# My First Dragon Blood!



## Pumpkinman

I had to try it out, every time
I read a post telling us how good it is, my mouth watered!
I am following DangerDave's recipe, but I have a few questions:

*The Recipe is as follows:*
_*Step 1: To a cleaned and sanitized seven gallon primary, add---in this order:
2 bottles (48 oz each) 100% Lemon Juice (ReaLemon in the green bottle): if you want to recude the acid level use one bottle.
Water to about five gallons
20 cups of white granulated sugar (looking for a SG btw 1.085-1.09 after filling to 6 gallons*): use less sugar for lower final ABV. Stir sugar until completely desolved.
1 tsp. tannin (stir)
4 tsp. yeast nutrient (stir)
2 tsp. yeast energizer (stir)
3 tsp. pectic enzyme (stir)
Top water to six (6) gallons* (looking for a SG btw 1.085-1.09) and stir well*_



For Yeast Nutrient - is GoFerm acceptable?
For Yeast Energizer - will Fermaid K work?
Also, just to be clear, add both of them before the yeast?
The Recipe states to let sit undisturbed for 12-24 hrs, is this to let it come up to temp before pitching the yeast, or is there another reason?
(I'm not questioning the recipe at all, just curious if I could pitch the yeast when temps reached 75°-80°, this heat mat will have it up to temp within 2-3 hrs.

That Nylon bag was hard to pull closed before I squeezed it a few times.
The bottom pic shows how I bring thing up to temp fairly quick and maintain 75° - 80°, I use a Seedling Heat Mat these are obviously used in the gardening industry to germinate seeds, but they work real well for fermenting buckets and carboys. The main difference between these and the belts is the size, these heat the entire bucket or carboy. I used a network patch cable to keep it tight against the bucket, that's just what I had laying around, you can use anything, when it gets up to temp, I'll take the cable off so it just maintains the temp that I want.


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## seth8530

Nice picture. 

Goferm is rehydration nutrient. Not really what you want to be using for the long run I dont think. However, your fermaid K will work great for nutrient. As far as energizer I am not so sure. BTW r hydrating the yeast with go ferm is always a good idea. ( :


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## Pumpkinman

Yep, I've been using goferm, works really well with Fermaid.
Thanks.


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## Pumpkinman

Holy lord! Fermenting activity after 4 hrs of pitching Yeast and Goferm slurry! 83° seems to be a Sweet spot for this batch of dragon Blood. I think I'll remove the heat mat for a few hrs so we don't get it fermenting too fast...hmmmm....could we get Dragon Blood in 14 days...LMAO...ONLY JOKING!!!!


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## DirtyDawg10

Looking good!


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## cohenhouse77

Pumpkinman said:


> hmmmm....could we get Dragon Blood in 14 days.....



Hahaha! I see we are both instigators. 


It looks awesome. Love the seed mat idea. Time to pull mine out of the shed.


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## Pumpkinman

Thanks! Those seed mats rock, I had to remove mine for a few hrs...any more than 89° and the yeast I'm using (Lalvin QA23) will be very unhappy.

Tom


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## dangerdave

I'm sure it will work out fine, Tom. It looks good! To answer one of your questions, the 24 hour period of rest before pitching the yeast has two purposes. It gives time for the pectic enzyme to start working on the fruit, and it gives the preservatives in the lemon juice time to dissipate before the yeast goes to work.

You are going to love this stuff! Good luck!


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## Pumpkinman

Dave,
Thanks for the reply, I didn't even consider the preservatives in the lemon.
It smells amazing, as of this morning, the SG dropped from 1.090 - 1.070, of course I had to "text" it.....it is nice!


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## Pumpkinman

The Dragon Blood is smoking along at a fast pace, I started on the 17th with an SG of 1.090, today it is at 1.030, it is really wild, it is ferment so strong that it almost looks like it is at a low boil! DangerDave hit it on the head with the temps, I am maintaining a constant 80°-83°, the only addition to the recipe that I made were:


I used GoFerm when I Hydrated the yeast, 1.25 g per gram of yeast.
The Yeast I used is Lalvin QA23 & Lavlin 71B -1122 blend, 5g to 1g ratio
I added 1 tsp Fermaid K, split into 3 applications, once daily after the initial drop in SG

At this rate I should be able to rack it off to a carboy in a day or two, and start clarifying it.


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## Pumpkinman

Dragon Blood SG at 1.000, racked, degassed best I could by hand...Yeck!, meta, sorbate, sparkolloid added.
one week or so to go! Not bad for 5 days!


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## cedarswamp

I use my seedling mat underneath my buckets and carboys and it maintains 75-80 constant depending on the room temp. I use a thermostat on mine so not sure if it would go above 80 this way or not. took 14 hrs to bring 18 cans of frozen concentrate must up to 75, after starting at 58.


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## Pumpkinman

The seedling mat I used on this is a rather large one 48" x 20", I wrapped the mat around the bucket. I have 2 of them that big, I used it on the juice buckets to bring them up to temp a bit faster as well.

If anyone is interested in them, I can see what kind of pricing I can get them at from my distributor.
Tom


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## dangerdave

How's the DB going, Tom?


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## Pumpkinman

It's going great! It is very clear, Sparkolloid rocks, much faster than Super Kleer KC.
I'm waiting on the full week as per your instructions (3 more days) before I back-sweeten and bottle it up!
9 days so far, I can't wait to try it back sweetened!
Tom


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## Pumpkinman

Dave, my lord! we opened the Dragon Blood last night, it was amazing, my wife loves it, heck, I love it!
It's time to make another batch, I am considering a batch of the version you made with honey, replacing the sugar, is it that much better than the original?
Can you post the link to the recipe, I'd like to check it out.
Thanks!!


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## Pumpkinman

Found it : Red Dragon melomel


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## dangerdave

Another convert! Glad you like it, Tom. Make sure you stash a few bottles, and try them in a couple of months. It only gets better!

Yes, the DB melomel is remarkable! I think you'll like it. I've tasted mine several times since back sweetening several weeks ago, and am going to bottle it this week, I think. My wife likes it very much. She's my chief taster!


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## Pumpkinman

It's officially started, Red Dragon Melomel


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## Pumpkinman

Dave, a few questions:
Did you back sweeten you Melomel with sugar or Honey?
What are your thoughts on adding re-hydrated raisins to the fermenting bucket? This would add a bit more mouth feel and another flavor to the melomel.
I look forward to your reply.
Tom


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## dangerdave

I back sweetened with sugar. The next one I make, I will try honey. I like honey.

Raisins are always good! Go for it!


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## Pumpkinman

i need this one to be ready before my wife finishes the original dragon blood...lol


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## geek

my mouth is watery........


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## Pumpkinman

geek, its real good and fairly easy to make!


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## geek

I tell you my "son" that I will be tasting the DB soon, right Dave?


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## geek

Tom, post pictures of the final product.......to make my mouth more watery....


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## Pumpkinman

Beware.....it is deceiving....it will knock you on yer arse after a bit...LOL


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## Pumpkinman

Dave, The red Dragon is very nice, it is rolling along, fermenting nicely, had to take a taste, very interesting, the honey gives it a whole new level, and the raisins added to it perfectly!


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## geek

once done see if you can update the recipe to make sure whether using honey or raisins is better than plain sugar.


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## Pumpkinman

Just from what I am tasting at this point, it is hands down, much better.
I was apprehensive about making a mead or melomel as I really don't "love" honey, but the intense honey flavor has been complimented by the berries and raisins.
The biggest problem will be keeping enough on hand!


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## Pumpkinman

Red Dragon is at 1.020, we should be at or below 1.000 tomorrow, this tastes great already.


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## dangerdave

I told you! I think it's an improvement---albeit, not in price. I'm very interested in the outcome. I think I'll add some rasins to my next batch of standard DB and see how it compares. You guys are great with testing variations on this recipe. I'll have to make a list of the possible variatins and attach it to the recipe thread.

'Likes' for everyone!


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## dangerdave

geek said:


> I tell you my "son" that I will be tasting the DB soon, right Dave?


 
Coming to an office near you!


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## Pumpkinman

Dave, the SG is .994 as of this morning...lol..talk about fermenting to dry..lol... I kept "steady" temps between 86°-90°, on the high end of the yeast tolerance, and added 1 tsp yeast nutrient over the course of the first 3 days of fermentation to avoid any nutrient issues that can materialize from fast fermentations.
It still seems like it has a lot of life in it yet, time to unplug the heat mat and let her cool down, then rack, stabilize and back sweeten.
I plan to use a mix of honey and sugar to back sweeten.
Dave, I have to be honest, I never thought that i'd like a fruit wine so much, or I'd ever make a mead/melomel for that matter, I am glad that you were so excited about this, that is what really drove me to try it.
This is going to become one of the wines that i'll have to keep stocked.
as far as price is concerned, the Red Dragon Melomel only cost me an additional $25.00 to use Honey in place of sugar, that is an extra dollar a bottle...no worries.
I friend of mine from the Giant Pumpkin World, has been a bee keeper for 39 years, his honey is the only honey that I can say that I like (now you know why I was apprehensive about mead or melomel, I'm not a big fan of honey), the difference between a great quality honey and the crap that you usually get in stores is amazing. I need to contact him about getting 15-30 lbs of honey, I'm sure it would make a world of difference!


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## dangerdave

I cannot put into words how pleased I am that you like it so much, Tom. The first time I made some, I thought, _I gotta tell people about this!_ I'm getting calls from family, asking if I'm giving DB out for Christmas. They don't know how easy they are making my Christmas shopping this year! I make DB almost constantly now. All my peeps love it!

OMG, time to make some more!


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## geek

I can even smell it from here Tom....


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## Pumpkinman

Dave, thanks, it is really a great product, the fact that it can be made fairly fast. makes it even better!
We brought a few bottles of Dragon Blood to a friends house, they were amazed that I had made it in under a month!
They were disappointed that they didn't know about it sooner, they would have made it as part of their gifts for friends, they are giving a bottle each, of their homemade wine.

Geek, wait until you start making it, the house starts smelling like berries!


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