# Red Dragon Melomel



## dangerdave (Oct 29, 2012)

The next chapter in the ongoing saga of Dragon Blood variants, this batch is made using my Dragon Blood Recipe with the sugar in the primary being replaced with white clover honey. I've been wanting to try this for some time, and finding a relatively cheap source of honey at Sam's Club was the key. After doing some confused reseach, I trusted Dan (Runningwolf) and a comment he made in some obscure thread regarding his Blueberry Melomel, where he said he used 15 pounds of honey in a six gallon batch.

Here's what I did after gathering my supplies:







*Day 1:* Preparation: _I placed the three five pound jugs of honey in a sink full of hot water to facilitate easy pouring._
To the primary I added---in this order:
2 gallons of hot water
15# of White Clover Honey, stirred until completely desolved (_and it smelled delicious_!) 






48oz of Real Lemon Juice
1 tsp tannin
3 tsp yeast nutrient
1 tsp yeast energizer
3 tsp pectic enzyme
extra juice from fruit below*
_Stirred thoroughly for 2-3 minutes to mix in all dry ingredients_
Tested SG = 1.075 @ 80F (_Perfect!_ _Thanks Dan_!)
9# of Triple Berry Blend (_frozen then thawed and placed in one fine mesh bag_)

I let this concoction sit overnight.

*Day 2:* Making Wine!
Pitched a rehydated packet of EC-1118 yeast, and nestled the primary between my wife's green apple riesling and my italian pinot grigio, both currently in primary.






Let's see how this turns out!


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## Dend78 (Oct 29, 2012)

dangerdave said:


> Let's see how this turns out!



oh yes lets see


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## Deezil (Oct 29, 2012)

Now this oughta be fun to see - hope you like the honey as much as i, Dave, the smell when you mixed it up is only a glimpse into the future
Just curious - did you / are you gonna recheck the SG after the addition of the 9lbs of fruit? Or do you already kinda know what to expect from that addition?


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## dangerdave (Oct 29, 2012)

Yea, it does the same thing with the Dragon Blood. The natural sugars from the fruit will bump up the SG a bit. Since the juices from the fruit are gradually squeezed out over time during primary fermentation, there is no real way to judge the final ABV. It should be awesome!

Like they say, "One must work and _dare_ if one really wants to live."  That's why my friends call me "Danger".

After smelling the disolved honey, I really want to try a straight mead soon. I do like honey!


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## DirtyDawg10 (Oct 29, 2012)

This sounds really good!


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## Deezil (Oct 29, 2012)

Oh - a thought...

Honey + lemon juice = check your TA


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## dangerdave (Oct 29, 2012)

I'm just going with it, Deezil. We'll see how it turns out. I proceed, unconcerned...


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## Deezil (Oct 30, 2012)

If it ends up needing to be sweeter in the end, the high TA might be why - a balance thing.. But it could also arguably hide more alcohol too, if its sweeter and higher in acidity


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## dangerdave (Oct 30, 2012)

The plan is to sweeten it a bit at the end. It's an experiment, so we'll see. If it becomes problematic, I'll make another without the lemon juice, and see how they compare. Thanks for your thoughts, Deezil!


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## dangerdave (Dec 1, 2012)

...on the Red Dragon Melomel!

Yesterday, since the melomel had cleared nicely, I back sweetened with a little sugar. After pouring out a bit to taste, I noticed several differences from the Dragon Blood. First, the melomel was noticeably darker, with a deep red color---even more so than the blood-red triple berry lemon. Second, it had considerably more body! The wine clung to the sides of the glass, and filled the mouth, holding to the tongue with more flavor even that the original. Johnna loved it immediately. I think it is superb, being a honestly impressive improvenment to the Dragon Blood recipe. I was very surprised by this one!

While it does involve a higher cost per bottle than the Dragon Blood, I would definately recommend this version to those who like the DB. If you can find a realtively inexpensive supply of honey, just substitute the sugar in the primary with 15lbs of honey. Follow the recipe otherwise. I can't wait to bottle this one and give it some time on the shelf. It promises to be amazing!

After this success, I'll be trying some more mead or melomel!


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## Deezil (Dec 1, 2012)

dangerdave said:


> Second, it had considerably more body! The wine clung to the sides of the glass, and filled the mouth, holding to the tongue with more flavor even that the original. Johnna loved it immediately. I think it is superb, being a honestly impressive improvenment to the Dragon Blood recipe. I was very surprised by this one!
> 
> After this success, I'll be trying some more mead or melomel!



Muahahahaha!

Make sure to stash a few bottles until Halloween 2013!

Oh honey, how i love thee! (the sugar source, you dirty minds!)


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## dangerdave (Dec 1, 2012)

You warned me didn't you, Manley. You were absolutely right! I will be stashing most of this. My locked wine storage is almost done. Even the wife won't be able to get at them!

Now, I need to get some more honey! 

Question for you: Do you back sweeten your melomel with more honey? I used white granulated sugar this time.


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## Deezil (Dec 2, 2012)

For me, it depends a lot on what i'm going to be doing with the batch, and how pronounced the honey flavor is in relation to the fruit used..

If its a 'special' batch to me (fruit from special location, a batch intended for competitions, if i'm aging it for a longer period of time), then i'll use honey
If i plan on giving most of it away, or drinking it quickly without real concern for letting it hit its prime first, then i'll use white sugar
It's a 'cost vs reward' thing

Then there's when you actually taste it; if tasting it dry already has pronounced honey/wildflower type notes and i dont want to accentuate that (mostly when working with milder-flavored fruits) and risk losing the character of the fruit, then i'll go for white sugar even if i'm going to age it for a long time - i dont want to knock the flavors out of balance or wash-out the fruit. Most darker fruits (blackberries, raspberries, cherries, elderberries, etc) and the bolder-flavored fruits (pineapple, lemon, etc) can almost always hold up to honey for sweetening


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## dangerdave (Dec 2, 2012)

Great answer, Manley. All duly noted. Thanks!


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## WVMountaineerJack (Dec 2, 2012)

Inexpensive honey = Adulterated with high fructose cornsyrup. Lots of Asian honey coming in now. Much better to go for quality and get your honey from a local apiary, that way you know it is at least honey. If you backsweeten with some honey it gives it a much better taste then backsweetening with sugar. In the book "Must" honey has between 0.1-0.2% TA to contribute to the wine, usually between 12-16 pounds (gal to 1.25 gal) in 5 gal of must its not really that much to worry over. Crackedcork


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## Dend78 (Dec 4, 2012)

soooo now i gotta ask Dave, what would you think about making typical DB and back sweetening with honey?

I dont know enough about meads and such but I was thinking would you get some of the same body if you were to back sweeten with honey, cause i know a guy with 6gal of quadberry DB going thats not afraid to try anything once, at least as long as his wallet is permitting that is 

there may be a one gallon portion pulled out for testing


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## dangerdave (Dec 4, 2012)

Another great idea! I'm interested in the results. Let us know, Drend.


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## Dend78 (Dec 4, 2012)

will do, i may need to tap into others honey knowledge here as mine is pretty limited, as to amounts to add, because i dont want to wash out the fruit because my quadberry is awesome right now


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## dangerdave (Dec 4, 2012)

Well, I went with Dan's (Runningwolf) suggestion of 15lbs of honey in 6 gallons of wine in the primary. I normally use 20 cups of sugar (or 9.374lbs @ 7.5 ounces per cup) instead. I had heard that a 2:1 ratio of sugar over honey is the way to go. Given that, for back sweetening---where I would normally add five cups of sugar to six gallons of DB---I'd try, say, two cups of honey in the six gallons to start. If you drew off a gallon to try out, that would figure to about 1/3 cup of honey per gallon.

I would think that would be a good place to start, anyway. Just my 2 cents.


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## WVMountaineerJack (Dec 4, 2012)

I have found that about 2 cups of honey will raise 5 gallons by about 0.01 specific gravity. Cracked


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## Dend78 (Dec 4, 2012)

noted*


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## Dend78 (Dec 5, 2012)

dave

sorry to jack your thread here 

i have probably read it a few times over the life of this thread and the others, what is your final gravity reading again? On your normal batch with white sugar. I have the honey ready to back sweeten a 1gal batch when mine finishes i just want to get it close using the above information and past info. this may require a little honey and sugar so i dont blow the fruit away with the honey.


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## dangerdave (Dec 6, 2012)

No worries! It's completely on-topic! My finished DB comes out at just around 1.010. That's the way I like it anyway. That's five cups of sugar in six gallons.


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## Dend78 (Dec 6, 2012)

gotcha! it wont be long now i stepped the sugar into the quadberry and its screaming through it. im gonna transfer to carboy tonight then stabilize and degas on sunday when i get home, then it wont be long and i can backsweeten. im thinking i will start with 1/4 cup honey to 1 gal and see where it takes me


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## jeranis (Apr 4, 2013)

dangerdave said:


> 9# of Triple Berry Blend (_frozen then thawed and placed in one fine mesh bag_)



Why 9# instead of 6# as the original DB recipe? Not that I dislike extra fruit flavor...


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## dangerdave (Apr 5, 2013)

I just wanted to try more fruit, and I had three bags handy. Strangely, side by side, you can hardly tell the difference now between the melomel and the original.


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