Ongoing Banana Madness

[aceswired]

MCH, do you mean you filter out the pulp and just include the skins during ferment? So skins but not fruit? Just making sure I follow, as I plan to try this.

Going back and rereading the thread I see why you're confused. I did NOT ferment on skins, I remembered that wrong. I mashed everything including the peels, but then I separated the pulp from the skins and only fermented the pulp.
I bet fermenting on the peels, and then steam stripping the whole lot would bring over even more flavor.

Gotcha, thanks. That makes more sense.

[freaky_cutout]

Has anyone bothered to check what sort of acetates/aldehyde’s/ketones? make a banana taste like a banana, then see what the boiling points are?

It may be that when we distil them we do not boil those particular 'congeners' or it may be that they are destroyed in the process or something?

I have run across this issue with Feijoas in NZ.

[frodo]

I made 2 batchs of nanner wine.

the first was a little harsh, the second was right on the money

on the second, I cut and discarded the the ends of the damn nanner

pureed everything, put in a mesh bag, it is very good

[raketemensch]

What'd you use for yeast?

My first 5gal batch had a weird sort of smokiness to it. It was pleasant when it was sweet, but as it dried it got to be kind of odd. It's been aging for 5 months now. My second batch is finally done, I figured I would combine the two to get a good 10-gallon keg load to run through the flute.

I haven't had a single free weekend day in months, so I've got ~70 gallons of ferments ready to roll in the basement. With the new keg and the fill/drain ports, maybe I'll just take a few days off from work :]

[mass thumper]

I am getting ready to try this. I got 12 lbs. of ripe bananas in the fridge that I can mash with skins at 150*. I was going to wait until my enzymes came but the shipping is slow and I have a good day to try this. Do I need the enzymes or is the skin enough? I plan to use rum dunder for the yeast

[raketemensch]

I finally got to run this. I ended up combining my two 5-gallon batches (one fermented on fruit, one not) to fill the boiler, and ran it slowly through 3 plates, but I think I should've dropped down to 2.

There's not a lot of banana flavor yet, but I think it may appear more with age. What's interesting is a smoky note, which I think is from the peels, that almost gives it a tequila flavor. I'm trying to decide if I should just let it age white or add something to it, as the banana flavor is pretty delicate and would probably be easily overpowered.

I still want to try a batch with enzymes and no added sugar. I've got a few other experiments ahead of that, though.

[mass thumper]

Well I did run a batch and yes the skins worked, iodine test came up with a full conversion. It ran fine but not a lot of banana flavor so I took the cuts and added 3 bananas to age it in a jar after I left it open for 3 days to age. My local produce store had 2 crates of ripe bananas at $.019 a lb! But I was not ready for another batch so I got 8 lbs in the fridge for another weekend.

[raketemensch]

Make sure to let us know how the mace ration works out. I haven't tried that yet.

[muscashine]

Make sure to let us know how the mace ration works out. I haven't tried that yet.

I tried the banners in a jar thing... Didn't work for me. Liquor and banners turned brown

[MichiganCornhusker]

Just an update.
The batch of banana hooch I made last year has become a banana bomb. The smell coming of this stuff is pretty intense, full banana assault. And the flavor backs it up.
It is a little overwhelming straight, but I like it mixed about 50/50 with my panela rum.

Next up I'm gonna try to come up with a blend of the banana, rum, and some pineapple PD, maybe some coconut cream, to make a summertime cocktail. Something like a Pina Coloda or Mai Tai.

[raketemensch]

That's awesome, I wish I'd gotten that much flavor. Mine hasn't been aging that long yet, so I'm still hopeful. And I still want to try an enzyme mash.

[Worm_Drippinz]

MCH, are you aging on oak?

What was your exact method?


Thank you

[MrBee]

Very nice read on this thread.

A year or two ago I had made some Brandy and was foolin around with different flavors.
I placed about a half banana cut into 2 pieces in a small canning jar. It got pretty rough looking as the nanna went black.
after a month or so ( sure wish I would have kept notes on that one) I removed the Nanna and transferred the brandy to a small fancy bottle
and put it up on the kitchen cabinet and forgot about it.
Took it down today and decanted the brandy off this big round glob of nanna stuff that was kinda hovering just off the bottom.
Wish I had more ! It's pretty smooth and has a mild Banana flavor.

Gonna try again I guess, after reading this post. Although I will use the Banana to make brandy then infuse the Banana flavor the same way.

MrBee

[FreeMountainHermit]

I'm not really after the Holy Grail of banana shine, just something interesting.

Banana shine has been on my list for awhile and as luck would have it after reading the Banana Madness thread and going up on the mountain yesterday for a few beers a big ol' boy walks in the bar with a jug of banana shine that was simply outstanding. After a few sips I voted it to be the best I have ever tasted with an almost intense flavor that was much more powerful than any banana bread that I've ever had. Wished I knew him better to ask some questions but sadly such was not the case.

Wondering if such flavor came off the still or from a neutral maceration ?

Thoughts ???

[Lagtastic]

Hey guys,

I've read this thread countless times and since the first time, i started to collect over-riped bananas in my freezer for future use.

I think i'm gonna go that way: freeze them all. Here, in Quebec, apple growers make ''Cidre de Glace'' , a kind of icewine made of apples that froze while they were still on the tree. They are pressed afterwards. This has the effect of concentrating the sugars and broke the cells of the fruit, not unlike pectine enzyme would do.

Well, we all know what a banana looks like when thawed (not sure about this word... english is a second langage..! ). I think it would be an interesting experiment to make!

So, here's my plan, any advice would be greatly appreciated! I'm kinda new to this hobby but obsessed by fruits distilling so i'm really eager to learn!

-freeze a large qty of over-riped bananas
-let them thaw
-blend them without the peel
-add water, if necessary
-add pectine enzyme, wait for an hour or so
-add nutriments
-add EC-1118
-add some peels back in the mixture (not sure about that one..)
-Wait....wait....wait...wait....
-When ferment complete, sloooooow distil it in a potstill.
-Split into different vessel to test aging.

[NZChris]

-blend them without the peel

The peels have enzymes that convert starches to sugar, plus they have flavor. Why would you blend without them?

[Lagtastic]

-blend them without the peel

The peels have enzymes that convert starches to sugar, plus they have flavor. Why would you blend without them?

About that... I read that peels convey a smoky flavor that i don't want. I'm aiming for something ''pure'' (european style brandy), Eau-de-vie. But, is it gonna be a problem during the fermentation? Is the starch levels so high that if I don,t cook them, it's not going to be able to ferment correctly?

[aceswired]

Use the peels! I roast them in the oven at 140 for hours. It's like supercharged flavor. And it gets most everything converted. That flavor really will carry over.

Sent from my SM-T320 using Tapatalk

[NZChris]

Use the peels! I roast them in the oven at 140 for hours. It's like supercharged flavor. And it gets most everything converted. That flavor really will carry over.

I've never come across that method before and it sounds great. Whole fruit, or just the peels?

[aceswired]

Whole fruit. Let the enzymes in the peels work for you. Plus, they contain the resulting mush...

Sent from my SM-T320 using Tapatalk

[Lagtastic]

Hi guys!

I finally tried something that wanted to for some time. Over the last 4-6 weeks, i bought several lbs of banana, let them ripe till they are black and froze them in a big freezer. I always have frozen bananas to make bread or smoothies at home. When they unfreeze, they are all mushy but really tastefull so i tough that it could do a great base to experiment!

When i tought i had enough, i placed them into 2 x 5 galons buckets and I had a little bit more that i placed in a smaller one. Over the next 3 days, i let them thaw slowly. Even after 3 days, they were still cold but not frozen anymore. I proceeded to extract the pulp from the peel like you would squeeze toothpaste out of the tube. It was quite funny, tbh. The good part is that in each bucket, liquid from the thawing accumulated at the bottom. I tested it and it scored 1.075 with my refractometer. I don't know if it's a good reading since there was probably some solids but the liquid was pretty clear. I filtered it with a straining bag and added it to my pulp. I got 16L of pulp and juice. I added 5L of water, 3 teaspoon of pectine enzyme, mixed it and wait a night.

The day after, i prepared 2 x EC-1118 and i mixed it with the banana mix. In a matter of 2-3 hours, the mix went from around 21L to more than 26L! It reaaaaaaly expanded so i splited it in 2 buckets. My OG reading was 1.05. Few days after, i reunite the content in one bucket, the wash didnt rose after that.

At the moment, it's been a week and I had to mix the wash 2-3 times because a thick ''cake'' formed on top of the wash. 1 part is realllly liquid (water thin), the other is the cake.

We'll see where that experiment goes...! Any comment is welcome!

[raketemensch]

I am SO glad to see this stuff still going. I hadn't ever thought about baking them before fermenting, I'd bet that has a nice effect on the flavor.

IME, the peels do add a smoky flavor that's almost stronger than the banana flavor. I've got some of this both distilled and undistilled at a little over a year now, I think it might be time for tasting...

[muscashine]

Hi guys!

I finally tried something that wanted to for some time. Over the last 4-6 weeks, i bought several lbs of banana, let them ripe till they are black and froze them in a big freezer. I always have frozen bananas to make bread or smoothies at home. When they unfreeze, they are all mushy but really tastefull so i tough that it could do a great base to experiment!

I tried the same thing with bananas... freezing and then thawing. Those things felt SO gross coming out of the peels. I don't know why but they really kind of disgusted me. Mixed and mashed them and added sugar.

Then I cracked the bucket when I set it aside to ferment and all the liquid ran out. I need to try this one again...

[Lagtastic]

Quick update:

A lot of material have settled in the bottom of the fermenter. I'm left with a really small ''cake'' on top of around 15L of water-thin liquid. There's no more activity visible. That liquid is yellow and clear.

I have some questions for you. It tastes pretty acid. Almost like vinegar. I fear that my banana ''wine'' has turn into vinegar...is it always so acid from you experience?
I had an OG of 1,05 (no sugar added, with a refractometer) and I have 1.025 now. I know that my OG reading must be wrong since there was a lot of solid at the start but...1,025? It seems low, even for EC-1118 after more than 3 weeks fermeting.
My PH seems to be ok since my test gave me a 4-5 (i'm using paper strips atm)

So...what are your toughts?

Thanks!

[aceswired]

Banana vinegrette? Might make a heckuva salad dressing. ...

[jb-texshine]

Run it of course, worst case scenario your still gets clean!

But the reason I came: I had an idea for bananna rum I wanted to run by yall
Why could i not shoot the thumper with banana puree ,peel and all ? Do you think it would foam or puke or any other drawbacks? I was thinking of
Somthig like taking three gallons of low wines in the thump and charging the primary with fresh rum wash,run till close to hearts and then shooting the thumper with 5 or so pounds of nice and ripe banana puree? Whatcha think?

[aceswired]

Seems like a waste not to ferment it. Lotta sugar in there if you let it convert.

[Lagtastic]

Hey guys,

I finally decided to run the thing... i had around 13-14 L of liquid in my still once siphoned and no real expectation of a success. I finally gathered a whopping 1,5L of low wines (at around 30% -not tested, just my not-scientific-observation). I'm gonna test it later. It smelled reallly nice when i ran it. I took my pot still appart after and i noticed that the banana wine made some really intense bubbles when i was distilling because i had banana ''foam'' in the column, near the coopper packing. Keep in mind that I had 13-14L of wash in an 8 gallon boiler...!

Still, i had no expectation for this but now, seeing how nice it smells, i'm gonna take my time to do that spirit run the right way. Who knows, i may be onto something.

...but seriously....bananas are a pretty nasty thing to work with. It almost feel like it's a battle against the sticky-smelly-runny-goo-that-was-a-fruit.

[Hillbilly Popstar]

Bumping this thread for some banana love.

I scored about 40lbs of ripe bananas today. Probably gonna cook the Narars, peels and all, till they turn black and add just enough water make a 10 gal ferment. Thinking of adding in a few lbs of panela in with them and putting some the banarnar mash in the thumper when I run it.

[DaveK]

Oh, dear G_d!!! Do you not realize that bananas are probably the most intensively pesticide-treated fruit that you will ever find in the grocery store???

And ANY of that residual pesticide is present in the peels that you want to use for your wash???

Banana peels are NASTY!!! (unless you can find truly "organically" grown)