Banana Wine Recipe
Equipment
Needed
7.5 gallon pot (or bigger)
1 6.5 gallon fermenter bucket and
lid
1 or 2 6.5 gallon glass carboys
& stoppers
1 air lock and stopper
Siphon, siphon tubing.
Ingredients
21 lbs
RIPE bananas Washed and sliced into thin rings
15-20 lbs
White and/or Brown sugar
5 gallons
Bottled water You won’t use it all
6 teaspoon
Acid Blend
5 teaspoon
Pectinase
1.25
teaspoon Wine Tannin
4 lbs
Golden Raisins
6 teaspoon
Yeast Nutrient
1 packet
Wine Yeast - Red Star “Champagne” is better for this recipe
Potassium
sorbate or other wine stabilizer
Instructions
Step 1
In large stock pot – we used a 7.5
gallon turkey fryer – combine bananas, sugar, and about 4 gallons of water.
Heat to almost boiling, mashing and stirring until sugar is dissolved. Continue
to heat for about 45 minutes – never allowing it to come to a boil – stirring
every few minutes. Remove from add heat, acid blend, pectinase, tannin, and
yeast nutrient. Stir well.
Step 2
Place
raisins in a freshly sanitized 6.5 gallon fermenting bucket. Carefully strain
hot banana liquid into the fermenting bucket, over top of the raisins. Top with
water to 6 gallons, and add a few scoops of the banana mush. Cover with
sanitized lid and air lock, allow to cool to room temperature (overnight).
Step 3
The next
morning, give the mixture a quick stir with a sanitized paddle, and – using
sanitized equipment – take a gravity reading. Keep track of the number! (This
is an optional step, but will allow you to calculate your final ABV %)
Step 4
Sprinkle
yeast into fermenter, cover with sanitized cover and air lock. Within 48 hours,
you should notice fermentation activity – bubbles in the airlock, carbonation
and /or swirling in the wine must. This means you have done correctly.
Step 5
Let wait for
about a week, stirring (sanitized paddle!) Every couple of days or so. It will
get black on top. It’ll look awful… and your whole brewing area / basement /
garage will smell like banana bread!
Step 6
After a
week or so, use your sanitized siphon setup to rack the must into a freshly sanitized
6.5 gallon carboy. (At this point, we ran the raisins and remaining pulp
through a juicer and added it to the carboy, but that’s entirely optional. Will
give the wine extra body if you do it!)
Step 7
Put the
carboy somewhere cool (not cold!), and leave it alone for a month or so.
Step 8
Using
sanitized equipment, rack the banana wine off the sediment, into a clean,
freshly sanitized 6.5 gallon carboy. (At this point, we added 4 lbs sugar for
added sweetness. It probably also upped the final ABV!). Cap with sanitized
airlock, leave it alone for another 2-3 months.
Step 9
By this
time, your wine will have cleared and will look nothing like it did when you
first started. Take pleasure in your labor of love. Rack it again, and leave it
for another three months or so.
Step 10
After your
wine has been racked a few times and has shown no more fermentation activity
for about a month (no bubbles in the airlock, no more sediment being created),
you can begin bottling.
Step 11
To stop
fermentation, follow the instructions on the wine stabilizer you've chosen.
This should be done 2-3 days before bottling potassium sorbate. Take a gravity
reading with cleaned equipment, then rack the wine into clean, sanitized
bottles.
I'm not
going to sugarcoat it, the wine you bottle will be abrasive. Drinkable fire
water with a distinct banana flavor.
