I made a batch of banana wine - still aging - the bananas were VERY ripe and the peel was black and the wine does not taste like a ripe or an unripe "banana". It tastes delicious, is as clear as a bell although with a golden hue. Perhaps the banana flavor might return in a few months but you could not drink this (IMO) and know that this was made from fermented bananas...
These were regular store-bought Cavendish bananas?
That's odd, my banana wine would knock you over with a banana aroma before you could even get it to your lips, but because my batch is made with caramelized honey as well, it tends to blend into the mix of toasted/caramelized-type notes a bit, although still present.
I'll have to make a regular batch of banana wine, to compare.
Is it supposed to be a grey color in the primary? Not a very pleasant color at all. My bananas were not black skin ripe, they were starting to get black spots. The recipe I am following called to slice the bananas with the peels and simmer them in hot water for a half hour. Is that to break down those starches? Like I said at least it's only a gallon. Does it have to age long? I like to see that it clears well. Thanks again for all the input.
Since I used bananas with black peels, I didn't include the peels myself, but I have done a good bit of reading on people who have done it the way you have, and they didnt have any problems. I do remember someone else mentioning a grey-ish primary, but I dont remember anything about it, so I'm not sure if its typical or not..
The boiling is probably to try and break up those starches into sugars, but this process may also induce changes into the flavors and aromatics of the bananas as well. I had read about this process and decided to go the way that I did, in order to harness the natural flavors of the banana as much as possible, while combining it with the flavors of a toasted/boiled/burnt honey.
I would think like most any wine, this would definitely benefit from at least a year of aging, although I dont remember off-hand what my research said about aging in particular; my gut instinct says its closer to 2 years than 1, but I dont remember specifically.