# Dragon blood juicing the berries?



## Foreveryoung (Nov 8, 2015)

Hi all! First post of a long time lurker. Just came across DD's Dragon blood recipe and it was nirvana. I have a collection of berries I picked over the summer. Blueberries, raspberries, and blackberries but I don't think I have enough for a 5 gallon batch of any one berry. I have used my juicer in the past when making wine or cider. I was wondering about juicing them instead of the bag and squeeze method. Thoughts? Has anyone tried it this way? Thanks for any help as I am still pretty "green" when it comes to this winemaking business.


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## sour_grapes (Nov 8, 2015)

I have no answer to your question, but wanted to say "welcome to de-lurking on WMT!"


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## Foreveryoung (Nov 10, 2015)

Bueller? Anyone out there with knowledge/experience that can help a girl out?


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## Medic8106 (Nov 10, 2015)

I have not used a juicer for dragon blood but have made many batches with whole fruit/berries. Is there a specific reason you don't wish to use the bag method? In my opinion, using a juicer would may remove some of the benefits of using whole fruit/berries. If you have at least 5 lbs of blueberries, raspberries and blackberries all together, you have enough for a 5 gallon batch. I would stick with the bag squeeze method and you could always throw in some bananas for extra flavor/body. Since the recipe is based on using 1 lb per gallon, I'm not sure how much "juice" of those berries or fruit you would need to get the flavor intended. Many that make this double the original fruit the recipe calls for. That may not have been much help, just my thoughts.


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## Foreveryoung (Nov 10, 2015)

I got impatient waiting so I'm gonna run with a half batch (3 gal) using pantyhose as my "bag". I still will have enough to make a full batch in the future. How vital is the yeast energizer? Tell me it's not because I don't have any on hand at the moment. My LHBS is 30 minutes away and parking on a way street in downtown is a pain. Really wish I had amazon prime!


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## knifemaker (Nov 10, 2015)

Foreveryoung said:


> I got impatient waiting so I'm gonna run with a half batch (3 gal) using pantyhose as my "bag". I still will have enough to make a full batch in the future. How vital is the yeast energizer? Tell me it's not because I don't have any on hand at the moment. My LHBS is 30 minutes away and parking on a way street in downtown is a pain. Really wish I had amazon prime!



Do you have any banana's on hand? If you do slice one or two up and simmer in a small amount of water, cool, then add this to your fruit bag, banana's are excellent yeast food, and you won't really taste them. You could also use some raisins if you happen to have them. Dale.


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## Jericurl (Nov 10, 2015)

@WVMountaineerJack steam juices a lot of fruit for wine and mead making. 

Try it and see. I can't imagine it ruining the wine for you.
I've steam juiced several different kinds of fruit for winemaking and they all turned out great.


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## Jericurl (Nov 10, 2015)

Foreveryoung said:


> I got impatient waiting so I'm gonna run with a half batch (3 gal) using pantyhose as my "bag". I still will have enough to make a full batch in the future. How vital is the yeast energizer? Tell me it's not because I don't have any on hand at the moment. My LHBS is 30 minutes away and parking on a way street in downtown is a pain. Really wish I had amazon prime!



You should be ok for a day or so, but you are probably going to want to add that energizer in there. The yeast is having to combat a lot of acid,


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## Foreveryoung (Nov 11, 2015)

knifemaker said:


> Do you have any banana's on hand? If you do slice one or two up and simmer in a small amount of water, cool, then add this to your fruit bag, banana's are excellent yeast food, and you won't really taste them. You could also use some raisins if you happen to have them. Dale.



Are you saying that the banana can replace the energizer? I do have a couple ripe ones on hand.


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## Floandgary (Nov 11, 2015)

To address your original question,, Fermentation will take place regardless of whether it's in a bag, or juiced, or whole and free-floating... In the end it's only a matter of separating the lees from the liquid. Using a bag obviously makes it a bit easier, but has no affect on the fermentation process. There's the filtering devices if you are in a hurry. Then there's TIME! Using the appropriate amount of it will bring the same results plus some.


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## Foreveryoung (Nov 11, 2015)

I juiced blueberries last year to make wine. But that was before I bought a lot of the chemist stuff and equipment. It turned out good but it couldve been better if I had that thing called patience. Lol. Rookie problems. Lol


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## knifemaker (Nov 11, 2015)

Foreveryoung said:


> Are you saying that the banana can replace the energizer? I do have a couple ripe ones on hand.



I've done a couple batches that way when I didn't have any nutrient or energizer. But then I don't add all of the lemon up front, I use 1 32oz. bottle at the start, then another when it's dry and I rack to secondary. I certainly wouldn't be afraid to try it if you didn't want to make a special trip to the store. Dale.


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## Foreveryoung (Nov 12, 2015)

Thank you everyone for your input!


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