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**shirlthegirl43** · 05-10-2006, 02:59 PM

Thanks David - will do that as soon as I finish my lunch! That will let it all have time to settle again after me stirring it up!

Smells interesting - does it turn out as a very 'dark' white wine? It is a rich gold at the moment.

What is confusing me is that Berry says it should be a 'thick looking mess, like a lot of soapsuds' - it doesn't look like that at all. He seems to suggest that the whole lot goes in the demijohn and is then siphoned off after a couple of months at which stage the grape concentrate is added.

It is still fermenting. If I filter out all the pulp (well, there was no mashed banana in it to start with, just liquor sqeezed through the muslin the bananas were simmered in) should I then put the concentrate in now?

Sorry for so many questions but with a year to wait till we get to taste, I don't want to spoil it this early on!

Cheers,
Shirley

**alanJ** · 05-10-2006, 04:37 PM

Hi Shirl
I was thinking of making this wine but I took a different slant on the method.

It says to put the banana and fruit peel in a bag and boil it for 1/2 hour. Pour the liquid over the sugar etc. Sqeeze the bag when its cool to get as much liqhor as possible out. I was going to toss the bag after that...?
It makes no mention of the banana stuff after that...

I hope to start it this week-end....

What is amylozyme by the way , any ideas?

Hope it all works out ok.

Alan

**shirlthegirl43** · 05-10-2006, 04:43 PM

Hi and welcome to the forum.

That is how I did it so far. Hence my query since I have a large brew bucket with none of the 'soapsud' stuff described in the book.

I hope to get a few more responses soon so I have an idea of what to do next - I am wondering if it has all gone wrong already, though it smells lovely (if alcoholic banana can be so described!)

There is basically a thick layer of goo at the bottom of the bucket and I am unsure whether this should go into the demijohn or not. I suspect it is the banana liquor which I squeezed through the bag - by the way, watch out - it is hot for ages!!

Amylozyme is sold as Amylase - from my understanding it changes the banana sugar into a fermentable sugar - don't quote me on that though!! Have fun making it and we can maybe compare notes!

Cheers,
Shirley

**Hippie** · 06-10-2006, 02:08 AM

The liquid only should go into the jug or demijohn. Use your hydrometer and check SG and record at this time also. I would siphon it into equal amounts into the 2 jugs. Attach bungs and airlocks. Let it keep fermenting for 3-4 weeks and check SG again. If below SG 1.000 at that time, siphon off lees into a sanitized gallon jug into which you have added the appropriate amount of sulphite and sorbate. Degas a few weeks later at next racking and sweeten to your tastes with the concentrate at that time. If you add the concentrate before stabilizing, the wine will ferment the sugar contained with it and you will end up with a very hot and possibly undrinkable wine. I might be confused as to the way this recipe is supposed to go. Do you mind posting it so I can try and interpret it? Please also add step by step what you have done so far and I will correct above post if needed. How's that?

**shirlthegirl43** · 06-10-2006, 05:35 PM

Hi Hippie,

Here goes with the recipe and instructions:

Recipe -

2 kilos bananas - peeled
1/4 kilo banana skins
100 ml grape concentrate
1 lemon
1 orange
1.5 kilos sugar
4.5 litres water
yeast and Amylozyme nutrient

method -

"Use black or spotted bananas, whatever you can scrounge. Place bananas and fruit peel into a cloth bag and put the bag, tied up, into a large saucepan or boiler with the water. Bring to the boil, then gently simmer for half an hour. Pour the hot liquor over the sugar and fruit juice, and when the cloth bag has cooled squeeze it with the hands to extract as much liquor as possible. When all the liquor is lukewarm 21 degres C add the Amylozyme and, 24 hours later, the yeast. Cover closely. Leave it in a warm place for a week, stirring daily, then pour into a glass jar and move to a cooler place; it will be a thick-looking mess, like a lot of soapsuds. Keep the jar closed with a piece of clingfilm and a rubber band, or stopper it with cotton wool (so that it can easily be cleaned in case of foaming over), and in a couple of months it will have a large sediment at the bottom. Siphon off, then add the grape concentrate. Fit an airlock and siphon of again after four months; by then it will have started to clear. Leave a further six months before sampling. It improves the longer you keep it."

Looking forward to your response!!

Cheers, Shirley

**shirlthegirl43** · 06-10-2006, 05:40 PM

sorry, forgot to add my step by step of what I have done so far:

I have boiled the bananas and squeezed them out over the sugar. I then cooled overnight and added Amylase (I was told this was the same as the Amylozyme in the recipe). I then left it - stirring daily - until I was ready to transfer to glass. I now realise that I have one and a half gallons of 'stuff' in the brew bucket - doesn't look at all like soapsuds. There is a fairly thick deposit at the bottom and I am now unsure whether to strain this out or not. So, it is all still in the primary fermenting vessel - but no more stirring just in case I need to syphon it off.

**shirlthegirl43** · 07-10-2006, 04:07 PM

Decided I couldn't wait any longer - needed the fermentation bucket for something else. So have mixed the whole lot up and split it between a one gallon and a half gallon demijohn. Does look a bit like soapsuds but not quite how Berry describes it - more like sludge but not as thick as I expected.

Very interesting to watch now as it seems to have an almost 'lava lamp' effect going on so I guess the sludgy stuff is active! Hope it doesn't take over the kitchen!!!

Cheers,
Shirley

**Hippie** · 09-10-2006, 06:44 AM

Sounds like you have a handle on it. What was the starting SG, yeast used, and did you go ahead and combine the grape concentrate in with it all?

**chadspad** · 09-10-2006, 02:26 PM

Hi there,
Ive made banana wine from a C.J.J.B recipe too but its got raisins instead of concentrate. Shirley u will probably find there is loads of yuk at the bottom after a few days! My SG started at 1100, is now 1020 and appears the fermenting has finished. Its quite syrupy in texture, more like a liqueur, and it tastes damn good! The recipe says it should sit in the demi-john for 2 months before bottling - why is that please? And what does degas means? So next step will be to add campden tablet and pot.sorbate - is that right? Thanks Wendy

**Hippie** · 09-10-2006, 07:54 PM

Yes, next step is to stabilize with both as yours as stopped short of the magic 1.000 or less. It needs to sit in the dj for clearing. I rack off the lees or sediment no more than once a month until clear. To degas means to stir the heck out of it after racking off the gross lees when fermentation is complete and adding the stabilizers. Lots of CO2 will come out of suspension. You can then top up and repeat the stirring in a month or so when you have decided enough lees exist again to warrant another racking. The wine will never taste right if it contains even a small amount of CO2.

**chadspad** · 09-10-2006, 08:25 PM

Hi Hippie, Thanks for those detailed and easy to follow instructions - thats pukka!

**shirlthegirl43** · 09-10-2006, 09:43 PM

Hi folks,

Mine is bubbling away happily still - not sure that it is still fermenting as the sg is below 1.000 - but will allow it to sit for a while as per Mr Berry's instructions. Have not added the concentrate yet, decided to wait until it was all in one demijohn to save me a lot of hassle working out how much concentrate for each jar. Had a sly sample when checking the SG yesterday - does taste of banana - but I don't have the syrupy liqueur described by chadspad. I guess every batch of wine is different even if identical ingredients and method are used - that is probably what makes us all keep brewing (or did I get this wrong?).

Cheers,
Shirley

**Hippie** · 10-10-2006, 02:06 AM

What was the beginning Sg?

**shirlthegirl43** · 10-10-2006, 07:47 AM

Ummmm, knew I forgot to write something down

Oops. Is all lost?

Cheers,
Shirley

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Banana wine query

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