BANANAS

FullySilenced

Natural enzymes in the peels and also there are supposed to be some flavorful esters... I washed the peels prior to whizzing them...

FullySilenced

I have not had an infection with this wash.. smelled like banana heaven to start then gradually lost that smell moving over to a normal smell for a strong wash...

FullySilenced

Banana are a bust... i stripped the first batch out and tasted of the product from 95 down to 60 and it was all spit out product... not a single swallow in the tasting...

Not much lost money wise but now i gotta clean out the boiler and the column... don't want that taste carryover ... anywhere... kind of a peppery banana thing.. YUK...

No sign on infection with the wash... in fact the wash tastes better than the distillage at any abv ... I pulled the plug on it a bit ago...
Calling it over and done ... thanks for reading the thread..

Sunshine

sorry to read that! my guess is, that the peel should not have been used. The banana spirits I have tasted were not strong or peppery, just fruity. the grassy or pepery is something often found in peel of any kind.

SDeurope

Yes, I'd clearly blame the peel as well. Sorry for that bust, from our tastings I can tell that banana can make a really fine spirit.

jbierling

FWIW, I tried banana once too (without peel) with EC-1118. Not pleasant. I don't think it was you.

grim

Surprising - How many plates in your rig?

I was going to try this with flesh only and something like the White Labs WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale (known to be a banana bomb). Now, a bit of a cheat to use a yeast to bring the banana flavor and aroma to the distillate, but I was hoping that it would accentuate what was coming through, which sounds like nothing much...

WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale Yeast @ White Labs

Fiji_Spirits

I find that a crappy low wine can be turned int something by watering down with filteredwater then re-distilled a second time. doing cuts but keeping the % high thru reflux till it gets too tailsy.

I get a pretty decent product and sometimes some decent flavor comesthru at that point.

FullySilenced

This is only the second time i have ever had to dispose of a wash or distillate... this one is not having any more time invested in it.. even to make a neutral... its not worth the effort or the cash imput in energy...

Now i may try again with just the flesh... but i used the peels based off of other peoples work and it was my best guess effort...

I know when to throw in.... the towel on this one is thrown...

FS

Lloyd

All good, FS, even our disappointments add to our knowledge.
But then if that was true I'd be really smart!! :))

punkin

Banana and Constipation @ Nutrition Facts Guide

Sadi

Sorry to hear how it turned out FS. :(

TheMechWarrior

@FullySilenced my first banana mash resulted in a bust as well. I lost a great deal of the mash when it went ballistic in the fermenter and overflowed...on to the kitchen bench and then on to the floor X_X So my yield was so low I didn't bother to do cuts. I ended up throwing in with the feints for a neutral run. I'll try again one day but until then I have too many other recipes to try out first.

Lloyd

Anyone had luck with cocoanut?
I have a kilo of fresh cocoanut flakes and I haven't a clue how to extract the flavor.
I could try steeping it with neutral for an hour, a day or a week and see what happens.
Not sure if the flavor would carry over with the GB4 or not.

punkin

They make coconut cream by just putting water with the coconut and squeezing, so that would be your best method of extracting.

I reckon it would settle out pretty well if you fermented on the pulp too, the flakes should be fairly heavy and compact on the bottom of the fermenter.

MikeAggie

You could always do maceration

grim

Gin basket filled with flakes on a rum run sounds like an interesting experiment.

Lloyd

I spent an hour this morning looking for my personal GB4 (the first one ever produced) before being reminded that I'd given it to LawOfOhms for his many contributions in helping to design it.

So I covered 50 grams of cocoanut with 100 ml of 94% neutral in a cup for an hour. Did the same with 50% neutral. The 94% stayed somewhat clean while the 50% turned white immediately.
After the hour I drained the liquor off and cut to about 30%. The 94% went milky white as soon as the water was added. The flavor of the 50% was less bitter than the 94% but both were enjoyable. The 50% was far better in my opinion than the high proof.

Adding 50 ml of water to each cup of "spent but alcohol soaked cocoanut" and drained off was at least as good as the first runnings.

Strangely bitter though while the raw cocoanut has no bitter taste at all.

punkin

Pleasse try extracting with water instead of alcohol.

I seem to recall that Crozdog got the Gin Basket for use in writing the manual...?

CothermanDistilling

extract with water, extract the same stuff with 10%, then 20%, 30%, and 40%, then maybe blend some or all?

i want to make this, the distiller said it took him several years to get it how he wanted, and it is phenomenal..

roundhousespirits.com/pumpkin-king-cordial/

Lloyd

Croz got an early prototype, pre-production, so he'd have time to write the manual.

That Pumkin cordial sounds amazing.

Lloyd

OK, @punkin you were right, as usual.
Just water to extract the flavor from the cocoanut and there was lots of cocoanutty flavor but almost no bitterness and it was sweet. A very nice mixer and the cocoanut carried over nicely when neutral was added.

100 grams of fresh cocoanut flakes in a beaker and cover with water for a few minutes then strain into a couple of ounces of neutral makes a very fine tipple. The same cocoanut with more water for a bit longer continued to work its tropical magic.

I might add a sliced banana next time. (Notice how I try to bring back the thread?)

punkin

I've just seen it done a stack of times on cooking shows is all. What they do is put the fresh shaved coconut in a bowl with enough water to cover and a little extra. Then they squeeze the shit out of the coconut with their hand a few times and strain it off. The first press is the coconut cream and they can get another one with adding a little more water.

captainshooch

Another method is to throw the coconut in a blender. Add enough water so the blender can work it into a fine porridge. You then squeeze this liquid thru a fine mesh handkerchief and place it in the refrigerator overnight. It will separate with the pure cream at the top and whatever water you used at the bottom.

Makes a great banana coconut cake when you substitute regular milk with the coconut cream. (see back on thread) :))

grim

Coconut is a tough one if you are using real product, since the distinctive flavor and aroma that most associate with coconut, Gamma Nonalactone doesn't actually exist in coconut. It's hyper coconut, and is everywhere. Very common as a sunscreen fragrance, air freshners, candy, and I wouldn't be surprised if most coconut rums weren't just using this too. Also known as coconut aldehyde. Most coconut flavorings, even "natural" use this.

Fiji_Spirits

My fijian girlfriend did a neat little trick with some plantains the other day. when they are green but almost turning yellow they treat them like a vegtable and fry it or something, BUT... when they are just turning yellow they add some water to a pot and boil them. what this does is produce a WONERFUL sweet desert sort of juice and the plantain to eat.

When I saw that juice, you can double darn sure that I thought of the fermenting possibilities.

Heres how I would do a bannana. Wait until ripe but firm then skin and add to a large pot and cover with water (the wateryou use will be your fermentable liquid) boil the bannannas until they release their sweet juice. hopefully they wont break down too much. separate the liquid allow to cool and add water as needed to get SG then your choice of yeast.

That said, I have not tried it because heat energy is expensive and i have been lazy, but the 4 bannana trees on my property give me opportunities from time to time

Lloyd

If you try it with plantains let us know. So far everyone says bananas are hard to get the favor to carry over into the distillate. Or even worse, the booze tastes bad.
If it does work for you, or any other member, please give us details.

Kahlua is made from neutral and, basically, a coffee syrup. Thinking banana booze may need to be made the same way.

Fiji_Spirits

yeah didnt really tastelike bannana. if you want bannana flavor an infusion would seem to be the way to go. it aint cheating if it tastes good.

Lloyd

I also cannot seem to get banana or cocoanut flavors to carry over into the distillate.
What precious little I got was a tiny (almost imperceptible, perhaps even subliminal) whisper of flavor instead of the SHOUT that I'd hoped for. Very disappointing.

Punkin said to simply add water to the cocoanut and add that milk to the drink. It wasn't pretty but it had all the flavor that anyone could ask for. It was in-your-face a full frontal cocoanut cordial, a very fine drink, but only if you didn't look at it.

TheMechWarrior

I have to agree with @Fiji_Spirits I too found that while I could detect the smell of banana when I opened the bottle there was no banana flavour at all really, at least so little I cared less for it. Maceration would be a great next step to see if it improved the process.