Banana Bochet Port

[Deezil]

Another nightly update...

Its hard to resist the temptation to eat them all, lemme tell ya...
Trying to find a source for quality red bananas..

 

[Deezil]

Y mas..

Almost thought about cuttin one up today, just to see... But maybe in a day or two..

 

[Deezil]

Well... i didnt do it today
Maybe tomorrow

 

[WVMountaineerJack]

You have got to be one of the slowest experimentors in the wold It wont be long before you can make something out of these, maybe you have enough for a milkshake WVMJ

 

[Deezil]

You have got to be one of the slowest experimentors in the wold It wont be long before you can make something out of these, maybe you have enough for a milkshake WVMJ

Lmao!!! Actually, they wont survive long enough as group to be used for something like that although it does sound delicious


So here's today shot, exciting right?

And today's dissection:

Here's the one i stole - the one on "top"

And this picture is a bit off, angle-wise... But i'll show it anyway.. I verified with my own eyes that the peels have lost approx. 1/16" so far, with this one measuring in at 1/8"

Here you can see the where i cut the banana in half - i used a razor blade for a cleaner cut, i figure the butter knife would lead to more "smearing"

And then i gave that-there section a squeeze, assuming it would mush, but it fell apart

And here, i replaced the leftover sections of banana after fondling it, and you can see the part of the banana i used for the pictures

The differences between this and the control?

1. The fruit of the banana has begun to take on the very first hints of what was almost a liqueur type smell - vanilla-ish? Very sweet, no starchy smell at all, although that was still present (about the only smell present) in the peel
2. The peel, peeled very easy - about the difficulty of tearing a SOAKED single-layer paper towel, and ripping it "against the grain" was almost as easy, compared to me struggling with the "control" to both peel & rip the peel
3. It's not yet the consistency of baby food, as shown by the "thought it'd be mush" picutre, although when i tore the banana it didnt show the "tendon"-like-look that it showed with the control; it was more of an even break this time, with littler versions of the control starchy-"tendons"

Dunno if i missed anything, but i'll edit this if it comes to me..

 

[rezod11]

Fun banana fact: Do you ever have trouble opening a banana from the stem and kinda crushing the fruit? Try opening the banana from the other end. It's way easier and won't lead to mushy fruit.

[ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBJV56WUDng"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBJV56WUDng[/ame]

 

[saramc]

There is also a variety of banana that is referred to as the 'ice cream banana'..huge tones of sweet vanilla. Common in the tropics, but also found in stores in US.
I think they would be great in a batch of mead!
FWIW, if you freeze your ripe, peeled bananas and are looking for a treat, just place a frozen banana in blender/food processor and blitz until smooth. Instant banana ice cream. Add honey, nut butter, chocolate, whatever. Hard to believe that people spend their money on that Yonanas device.

 

[Deezil]

Lost another banana to Autism

 

[Deezil]

The last of the naner's
Probably slice up the right one next, its almost completely blackened

 

[seth8530]

Howd it go?

 

[dcteague]

I'm curious if you've considered using something other than brandy to fortify. I know hardcore enthusiast seem to prefer brandy because its distilled from grapes, but since you're using bananas as your primary source of sugars/flavors, I wonder if a banana flavored vodka or some other banana flavored distilled product might be a better match. Would be curious what others think.

 

[Deezil]

Still have 2 bananas left...

I thought about using something already banana flavored but i dont want the artificial flavorings.. And i considered using another type of spirit, but i really like what this brandy brings to the table.. They are things other people could tweak though

 

[dcteague]

What brandy are you using?

I am considering using Marie Brizard Creme de Banana if I can find it.

 

[Deezil]

E&J VSOP

Although i'm making a banana product, i'm wanting to bring "more to the table" than just banana flavors.. Banana on banana on banana would just be too much.. Although that liqueur you mentioned might be pretty tasty on its own - appears to be distilled from bananas

The brandy has some sweetness, some oak/vanillla/maple & then i'll infuse banana on top of that but i dont think the banana will overwhelm everything going on within the brandy.. When added to the batch itself, i'm hoping the brandy comes out as supporting flavors with the main focus being banana

 

[saramc]

E&J VSOP

Although i'm making a banana product, i'm wanting to bring "more to the table" than just banana flavors.. Banana on banana on banana would just be too much.. Although that liqueur you mentioned might be pretty tasty on its own - appears to be distilled from bananas

The brandy has some sweetness, some oak/vanillla/maple & then i'll infuse banana on top of that but i dont think the banana will overwhelm everything going on within the brandy.. When added to the batch itself, i'm hoping the brandy comes out as supporting flavors with the main focus being banana

Deezil,
I have been cold soaking a jar filled half way with ripe banana covered in E&J VSOP for a while now. I just remove the banana once it darkens and add new fruit. I now have a nice banana infused brandy to fortify my banana port with. I tend to use E&J VSOP when I do fortify because I like it. Sometimes I will do a blend with pure grain. I bet high proof spiced rum would be nice in this. I am ready to bottle this gorgeous nectar!

 

[dcteague]

When you think about it (at least the long standing concept of a true port), it is a wine made from grapes, fortified with a distilled grape product - so lots of grape, but obviously many ways to ensure it has plenty of character. I'm sort of thinking the same might be true of fortifying with a distilled banana product. Oaks, vanilla, raisins, fig, etc. can all be used to provide a bit more color to the end result than the fortifying agent and main fermented fruit. I stopped by the local liquor store and they can get me the banana liquor I mentioned, so I think I'm going to give it a go in my recipe and see what happens.

Oddly, I mixed my must this week, and the red bananas combined with vanilla bean gave the must a distinct pinkish hue - was sort of nasty looking. I'm hoping it clears to a nice yellowish tone rather than a blush. I'll have to post a pic once its transferred into the secondary. I'm thinking it was the brown bits from the vanilla bean.

The flavor of a red banana was hard to distinguish from a typical banana without comparing side by side - it was definitely sweet though, so hopefully it produces a good wine base to fortify.

E&J VSOP

Although i'm making a banana product, i'm wanting to bring "more to the table" than just banana flavors.. Banana on banana on banana would just be too much.. Although that liqueur you mentioned might be pretty tasty on its own - appears to be distilled from bananas

The brandy has some sweetness, some oak/vanillla/maple & then i'll infuse banana on top of that but i dont think the banana will overwhelm everything going on within the brandy.. When added to the batch itself, i'm hoping the brandy comes out as supporting flavors with the main focus being banana

 

[Deezil]

Deezil,
I have been cold soaking a jar filled half way with ripe banana covered in E&J VSOP for a while now. I just remove the banana once it darkens and add new fruit. I now have a nice banana infused brandy to fortify my banana port with. I tend to use E&J VSOP when I do fortify because I like it. Sometimes I will do a blend with pure grain. I bet high proof spiced rum would be nice in this. I am ready to bottle this gorgeous nectar!

This is what i plan on doing with the brandy added in this project, infusing bananas in the brandy before adding it to the batch - any chance you have a picture of the banana-infused brandy? I'm curious if theres any visual difference between that and VSOP straight-up.... Just got done playing with a bunch of that making Red & Gold Raspberry Ports

When you think about it (at least the long standing concept of a true port), it is a wine made from grapes, fortified with a distilled grape product - so lots of grape, but obviously many ways to ensure it has plenty of character. I'm sort of thinking the same might be true of fortifying with a distilled banana product.

True ports are lucky in that they are working with grapes, and are able to do the 'lots of grape' because grapes are more complex than other fruits, and its atleast my belief, that the winemaker has to do more to facilitate the 'complex' facets of the wines moreso when working with fruits other than grapes - to achieve the same complex final profile as one would with grapes. It's this thought that makes me nervous about the banana-on-banana - not because its too much banana really, but because you're losing the help with those facets other than banana.. If that makes sense..

Oaks, vanilla, raisins, fig, etc. can all be used to provide a bit more color to the end result than the fortifying agent and main fermented fruit. I stopped by the local liquor store and they can get me the banana liquor I mentioned, so I think I'm going to give it a go in my recipe and see what happens.

The brandy got all of its color from oak, which i'll be adding more oak to the banana wine itself but im also interested in the way that the oak is introduced to the brandy - actually in a barrel - and how that works with the oak i add myself

Thats pretty cool that you'll be able to get your hands on that liquor, i'll have to look into it just to check it out..

Oddly, I mixed my must this week, and the red bananas combined with vanilla bean gave the must a distinct pinkish hue - was sort of nasty looking. I'm hoping it clears to a nice yellowish tone rather than a blush. I'll have to post a pic once its transferred into the secondary. I'm thinking it was the brown bits from the vanilla bean.

The flavor of a red banana was hard to distinguish from a typical banana without comparing side by side - it was definitely sweet though, so hopefully it produces a good wine base to fortify.

How many lbs of bananas did you use, in how many gallons of water? How ripe were the bananas? Peels and all? Just 1 vanilla bean? I'm curious..

 

[dcteague]

I weighed them at 5.6lbs with peels, but did not use the peels in the mix - just the guts. I'm only targeting a 1 gallon batch, so figured it'll make for a good trial run and I can then tweak things in the next batch. My recipe is below:

5lbs Red Banana (pulverized in water via pressure cooker)
19oz Fig Concentrate
1.125 Gallons Water
2 Cups sugar dissolved in the fig with some of the water
1 Vanilla bean
1oz Sweet Orange Peel
1tsp Pectic Enzyme
1/4 tsp Tannin
2 tsp Acid blend
More sugar was added to hit 1.10 SG (approx. 2 more cups)
EC1118 yeast

My SG as measured tonight was 1.10. The must looks like dirt water - hopefully it'll lighten up a bit. It'll be an interesting batch. I will add oak during aging, and may add some other stuff along the way. Its an experiment right!

 

[Deezil]

I dunno why, but untoasted oak powder during fermentation just popped into my mind too... Maybe.. Possibly... Gotta refresh my mind on untoasted oak powder...

 

[seth8530]

Something that I bet would be great in this would be some toasted Hungarian oak. It can give nice pepper and leathery notes for a niiice body. I love that oak style ( :