Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum. AKA Banandy RummaNom Nom Nom

Grain bills and instruction for all manner of alcoholic beverages.

Moderator: Site Moderator

User avatar
NZChris
Master of Distillation
Posts: 13062
Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 2:42 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum.

Post by NZChris »

I put a sliced banana in my Mezcal de Pechugas, but there is so much variety of fruit in them that it gets swamped, if it comes over at all. I can't taste it. The Pechugas do have good mouth feel at 45% though. That may be due to the banana, or the breast, or something else, who knows?
bluc
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 437
Joined: Thu Nov 12, 2015 12:32 am

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum.

Post by bluc »

More a sugarhead brandy then rum. Isnt panela coconut palm sugar?
Need cane sugar for rum...
User avatar
Hillbilly Popstar
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1396
Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2016 6:02 am

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum.

Post by Hillbilly Popstar »

bluc wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 11:24 pm More a sugarhead brandy then rum. Isnt panela coconut palm sugar?
Need cane sugar for rum...
Panela or Piloncillo is pure cane syrup boiled till the water cooks out and the remainder is packed into cakes. It is very sweet with strong molasses flavor.

I dont think 3lbs of sugar in an 11gal wash counts as a sugar head. I still argue that if I get the slightest hint of molasses flavor in the distillate, this qualifies as a variation of rum.
"Making likker with a hydrometer and thermometer is like measuring the length of a 2x4 with a clock"
User avatar
Bushman
Admin
Posts: 17987
Joined: Tue Mar 30, 2010 5:29 am
Location: Pacific Northwest

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum.

Post by Bushman »

NZChris wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 10:34 pm I put a sliced banana in my Mezcal de Pechugas, but there is so much variety of fruit in them that it gets swamped, if it comes over at all. I can't taste it. The Pechugas do have good mouth feel at 45% though. That may be due to the banana, or the breast, or something else, who knows?
I wouldn’t think bananas would come across with as much flavor as other fruits or botanicals.
User avatar
Hillbilly Popstar
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1396
Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2016 6:02 am

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum.

Post by Hillbilly Popstar »

Bushman wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 1:50 am
NZChris wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 10:34 pm I put a sliced banana in my Mezcal de Pechugas, but there is so much variety of fruit in them that it gets swamped, if it comes over at all. I can't taste it. The Pechugas do have good mouth feel at 45% though. That may be due to the banana, or the breast, or something else, who knows?
I wouldn’t think bananas would come across with as much flavor as other fruits or botanicals.
You might be right. But I've read countless banana rum/brandy recipes and it seems that at least 2/3rds of them report getting a nice banana flavor. In my experience fruit flavor almost never carries over...

But I have a back up plan! I saved one large bunch of bananas and stuck them in the deep freeze. If you've ever frozen bananas and thawed them out, then you know they make a sweet sticky, almost clear juice. My plan is to thaw out these 8 or 9 frozen bananas and try to seperate out that sweet banana syrup and use it to temper the spirit.
"Making likker with a hydrometer and thermometer is like measuring the length of a 2x4 with a clock"
User avatar
Saltbush Bill
Site Mod
Posts: 9675
Joined: Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:13 am
Location: Northern NSW Australia

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum.

Post by Saltbush Bill »

Hillbilly Popstar wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 1:08 am I still argue that if I get the slightest hint of molasses flavor in the distillate, this qualifies as a variation of rum.
Suggest you read the following links Hillbilly,
viewtopic.php?f=101&t=73806
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum
User avatar
Hillbilly Popstar
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1396
Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2016 6:02 am

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum.

Post by Hillbilly Popstar »

Saltbush Bill wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 2:13 am
Hillbilly Popstar wrote: Fri Jan 28, 2022 1:08 am I still argue that if I get the slightest hint of molasses flavor in the distillate, this qualifies as a variation of rum.
Suggest you read the following links Hillbilly,
viewtopic.php?f=101&t=73806
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rum
Pedantic. I thought you were better than this.
"Making likker with a hydrometer and thermometer is like measuring the length of a 2x4 with a clock"
User avatar
Stonecutter
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1911
Joined: Fri Apr 16, 2021 2:40 pm
Location: Somewhere within the Milkyway

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum.

Post by Stonecutter »

I got it! This settles the dispute
“Banana Likker” :lol:
Freedom had been hunted round the globe; reason was considered as rebellion; and the slavery of fear had made men afraid to think. But such is the irresistible nature of truth, that all it asks, and all it wants, is the liberty of appearing.
-Thomas Paine
User avatar
Hillbilly Popstar
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1396
Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2016 6:02 am

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum.

Post by Hillbilly Popstar »

Checked on the ferments this morning. They fizzing like alkaseltzer.
Super dense cap on them. Cap was about 6" thick and dense as jello.
I pushed it down, stirred them in. And covered everything back up.
20220128_071402.jpg
The entire front of my house smells like bananas foster.
"Making likker with a hydrometer and thermometer is like measuring the length of a 2x4 with a clock"
User avatar
Hillbilly Popstar
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1396
Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2016 6:02 am

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum. AKA Banandy RummaNom Nom Nom

Post by Hillbilly Popstar »

There was little to no activity in the fermenters this morning.

I pulled off a small sample and runnit through some cheesecloth to get a gravity reading.

Gravity is 1.000 so I am calling it done. That's pretty damn dry for a fruit and panela wash. There was no way to get an accurate O.G. reading, but based on the amount of sugar in bananas and panela, I predict I was somewhere around 1.038. So my abv should be around 5%.

I ran all 12 gallons through my mop bucket and used the wringer to strain/squeeze all the peels out of the liquid.
I ended up with 10 gallons of wash.
20220129_121947.jpg
I am gonna run this 10 gallons through some paint strainer bags to get enough clean wash to fill my boiler and the rest of the thick banarnar party is getting shoved into the thumper. I am hoping to yield between 1/2-3/4 gal. of good banana liqueur after all flavoring and tempering.
"Making likker with a hydrometer and thermometer is like measuring the length of a 2x4 with a clock"
User avatar
Hillbilly Popstar
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1396
Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2016 6:02 am

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum. AKA Banandy RummaNom Nom Nom

Post by Hillbilly Popstar »

Welp....
Got er done. Results are underwhelming.

Hearts cut was 3/4 quart of 100 proof.
It's a nice sip. No banana bomb. Might be something subtle there if you think really hard on it. Maybe with some time I could see the banana flavor getting more pronounced, but I dont have enough to care either way.

Deffinitely a rum. What flavor is there taste like a very light Agricole. It's grassy (like green banana peel) with light cheesy funk. Pretty good actually.

We had a few nips last night. I am gonna take the remaining half a quart and mix in some banana syrup and attempt a quart of banana liqueur at 50 proof.

This was a fun experiment. I have one other thing I wanna try with banana, and if those results are equally as underwhelming I'll be leaving bananas behind forever.
"Making likker with a hydrometer and thermometer is like measuring the length of a 2x4 with a clock"
User avatar
8Ball
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1401
Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2018 9:12 am

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum. AKA Banandy RummaNom Nom Nom

Post by 8Ball »

Thanks for giving it a shot and for telling us all about it. You did good.
🎱 The struggle is real and this rabbit hole just got interesting.
Per a conversation I had with Mr. Jay Gibbs regarding white oak barrel staves: “…you gotta get it burning good.”
User avatar
shadylane
Master of Distillation
Posts: 10363
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:54 pm
Location: Hiding In the Boiler room of the Insane asylum

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum.

Post by shadylane »

Hillbilly Popstar wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 5:15 am
Saltbush Bill wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 8:23 pm By the way , your not in your shed at the moment.
You're right. We are in mine.
I wish we were in your shed.
I'd like to be looking over your shoulder to see how it works out. :thumbup:
User avatar
Hillbilly Popstar
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1396
Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2016 6:02 am

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum. AKA Banandy RummaNom Nom Nom

Post by Hillbilly Popstar »

8Ball wrote: Sun Jan 30, 2022 6:17 am Thanks for giving it a shot and for telling us all about it. You did good.
No problem.
I figure all the most knowledgeable people on this forum probably have a plethora of failures and weird experiments behind them.

I'm happy to share mine.
"Making likker with a hydrometer and thermometer is like measuring the length of a 2x4 with a clock"
User avatar
Hillbilly Popstar
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1396
Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2016 6:02 am

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum.

Post by Hillbilly Popstar »

shadylane wrote: Sun Jan 30, 2022 6:27 am
Hillbilly Popstar wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 5:15 am
Saltbush Bill wrote: Wed Jan 26, 2022 8:23 pm By the way , your not in your shed at the moment.
You're right. We are in mine.
I wish we were in your shed.
I'd like to be looking over your shoulder to see how it works out. :thumbup:
It's a mess in here. It's not for the faint of heart.
"Making likker with a hydrometer and thermometer is like measuring the length of a 2x4 with a clock"
User avatar
shadylane
Master of Distillation
Posts: 10363
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:54 pm
Location: Hiding In the Boiler room of the Insane asylum

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum.

Post by shadylane »

Hillbilly Popstar wrote: Sun Jan 30, 2022 6:33 am
It's a mess in here. It's not for the faint of heart.
That's not a mess.
Your learning faster than you can clean up after yourself. :thumbup:
User avatar
Hillbilly Popstar
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1396
Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2016 6:02 am

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum.

Post by Hillbilly Popstar »

shadylane wrote: Sun Jan 30, 2022 6:42 am
Hillbilly Popstar wrote: Sun Jan 30, 2022 6:33 am
It's a mess in here. It's not for the faint of heart.
That's not a mess.
Your learning faster than you can clean up after yourself. :thumbup:
Sure. I'll go with that.
"Making likker with a hydrometer and thermometer is like measuring the length of a 2x4 with a clock"
User avatar
squigglefunk
Trainee
Posts: 886
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2021 9:27 am

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum.

Post by squigglefunk »

RC Al wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 9:53 pm Funny you mention that, I just tried the same thing, crap yield cause ripe bananas have fairly low carbs, but I wouldn't call the flavour anything but banana after running it through 3 plates, its been airing for 3 weeks now, dose it disappear over time?

Green bananas are meant to be 80% starch, going to try them next, no doubt the flavour will be non existent from these, but yield should be interesting.
ripe bananas have low carbs because they have converted to sugar already for you.

my best recipe for banana rum is to put them in a bag for a week or so until nearly black on the outside, they will release enzymes to convert the starches into sugars during this time. I don't use the peels. Get plenty of banana flavor.
User avatar
Hillbilly Popstar
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1396
Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2016 6:02 am

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum.

Post by Hillbilly Popstar »

squigglefunk wrote: Thu Feb 10, 2022 10:43 am
RC Al wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 9:53 pm Funny you mention that, I just tried the same thing, crap yield cause ripe bananas have fairly low carbs, but I wouldn't call the flavour anything but banana after running it through 3 plates, its been airing for 3 weeks now, dose it disappear over time?

Green bananas are meant to be 80% starch, going to try them next, no doubt the flavour will be non existent from these, but yield should be interesting.

ripe bananas have low carbs because they have converted to sugar already for you.

my best recipe for banana rum is to put them in a bag for a week or so until nearly black on the outside, they will release enzymes to convert the starches into sugars during this time. I don't use the peels. Get plenty of banana flavor.
What's your distillation process that is getting you good banana flavor?
"Making likker with a hydrometer and thermometer is like measuring the length of a 2x4 with a clock"
User avatar
squigglefunk
Trainee
Posts: 886
Joined: Fri Jul 16, 2021 9:27 am

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum.

Post by squigglefunk »

Hillbilly Popstar wrote: Thu Feb 10, 2022 11:04 am What's your distillation process that is getting you good banana flavor?
for one I don't cook them I feel that might kill a lot of the flavor, just mushing with my paddle, & add some warm/hot water, yeast. If you get them really ripe they will be almost mush already. Also I don't use the peels, I feed those to my goats lol they love them and I dont see it helping the flavor any. Maybe that's where the grassy taste you mentioned is coming from. Peels from 40 lbs of bananas is gunna be a lot of content. (prob about the same amount of bananas I use) A champagne yeast might be good, I used DADY. Also the sugar is going to blow out the banana flavor too so I dont use much but you didn't seem to use much either. I think I have tried using enzymes but like I said if you ripen them good that should really convert a lot of the starches for you. Also don't use any of the nutrients/vitamins etc, didn't seem to need it?

I use a simple pot still, and I have usually just done one slow run not strip/spirit runs. It's not anything super fancy but to me I can tell it's banana no problem. Its definitely different than corn likker. Is it brandy or rum or likker? I dunno, but I like it and it's a favorite of a few of my buddies.
User avatar
shadylane
Master of Distillation
Posts: 10363
Joined: Sat Oct 27, 2007 11:54 pm
Location: Hiding In the Boiler room of the Insane asylum

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum.

Post by shadylane »

Hillbilly Popstar wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:56 pm
Deplorable wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:17 pm What was the OG?
Uh... Immeasurable.
This is when a Refractometer is of value. :lol:
User avatar
Hillbilly Popstar
Site Donor
Site Donor
Posts: 1396
Joined: Sun Jan 24, 2016 6:02 am

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum.

Post by Hillbilly Popstar »

shadylane wrote: Sat Feb 12, 2022 6:04 pm
Hillbilly Popstar wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:56 pm
Deplorable wrote: Thu Jan 27, 2022 7:17 pm What was the OG?
Uh... Immeasurable.
This is when a Refractometer is of value. :lol:
No doubt... add it to the list do dads and gadgets I need. 😆
"Making likker with a hydrometer and thermometer is like measuring the length of a 2x4 with a clock"
Truly Scrumptious
Novice
Posts: 7
Joined: Sun Jan 20, 2019 5:37 pm

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum. AKA Banandy RummaNom Nom Nom

Post by Truly Scrumptious »

Hillbilly, may i suggest "Hillbilly's Banana Monkeyshine."

The banana foster smell sounds yummy. Set my mouth to watering.
LTIndy
Novice
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2022 4:51 pm

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum. AKA Banandy RummaNom Nom Nom

Post by LTIndy »

So my first attempt, loosely following Jesse from StillIt...
22 lb bananas,
8.5 (ish) lb cooked in oven till black and juicy,
11 (ish) lb "raw", but pretty ripe,
2.5 (ish) lb cooked in butter and brown sugar,
4lb invert sugar mixture poured hot over all bananas,
chopped up all with a paint stirrer on my drill,
cold water to make about 5.8 gal mash that I split into two 6.5 gal fermenters.
pitched 1/2 packet of rum yeast, and about 3.5 tsp yeast nutrient in each.
Fermented well at 80 degrees (F) for about 6 days.
I punched the fruit cap down twice a day for the first 3, once a day for two days (and was glad I had plenty of headroom in the fermenters),
on the last day it was pretty much cleared.
Strained it with a fine mesh strainer, discarded the solids, let it sit overnight and poured off the top of the fermenter into the pot.

FG was 1.002 ish, not sure what it was to start because you can't get good help these days.

Poured about 4.5 gal of the clear wash into the pot, and about 3 qt (most) of the remaining into the thumper. Ran steady stream--result LOTS of alcohol, no taste.

Subsequently read that the sugar may be knocking down the banana taste, so am going to try again with JUST bananas that i plan to let fully ripen naturally. Will have to see how that goes.

In the meantime, i acquired 45 (ish) lb of acidified banana puree from a friend. it's supposed to be 21-25 brix and 4.1-4.5 ph. Anybody have any thoughts on whether I should try to ferment that by itself, or add water/calcium carbonate to lower the SG/PH before pitching the yeast?
If at first you don't ccuseed...
LTIndy
Novice
Posts: 6
Joined: Tue Apr 05, 2022 4:51 pm

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum. AKA Banandy RummaNom Nom Nom

Post by LTIndy »

well, JUST bananas fully ripened didn't cut it...it was low OG (1.038), i had 3.7 gal wash FG 1.020, so not sure if rum yeast crapped out, I ran it anyway with thumper and 2lb of fresh bananas that I carmelized, then pureed (along with some Creme de Almond) that went into the thumper--smelled good, low wines is all I got (and just about two pints of that), and it tastes nothing like bananas. On the plus side, the garage smelled good. Going to have one more go with the puree mentioned above and then I'm back to all grain, this fruit stuff is driving me bananas.
If at first you don't ccuseed...
User avatar
NZChris
Master of Distillation
Posts: 13062
Joined: Tue Apr 23, 2013 2:42 am
Location: New Zealand

Re: Gonna have a go at some banarnar rum. AKA Banandy RummaNom Nom Nom

Post by NZChris »

LTIndy wrote: Sat Apr 30, 2022 6:42 pm well, JUST bananas fully ripened didn't cut it...it was low OG (1.038), i had 3.7 gal wash FG 1.020, so not sure if rum yeast crapped out, I ran it anyway with thumper and 2lb of fresh bananas that I carmelized, then pureed (along with some Creme de Almond) that went into the thumper--smelled good, low wines is all I got (and just about two pints of that), and it tastes nothing like bananas. On the plus side, the garage smelled good. Going to have one more go with the puree mentioned above and then I'm back to all grain, this fruit stuff is driving me bananas.
Some fruits are so easy that it's difficult to get rid of their flavors, others need some very clever tricks to capture them in a jar. Banana and pineapple are up there with the difficult flavors.
Post Reply