I've attached the pic from todays efforts at meddling.
The 2 DJ's are the batch that I knocked up after asking about Banana the first time i.e. the banana was sliced and then boiled for about 20 minutes. Then once the ferment was finished, I just racked it off the sludge and sliced about a dozen peeled banana's into it. I can't remember if I stabilised it or not, but there didn't seem to be any further fermentation so I must have. So today I racked it off the fruit debris (which had sunk, like JAO). The taste I got after I'd finished the racking (and pectolase and stabilising chems) was quite sweet, and very bananery tasting, pretty much how I wanted it to be.
The small water cooler bottle, was made from the second lot of freebie banana's I got, but instead of boiling them I just made up the honey/water mix to about 2 and a half gallons (don't recall the gravity reading, it'll be on my blog somewhere), then just carried on slicing whole (washed, topped and tailed) banana into the cooler (a large one/19 litre size), until it was close to the top. Todays racking was a complete PITA, as there was nearly 3 inches of banana sludge floating on the top. In the end, I just had to pour it through my funnel that has a plastic mesh screen to remove most/all of the banana solids. it also had stabilising chems and pectolase in it today.
The difference in colour amuses me a bit. The darker look of the first batch, can only have come from the boiling of the fruit in the first attempt. The two DJ's had already cleared a bit, though some of the haze will be sediment that got through, plus it needed a bit longer to clear naturally anyway.
The batch in the cooler bottle, well once it's dropped a sediment, I'll rack it and back sweeten it some (to about 1.010 or so). If it needs more banana flavour, I'll just put some fruit into it for a couple of weeks.
And yes, I'm pleased with how they're progressing, but have decided that furture melomels, or other meads with a fruit element, will get the fruit in secondary, as I'm not posh enough to enjoy subtle flavours, I like them "in your face"
The 2 DJ's are the batch that I knocked up after asking about Banana the first time i.e. the banana was sliced and then boiled for about 20 minutes. Then once the ferment was finished, I just racked it off the sludge and sliced about a dozen peeled banana's into it. I can't remember if I stabilised it or not, but there didn't seem to be any further fermentation so I must have. So today I racked it off the fruit debris (which had sunk, like JAO). The taste I got after I'd finished the racking (and pectolase and stabilising chems) was quite sweet, and very bananery tasting, pretty much how I wanted it to be.
The small water cooler bottle, was made from the second lot of freebie banana's I got, but instead of boiling them I just made up the honey/water mix to about 2 and a half gallons (don't recall the gravity reading, it'll be on my blog somewhere), then just carried on slicing whole (washed, topped and tailed) banana into the cooler (a large one/19 litre size), until it was close to the top. Todays racking was a complete PITA, as there was nearly 3 inches of banana sludge floating on the top. In the end, I just had to pour it through my funnel that has a plastic mesh screen to remove most/all of the banana solids. it also had stabilising chems and pectolase in it today.
The difference in colour amuses me a bit. The darker look of the first batch, can only have come from the boiling of the fruit in the first attempt. The two DJ's had already cleared a bit, though some of the haze will be sediment that got through, plus it needed a bit longer to clear naturally anyway.
The batch in the cooler bottle, well once it's dropped a sediment, I'll rack it and back sweeten it some (to about 1.010 or so). If it needs more banana flavour, I'll just put some fruit into it for a couple of weeks.
And yes, I'm pleased with how they're progressing, but have decided that furture melomels, or other meads with a fruit element, will get the fruit in secondary, as I'm not posh enough to enjoy subtle flavours, I like them "in your face"