T plus one and holding...or

[Blacksmith1]

Failure to launch.
Banana wine. Og 1.092. 2 one quart starters. Still not enough activity to say it's fermenting. No colony to speak of. Very minor off gassing.
The only thing I can think of is I might have doubled the K-meta. It's the only thing I didn't write down as I did it.
Can I remove sulfites using an airstone? Kinda force them out?
I really don't want to loose 6 gallons.

 

[Maylar]

How long has it been?

 

[Blacksmith1]

I did the first pitch on the 22nd, second one last night. My ambient temp is 72F. I am used to much quicker lag phases than this.
i was racking my watermelon this morning just after posting this and decided to dump that slurry into the banana. Different yeast but if it gets things going I'm ok with that.

 

[Maylar]

Wadja pitch the first time?

 

[Blacksmith1]

71B. First time I've used it. The K1v slurry is already showing far more activity.

 

[Maylar]

Maybe 71B dunn like nannas.

 

[Blacksmith1]

That would suck. I chose it because the esters produce banana notes.
i'll try it again in a one gallon at some point and see what happens.

 

[bmd2k1]

Failure to launch.
Banana wine. Og 1.092. 2 one quart starters. Still not enough activity to say it's fermenting. No colony to speak of. Very minor off gassing.
The only thing I can think of is I might have doubled the K-meta. It's the only thing I didn't write down as I did it.
Can I remove sulfites using an airstone? Kinda force them out?
I really don't want to loose 6 gallons.

Curious what ur recipe is?

 

[Blacksmith1]

Direct from my brew log.
21-24 lbs of bananas. $4.75 Frozen, sliced 1/4-1/2 inch.
6 gallons water $5.16
12lbs sugar $6.00
71-B yeast $1.25
4 Amad peach passion fruit black tea bags.
5/18/19
Slice banana and freeze.
5/21/19
1 gallon to mix pectic enzyme, acid blend and yeast nute/energizer. Into fermenter add cold gallon mix. Add banana juice when ready and cooled a bit.

Place frozen sliced banana in brew bag put in stock pot. May need to do this in stages depending on pot and/or bag size. Bring to boil, reduce heat and simmer 30 mins.
6 gallon took 2 stages. Stage 1 all four tea bags. 2 gallons of water with half of the bananas per stage.
Squeeze bag to extract as much juice as possible. Add water to 7 gallons.
5/22/19 pitched 71-B
5/24/19 serious lag phase. Some CO2, still building colony.
5/25/19 re-pitched with new starter
6/26/19 poured K1V slurry from watermelon into bucket. Noticeable activity within 30 mins.

 

[Maylar]

What was starting gravity?

 

[Blacksmith1]

1.092
It was still sluggish, so wanting to make sure it got going I sprinkled a packet of dry yeast into it. It's gotten pretty active now. I'll get a usable product out of it......

 

[bernardsmith]

I would check to see if the bananas were processed with sulfites (unless, of course you froze them yourself. I would also check the SG. You might find the gravity is dropping even if you cannot see any clear sign of CO2 activity. Banana must tends to be both dense and opaque.

 

[Blacksmith1]

I'll stick the hydrometer in it later today.
Yesterday it had a thick cap of banana foam/sludge on top of it. This morning it had a bit of fizz, and no foam. After hitting it with my powered whip and degassing the heck out of it, it's bubbling away again. I guess it just behaves a bit differently than I am used to.

Froze them myself, and yes the must is both dense and opaque.

 

[bernardsmith]

But the fact that the bananas were on top tells you that gas was being produced otherwise the fruit would have sunk to the bottom and would have stayed there.

 

[Blacksmith1]

Which it now has sunk even though there is more CO2.

I'm still working on patience and not being a mother hen to my brews....