banana wine oxidation happy mistake

[dawgster]

Hello everyone, I wanted to share an experience I had with making banana wine and I'm new to this forum so I'm posting in the beginner's section. I'm not a complete newbie, but I am not very "serious" about winemaking in terms of measuring everything carefully, etc, etc. I kind of throw stuff together and say a prayer. I'm in India and I have a soft spot for banana wine as bananas are readily available year-round and it's an easy wine to make (for me at least!) in that it always tastes ok
The last time I made banana wine I used a different container for fermentation. Usually I use a carboy-type container with thin neck but this time I used a bucket with an (allegedly) air-tight lid. However, it must not be been so air-tight as after opening it up I discovered to my horror that the banana, which always was a yellowish colour was this time a deep, dark brown colour. I was sure it was spoilt. But after desperately tasting it I was pleasantly surprised to see (taste I mean!) that it had a different, more rich kind of flavour. I consider it the best tasting banana wine I've made. Anyway, I guess it must be due to accidental (on my part) exposure to more oxygen than normal. Maybe some other forum members with some experience can comment. But just thought I'd share my happiness with you all

 

[Ericphotoart]

Welcome to the forum! Banana wine looks pretty awful, muddy during the initial fermentation stages. I made banana wine twice. The last one is aging right now since December '22. Still in carboy. The first one was great but I sweetened it a little too much. Banana wine is quite tarty at the beginning but after a year of aging it is smooth and very fruity. Don't worry about the color at this point. Once it's cleared you will get a beautiful yellowish color. Tell us more about the process you used. Did you use peels as well? Did you add pectic enzyme? Banana wine takes a long time to clear. At least mine.

 

[Jovimaple]

Welcome to WMT!

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome to WMT! Happy accidents are good!

 

[dawgster]

Welcome to the forum! Banana wine looks pretty awful, muddy during the initial fermentation stages. I made banana wine twice. The last one is aging right now since December '22. Still in carboy. The first one was great but I sweetened it a little too much. Banana wine is quite tarty at the beginning but after a year of aging it is smooth and very fruity. Don't worry about the color at this point. Once it's cleared you will get a beautiful yellowish color. Tell us more about the process you used. Did you use peels as well? Did you add pectic enzyme? Banana wine takes a long time to clear. At least mine.

The banana wine in question has been consumed with love and appreciation! Like I said, I'm a bit of a throw stuff together so I don't want to offend those of you who may be much more attentive to detail and the process to ensure consistency from batch to batch, or to carefully tweak variables to improve.
India is a diverse country, but basically it is hot, so stuff tends to ferment quickly, although I have had some stuff that has taken longer, like a wild apple wine that kept steadily bubbling for months (I have a couple bottles stashed for future use). But a lot of stuff will stop bubbling after a month from pitching and I'm too impatient to wait 1 year to drink, so.....

Anyway, I have tried various things such as raisin wine, banana wine, plum wine, and just recently wild apple wine (it's something that is locally found but not grown commercially). I also just this year tried Roselle wine, which after a stalled ferment (my first stuck fermentation!), I was able to revive it and now it tastes pretty awesome (well, for my low standards, that is....). It was made from dried roselle and has a bit of a smoky flavour, and has a deep rich red colour which I'm sure psychologically influences the taste.
Oh, and I forgot Eggplant wine (the idea of which I got from the internet). This is my first eggplant (brinjal in India) wine and it is, um, interesting, but not like totally disgusting. Actually, it's not too bad, but it wouldn't be my first choice. I'm not sure if I want to spend time experimenting with it. According to the recipe from which I got the idea (Jack Keller BTW), the quality of brinjal makes a big difference.

Coming back to the question re Bananas, I do use pectic enzyme, which makes a difference in clarity (but yes, banana wine is hard to be very clear naturally), and I just chop up the bananas without peeling anything, so everything goes in! These days I go for really really ripe bananas with bits that seem like they are going bad, black skin, etc, but it seems to be fine. After chopping the bananas up I cook them on low heat for at least 30 minutes. I always make a 20 litre batch. I use about 6-7kg of bananas, 5 kg of sugar (these days I'm splitting up the sugar - half at the start and half a few days later). I don't have a hydrometer, acid measuring stuff, etc. Like I said, I'm more eyeball it kind of person....I do throw in a cup of strong tea, yeast nutrient (DAP), some acid (usually a little lemon concentrate or juice squeezed from lemons). I keep in a primary fermenting bucket for 6-7 days, stirring daily, then transfer to a 20 litre carboy (unfortunately plastic). I do use a home-made straining bag to keep the bananas, so when it's time to transfer from the primary to the carboy, I can just lift the bag, squeeze as much juice/must out of it as possible, then discard that. Typically I let the banana sit in the carboy with airlock for about 4 weeks, then siphon off to another carboy for maybe another 4 weeks (depends how thirsty I am....) Then I'll bottle it.

BTW, I use "jahaji" bananas, which I believe is some form of Cavendish. However, there is another locally available kind of banana that is sort of not as sweet and has a little bit of a tart side, which I once had a bad experience with trying to ferment, so I've avoided it religiously since then. However, that experience was a long time ago and I think the reason it didn't turn out was for other reaons, so I ought to give that variety another chance. However, I've lacked the guts to try.

 

[winemanden]

The best way to cure your impatience is to make more wine. Store a few bottles, drink the rest.

 

[David Violante]

Welcome to WMT!