Banana Wine Recipe

 

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.