Banana Wine Recipe # 2

[St Allie]

Ingredients
3 pounds bananas
1 1/2 cups light raisins
5 cups granulated sugar
2 lemons
2 campden tablets
1 teaspoon nutrients
water
1 package wine yeast



Peel and slice bananas. Chop 1/10 to 1/2 of the banana peels. Place both in a large saucepan with 6 cups water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain out pulp.

Put sugar, raisins, campden tablets and the juice of the lemons into primary fermentor. Pour hot banana liquid over sugar mixture and stir to dissolve. Make up to 1 gallon with cold water. Let sit overnight.

The next day, add nutrients and yeast. Leave for 5 days, stirring daily. There will be heavy foaming during fermentation.

On the fifth day, siphon into secondary fermentor before stirring, being careful not to disturb the sediment on the bottom. If necessary, make up to volume with water. Attach airlock. Siphon the wine off the sediment after three weeks. Return wine to fermentor.

For a dry wine, Rack every three months for a year.

For a sweet wine, add 1/2 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup wine at each racking until fermentation does not start again when sugar is added.

Continue racking wine every two to three months until it is clear. Bottle.

Variation
Use brown sugar (or demerara sugar) in place of the granulated sugar.
For a spiced wine, add one or all of the following:
1 ounce bruised ginger root
1 ounce whole cloves
1 - 4 inch cinnamon stick
If you want to leave out the banana peels, add 1/4 teaspoon tannin.


Recipe from Roxannes Wine Cellar

website here

http://scorpius.spaceports.com/~goodwine/index.htm

 

[arcticsid]

Thats sounds pretty good G. I hope you will post that with the other banana recipes in our recipe forum.

 

[St Allie]

This recipe came out really well.. more of a chardonnay style white.

Allie

 

[BettyJ]

Procedure question - banana wine

Hi Allie
Am I interpreting the recipe to be that you do not add the fruit to the primary after boiling (just the juice)?

I have just racked my first batch of mango / banana / white grape concentrate (SunCal Liebfraumilch) in which I left the fruit in a bag for 5 days. There is quite a bit of banana type sediment that had to be strained (am sure I will be dealing with this for the duration). The wine is fermenting nicely - tastes great, am just worried about clearing at this point....

I am preparing another type batch, but would like to try using just the juice of the fruit to the SunCal (and ? maybe add pineapple) to speed the clearing up.

Any thoughts / words of advice?
Thanks!
-Betty

 

[St Allie]

Betty,

There are no actual banana solids in that one, you strain it all after boiling and only add the banana juice. You still get a lil sediment from it but it will clear perfectly well on its own.. just rack it occasionally til it does.

I haven't used fruit concentrates at all .. and never made anything with mango.. pineapple comes out nice though.. I have used tinned pineapple and pineapple juice before, it makes a nice white table wine.

Allie

 

[VineRipe]

Betty,

There are no actual banana solids in that one, you strain it all after boiling and only add the banana juice. You still get a lil sediment from it but it will clear perfectly well on its own.. just rack it occasionally til it does.

Allie, you may have answered one of the two questions I attempted to post last night. The first was on a one gallon effort at a recipe I found for banana wine. That recipe was nearly identical to the one that you posted, with three exceptions. A: The addition of cinnamon sticks ten minutes before the end of a forty minute boil, B: The recipe called for four pounds of bananas, and C: during the first week's primary fermentation, the recipe called for leaving the bananas and raisins in a straining bag in the must.

I followed everything except for the cinnamon, and things looked right nasty for a bit, but smelled pretty good. The wine has cleared nicely, and the aroma is very good. HOWEVER (always one of them, what?) when tasting the wine between rackings, I realized the hydrometer readings really *were* what they said they were. Since my wife likes a semi-sweet wine (I myself prefer beer - or better yet, the taste one gets from the blue agave as long as I limit myself to amounts that don't cause me to want to do stupid things - say about one shot. lol)

The O.G. was (in accordance with the instructions that came with the hydrometer) adjusted up to 1.333 in order to come up with a semi-sweet wine that would be at the top end of "semi" and the low end of "sweet".

After going through the fermentation phase, the F.G. was 0.99 - a dry wine with plenty of delicious aromas and some real promise. When I did the math, (IF my math is correct), then with an O.G. of 1.333 and a F.G. of 0.99, I have in my hands a wine with an ABV of nearly 19%.

My first question is this: Is this the correct way to calculate ABV? (O.G. - F.G.)*131?

And my second is this: I know rice wines are prone to produce higher ABV's than others due to starches in the rice being converted into alcohol as well as any sugars added. Could the starch in the bananas be a contributing factor in a wine that tastes more like a banana flavored vodka? (An exaggeration, I know, but not a huge one).

Thanks in advance to anyone who can shed some light on this for me.

 

[St Allie]

My hydrometer doesn't calculate that high.. I'm guessing you are pretty much on the money with the final abv though... which yeast did you use? also factor in the raisins.. there's a bit of sugar in those too. It's possibly the starches, because yeast just loves bananas anyway. The only wine I've ever done with an off the scale OG was a kit port and that finished really sweet even with chapitalisation.. It doesn't seem that you even needed to feed the wine with sugar in increments to get it to ferment dry with a high abv..

generally if you want a semi sweet wine.. you adjust the OG for a finished abv..( say 12%) ferment to dry, stabilise ( sulphites and sorbate) then backsweeten.

You can backsweeten this wine.. however it's still going to have a massive alcohol kick in the back of your throat. some time in the bottle will soften this ( possibly up to two years)

If you want to keep it as it is.. you may want to use it as a mixer with juice.. alternatively make another batch with a much lower abv ( say 8%) and when it's finished, blend the two.

hopefully I've covered your questions?

I've never tried blue agave, however have done a few stupid things myself after a couple of red wines..!

Allie

 

[VineRipe]

Hey, Allie

I used a champagne yeast (I don't think another post I made got through either, in which I discovered the ravages of waking up and finding out that I had become "elderly" and didn't know it. lol. Seems the CDC issued a study for some political purpose or other the other day and in order to make their numbers have more impact, said that so and so disease is in a dramatic increase in the elderly - and went on to describe that age group as "50 and above". Now I *KNOW* the World Health Organization defines "elderly" as beyond the age of 65, and was somewhat peeved. For a moment. Then it hit me - NOW I HAVE AN EXCUSE! lol) BTW, I read the above ON my 50th bd. No more bd surfing for me. Did I mention that the elderly are prone to ramblings and digressions? So where was I? Oh yeah.... I had just gone to verify the yeast I used...lol

Even in my dotage, I did get something right! It's a Red Star Pasteur Champagne yeast - which I understand has a pretty high alcohol tolerance.

I did keep the initial gallon aside, as I recall making our own "smoothies" before anyone ever thought up the name with a blender, a couple of ripe bananas and pineapple juice.

I also used all the immense "knowledge" I had obtained to start a five gallon batch in which I lowered the added sugar to a O.G. of 1.17. I haven't tasted it yet, but even that gives a fairly healthy ABV calculation of about 15% if my math isn't failing me.

Never tried blue agave? No cactus juice for you? lol... nothing mellower than Jose Cuervo 1800 Gold on the back of your throat. Honestly, if I could find an alcohol free recipe that would give me that taste, I'd be quite happy. I'd also actually drink the stuff from time to time, instead of wistfully thinking about how much I'd *like* to taste the stuff again.

 

[VineRipe]

So sorry, Allie.

I was typing in the dark again. The original post should have read "beginning SG of 1.133" and NOT 1.333. I guess my "elderly" state got me again.

 

[arcticsid]

Not trying to hijack your original thought in here, but I am willing to bet there is a beer recipe out there that uses bananas, that may be interesting.

I have actually looked at this banana wine idea a few times, and they say it actually makes a great wine. Looking forward to following your progress and see how it all turns out.

 

[St Allie]

heheh I read it as 1.133.. it's still around 20%.. surprised you can taste anything but alcohol.

1.3+ would be even higher!

and no I've never even tried tequila.. the smell puts me off it.

Allie

 

[VineRipe]

I'd be surprised if there wasn't a banana beer recipe out there to be had, sid.

I have a good chat friend couple in South Africa, and from what they tell me, that is the drink of choice (mainly because it's what they have to work with) for many of the indigenous folk there. I also understand *THAT* brew is pretty bad, but they make it in the most primitive methods I've ever heard of. Dig a hole, place the fermentation container in there, and when they run the other holes they've dug dry, that dig that one up and call it "beer". lol

I'll look around for something a *wee* bit more to modern standards, as I plan to try my hand at brewing beer myself in the very near future. Let me know if you try it before I get a roundtuit.

 

[VineRipe]

heheh I read it as 1.133.. it's still around 20%.. surprised you can taste anything but alcohol.

1.3+ would be even higher!

and no I've never even tried tequila.. the smell puts me off it.

Allie

Yep, that *would* be some PO-tent stuff indeed! lol

As to To Keel Ya, I love the taste of that stuff. Alas, as I said, it leads to things like shopping cart races with thirty participants (fifteen cart monkeys and fifteen pilots) at the local 24/7 supermarket and bribes to the manager to not call the po-lice and such. <sigh> Don't ask. It was part of the agreement I signed with the management. LOL

 

[BrewPahl]

I just started this recipe, skipped the 2 campden tablets as I react to sulfates and do not use them. I am very clean in my starting material and equipment. I also left out the 1 teaspoon nutrients as there is plenty there for the yeast to munch on. I was amazed by what this wine starts out looking like. Reminds me of the paste we used when we were in kindergarten!!! But looking at photos of how it clears I am sure it will be nice. I loved the taste prior to fermentation and it smells great in the primary!

 

[BrewPahl]

Pretty much clear now, there is some large sedement floating still, looks like parts of the rasins, I might have to filter this little bit out. After Racking I think I lost about a bottle in one gallon. This one makes a lot of sediment! I am going on vacation in three weeks. I might just let it sit until I get back.

 

[jackendonald]

4 1 / 2 pounds banana 1 / 2 pound chopped raisins 3 pounds granulated sugar 1 lemon (juice) 1 orange (juice) 1 gallon water wine yeast and nutrient Peel and chop bananas and their peels, placing both stock and grain tie closed. Place the bag of grain in a large pan or pot with water and bring to a boil, then simmer gently for 30 minutes. Pour hot liquor over sugar and lemon / orange juice in primary fermentation container and stir to dissolve sugar. When cool enough to handle, squeeze the bag of grain to extract as much liquid as possible and add the container. When liquor cools to 70 degrees F., add yeast and nutrients. Cover and set aside in a warm place for one week, stirring daily. Move to a cool (60-65 degrees F.) and let the property for two months. Siphon liquor off sediment into secondary fermentation vessel, add chopped raisins and fit airlock. Rack after four months and again in another four months. Bottle and sample after six months. Improves with ag

 

[jableon]

Ingredients
3 pounds bananas
1 1/2 cups light raisins
5 cups granulated sugar
2 lemons
2 campden tablets
1 teaspoon nutrients
water
1 package wine yeast



Peel and slice bananas. Chop 1/10 to 1/2 of the banana peels. Place both in a large saucepan with 6 cups water. Bring to a boil and simmer for 30 minutes. Strain out pulp.

Put sugar, raisins, campden tablets and the juice of the lemons into primary fermentor. Pour hot banana liquid over sugar mixture and stir to dissolve. Make up to 1 gallon with cold water. Let sit overnight.

The next day, add nutrients and yeast. Leave for 5 days, stirring daily. There will be heavy foaming during fermentation.

On the fifth day, siphon into secondary fermentor before stirring, being careful not to disturb the sediment on the bottom. If necessary, make up to volume with water. Attach airlock. Siphon the wine off the sediment after three weeks. Return wine to fermentor.

For a dry wine, Rack every three months for a year.

For a sweet wine, add 1/2 cup sugar dissolved in 1 cup wine at each racking until fermentation does not start again when sugar is added.

Continue racking wine every two to three months until it is clear. Bottle.

Variation
Use brown sugar (or demerara sugar) in place of the granulated sugar.
For a spiced wine, add one or all of the following:
1 ounce bruised ginger root
1 ounce whole cloves
1 - 4 inch cinnamon stick
If you want to leave out the banana peels, add 1/4 teaspoon tannin.


Recipe from Roxannes Wine Cellar

website here

http://scorpius.spaceports.com/~goodwine/index.htm

Yum Yum Yum I can't wait to make and try this !!!! Thanks for sharing

 

[ErmaMoreno]

Sounds awesome! I'm new to this forum and wine making in general, my previous experiments weren't very good though. I've never even heard of banana wine before but I'm gonna give this recipe a try soon! Thanks for sharing.

 

[samwisegamgeese]

Well I have made an uber mistake......making banana wine and the thing is going to foam over soon.....need soemthing to put it in exta and I do not have and it is only 24 hours old!

 

[rockinsoul]

Siphoning Question

Hi there,

St Allie, you said after 5 days to siphon the liquid out taking care not to disturb the sediment. However after 5 days mine is still very actively fermenting so much that the sediment is all mixed in with the liquid from top to bnottom and continuously cycling round and round in the convection current. Should I still attempt to siphon or should I leave it a while to settle? Will the mulch start to decompose and turn my wine off if I leave it too long? I need an answer to this quite urgently!

Anyone's expert opinion on this would be much appreciated.

Thanks in advance!