Banana Bread Beer

[Ozwald]

Well my plan was to ferment hot and stress out the yeast to push it towards the banana end, but maybe id be better off getting the banana falvours elsewhere.

I would strongly recommend against intentionally fermenting hot and stressing out a yeast to achieve amplified phenols and esters. Make sure you are well versed in how a specific yeast acts under normal temps and conditions before you attempt to push the boundaries. The last thing you want to find out is that you fermented too hot and have 50 undrinkable fusel alcohol bombs on your hands. No amount of esters and phenols is worth that.

+1. Everyone who's been around this board long enough knows that I'm all about pushing yeast's boundries, but it definitely comes from knowing that yeast well at optimum conditions & slowly changing one single parameter. That & fusel bombs suck. That goes double for some of us who will drink them anyways. Those next mornings suck real hard.

[spiderwrangler]

That & fusel bombs suck. That goes double for some of us who will drink them anyways. Those next mornings suck real hard.

Does trying to cure fusel hangovers require drinking more fusel bomb beer? As to the yeast, I'd use the yeast and grain bill to get the rich, malty character you want, so select your yeast strain based on that, and look elsewhere for your banana flavor.

[Thuys]

Been a while since I was on here but I've finally got round to brewing this beer (dont worry, I havent given up the hobby, just been brewing lots of other brews). Anyway, one of the main problems I had with this recipe idea was there was lots of theories but never any report on how it ended up, so this is how it went for me.

Recipe:

3kg Pale liquid extract
.2kg biscuit malt
.45kg carapills/dextrine
.45kg flaked oats
.45kg victory malt
.25kg lactose
15g Nugget (60 mins)
1 tsp Nutmeg (Made into a tea and added to fermenter)
Wyeast 3068 (hefe yeast)
1 bottle banana schnapps essence

Now I didn't keep a brew log for this so I'm going on memory.
I mashed/steeped the grains for an hour (still confused at the exact difference). At any rate, I held the grains in 3.5L water per Kg of grain at about 67C.
I then brought this wort to the boil and added 1.5kg of pale liquid extract. Added the hops and boiled for an hour. Right at the end I added the rest of the extract as well as the lactose.
Added the nutmeg tea to the fermenter and after cooling the wort I added that too. I added the yeast (I did make a starter) and left it to ferment for a couple of weeks. I didnt have temperature control but it would have been on average 20C. When kegging I added the banana schnapps essence.

As stated earlier, the plan was for a biscuity/bready/caramel base with oats to make it nice and thick, lactose for a bit of sweetness and of course banana to make it banana bread.

First time brewing a new recipe there are always going to be a few things to tweak, but I am very happy with the results so far. The oats have given it a thick mouth feel just like I wanted. The banana schnapps and the yeast have given it a strong banana aroma and possibly flavour (not sure if just imagining the flavour because of the smell?). The yeast also contributed some clove characteristics which is not out of place in the banana bread theme.
All the malts provide a solid backbone with nothing dominating or standing out.

When I brew this again, and I am sure I will (just after I brew another 7 or 8 beers haha) I'm not sure what I'll change. Nothing NEEDS changing, but at the same time, I'm sure I could make it better. I think I'd experiment with the base malts, maybe upping the intensity to give it a bit more flavour.

So yeah, I'm very happy with my recipe and the brew, if anyone was looking to make this sort of beer Id suggest (trying to be helpful, not cocky) my recipe is a good starting place.

If anyone has advice or questions, I am happy to read them! I'll also try to use this forum more frequently!

Thanks