Banana flower wine recipe - critique please

[Stressbaby]

I have bananas growing in the greenhouse and now have a banana flower. The weight is about 13.3 ounces. This is a common ingredient in Thai cooking. I thought, what the heck? Try a gallon of wine.

This reportedly oxidizes very quickly. Every recipe says basically you have to slice and immediately put them in either vinegar water or lemon juice water. Here is the recipe I've come up with:

One banana flower
3 bananas without skins
One can Welch's grape concentrate
Juice of 1 lime
Acid blend to ~7g/l
28g lemongrass
~1.75 pounds of sugar to get to 1.085
1t yeast nutrient
1t pectic enzyme
1 pack K1-V1116
Water to 1 gallon

Bring lemon juice and 2 quarts of water to boil. Add chopped banana flower, sliced bananas without skins, and lemongrass, simmer for 1/2 hour. Strain solids and add to primary with sugar. Add remaining water and grape juice, Campden tab. When cool, add 1t pectic. After 12 hours, adjust acidity, sugar if needed, and then pitch yeast.

Thoughts or feedback?

 

[Stressbaby]

Here is a pic of the flower.

 

[GameRoomInc]

I know this isn't horribly helpful but... WOW! I love unusual wines so please keep me updates on it's progress!

 

[Stressbaby]

I know this isn't horribly helpful but... WOW! I love unusual wines so please keep me updates on it's progress!

Well I didn't get to it today, but will tackle this tomorrow and post pics.

 

[jagreek]

Very interesting, I wasn't able to find any other recipes for a Banana flower wine. As for oxidization I would just take extra precautions to prevent splashing, head space, etc. to lower air exposure and the Campden will help too so you should be fine. Very intriguing, I will definitely stay posted.

 

[Stressbaby]

This flower does indeed oxidize very quickly...literally within seconds. I tweaked the recipe. Because this flower is more bitter than I thought it would be, I added a third banana. Also, after reviewing my other lemongrass wine recipes, I cut back to 28g on the lemongrass, which was about 3 stalks. And I had lime, no lemon.

Pic 1 shows my prep. On the left is the bowl with 1/2gal of water and the lime juice. Basically the moment something was chopped, it was immersed in the lime water, otherwise it browned.

I studied some Youtube videos to figure out how to prepare the flower. First, you pull back the red bracts and remove the florets. Pic 2 is the bowl with the florets.

Pic 3 is a floret. On the right, pointing right, is what is called the transparent membrane. Next going to the left is the stamen. These two pieces are said to be bitter and have to be removed from each floret. I tasted them and to be honest I could not tell that they were any more bitter than the rest of it. Next, going left, are the black colored pistils. I removed these also to prevent any discoloration. The remainder was chopped up for the wine.

The maroon or dark red bracts are not used but the inner bracts are chopped like you would for slaw and used, as in pic 4.

Pic 5 shows the chopped flower with the bananas.

The lemongrass is in pic 6.

Pic 7 shows the simmering mix. I was very pleased with the taste of the "tea." I was concerned about bitterness, but it is not that bitter really. It has plenty of that tannic, stickiness-on-the-tongue feel, like a very strong tea. Three stalks of lemongrass was fine, 50g would have been overpowering.

 

[Stressbaby]

The TA came in at 6g/L (0.6%). WineCalc says 3.6g of acid blend to get to 7, so I rounded up to 4g (1tsp). pH is a little high at 3.76. OG also a little high at 1.092, oh well.

Final recipe:
One banana flower, chopped
3 bananas without skins
One can Welch's grape concentrate
Juice of 1 lime
1tsp acid blend
28g lemongrass
1# 11oz sugar
1t yeast nutrient
1t pectic enzyme
1 pack K1-V1116
1 gallon, divided in half

 

[Stressbaby]

Yikes!
Extremely fast ferment to 1.025 in a couple of days...and now a bit of rotten egg smell from the primary despite 1 Campden and 1tsp yeast nutrient.
I did neglect to stir it this morning, violating my "stir twice a day" rule.
Aerating fairly vigorously while I still have it in the primary. Other suggestions?
The taste is quite nice, BTW.

 

[gird123]

I hope some one else will jump in, but I would have done the exact same thing.

 

[Stressbaby]

Thanks gird. It seems much better this morning after pouring back and forth and stirring with a copper pipe.

 

[gird123]

How is it today.

 

[Stressbaby]

Great.
No rotten egg smell. Moved to 1 gal secondary at 0.998 and still bubbling away. I had ~8oz extra and I put it in an extra bottle for topping off later.

 

[gird123]

Great.
No rotten egg smell. Moved to 1 gal secondary at 0.998 and still bubbling away. I had ~8oz extra and I put it in an extra bottle for topping off later.

How is it?

 

[Stressbaby]

Good. Son-home-from-college is asleep in the basement but I'll try to get a pick later.
Looks to be done fermenting. Clearing. I haven't tasted it yet.

 

[Stressbaby]

Here is a pic.

 

[jamesngalveston]

Funny how one plant can be nuisance in one part of the Us and exotic in another.
bananas are a nuisance here..
I cut mine all out, and planted Mango's.

I wish i could send you some flowers, they wouldnt last.

 

[Stressbaby]

Clearing up...it doesn't have much flavor...sort of a herbaceous, vegetative taste.