I am hoping someone can help me with my banana wine.
I have made it for many years with no problems at all and the wine clearing
to a golden colour on its own.
2 years ago i made a couple of gallons and a friend did the same,with
bananas from the same shop, both of us are having the same problem.
The wine is a thick milky colour and will not clear even after using
finings.
It is not clearing from the top at all and has been stopped fermenting with
the aid of a stabilising tablet for well over a year.
What i can't understand is why it has been so good and easy to make in the
past but both of us have the same problems now.

Any suggestions are most welcome.

Many thanks.

Paul

P.D.Silverwood wrote:

> The wine is a thick milky colour and will not clear even after using
> finings.
> It is not clearing from the top at all and has been stopped fermenting with
> the aid of a stabilising tablet for well over a year.
> What i can't understand is why it has been so good and easy to make in the
> past but both of us have the same problems now.
>
> Any suggestions are most welcome.
>
> Many thanks.
>
> Paul

You stabilized it, so fermentaion isn't stirring it up, so that's fine.
But is most of the sugar gone? If its very sweet, the dense sugar may
really slow down settling.

Another problem may be starch, if the banannas were too green. When I
made a mixed berry port, I added some bananas and brown rice. I made
sure I added amylase at the start, just to be sure you got rid of the
starch before fermentation.

If you add it now, after stabilizing, you might break up the haze, but
you'll add even more sugar -- maltose to be specific. And your wine
might end up tasting like unfermented wort.

If you poke around the google archive of this group, you'll see that
some people have used the spin cycle of their washing machine as a
home-made centrifuge. That could help you compact some hopelessly
floating pulp.

Thanks for the advise.
Tomorrow i will check the SG.
And also test for starch.
I will put the results on here.

Thanks again
Paul


> wrote in message
oups.com...
>
> P.D.Silverwood wrote:
>
>> The wine is a thick milky colour and will not clear even after using
>> finings.
>> It is not clearing from the top at all and has been stopped fermenting
>> with
>> the aid of a stabilising tablet for well over a year.
>> What i can't understand is why it has been so good and easy to make in
>> the
>> past but both of us have the same problems now.
>>
>> Any suggestions are most welcome.
>>
>> Many thanks.
>>
>> Paul
>
> You stabilized it, so fermentaion isn't stirring it up, so that's fine.
> But is most of the sugar gone? If its very sweet, the dense sugar may
> really slow down settling.
>
> Another problem may be starch, if the banannas were too green. When I
> made a mixed berry port, I added some bananas and brown rice. I made
> sure I added amylase at the start, just to be sure you got rid of the
> starch before fermentation.
>
> If you add it now, after stabilizing, you might break up the haze, but
> you'll add even more sugar -- maltose to be specific. And your wine
> might end up tasting like unfermented wort.
>
> If you poke around the google archive of this group, you'll see that
> some people have used the spin cycle of their washing machine as a
> home-made centrifuge. That could help you compact some hopelessly
> floating pulp.
>

I second the starch bit. Use amylase to see if it will clear.

>
> If you poke around the google archive of this group, you'll see
that
> some people have used the spin cycle of their washing machine as a
> home-made centrifuge


I generally eschew profanity, but I gotta tell you, that sounds
****ed up. Put bananas on spin cycle. fageddabodit.

--
billb
Since time immemorial, the powerful have used religion to distract
the oppressed, to encourage them to focus on the next world so that
they will acquiesce to the injustices of this world. If you would
have your slaves remain docile, teach them hymns.
<

billb wrote:
> >
> > If you poke around the google archive of this group, you'll see
> that
> > some people have used the spin cycle of their washing machine as a
> > home-made centrifuge
>
>
> I generally eschew profanity, but I gotta tell you, that sounds
> ****ed up. Put bananas on spin cycle. fageddabodit.

Well, billb is right, that does sound a little wierd. I used it on the
fluffy gros lees of my berry port, because I was lazy, and didn't use a
mesh bag to hold to soft fruits. To see what I mean, go he
http://home.pacbell.net/toms/1997chard.htm This guy's got the system
down cold.

Me, I just taped 4-2L plastic soda bottles to the walls of the washing
machine, and ran the spin cycle 6 times. Paceing back and forth all
the while, "What if they rupture", "What if they come loose and bounce
around", "what if the brake mixes it up again" -- it worked fine. Lots
of the pulp would compress nicely, and pouring off was easy enough.

It is starch i tested with iodine.

How do i get rid with this Amylase?

I can get some tomorrow.

Thanks
Paul


"Droopy" > wrote in message
oups.com...
>I second the starch bit. Use amylase to see if it will clear.
>

Just get some amylase enzyme and follow the directions on the bottle
for tsp/gallon. Alternately you could use beano.

When I make banana wine I just add amylase at the beginning before
fermentation as part of the procedure.

You should add more than the instructions on the package suggest, maybe
as much as twice as much. The alcohol in your wine will prevent the
amylase protein from working well. Same would apply if you're adding
pectinase after the wine is made.