a few of the bananas had the peel left on them, I mushed up the rest. I am trying to get a nice banana flavor and aroma to the mead so I left the peels on some to enhance the banana. 
Usually whenever I make a mead I like adding the fruit to the secondary, but on 1 gallon batches that is somewhat difficult depending on the fruit. The aromas and flavor of fruit can really take a beating in a strong fermentation. I added extra up front hoping to make up for that loss.


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## Goodfella (Sep 23, 2009)

Ybor city is one of my favorite places in the world!!!


Bananna's look great.


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## nursejohn (Sep 23, 2009)

Looks great. Keep us posted on the progress.


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## Wade E (Sep 23, 2009)

That sounds awesome and may have to try that next time we have a good sale on naners!


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## vcasey (Sep 23, 2009)

This stuff has really taken off, the D47 is just cooking. My poor dog loves the smell of bananas and this is driving him crazy! He just stands by the table with his nose in the air. And my sons are upset I did not get enough to make banana bread. Oh Well ........


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## Brewgrrrl (Sep 23, 2009)

I'm drooling. Would you mind posting your recipe?


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## vcasey (Sep 23, 2009)

Banana Clove Mead
1 gallon
5 1/2 lbs bananas, peeled and mushed in 1 qt of water
4 large whole bananas sliced (these are not peeled)
Water to about 1 1/2 gallons (its thick and I anticipate lots of sediment)
Wildflower honey to 1097 (target was 1090-1100)
6 Cloves 
1 vanilla bean
Pectic Enzyme, Yeast Nutrient, Citric Acid (to help prevent browning), Acid Blend
D47 rehydrated with Go Ferm &amp; DAP

I'll be adding oak somewhere down the line and I'll also decide if I need more cloves and bananas. I was not expecting such a explosive ferment and while it looks cool, the concern is it will drive off the flavors &amp; aroma so I'll need to wait and see. Normally I would just make a traditional mead and add the fruit to the secondary, but adding the amount of bananas I wanted to a 1 gallon jug (or even a couple) was not practical so I over loaded on the front end and see what happens. I also added all the nutrients up front and not in stages since I figured the fruit would supply lots of easy food for the yeast and its a gallon batch, they tend to ferment easier.
VC


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## Brewgrrrl (Sep 23, 2009)

Thanks! I'd love to hear updates about this mead (and now I'm hungry for banana bread...)


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## Wade E (Sep 24, 2009)

I believe I know the answer but please when posting a recipe tell the other people what size batch this is so they are not geussing and screw upsome good money please.


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## Dean (Sep 24, 2009)

I'm guessing a 3 gallon/11.5L batch.


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## vcasey (Sep 24, 2009)

Tis a 1 gallon batch. I did say I normally like to add the fruit to the secondary for meads but on a 1 gallon batch that is a bit ..... challenging so I add lots more fruit up front. For those making a batch larger I would add some bananas (a couple of pounds per gallon) to the secondary to help with adding more fruit flavor &amp; aroma to the mead. Did ya guess right Wade? Dean missed but even I admit that I used a lot of fruit! Been pushing the cap down and giving it a good stir - smells so good.
VC


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## Wade E (Sep 24, 2009)

I was right cause with all that fruit in there and only adding water to 1 1/2 g mark would be pretty shallow and then honey to 1.097. Im guessing it would render about 1 1/2 gallons of liquid give or take a little after getting rid of heavy lees from naners. I didnt mean to bash you but really wish everyone would start off a recipe with the batch size. Another inclination is usually the # of campden tablets. As a mod for this forum and admin for a few others this is 1 of the biggest problems people get into, most of them dont list a sg spec though which is the biggest problem with most recipes.


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## Brewgrrrl (Sep 24, 2009)

If you add fruit in the secondary though, wouldn't that throw off the meaning of any initial sg reading?


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## vcasey (Sep 24, 2009)

Brewgrrrl said:


> If you add fruit in the secondary though, wouldn't that throw off the meaning of any initial sg reading?



Yes. There are a lot of pros &amp; cons to the fruit in the secondary and a lot depends on how much flavor you really want. I try to shoot for an SG of 1090 knowing that when I add the fruit to the secondary I may get an additional 2-3% depending on the yeast.
VC


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## vcasey (Sep 26, 2009)

I racked this off the skins &amp; vanilla today, unfortunately the cloves went as well so I added some fresh ones back to the must. The SG is down to 1008, but its still extremely active so I think I'll wait before racking to glass. I was able to at least combine it all together - for now! 
VC


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## Wade E (Sep 26, 2009)

Are you sure you want new ones(cloves)? Them suckers can impart their taste very easily and take over he batch very quick. I seen you had 6 in there recipe and thought thats a lot but now that youve added more I think you ought to taste it now and then frequently.


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## vcasey (Sep 26, 2009)

Don't forget it is a banana clove mead. But yeah I tasted it and for me it needed more. I am getting banana and vanilla but very little clove. Keep in mind I really like the taste of cloves.
VC


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## Wade E (Sep 26, 2009)

Ok, just making sure as I used some cloves in a batch and it was almost all I could taste which ruined it in my opinion and I went to the lighter side of te scope.


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## JWMINNESOTA (Sep 26, 2009)

Sounds delish VC. Ive had cloves where one could flavor an entire batch, and then some that you couldn't tell they were in there. Depends on the quality of clove you get I suppose, and you never really know untill you use them. Good thing is we get to taste it along the way !


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## vcasey (Sep 28, 2009)

Down to 996 so I racked this to glass and got what I expected. Took a
taste and these cloves maybe old because I am getting very little
flavor from them. Oh well its still a baby.


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## paubin (Sep 30, 2009)

How did the bananas stand up? Iv'e always found that they don't come through well, and adding in the secondary there is the haze problem.


Pete


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## vcasey (Oct 1, 2009)

I used a lot of bananas because I had read about that the challenge with bananas. It's only been a couple of days since I racked this to glass but at the time there was a nice banana aroma and taste, the cloves are still hiding. I'll give them some time and perhaps toss the ones I have for a fresher batch, these maybe old. Sediment seems to be dropping nicely and its just tp early to worry about haze.
VC


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## vcasey (Dec 7, 2009)

This is moving right along. I racked it and put it on some light oak. The banana is coming through nicely, the clove is hiding. I'll see what happens when it time on the oak is finished and maybe add some more cloves or not.


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## Brewgrrrl (Dec 7, 2009)

Wow! That looks so nice and clear after only a couple of months.


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## Wade E (Dec 7, 2009)

I think I would like some of that!


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## admiral (Dec 7, 2009)

This is looking good, vcasey.


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## nursejohn (Dec 7, 2009)

I've said it before and I'll say it again, I wish we had taste-o-vision or smell-o-vision



.


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## Waldo (Dec 8, 2009)

vcasey said:


> This is moving right along. I racked it and put it on some light oak. The banana is coming through nicely, the clove is hiding. I'll see what happens when it time on the oak is finished and maybe add some more cloves or not.
> 
> 
> 
> ...


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## paubin (Dec 13, 2009)

Just by the look of it I'd say your going to be sorry ya only made 1 gal. This is definetly going on my list for the first ta start as soon as my stuff gets here! The movers are finally going to be showing up this Tue.


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## vcasey (Dec 13, 2009)

Actually I'm already taking notes for the next batch



.


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## Goodfella (Dec 13, 2009)

vcasey..... Your pictures look incredible!!!


Thanks for sharing them.


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## Goodfella (Jan 1, 2010)

Hey vcasey,


Where do you get those labels that you hang on your carboys?


I can't seem to find the darn things!!! or what to call them


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## vcasey (Jan 2, 2010)

Avery Shipping tagshttp://www.avery.com/avery/en_us/Products/Tags-&amp;-Fasteners/Shipping-Tags/Manila--G--Shipping-Tags_12608.htm I picked them up at Staples Office Supply and as you can see they are pretty cheap.


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## Joanie (Jan 2, 2010)

I bought a box of those at Staples too about 3 years ago and you still can't tell there are any missing from the box. Wait, maybe I need to make more wine!


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## Goodfella (Jan 2, 2010)

Sweet...... Thanks


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## Goodfella (Jan 2, 2010)

I just got a bundle of these from office depot. They sure look better on my carboys and jugs than a peice of tape!!!


Thanks again vcasey.


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## vcasey (Jan 2, 2010)

And the nice thing is you can document your progress and see it at a glance. We started this when we started making wine and have gone through several boxes, so yes Joan you should make more wine.


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## vcasey (Mar 2, 2010)

I needed the carbaby and since it was just hanging out, I decided it could hang out in a bottle. Banana is right up front with the honey right behind, the clove is there but just a hint. I also bottled the gallon of vanilla mead that I had added the cinnamon sticks to.


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## robie (Mar 2, 2010)

"Cleverly" cool labels. Did you find those images someplace or did you build them yourself? I especially like the guy on the banana.


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## vcasey (Mar 2, 2010)

That is at least the 3rd or 4th version of that label. I actually found the pic searching through Yahoo Images. Today was the first time I saw this image and I've been searching on &amp; off for something that I liked since I got the idea for this mead. The vanilla mead label I did create so I can claim that one as mine.


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