Dishwater-colored Banana/Pineapple wine

[MustyMike]

i just set 3 - 6 gal carboys back of banana will bottle Good Lord Willing in 2 years,
dawg

God love you for your patience dawg. I have acquired some over the last couple months with this craft, but it takes a strong will to age them like you do. Godspeed brother

 

[hounddawg]

God love you for your patience dawg. I have acquired some over the last couple months with this craft, but it takes a strong will to age them like you do. Godspeed brother

that's why i make DDDB now and my skeeter pee port,
dawg

 

[abrewkat]

Yes it is distressing to see the color off. Yeast have a white color which will go away as the wine clarifies. The series below is rhurbarb two weeks ago with active fermentation, today with slow bubbles and last years.
.View attachment 62887
View attachment 62886
Of course if you really don’t like what will turn into a relatively transparent wine you could add something for color. The rhurbarb has about 5% raspberry since I like the color.

I was having some serious colour envy on your rhubarb, mine has either ended up a pale yellow or a light pink. Then I saw the raspberry part and think I'm going to use that in my next batch! Yours look great!

 

[hounddawg]

God love you for your patience dawg. I have acquired some over the last couple months with this craft, but it takes a strong will to age them like you do. Godspeed brother

once you build up a stash, an make quick wines like skeeter pee & dragons blood, it gets much easier to age much longer your tougher/finer wines,,,,,
Dawg

 

[winemanden]

One of the tricks we used to use, was to boil up a couple of very ripe chopped bananas (no skin), strain and add the juice to the must. The colour of it looked grey, but it helps with clearing the wine. I don't know why it should do that, but doing it seemed to make the wine clear easily.

 

[KCCam]

One of the tricks we used to use, was to boil up a couple of very ripe chopped bananas (no skin), strain and add the juice to the must. The colour of it looked grey, but it helps with clearing the wine. I don't know why it should do that, but doing it seemed to make the wine clear easily.

Huh, first time I heard that one. I’ll have to try it some time.

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

You guys have me super curious as I've never tried making a banana or banana mix wine. Does anyone have a recipe to share?

 

[hounddawg]

You guys have me super curious as I've never tried making a banana or banana mix wine. Does anyone have a recipe to share?

i use 12 lb banana ripened to black then frozen skins per gallon and all, no water, i use apple juice instead, i use 1 & 3/4 pound golden raisins per 6 gallon, chopped and frozen as well, then any standard recipe, sugar to taste, i bulk age banana for 2 years, got 3-6's in the corner only 2 & 1/2 years to go,
Dawg

 

[RichardC]

Hi guys. I started pineapple wine a month ago and it's currently mud water brown and secondary fermentation is coming to an end. Partly my fault because I could only grab ' black' seedless raisins instead of the recommended golden raisins. Lol ( lesson learnt!) However, thanks to you guys, i have a little hope that it wouldn't remain this colour once it settles..

I added the recommended amount of pectic enzymes ( powder) before pitching yeast, but, do find it's taking longish to start clearing. I tried Mango wine a month before and added a little more pectic enzymes because Mango has a relatively high amount of pectin. Less than a month after pitching, the mango wine was as clear as water with a yellow tint ( avatar) .

What's the recommendation: wait and see, or add more enzymes?

Dawg, how long have you been making wine? That sort of patience is amazing!

Thanks

 

[winemanden]

Years ago Prof Gerry Fowles - he's the one who began Gervin Yeasts- used to publish a 1/4 ly magazine called wine for all seasons. I'm sure I read that he said not to use peels in Banana wine as they contain a form of Latex. I've never actually made Banana wine although I have used Banana gravy to give body and help clearing in my wines. It would be interesting to hear your views on that.
By the way, whenever I used gravy in my recipes, my wife said she could always detect Banana in the wine. I could never taste it, and she reckons she's not very good at tasting wine. It doesn't stop her drinking her share!

 

[KCCam]

What's the recommendation: wait and see, or add more enzymes?

You said it's "secondary fermentation is coming to an end." Clearing won't start until it is absolutely at the end, and degassed. Any fermentation at all, or CO2 coming out of solution just keeps everything suspended and murky. Once fermentation is done and the SG doesn't drop for 3 days, you add K-meta and sorbate to keep it that way, and degas thoroughly. If you want it to clear more quickly, then you add a fining agent. Others just wait.
Anyway, your banana wine just looks to me like the solids are all still in suspension. I don't see any sediment there. I don't think it's pectic haze, which is something that remains after most of the sediment has dropped out.

 

[hounddawg]

Hi guys. I started pineapple wine a month ago and it's currently mud water brown and secondary fermentation is coming to an end. Partly my fault because I could only grab ' black' seedless raisins instead of the recommended golden raisins. Lol ( lesson learnt!) However, thanks to you guys, i have a little hope that it wouldn't remain this colour once it settles..

I added the recommended amount of pectic enzymes ( powder) before pitching yeast, but, do find it's taking longish to start clearing. I tried Mango wine a month before and added a little more pectic enzymes because Mango has a relatively high amount of pectin. Less than a month after pitching, the mango wine was as clear as water with a yellow tint ( avatar) .

What's the recommendation: wait and see, or add more enzymes?

Dawg, how long have you been making wine? That sort of patience is amazing!

Thank you sir

my knowledge is limited, but if that is super young, say just in the secondary, it looks normal to me, banana and pineapple are tuff and require much time, in the early stages of my secondary, yours and mine look the very same, from my secondary after 4 months, i think, will have to look at my dates and notes i put blue masking tape on my carboys, at least till i come up with the money for another for steve's reusable tags, ok back to you, at a few weeks my carboys turned a very deep all but black, now my banana , just starting to fade, to a extremely bold yeller, i expect that in about 18 more months they will a nice rich yellow, now at this is patience and time, , , to me you look right on track, you do keep your aging wines in the dark a little cool, but from your looks heck send it over i'll age it, then drink it all and send you a email on how it tastes, lol,
all joking aside you look right on time, if you fine it, then you will not get your best color, just my 2 cents, best of luck,
Dawg

 

[RichardC]

Thanks guys. I'll try the the patience thing and see what happens.

Also, thanks again to you, I bought 40lbs of banana!! Will have to separate skins and ferment that separately because it's unlikely that they are organic

 

[hounddawg]

Thanks guys. I'll try the the patience thing and see what happens.

Also, thanks again to you, I bought 40lbs of banana!! Will have to separate skins and ferment that separately because it's unlikely that they are organic
View attachment 63359
QUOTE]
i treat all fruits and berries that i don't pick myself as contaminated, before i let them ripen to black, i use a scrub brush, both my colanders are so big that you set them in sink basin and the rim of the colander holds it up, i scrub with dawn and rinse under cold water on one side, then after very well rinsed off , i put my fruit in other colander in opposite basin to spray again with cold water then drip dry, where i live bananas can't grow, although a man 2 miles from me has 3 palm trees,, every fall he hires carpenters build a frame around them then covers in visqueen,, yup he got big bucks, lol,, only palm trees i've ever seen in arkansaw,,, lol,, i'll have to ask him if he pipes heat to them in the winter, yup, tons of big bucks,
Dawg

 

[RichardC]

All right guys. Yes, I know this is not my thread but, am updating here because the original Q and responses are here.

The banana wine I started shortly after posting the picture, on 10th July, is 90% clear. During racking I got a little bit of sediment in, but, it'll get CLEAR shortly. (Bulk aging)

The pineapple wine I'm fussing about is still 'murky'. I know the actual colour will suck ( added dark raisins instead of golden,) but, clarity is poor, and it is a month older (5th June) than the banana. Yes, in the whole scheme of things, the pineapple is young but, why do you think clearing may be delayed?

Forgot to mention that there is no carbonation or signs of fermentation at all.

Top pic in cup, is pineapple.

Second pic, in bottle, is banana that settled out from lees, after first racking.
Bottom pic is top view of cup since the opaque plastic can be misleading.

 

[hounddawg]

All right guys. Yes, I know this is not my thread but, am updating here because the original Q and responses are here.

The banana wine I started shortly after posting the picture, on 10th July, is 90% clear. During racking I got a little bit of sediment in, but, it'll get CLEAR shortly. (Bulk aging)

The pineapple wine I'm fussing about is still 'murky'. I know the actual colour will suck ( added dark raisins instead of golden,) but, clarity is poor, and it is a month older (5th June) than the banana. Yes, in the whole scheme of things, the pineapple is young but, why do you think clearing may be delayed?

Top pic in cup, is pineapple and bottom pic, in bottle, is banana that settled out from lees, after first racking.

yep, your pineapple will clear, for me the 2 longest to clear is pineapple and pear, but again yep given time and patience your pineapple will clear very well,
Dawg