Banana Wine skins or no skins?

[Sammyk]

We are getting ready to thaw many bags of bananas. Some were sliced up with skins and some were not.
What is the verdict on using skins or not for a straight banana wine. It would not be a problem to remove the skins while they are thawing.
Please tell us how you did straight banana wine with or without skins.......

 

[djrockinsteve]

I would think no skins but I have never made a banana wine. Just a thought.

 

[LoneTreeFarms]

a couple of jack kellers recipes say that he leaves the skin on, others say he leaves about 1/4 of the skins on. i think you're good either way you do it.

 

[BernardSmith]

I started a small batch of banana wine a couple of months ago. Still too green to drink but clear as a bell. I did not add skins but did add tannin (I think the skins may provide tannins).

 

[froeschli]

I usually leave half the skins on. 1 banana with, one without, repeat. Seems to be working fine so far... The only things I add is a bit of lemon juice and sugar. Water, of course.

 

[vernsgal]

I went without skins but added tannin and lemon juice. My wine cleared perfectly. and on a footnote: I added a vanilla bean and apple juice concentrate.

 

[dralarms]

I did no skins. Mine is a very nice clear, yellow wine. No one but me likes it, too much banana they say. To me it's fantastic. I took a 3 gallon strawberry and added 8 bottles of banana. Nice strawberry banana flavor.

 

[rhartwel41]

I used skins in mine. It's very banana but finishes with a bitter taste. I think it had to many skins in it and its the reason for the bitter taste.

 

[wood1954]

I racked mine today. Started in July with skins. Final numbers for mine are SG 1010 TA 7 or so, PH 3.5. I hated it when i first racked it off the lees. Today i think it will be a good wine. Not a lot of banana flavor, almost more like a white grape wine. Good enough to make more batches when i get bored this winter.

 

[Deezil]

Made mine with no skins, but I let the bananas sit until the peels turned black.. Light reading

 

[Sammyk]

We racked off the gross lees today, 1/2 gallon of less from of 2.5 gallons. WE had added bentonite on day 3 of fermentation and stirred slurry very well and then racked to carboys.

It was nice a clear today, FG was .998. Going to let it age and see what happens. Taste was a little hot and I think aging will bring out the best of the golden yellow color.

Half the bananas had skins and they were black; probably from being very ripe and then frozen. We did not simmer but added 10 pounds of sliced "old" bananas that accumulated over a few months as they got to ripe to eat. We did add one box of golden raising to the primary.

Started some banana extract from ripe bananas in light rum to add at some point in time.....

 

[conniferus]

coniferus

yes,yes leave the peels in your must for at least a week,then pull them out trying not to squeeze them as it's hard enough to clarify banana wine.

 

[Sammyk]

We squeezed the heck out of the straining bag and got every last drop and it cleared with no problem. Like I mentioned we added bentonite to the primary on the 3rd day.