DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[ckvchestnut]

Mardi Gras lucky bum! Wish I was your neighbor - never ending supply over there! Ya that's the beauty of this! Goes down like water but it's NOT water! Hehe! Had to add this for fun!

 

[jamesngalveston]

is that a straw i see in there....think its early drinker, lol

 

[ckvchestnut]

Yup! I found a place that sells extra big ones! Lol JK that's the handle of my stirring ladle

 

[LoneStarLori]

DB and Mardi Gras. Sounds like a match made in Heaven.

Laisser le bon temps rouler !!

 

[kryptonitewine]

is that a straw i see in there....think its early drinker, lol

Bwahaha. Lmao.

 

[Winenoob66]

For some reason I can just picture James standing behind you saying " Is it done yet ,Is it done yet, Is it done yet "

 

[jamesngalveston]

I have like 3 people making wine now, becuase of the dragon blood....

 

[Winenoob66]

I haven't done anything yet to get mine going other than getting everything for it, guess I just need to get off my bum and do it.

 

[dangerdave]

As a matter of history, my wife was the impetus for this recipe. She used to drink a lot of the Gallo Family Vinyards Cafe White Zinfandel. It is described as, "A bright red wine with light floral and fresh berry notes, sparkling raspberry fruit flavor, and a smooth, refreshing finish." Dragon Blood was my attempt to reproduce that wine for her---in a cheaper form.

She drinks a lot of Dragon Blood. Out of all the kits I have made and all the other wines we have tasted, she would prefer a cold glass of DB over any wine in the world. She loves me...and my wine!

 

[ckvchestnut]

Guess you don't have to worry about her going anywhere anytime soon huh? ;-)

Dave the dragon blood "pusher" lol

 

[dangerdave]

True dat! We have such a magical synergy in our house.

She asks, "Are you cooking dinner, or am I?"

I answer, "Are you making wine, or am I?"

 

[ckvchestnut]

True dat! We have such a magical synergy in our house. She asks, "Are you cooking dinner, or am I?" I answer, "Are you making wine, or am I?"

LMAO!! I ask the same question to my hubby! However, he CANNOT give me the same reply anymore!! I'm the designated wine maker now and he's primarily the beer and cider man! Lol

 

[Loxalibations]

Would it totally throw this wine off if I replaced some of the water with reconstituted grape juice? Just wondering how the concentration of adding actual grape would change things.

 

[dangerdave]

Never tried that, Lox. Give it a go and let us know how it turns out. Experimentation is encouraged!

 

[Elmer]

Gearing up to make a batch of Blueberry/Raspberry.
I have more frozen rapberries than I can count since my uncle gave me near 10 lbs.
I was only able to purchase 3 lbs of blue berries.
I was going to use 6 lbs of berries, 3 blue, 3 red. I want to keep an equal part blue/red!
In an effort to get more flavor I was thinking of using 5 gallons of water, rather than 6 (this will also fit my well with the 5 gal carboy I intend to buy).

Any thoughts on cutting a gallon of water to boost flavor?

 

[jamesngalveston]

elmer that will give you more flavor...i do it all the time.

 

[StoneCreek]

Okay wizards of wines, I have a serious question on my first batch of DB (okay first batch of anything). I have followed the recipe (or so I thought) and it has been fermenting away for about 9 days. The first couple of days I noticed a cap forming on the must but after day three the cap stopped forming back. It has been very bubbly, maybe fizzing would be a better word, and the SG has been steadily dropping so I haven't questioned anything. I did check on it yesterday about and hour or two after what I thought was a vigorous stirring and I noticed the cap was forming again. A few hours later I lifted the lid and noticed the cap was gone. Again, lots of fizzing. My first though was maybe I haven't been stirring as vigorously as I should have been, so this morning I got out my drill and paint stirrer attachment and went to town for about five minutes or so. Yes it was cleaned and sanitized. Lots of CO2 released and lots of Oxygen put in. After an hour or so I checked on it and noticed a nice thick cap had formed and its been there all day. So my question is, Have I done damage by not introducing enough O2 during the daily stirring routine? Should I worry? I'm guessing since the SG has been dropping consistently I'm good but I'd like some conformation on that. Thanks for any input.

 

[LoneStarLori]

I'm certainly not the DB expert, but it sounds to me everything was going just fine. The cap will evolve depending on the stage of fermentation. By the end, you won't have one at all. What was your SG before you tried to make a smoothie out of it? D sorry, couldn't help myself )

 

[cmason1957]

I don't think you have anything to worry about. Sounds like your yeast is happy. I wouldn't give it another stir with a drill attached thing, but you didn't hurt anything.

FWIW: I have made dragons blood stirring twice a day, once a day, only at the start and end, lid on and airlocked, covered with a towel. Pretty much every combinstion possible. They all turn out just fine.

 

[StoneCreek]

... The cap will evolve depending on the stage of fermentation. By the end, you won't have one at all. ... )

oh, that would have been good info to know! But now that you mention it... it did sorta look like a nice creamy fruit smoothie after being whipped, whipped good lol

I don't recall reading that anywhere in all my data mining on here. It goes to show that learning by doing and asking questions is still the best way to net good info. The SG this morning was 1.012. Yes, I realize its about to be done anyway but I have to experiment a bit in order to learn anything.

The following has been the daily SG readings in sequential order:

Starting sg - 1.090
1.088
1.078
1.065
1.050
1.038
1.029
1.018
1.012

Temp has been an average of about 65 degrees.