[btrammel]

Hi all - I'm new to the board.  I'm still new to home brewing and only have one batch under my belt (2 more on their way!) I'm brewing my first 2 from kits, my third will be my first recipe. It's between a honey hefey or this, a banana wheat. I've built it in BeerSmith2. Please let me know what you think - I'm in need of help!

DRUNKEY MONKEY

INGREDIENTS
3 lbs - Extra Light DME
3 lbs - Wheat LME
1 lb - Carapils
2 oz - Hallertauer (60 min)
A few cinnamon sticks (flame out or final 5?)
Orange peel (5 oranges - flame out or final 5?)
WL3068 (weizen liquid yeast from Wyeast)

Planning to add bananas, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg to secondary.

TARGET STATS (before secondary additions)
OG - 1.049
FG - 1.012
IBU - 22
SRM - 5.7
ABV - 4.8%

Have at it - please!

[cornershot]

Wow! Good luck on that one!

[majorvices]

You don't need the carpils. Carpils is for adding dextrines and body and extract beers usually suffer from an over abundance of dextrines and body. Other than that you malt profile looks fine.

The other additions: Personally, I prefer beer flavored beer and you have a little too much going on there for my tastes but then again I remember when I first got into home brewing and all the crazy ideas I had so I can't fault you too much. brew this one and then try your hand mastering a simple pale ale.

[btrammel]

ummm ... thanks, zimaclone?  lol

majorvices - just about everyone has told me i have a little too much going on here.  i will definitely remove the carapils.  i've seen others add their spices to the boil instead of the secondary for holiday beers and the like.  would that assist with taking out a bit of the sweet "bite" i may get from this brew?

i'm brewing this one for the SWMBO.  she wants a wheat beer with a banana flavor.  would it be as simple as brewing a basic wheat and using the yeast i've chosen, which is supposed to give off a banana aroma and taste?  do i need the other spices?  like i said, most people are telling me there's too much going on, but i'm not getting a whole lot of other suggestions.  i just want to make sure i don't waste money on something that won't be drinkable.

i really appreciate your help, truly!

[cornershot]

Ok sorry about that. I would macerate really ripe bananas, place them in a sanitized mesh bag, and rack on top of them in secondary. You could go without the bag but the beer might be hard to separate from the nanners. Or the yeast might give you enough banana? Keep in mind, fermented fruit often tastes far different than fresh fruit. I'd also make strong teas out of the spices and add, a little at a time, to a glass of finished beer until you get the flavor you want. Then scale up for the rest of the batch and bottle. Otherwise it is hard to get the right amounts and ratio of spices by just adding to your secondary and hoping for the best. I'd also use all wheat lme if it's intended as a wheat beer. Hope this helps. The spirit of homebrew is strong within you! Now go forth and brew your Drunkey Monkey!  And brew it with all the love you can muster every step of the way!

[saintpierre]

I agree with Major on the carapil and additions.  Since you have so many additions I would suggest a neutral yeast like US-05 and save the 068 for something where you really can enjoy the phenols it produces...
Just my 0.02.  Let us know how it turns out.

[tschmidlin]

I would scrap all of the spice additions and just go with 3068.  Ferment at 62F.  See how you like it that way before you start adding a bunch of stuff to it.

[btrammel]

great feedback - thank you very much.  i think i may scrap most of the additions, but may add cinnamon to the end of the boil and bananas to the secondary, just to see what happens.  i'll stick with the banana-y 3068 yeast.  also - i've read that you'll get more of a banana/clove taste at a higher temp with this yeast.  is that not the case?

one other thing - how do you guys feel about the idea of adding honey malt to this recipe?  i'm just trying to make it a little more exciting than simple, but simple may be the way to go.  again, i'm a noob - i apologize if i'm thinking too far out of the box (or have wandered out of the box altogether).

[cornershot]

If you go with the bananas, they'll probably float so be sure to "punch down the cap" a couple times daily. Stir'em in gently to mix 'em in and prevent mold, etc from growing on the bit floating above the surface. If you try to add too many flavors, the flavor of the finished product might get too muddy. Keep it simple.

[reverseapachemaster]

You will get more than enough banana with 3068 on its own if you ferment in the upper 60s or lower 70s. Above that it starts to develop some undesirable bubble gum flavors (strawberry and banana).

[snowtiger87]

I would scrap all of the spice additions and just go with 3068.  Ferment at 62F.  See how you like it that way before you start adding a bunch of stuff to it.

+1

Taste it before you add real banana. I think you will be surprised at how much it already has.

[jeffy]

I would scrap all of the spice additions and just go with 3068.  Ferment at 62F.  See how you like it that way before you start adding a bunch of stuff to it.

+1

Taste it before you add real banana. I think you will be surprised at how much it already has.

I also agree.  I get a lot of banana when fermenting with a hefe yeast at 61 or 62F.

[btrammel]

Thanks again, folks.  What a huge help!  I've adjusted this recipe quite a bit for my first go around - please have a look and let me know if i'm getting closer:

3 lbs - Wheat LME
3 lbs - Extra Light DME
4 oz - Honey Malt (steeped)
2 oz - Hallertauer Hops (60 min)
Wyeast 3068 @ high 60 degrees (68-70)
**Will add mashed bananas to secondary ONLY if needed

This recipe seems very simple - easier than I thought it would be but, after reading all of your replies, I think this will get me to where I want to be.

Two things - I kept the 3/3 lb split because if I just use wheat it ends up dropping my gravity below the "green" in BeerSmith.  Having the 3/3 split keeps me in the middle, where I'd like to be.  Also - I removed all of the additional ingredients except for the banana if I'm not getting enough banana after primary.  I added some honey malt (4 ounces) just to give me a bit of honey to taste.  Wife and I thought that might taste good.

Does this look a little better?

[tschmidlin]

You know when people talk about just using the wheat extract, they don't mean just 3 lbs of it.  They mean replace the other extract with wheat extract, use as much as needed to hit your gravity, in the middle of the green if you like.

[btrammel]

thanks tschmidlin - i removed the extra light and added 7 lbs of wheat which gets me down the middle of the road with my gravity, but then my color ends up off the charts.  what can i do to bring the srm down?