Dried Banana Mead Recipe

This is the recipe for the Ministry of Mead Dried Banana Mead. This is a soft and luscious mead.

Like so many of my "recipes' this is more about processes than being a recipe.

This is possibly the simplest of all of my Mead 'recipes' it is nothing more than a mead made with dried bananas, having said that, it is a demanding ferment that requires constant attention.

The ingredient list is simple, dried bananas, honey, water, yeastie stuff and oak. Perhaps a bit of acid for balance right near the end.

My license restricts the amount of fruit I add to Mead, feel free to add more than I do. My licence also prevents me from adding fruit to Mead once fermentation has started, this prevents me from racking onto more fruit during secondary, though you may like to do so.

I do not use a mesh bag for my fruit. This ensures maximum extraction but also creates a ferment that requires constant attention. The cap the bananas create is formidable and requires punching down several times a day. I leave my bananas in for longer than many would, I believe they continue to give flavour for around 12-14 days.

Dried Banana Mead – 17% finishing at 1.030

Ministry of Mead Dried Banana Mead — Dried Banana Mead by Ministry of Mead

This is basically a mead, made with the addition of dried bananas in primary.

Ingredients

Dried bananas – these can be purchased dried, or dried in an oven. I started off drying my own bananas but now purchase them due to the amount I use.

Honey – A rich and malty honey is best, though the honey choice is entirely artistic, perhaps light and floral is the way you would go. I like the rich and malty tones I get from clover honey, though this does not have a lot of fine floral tones.

Yeast and Nutrients. I use the fermaid range of nutrients, I rehydrate with GoFerm and I stagger my nutrient additions. These are personal choices. I have used Lalvin CLOS successfully here, If you are looking for a lower ABV, there are a wider range of choices for you. Please do not use 1118, it will leave very little flavour behind.

Other additives:-

I do not normally use a clearing agent with bananas, they clear nicely on their own.
If the bananas were ripened and dried appropriately, then the addtion of Amylase is an advantage, but not an absolute essential. Amylase aids in breaking down starches and converting them to sugars. Bananas are high in Amylase and do naturally break down the starches to sugars on their own. However, there will still be some starches left in there and some amylase will help you turn that into sugar. There is not a lot of it, if you wish to skip this step, you will still have a really fine product.

Ratios

For every 12 litres of must

1.5 kg dried bananas -

4.5 kgs honey

Note :- this is a lot of total sugar, however, the sugar within the bananas is going to take a few days to extract and will effectively step feed the must, without the bananas OG sits at the upper comfort limit at 1.119 ish. With holding some of the honey and step feeding it would be advised by some (myself included), and makes perfect sense, particularly if you use a yeast that does not like a high brix must.

Make your yeast starter

Mix the honey and water, without heating the honey above 30 deg celcius.

Add the dried bananas, I made the mistake of chopping these up first time around, I now use them whole. Some people will want to use a bag, I just live with the nightmare cap that they create. See the photos.

Pitch your yeast

Manage the banana cap – follow your nutrient protocol

The cap these things form is scary, it is like a thick sludge that gets more and more compacted the longer it is left, it needs punching down three or four times a day.

Rack off the bananas once it looks like you should, or you get sick of managing that cap, between 5 and ten days is the endurance of most people, I go a bit longer, those bananas still have flavour and sugar for quite some time.

Leave under airlock for a month or so more, you know the go, wait for all of the activity to stop, get a week or three of no gravity movement at all.

Rack to ageing – I have previously gone to glass for six months and then Oak for six, I am now going to older Oak straight away, this wants oak, the oak is a primary ingredient in the end flavour profile.

Stabilise, back sweeten if you wish, adjust the acid if you wish, and bottle.

Enjoy,

If you do make this, please send me some pictures, share your journey with the Ministry of Mead on FBook