DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[calvin]

I made a 6 gallon batch of this a while ago. My wife loves it. So I'm making her 60 bottles of it

 

[willie]

I made a 6 gallon batch of this a while ago. My wife loves it. So I'm making her 60 bottles of it

Calvin, I have a 6 gal. batch going on it's 4th day of ferment. Purchased 16 lb of strawberries at Kroger's and have to say they are awesome. Big whole red all the way thru the fruit and so pungent in that wonderful strawberry smell. If it goes to dry at an SG .990 the ABV will be 13%. Have my fingers crossed the wine will be delicious and ready for Spring along with a batch of Tropical Blood that is Clearing right now.

http://www.privateselection.com/_kr.../file/516355A3-C29C-379C-F36BF040E22FC9F0.jpg

Will

 

[gaboy]

Calvin and Willie, What is the recipe that you are using?

 

[calvin]

 

[gaboy]

Wonderful INFO!! Thanks Calvin!!

 

[cheesehead]

calvin, you and I are on the same page this week! I too have started the same recipe and also found the berries at Aldis for $1.89 per pound , however i will not be doing that again. After 2+ hours of coring the whole strawberries i figured that the savings of .10 per pound over sams club 5lb frozen berries in the bag isnt worth the coring washing freezing and thawing anymore, of course this is my own opinion. our batches are looking pretty identical except i tossed in 1spiral in instead or chips, do you intend on transfering the chips to your carboy for the next steps, or should we remove the oak after the SG drops to<1.000? any suggestions as this is my 1st attemt at oaking anything ive made.

 

[calvin]

calvin, you and I are on the same page this week! I too have started the same recipe and also found the berries at Aldis for $1.89 per pound , however i will not be doing that again. After 2+ hours of coring the whole strawberries i figured that the savings of .10 per pound over sams club 5lb frozen berries in the bag isnt worth the coring washing freezing and thawing anymore, of course this is my own opinion. our batches are looking pretty identical except i tossed in 1spiral in instead or chips, do you intend on transfering the chips to your carboy for the next steps, or should we remove the oak after the SG drops to<1.000? any suggestions as this is my 1st attemt at oaking anything ive made.

The berries I bought were frozen and ready to use. I will not be transferring the oak over to the secondary. I think 1 cup per 6 gallons is plenty. I wouldn't want to over do it with this one. My wife won't be happy if this doesn't turn out.

 

[Ctmaro]

The berries I bought were frozen and ready to use. I will not be transferring the oak over to the secondary. I think 1 cup per 6 gallons is plenty. I wouldn't want to over do it with this one. My wife won't be happy if this doesn't turn out.

Hi guys!

Must be something in the air!

I just racked and sweetened my version of this. I used straight strawberry juice instead of margarita mix, and it fermented after adding sorbate and Kmeta. All and all it tastes pretty good so far.

I have transferred the oak, after rinsing, each racking. I have some "Perry" (pear cider) going that I just took off of oak chips after 1 month and the flavor is just right. so I figure, about a month total time in the strawberry.

Mark

 

[Ctmaro]

Hi guys!

Must be something in the air!

I just racked and sweetened my version of this. I used straight strawberry juice instead of margarita mix, and it fermented after adding sorbate and Kmeta. All and all it tastes pretty good so far.

I have transferred the oak, after rinsing, each racking. I have some "Perry" (pear cider) going that I just took off of oak chips after 1 month and the flavor is just right. so I figure, about a month total time in the strawberry.

Mark

PS - My Strawberry are from Costco, frozen, $1.67 per #.

 

[Dana355]

We have never used oak chip what kind of flavor does that give

 

[cheesehead]

We have never used oak chip what kind of flavor does that give

PINE! Just kidding, OAK! it depends on how long the oak is left in the must. some prefer a light oak taste and the longer its left in- the stronger it will taste of oak, also it can be a toasted oak taste or plain oaky barrel taste. try some in water or a spare bottle of wine and experiment 1st on durations , it helps a little bit before wrecking a whole batch if your not happy with it.

 

[maurtis]

A question about using oak powder, why powder vs chips or spirals? And what qualities of the untoasted nature are you looking for with the DB recipe?

My closest LHBS only had chips so I picked up a small bag. Without thinking, it was a light toast instead of untoasted.

As a winemaking n00b I am hesitant to use the light toasted chips vs untoasted powder, but the experimenter in me just wants to give it a go. So wondering, Dave, if you could expand on your choice of untoasted powder and what it brings to the recipe?

Thanks!

 

[JSquared]

Question guys, I have read that some of you use Sparkolloid and some use Super Kleer for clearing up your DB, I'm wondering which you've had more success with. I have Sparkolloid on hand but have a small amount of cloudy floaters in the last batch of wine I bottled. I can't buy Super Kleer local, should I pursue ordering it?

 

[calvin]

Question guys, I have read that some of you use Sparkolloid and some use Super Kleer for clearing up your DB, I'm wondering which you've had more success with. I have Sparkolloid on hand but have a small amount of cloudy floaters in the last batch of wine I bottled. I can't buy Super Kleer local, should I pursue ordering it?

I prefer superclear. But sparkloid works fine. It just requires longer aging in the carboy to prevent that whispy sedinent

 

[maurtis]

Agreed, I have had good luck with both but Super-Kleer seems to work faster and the sediment less fluffy. I keep my original bag of Sparkolloid around for when I am out.

 

[wineforfun]

Question guys, I have read that some of you use Sparkolloid and some use Super Kleer for clearing up your DB, I'm wondering which you've had more success with. I have Sparkolloid on hand but have a small amount of cloudy floaters in the last batch of wine I bottled. I can't buy Super Kleer local, should I pursue ordering it?

I started with Sparklloid but only use SuperKleer now. Sparklloid is very hard to get rid of the whispys. Your wine will be crystal clear when bottling, then develop those whispys 2-3 months down the road.
Don't have that problem with SuperKleer. It also compacts the lees much tighter.

 

[cheesehead]

HELP!!! Has anyone made Daves Strawberry tart recipe and had a batch fire back up after racking to secondary? This morning I added 1/4 tsp k-meta, 3 1/2 tsp sorbate due to adding 108 oz of daquiri mix instead of 96oz to the primary , degassed, and finished up with super-kleer then racked to a 6 & 1 gal carboy. when I woke up tonite Both carboys were foaming through the air locks and roiling pretty good. This is the 1st time this has happened to me out of 20+ batches-- SG started at 1.090 dried to .992 temps at 74 degrees, has it started fermenting again? , should i add more sorbate to kill the process? Just never saw this much activity in carboys before, Thanx Loddie

 

[cheesehead]

Also , Daves strawberry recipe calls for the addition of chems and daiquiri mix after aprox 6-7 days but is that into the primary then mixed up and racked to carboys or add ingredients while in carboys, ( i have his strawberry recipe and dragons blood recipe side by side and the strawberry recipe omits a racking). i did it all in the primary the racked to carboys)

 

[wineforfun]

HELP!!! Has anyone made Daves Strawberry tart recipe and had a batch fire back up after racking to secondary? This morning I added 1/4 tsp k-meta, 3 1/2 tsp sorbate due to adding 108 oz of daquiri mix instead of 96oz to the primary , degassed, and finished up with super-kleer then racked to a 6 & 1 gal carboy. when I woke up tonite Both carboys were foaming through the air locks and roiling pretty good. This is the 1st time this has happened to me out of 20+ batches-- SG started at 1.090 dried to .992 temps at 74 degrees, has it started fermenting again? , should i add more sorbate to kill the process? Just never saw this much activity in carboys before, Thanx Loddie

Just going to make a guess that it may have re-fermented a little again. I assume there is some sugar in that daquiri mix. You may have still had some residual yeast you racked over from primary to secondary.
Also, I never add sorbate until my wine is clear.

 

[sour_grapes]

Another possibility is that your sorbate was old?