DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[barbl72]

Help! I 'spiced' my last 6 gallons of DB - I used cloves and cinnamon sticks and it tastes awful! It is dry - I only use 1 1/2 cups of sugar to backsweeten. What can I do to improve the flavor? Could I add sugar to each bottle as I open it? I am going to try that tonight. Or mix it with 7-up or something. I have 29 bottles left! Suggestions please!

 

[wineforfun]

Yes, I would add sugar as you drink it or I supposed you could uncork it all, re-backsweeten and then re-bottle(although that would not be my choice).
Look at it as a lesson learned.
Why only 1 1/2c sugar? Had you done this before?
And how long did you leave the cinammon/clove in? In the primary or secondary? I would have personally experimented on 1 gal. of it to get the qty. and longevity correct.

 

[barbl72]

Yes, I would add sugar as you drink it or I supposed you could uncork it all, re-backsweeten and then re-bottle(although that would not be my choice).
Look at it as a lesson learned.
Why only 1 1/2c sugar? Had you done this before?
And how long did you leave the cinammon/clove in? In the primary or secondary? I would have personally experimented on 1 gal. of it to get the qty. and longevity correct.

I've made TONS of DB and found the 1 1/2 cups of sugar is dry but not terribly so. I am not a sweet wine fan. I used the cinnamon/cloves in the secondary. I forgot to add the ginger. That might have made it better. Next time I'll just do a little. Sounded like a good idea. There is a spiced DB recipe out there. I should have followed that!

 

[stef57]

Wow!! This is exactly what i was looking for!! I've searching high and low for variations of Lon's SP that include fruits.... all I could find until now was people using damn Koolaid?!?! and concentrate juice cans. Who would have thought I would find the answers in a wine making forum.... (to my defence i'm primarily a brewer)
I see there's a bunch of variations scattered on this thread, but nearing 300 pages. Has anyone gone through and put them all together somewhere??
I don't really use forums all that much, so I get easily lost in there...

 

[calvin]

It would be impossible to put them all down somewhere. The sky is the limit. I'd suggest doing the original recipe first then try using whatever fruit you desire

 

[wineforfun]

I see there's a bunch of variations scattered on this thread, but nearing 300 pages. Has anyone gone through and put them all together somewhere??

Have you read through this thread at all? On the first page is the recipe and a .pdf file talking about quite a few of the original variations. From there, we have all come up with our own tweaks and variations.

 

[Ctmaro]

Wow!! This is exactly what i was looking for!! I've searching high and low for variations of Lon's SP that include fruits.... all I could find until now was people using damn Koolaid?!?! and concentrate juice cans. Who would have thought I would find the answers in a wine making forum.... (to my defence i'm primarily a brewer)
I see there's a bunch of variations scattered on this thread, but nearing 300 pages. Has anyone gone through and put them all together somewhere??
I don't really use forums all that much, so I get easily lost in there...

I know how you feel! When I first stumbled across this DB forum, thought the sky had parted! Now I've done so many variations, I would have to count through my notes! Still trying new ones (Strawberry Tart)! Have Fun!

Mark

 

[dangerdave]

OKay. I am still working the kinks out on a Strawberry DB.

Tart recipe says 1 cup of french medium toast oak; I have chips. Is this what you, Dave, used? I also saw mention of 1/3 cup oak powder ( I don't have ).

I did not use the oak powder in the SST, just the french oak chips.

 

[stef57]

I know how you feel! When I first stumbled across this DB forum, thought the sky had parted! Now I've done so many variations, I would have to count through my notes! Still trying new ones (Strawberry Tart)! Have Fun!

Mark

Lol. I came across it a day too late... I made a batch of original SP on Saturday. Split it in 2 ½ batches ready for fruits. Then come across this thread. Since it was done already, I went ahead and tossed the fruit in last night anyways. But when I have a fermenter liberated, I will definitely try a batch of this

 

[barbl72]

Help! I 'spiced' my last 6 gallons of DB - I used cloves and cinnamon sticks and it tastes awful! It is dry - I only use 1 1/2 cups of sugar to backsweeten. What can I do to improve the flavor? Could I add sugar to each bottle as I open it? I am going to try that tonight. Or mix it with 7-up or something. I have 29 bottles left! Suggestions please!

I added sugar to a bottle last night and that made a really big difference! Just wish I hadn't drank the whole bottle myself! LOL!

 

[maurtis]

One bottle per person is just about right, but I found that two bottles on a hot day doing yardwork makes things go by so much more quickly! The bushes end up being trimmed lopsided, but at least you have fun doing it

 

[SwampDog35]

This may be the stupidest question, However after calculating our final ABV it came out to 9.94%.
My wife says she could stand for it to be a little stronger.

Do I add more sugar in the original step or take away sugar?

Sorry for the newbie question.

 

[calvin]

More sugar

 

[SwampDog35]

Thank you Calvin. Thats what I thought just wanted to make sure.

 

[wineforfun]

I always start mine out around 1.095+ so I can end up with 12.5 - 13% ABV.

 

[Ctmaro]

I did not use the oak powder in the SST, just the french oak chips.

Thanks Dave!

I went ahead and use 1 cup of chips in my primary. I am thinking of straining, washing, and placing them back into the secondary once the must goes dry. The wine and chip will have a little more contact time that way.

Mark

 

[Ctmaro]

Lol. I came across it a day too late... I made a batch of original SP on Saturday. Split it in 2 ½ batches ready for fruits. Then come across this thread. Since it was done already, I went ahead and tossed the fruit in last night anyways. But when I have a fermenter liberated, I will definitely try a batch of this

Before DB, I would start a 1 or 2 gallon batch of fruit wine, and use it for a starter for SP. it worked great, but took more time, and made a bigger mess. It also had a lot of the lemon flavor carry through.

DB makes for a more fruit forward wine.

Mark

 

[dangerdave]

I'm glad everyone is enjoying the recipe! Keep on winin'!

 

[quiltertoo]

I am ready to start my first batch of DB. I don.t have any kind of degasser. Is there anything I can use or should I wait until I can order one?

 

[HeadWatersWine]

You don't need a degasser just a large spoon and lots of stamina. Keep stirring.