I was wondering if anyone has any experience with adding banana flavor to brews? I am looking to make a peanut butter and banana stout. I plan to use P2B for the peanut butter but I am not sure how to get bananas into the beer.
I am worried banana extract with give me that candy/fake banana flavor. I was thinking of putting bananas in the secondary for several days but I am not sure how much banana flavor I would get with that plan.
So just to make sure I understand. For this beer I would do everything I would normally do for a stout but just swap out the normal stout yeast for one with more banana flavors?
One last question, which yeast gives the best banana flavor? (Just banana flavor) I have been reading some stuff about WPL300 and they say it give good banana and clove flavor. I really just want the banana and PB flavors, not sure if clove with throw things off.
I haven’t done it, but I think adding about a dozen overripe black bananas (per 5 gallons) late in the fermentation would work wonders for real banana flavor.
I also have a suggestion for peanut butter flavor – toasted Maris Otter. Put some Maris Otter in a 350 F oven for 15 minutes. You’ll get a ton of nutty flavor in the final beer.
I do like the hefeweizen yeast idea too. Ferment warm around 70 F for maximum banana. With a big pitch and warm temps, you shouldn’t get much clove. WLP300 should be fine for this although I’m still experimenting with weizen yeasts myself so I can’t say for sure. Wyeast 3068 is definitely known for being a banana bomb.
Gee, I guess no one here has read Homebrew All Stars! One of the brewers we interviewed is multi award winning Joe Formanek. He gives recipes for both a banana blond and banana stout. Made with bananas.