good recipe
Well, um . . . hmmmm. Jack's site has some great recipes for wine to be sure, and I go there alot to see what's new in the wide open home winemaking scene. I also have a lot of respect for Jack Keller, not just for his site and for the wine he makes, but, he just does a great job of keeping people engaged and interested so my hat's off to Jack.
Focusing on this recipe specifically I personally would make a number of changes and lose the tannin and acid, change the sugar to honey, leave out the skins and not heat the must.
I'd slice the bananas and simmer them for a few hours in a fine mesh grain bag in a crock pot on the lowest setting. I would essentially use that reduced syrup to add to my must, and then go with the blend of raisins and spices used in spice cake (allspice, cinnamon, mace, nutmeg). Basically I'd translate my favorite chocolate spiced banana nut bread recipe to mead.
I'd honey roast some walnuts and pecans then chop them coarsely and dangle them in a grain bag during fermentation. You'd want some pectic enzyme in the primary. I'd also add in some vanilla beans and about four good handfuls of cocoa nibs. In the mean time I'd be soaking some medium toast oak cubes in some cognac during the primary.
So a 6 gallon primary yield recipe would look like:
Oskaarz spicy banana nutz:
15 lbs bananas, sliced and simmered, decant the supernate and reserve. Add slices to a grain bag and add to ferment.
16 lbs honey (meadowfoam, macadamia nut, locust)
2 qt Maple Syrup (Grade B dark amber)
2 lbs dark (carmelized, not burnt!) honey roasted pecans and walnuts coarsely chopped
1 lb sultanas, chopped
5 vanilla beans
3 nutmegs, cracked and smashed
4 cloves, whole
10-15 allspice berries, cracked and smashed
3 cinnamon quills, crushed
4 handfuls coacoa nibs, crushed
2 oz medium toast American oak soaked in Cognac
Balance must to about 1.130
Check your pH something like this could go low on you and cause a sluggish ferment.
I'd go with either 58W3 or BA11 for this puppy and be sure to rehydrate with GO-Ferm, and use a standard nutrient addition schedule. Keep the must moving during the fermentation. Moderate fermentation temperatures apply here so keep it right at 70 F.
After the primary taste your mead and see where it may need adjustment to bring the flavors in to balance. Take your cognac soaked oak cubes and put them into your secondary vessel, rack the mead onto them and add any additional ingredients you may feel are necessary. If you feel this is lacking in acid (I don't think it will be but that's up to you) wait until the end before you bottle or keg to add acid as the chocolate and spices will add a sharpness to it as well.
Maybe not so simple, but worth the effort.
+1 on this recipe! I just made something very similar, using this recipe as inspiration and its turned out wonderful!
Recipe as follows:
7kg bananas
6 vanilla pods, cut in half
4 whole nutmegs, cracked
6 cinnamon quills, broken in half
200g dark Raisins, chopped
250g Cocoa nibs
60g Mixed-Roasted bourbon-soaked hickory chips
11 lbs honey
Mead yeast
Nutrients
DAP
Pecto Enzyme
Super-Klear
Brewing:
I boiled the bananas with the skin on. You don't want to boil long as the aroma is very volatile, and you lose it very quickly. As soon as it comes to the boil, you want to take it off. Next time, I would do it, as Oskaar said, without the skin. That means you put the pieces in a big strain bag and put it in your primary. This DOES give you a rich banana aroma, but it also can give you a bit of a stinky skunky smell, that doesn't go away for a couple of weeks of being in the secondary. If anyone has a better way to maintain aroma, I'm all ears. Maybe could try blending the bananas into a smoothy/soup then adding it? The skin left a really ugly grey color, but did disappear mid-way through the fermentation. SG: 1.082
Half way through the fermentation, I added half the nutmeg, vanilla and cinnamon in a hop bag.
Finished fermentation at 0.992 (giving an ABV of about 12%). Added super-klear, and then racked on to secondary with rest of the nutmeg, cinnamon and vanilla with the hickory (which was roasted to a medium-light and medium-dark toast, and then soaked on bourbon for a week) and bourbon tea.
After a week, I removed the wood, and added the cacao nibs and raisins. Beautifully complex and slightly astringent. I pumped up the acidity to .55% with TA. Haven't back sweetened; leaving it nice and dry. After a few days, i removed the chocolate and raisins, cold crashed for a couple of days, and primed with some dark brown sugar. Bottled in beer bottles, and will age for 6 months.
Won-der-ful!
Thanks Oskaar for the recipe. Good luck to anyone else making this!