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• Alcoholic fermentation first began here.
• I learned to make invert sugars accidentally and saw they were extraordinarily potent.
• Classic ferments: use a source of sugar (carbon), proteins (not really protein but nitrogen), flavor, add yeast and nutrients, added extra sugar, let sit for many weeks to months, with a blowoff tube to let c02 out.
• Can last from a few weeks to many different months, can be multi-step depending on how you want to take it.
• Can survive in a wide range of temperatures, from mid-30s to 90’s and 100’s, though the temperature will decide what kind of brew it’ll be so you need to plan ahead for the weather.
• I cooked the fruits /veggies first to help caramelize them and break the sugars down to make life easy for yeasts, added yeast and left them on the fermenter for months.
• Outcome was extremely yeasty drink that smelt too strongly of booze and not much else.
• Realized consistent temperature is important, and need to make sure the flavor/smell components are not attacked by yeasts, alcohol. Need to let it mature to get the nasty heavier compounds out, which is why wines are aged.
• Not going to try again because they were worth too long time, took too much effort, didn’t elicit a lot of excitement, and were always compared to standard bottled grape wine, which is always a tough comparison to beat.
• Fermenting bananas is really really really hard, tempting as it is!

My experience with fermenting fruits—bananas, ginger, and carrots, and so much more.

My journey of alcoholic fermentation first began with fermenting fruits. I accidentally learned to make invert sugars while I was heating up a batch of tea for my kombucha, and I saw that inverted sugars were extraordinarily potent. I say extraordinarily potent for the reason that they’re simpler sugars and easier for my brews to digest, which means the brewing cycle can be shorter, quicker, and cleaner.

My first fruit ferments, the classic technique was as follows: Use a source of sugar for carbon, proteins for nitrogen (I often used these nutrients), flavor (banana or ginger or flowers), add yeast and nutrients, add extra sugar should the need arise, add the fruits or the source of sugar, let it sit for several weeks or a couple of months, and put on a blow-off tube on the fermentation vessel to let the CO2 out. That’s how I did my fruit ferments. It can last from a few weeks to a few months and can be a multi-step process depending on how you want to deal with it. For example, there are some processes that involve you adding extra sugar and nutrients every week or two, and other processes where you add a bunch of sugar at the start and don’t touch the brew until it’s complete six months later.

These ferments can survive in a wide range of temperatures, from the mid-30s Fahrenheit to the 90s and hundreds. The temperatures will decide what kind of brew it will be, so you need to plan ahead for the weather. If it’s a cold season, then you’ll need to sort out a much longer fermentation time versus if it’s in the summer. Additionally, if the summers in your place are overly hot, you might want to put your ferments in a cool room because too high temperatures can create off-flavors and encourage the wrong kind of bacteria and microbes.

I cooked the fruits or veggies (carrots, ginger, or other veggies) first to help caramelize and break down the sugars, to make life easy for the yeast. I added a bunch of water and yeast and left them in the fermenter for months. The outcome was an extremely yeasty drink that tasted too strongly of booze and not much else—not at all like the flavor of the fruit that I used. It was then I realized that consistent temperature is important, and it’s important to make sure that the target flavor of your brew is not attacked by yeast and alcohol because sometimes the undesired flavors can be overwhelming.

Additionally, if there’s too much sulfuric smell or too yeasty or alcoholic vibe to your brews, you can just let it mature in your fridge or outside after pasteurizing it for a couple of months or years. The longer it ages, the longer the nastier, heavier compounds will break down, and the more chill and relaxed the vibe of your drink will be. It’s one of the reasons why fruit wines and grape wines are aged: to break down unexpected compounds and create more consistency across different batches.

I am unlikely to do a lot more experiments with fruit wines because they take too much time, they take too much effort. My friends were not particularly excited by those because they were comparing them against commercially available wines and standard bottles of grape wine. Tough comparison to beat, and I knew I didn’t stand a chance. There are too many resources that go in, and the outcomes are always mediocre. Where’s the last point of consideration? Fermenting bananas and turning out good banana wine is really, really, really hard, and so is working with citrus fruits. Uh, banana wine feels really, really tempting because banana flavor is really good. Banana is an amazing fruit, so the temptation is great, but the efforts to produce decent results seem to be not worth it at all.