IainM
Landlord.
Actual bananas. The local tesco were selling kilos of over-ripe bananas for next to nothing and it reminded me of banana wine recipes I've seen on the web. I was super busy yesterday so didn't get to do much research, but I managed to botch together a recipe from what I remembered. 3.5kg over-ripe bananas, washed and sliced (skin and all), boiled for 20 mins. I then added 2kg sugar, let it cool a bit, then added 2x out of date white wine enhancer and a couple of campden tablets. This morning I added 3tsp pectolase and a 4g packet of amylase. I'll strain and ferment it tonight.
I'm not sure about how it would work adding banana to beer - at the moment I'm using amylase which I guess would break down the non-fermentable sugars in the wort and dry the beer out, but then again there are a few recipes online which only use pectinase in the wine and they manage to clear ok with finings. Perhaps it could be added to the mash to break down the banana starch, though I think BIAB would be the only way to go to avoid getting it stuck. Another thing, some people say the banana taste fades during fermentation so it's present but subtle in the final bottled wine. Perhaps in beer this taste would be overpowered by hops and malt. Anyway, buying a load of old bananas on a whim to chuck in a bucket and see what happens is one thing, but if I was going to do invest the time to make a beer I'd do some research first.
I now have the replacement part a bowl under the valve and await a plumber :headbang: brewing off til friday. Think i'll use up my steeping grains for a Barley wine or Abbey before doing my mangrove jacks pink grapefruit ale, tripel or saison. :unsure:
