Bananarama question

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Wynott

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Today I bought 7lb spotty bananas for £1.50 in my local Spar clapacouldn't resist trying some Banana wine, but notice that I should put in some amylozyme. Not something I keep in the cupboard...would it be ok to put this in say, when the must gets transferred to the DJ :?:
 
I tried to make banana wine but could not get the liquor separated from the gloop. I think you would need a very fine mesh filter. My boiled banana gloop did make a lovely dessert - almost like an ice cream.
 
Today I bought 7lb spotty bananas for £1.50 in my local Spar clapacouldn't resist trying some Banana wine, but notice that I should put in some amylozyme. Not something I keep in the cupboard...would it be ok to put this in say, when the must gets transferred to the DJ :?:
Hi, Wynott. Can't make out what your avatar is. It's a plate of something, and it looks good.
So. Amylozyme is, I think, amylase, which is an enzyme which breaks down unfermentable starch into fermentable sugars. You might not need it if your bananas are really ripe. Here's a Googling:
Bananas are a rich source of carbs, which occur mainly as starch in unripe bananas and sugars in ripe bananas. ... Green bananas contain up to 80% starch measured in dry weight. During ripening, the starch is converted into sugars and ends up being less than 1% when the banana is fully ripe (2).
However, even the merest traces of starch in your wine will give you a haze. Yes, you can put it in at any stage during the fermentation. As a matter of interest, human saliva contains amylase, which is why starchy things taste good when chewed. In antiquity, tribal beer making was done by the women chewing the grain and spitting it back into the stuff they'd pounded with water.
Bref: just spit in it and don't tell anyone. acheers.
 
Hi AA (what an acronym...)

Thanks for the help. The avatar is last year's crop of Medlars. Wish I could have got that many this year, very poor harvest. Produced a really nice wine, taste of vanilla with a hint of cinnamon. I'm trying to leave one bottle for another year or so.

Great, I will put the amylase in a little later. The liquid already looks like spit, so I don't need to help it :vomitintoilet:
 
I tried to make banana wine but could not get the liquor separated from the gloop. I think you would need a very fine mesh filter. My boiled banana gloop did make a lovely dessert - almost like an ice cream.
Hi kelper

I'll see what happens next (see above!) and post later
 
It can't possibly be as bad as my White Peach, Mango & Passonfruit WOW sick...
Good to know the amylase isn't essential.

I suspect it will take a while to clear, as the bananas were spotty rather than black. Looking at the timescale it will be about a year before I have to hold my nose and taste it!
 
In what way is it vile?
If it weren't a non-boozing night I'd go and open a bottle and test it. I had somebody send me a whatsapp video at 2am of some people opening some at a party because they thought they'd try it and it was funny. Some were out and out hateful, others tried to be magnanimous.

It's sort of sickly and you really struggle to drink it neat, then even half and half with pop, which normally rescues anything, it's still so sickly that it makes your cheekbones hurt from all the scowling.

It was the first thing I did when I started brewing. Didn't have temperature control so just left it in a room but I can't think that made it that bad. I remember the day I made it so well because big t*ts Tracy was round trying it on and I did a half marathon. I would change my decisions about that day in many, MANY ways if I had another go.
 
It's sort of sickly and you really struggle to drink it neat, then even half and half with pop, which normally rescues anything, it's still so sickly that it makes your cheekbones hurt from all the scowling.
Not quite the Marlborough Sauvignon Blanc you were expecting, then. Definitely going to have a go at this one. There I a few people I'd love to send a bottle to next Yuletide, (it's too late for this year). Maybe Tracy-of-the Legendary-Endowments put the mockers on it. I'll get one-toothed Madeleine to come and stir mine next full moon.
acheers.
 
I made banana wine a few months ago and it cleared with the addition of a 2 part wine finings sachet at the end. The recipe didn't have any amylase in.

I actually opened a bottle of it 2 days ago; it has excellent mouth feel, and a slightly noticeable alcohol taste which I'm hoping will mellow out.
 
Ah I normally don't bother checking the % unless I have an issue with it. My dad says 'what you doing that for? Sticks to the glass doesn't it?' lol

I can report however that after a bottle of it you do feel noticeably different...

Anyway recipe:


Banana Wine

1.3kg of ripe bananas, still in their skin.

900g sugar

1 cup of strong black tea

220g golden raisins

Juice of 1 lemon

Yeast nutrient

Pectolase

Yeast


Method:

The most important thing to remember, is that whatever bananas you choose, they have to be RIPE. Like, really ripe. Practically brown.

PRO TIP: If your bananas just won’t ripen quickly enough, place them in a brown paper bag with an apple or a tomato and leave them to sit overnight. The fruits will produce ethylene, which triggers the ripening hormone in bananas, so they should be perfectly ripe by the morning.

Give them a quick wash with the skins on and chop them up as they are.

Put the bananas in a large saucepan, add the sugar and stir. Pour in approx. one gallon of hot (not boiling) water and cook on a medium heat for around 45 minutes, never letting the mixture reach the boil (sugar burns very easily). Stir the mixture pretty much constantly while it cooks and use a potato masher to mush up the bananas as much as possible.

Meanwhile, roughly chop up your raisins and toss them into the brew bin.

Remove the banana mixture from the heat and allow it to cool down for around ten minutes before straining it and squeezing every last drop of banana juice out.

Pour the liquid over the raisins, then add the lemon, pectolase, black tea, wine yeast and the yeast nutrient. I would also add two scoops of the banana mush for extra flavour. Cover the bin, and leave to ferment for five days, stirring daily. After five days strain the mixture and squeeze it tightly. I would strain the mixture at least twice at this point. Use a new straining bag each time, so you get the cleanest liquid possible.

Pour liquid into your demijohn. If it doesn’t fill the demijohn, just add a little splash of bottled or filtered water. Store your demijohn in a cool dark place and leave it for at least a month. Rack. If your freshly racked wine comes in at under one gallon, you can add a tablespoonful of sugar syrup at this stage, and a splash of filtered or bottled water. Leave for 3 months. Rack. Leave 2 months, bottle. Leave 6 – 12 months before drinking.



And I add finings at the end when I stabilise. Also I top up with apple juice not water when I rack.
 
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Unfortunately, just like pectolase, amylase does get inhibited by alcohol. By the time you get to 5% abv it's activity drops by half. I did a couple of DJs of Banana wine a couple of years ago, also with about 7lb of over-ripe bananas cheap from the supermarket. I washed, chopped (with skin), mashed, added water and boiled the bananas, cooled then added a tin of white wine enhancer, 2kg sugar and couple of campden tablets. The next morning I added 3tsp pectolase and a 4g packet of amylase, then a packet of MJ SN9 wine yeast that evening so they had a bit of time to work their magic before the fermentation. The enzymes worked a treat breaking down the gloop and straining it wasn't a problem at all. The wine needed quite a long conditioning time, and it was ok. A bit weird. Crystal clear, and tasted of bananas. It was perfectly drinkable but not as good as more 'classic' wine fruit like grape, peach, plum, cherry, blackberry, elderberry etc...
 
I think mine's one of those Young's straining bags, probably a medium one

But bear in mind most of the gunk is strained out before it goes into the fermenting bucket, except the raisins and a spoon or two of goo lol.

So then when it comes to straining it in to the demijohn there's not much extra to strain out, and that's the second straining.

So you don't end up with too much gunk on the bottom.

I mean I think I topped up with about a pint of apple juice after I racked it out of the demijohn, which I figure is pretty good considering how crappy it looks it the demijohn at the beginning.
 
Well at the risk of sticking my neck on the block,here goes

Pectolase and amylase make the extraction of flavours,colouring,and clarity of finished country wines a doddle.

There said it.

There are methods like cold water extraction ect,ect. That were developed years before these products became widly available to the home winemaker,same thing in fact applies to use of proper wine yeasts.

In the modern world I see no reason not to take advantage of these products,The general public has got used to CRYSTAL clear wines with NO off flavours.

Carry on executioner,!!!!!!!!
 
Today I bought 7lb spotty bananas for £1.50 in my local Spar clapacouldn't resist trying some Banana wine, but notice that I should put in some amylozyme. Not something I keep in the cupboard...would it be ok to put this in say, when the must gets transferred to the DJ :?:

Remember: it ain't what you do it's the way that you do it.... and that's what gets results! :coat:
 
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