Gigglyanya
Junior
I'm finally marking off Banana Wine off of my bucket list! I always wanted to try it but have always been daunted by it since it is a long process. Longer then any other wine I've made.
However, Walmart had bagged up bananas that were starting to be too ripe to sell but perfect for wine. 25lbs of bananas for 5 bucks! I took it as a sign it was time to attempt Banana Wine.
Went home and cut up the bananas and simmered them on the stove with 2 gallons of water and 8lbs of sugar.
Strained into my fermentation bucket, throwing in a few scoops of the banana mash. Along with raisins, acid blend, tannins, yeast nutrient, yeast Energizer and pectic enzyme. Simmered another 2 gallons of water and 8lbs of sugar, adding to bucket. I let it cool overnight and pitched the yeast in the morning. It looked nasty lol.
Stirred it the next day, there was a good sized foamy cap on top. When I finished stirring it almost foamed over! The next day I stirred again and once again it had a foam cap and nearly foamed over. I covered the fermention bucket and 15 minutes later it blew the top off the air lock!
Realizing my bucket couldn't contain this energetic wine must, I decided to transfer into a carboy I rarely use because it is often too big for my recipes. It is, however, perfect as a primary for wines that are too energetic for my bucket lol.
Strained the wine must completely and transferred into the carboy. The recipe I'm following, the writer stated they put the fruit through a juicer and added to the must when they transferred to the carboy so I did a bit too. Added another gallon of water to reach the 5 gallons the recipe called for. Popped on airlock and set it in the coolest spot in my house. One hour later I checked and it is bubbling away happily.
Since I had to transfer to a carboy 2 weeks earlier then I expected, I have no idea how this is going to go now. The recipe I'm using is now essentially useless as this wine has a mind of it's own lol! I will update this post as things go along as a type of progress diary. I hope it will help someone who decides to try the adventure that is banana wine.
One plus to this is my wine area smells like warm banana bread lol
However, Walmart had bagged up bananas that were starting to be too ripe to sell but perfect for wine. 25lbs of bananas for 5 bucks! I took it as a sign it was time to attempt Banana Wine.
Went home and cut up the bananas and simmered them on the stove with 2 gallons of water and 8lbs of sugar.
Strained into my fermentation bucket, throwing in a few scoops of the banana mash. Along with raisins, acid blend, tannins, yeast nutrient, yeast Energizer and pectic enzyme. Simmered another 2 gallons of water and 8lbs of sugar, adding to bucket. I let it cool overnight and pitched the yeast in the morning. It looked nasty lol.
Stirred it the next day, there was a good sized foamy cap on top. When I finished stirring it almost foamed over! The next day I stirred again and once again it had a foam cap and nearly foamed over. I covered the fermention bucket and 15 minutes later it blew the top off the air lock!
Realizing my bucket couldn't contain this energetic wine must, I decided to transfer into a carboy I rarely use because it is often too big for my recipes. It is, however, perfect as a primary for wines that are too energetic for my bucket lol.
Strained the wine must completely and transferred into the carboy. The recipe I'm following, the writer stated they put the fruit through a juicer and added to the must when they transferred to the carboy so I did a bit too. Added another gallon of water to reach the 5 gallons the recipe called for. Popped on airlock and set it in the coolest spot in my house. One hour later I checked and it is bubbling away happily.
Since I had to transfer to a carboy 2 weeks earlier then I expected, I have no idea how this is going to go now. The recipe I'm using is now essentially useless as this wine has a mind of it's own lol! I will update this post as things go along as a type of progress diary. I hope it will help someone who decides to try the adventure that is banana wine.
One plus to this is my wine area smells like warm banana bread lol
