Bananas for body?

[Coaster]

I want to add some bananas for body to some of my future kits (during primary fermentation). I think I will use a fine mesh bag, marbles (to keep it down), and maybe some raisins. My question is on how to prepare the bananas. Do I allow to over ripen, peel, freeze, drop into bag, then into must?

 

[Funky Fish]

Try over-ripen, bag (plastic), freeze, thaw (in bowl), peel, drop mush in must.

 

[jcnoren]

Make sure that your bananas are very very ripe. As in the peels of the bananas have turned black. My first time I used what I thought was ripe bananas, brown skinned. When added to the primary formed a "cap" that I had to stir down daily. Thecap never did disappear in the primary, what a mess to transfer into the secondary and a lot of waste. I did not experience this with extremely ripe bananas.


With my ripe bananas Ifreeze them(skin and all) for a couple of days. When they get to this very ripe state it is hard to peel them and freeze them without the skin/peel.


I then took the frozen bananasout to unthaw. Have tried the following methods both work;


a)unthaw totally then squeezed out the contents (like a tube of toothpaste) into a blender and blenderized them. This works it is very gooie OR


b) unthawbananas partially so you can remove the peel.Place semi thawed peeled bananas into a blender, leave to warm up and blenderized them. This works but it is very cold on the fingers when peeling them.


I then put my bananas directly into the primary. As long as the bananas are extremely ripe thank goodness no cap forms, thus less loss when transfering into my secondary.
I have not tried using a bag to contain my bananas.


End product to my taste did seem to have more body.

JC





Edited by: jcnoren

 

[pkcook]

Coaster,


I recently made a plum wine that I used bananas in for body. I used 2 very ripe, frozen bananas and mashed them up and put them in with the plums in the bag. There was "NO" banana left when I transferred to the secondary. Yeast seem to devour them! Some recipes I've read have you simmer them in water with some of the peel (for tannin) and pour the mixture over the fruit in the primary. Either way will work I'm sure.


Good luck!

 

[paubin]

I perfer banannas to raisins to add a little body to most of my country wines as they add little in the way of taste or color. Putting them in a weighted straining bag keeps them down where they belong. Pectin enzyme will help break them down also.


Pete

 

[Coaster]

Pete,


How do you prep you banannas. Seems like if I freeze and squeeze them, there won't be anything but goo to put in the straining bag.

 

[pkcook]

Coaster,


The bananas I used were frozen when they became black. When they thawed, I just squeezed out what solids and goo came out into a sanitized bowl and mixed it into a very loose paste (kinda like a thin pancake batter) and dumped it into the bag with the plums.

 

[OGrav]

I've just found another use for bananas other than a freezer full of banana bread.

 

[pkcook]

OGrav,


I have 3 kids and they love bananas, but when there are apples, oranges, etc in the variety, I end up with some dark bananas that they WILL NOT TOUCH!

I let them get as dark as I can without them making a mess and put them in the freezer for later. Bread or wine!

 

[PolishWineP]

Do keep an eye on those bananas as they blacken though. It's not so bad during the cold months, but when it's warm the enemy can smell them and comes hunting them. No gun or knife will kill them. Only sanitation and chemical warfare to destroy them.

Drosophila melanogaster, a.k.a. fruit fly! Oh how I hate them!