DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[sour_grapes]

Started a 100 gal batch of blueberry dragons blood tonight.

My first thought was "Whoa! That is half of your yearly quota -- spent on DB!?!?"

My second thought was "Hah! Greg does not have a yearly quota anymore!" Nice work!

 

[calvin]

Read this thread. I had similar results when I tried the 71b

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f86/yeast-comparison-ec-1118-vs-71b-1122-a-39619/

This is for the original recipe. Maybe a completely different outcome with blueberries.

 

[GreginND]

Thanks Calvin. I actually forgot about that thread. Appreciate the heads up. I have used EC1118 in the past with great results. I have a small batch of homemade stuff I made with 71b that isn't finished yet, so I don't have the results. I decided to do this large batch with what I know has worked. I added the blueberry tonight and decided to inoculate with EC1118 this evening. I did check the pH of the must which was lower than 3 (2.75). We'll see how acidic it is after fermentation. The must (SG 1.086) tastes great. Can't wait to get this batch fermented.

 

[freqflyer]

Where do you guys get your bottles for a hundred gallon batch?

 

[GreginND]

Well, I will order a couple of pallets of bottles this spring - maybe from Brick Packaging. There are several bottle suppliers. Whichever one is least expensive and closest to save on freight charges.

 

[calvin]

I hope you can buy them cheaper than I can. $13.95 a case @ my LHBS. The bottles cost me as much as the wine. With dragon blood anyway.

 

[freqflyer]

I wish I had a local store so i wouldnt have to pay shipping.

 

[Thig]

I hope you can buy them cheaper than I can. $13.95 a case @ my LHBS. The bottles cost me as much as the wine. With dragon blood anyway.

Have you thought about pint mason jars, after all your not planning on long aging with this are you?

 

[GreginND]

Now that I am scaling up, I will be ordering bottles by the pallet. Previously I used to piggy back my smaller orders for bottles with my friend who owns a winery where he adds them to his pallet orders. Clear bordeaux bottles are around $6.50 per case typically with the shipping.

 

[freqflyer]

How many cases on a pallet?

 

[calvin]

Have you thought about pint mason jars, after all your not planning on long aging with this are you?

Never crossed my mind. Probably because I don't have any. Honestly I don't think I would bottle in mason jars unless I was making something a lot more potent

 

[GreginND]

A typical pallet holds 56 cases but that can vary depending on the case size.

 

[barryjo]

Have you checked local restaurants that serve wine? I presently have about 60 cases of bottles. Nearly all from that source. They are usually glad to have you pick them up. Might cost you a bottle of wine occasionally. Also the time to clean off the labels.

 

[jumby]

Have you checked local restaurants that serve wine? I presently have about 60 cases of bottles. Nearly all from that source. They are usually glad to have you pick them up. Might cost you a bottle of wine occasionally. Also the time to clean off the labels.

I do the same. They give me all their empties and occasionally return a few full.

 

[GreginND]

Well, it's definitely fermenting. Guess I shouldn't have stirred it.

 

[sour_grapes]

Well, it's definitely fermenting. Guess I shouldn't have stirred it.

Welll, OUCH! That looks painful. I wanted to hit "like" on your post to show my moral support, but did not want to be misinterpreted!

 

[bkisel]

Wow! I've never seen anything like that. When I first scrolled down the page and started to see the picture I thought I was going to read something about DB smoothies.

 

[reefman]

Is that the Rhubarb or Blueberry?

 

[GreginND]

blueberry

I was stirring in nutrients. I should have stirred a bit more gently.

 

[calvin]

Greg, Do you have to pay Dave royalties when you sell it?