JoeReal

Terry,

The pre-fermentation steps are the same as making regular banana wine, but then there is a major difference when it comes to making sherry wine, but let me tell you what I did.

Basically, I have the 6 gallon fermentation bucket, placed about 8 lbs of California Gold (combined from Mike [bananavilla] and my own CG fruits), then enough water to make 2.5 gallons, then 6 lbs of white sugar.

Heat the sugar to near boling with 1 gallon water, 2 tsp citric acid, and pour over peeled and crushed California Gold bananas, wait 10 minutes and pour cool water to make total of 2.5 gallons. When temp has cooled down to 100 deg F or less, add pectic enzyme. When broth cools down to 90 deg F and less, then add the Flor Sherry yeast. cover the bucket and wait overnight.

I then used an aquarium pump to blow tiny bubbles through a submerged stainless steel bubbler. the air is filtered as it comes out of the air pump, and is scrubbed by bubbling through a vodka solution. this is called the submerged method of making sherry wine. I bubble just about 0.2 liters of air per minute through the solution for one week. Of course, I used Sherry Flor yeast, and it makes very good aroma. After that, I transferred everything to glass gallon jugs and seal an airlock. The rest of the steps are done like you would for other wines.