DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[HeadWatersWine]

My version of the tropical dragon blood.

 

[willie]

See this thread, especially this post:

Thanks for the info. Paul about Dave's hike. That's a heck of a feat walking all those miles in those rugged mountains.

Will

 

[WinoNick]

Clearing nicely

 

[willie]

Clearing nicely
View attachment 26480

Hey Nick that carboy looks just great. Your going to have a nice batch of wine to drink when ever your ready to bottle. We just love the Dragon Blood recipe. And so do our friends and relatives. As some others have said even those who say they do not like wine like Dragon Blood.

Will

 

[DryFly]

Do you recommend any particular tannin, yeast nutrient, yeast energizer, pectic enzyme, or clearing agents?

Also, what does DB taste like?

 

[willie]

Do you recommend any particular tannin, yeast nutrient, yeast energizer, pectic enzyme, or clearing agents?

Also, what does DB taste like?

Just the standard Chemicals as called for in Dave's recipe. Clearing agent I like Super Kleer. Taste? Berry delicious.


Will

 

[Johngottshall]

My batch of tropical blend moved to caboy this evening

 

[jayhkr]

Just started my first batch this evening, haven't even pitched the yeast yet. How many people went the lime juice route, instead of the lemon? Wondering what the difference will be.

 

[wineforfun]

I have done both. Just more of a "limey" taste than the lemon. That is all I have ever noticed.
A lot depends on what fruit you are using. I typically go the lime route with a tropical fruit version and go the lemon route with the triple berry.

 

[jayhkr]

I guess we'll see how things turn out. If nothing else in a week or so I'll start a new batch once I rack over to secondary!......oh wait if I do that then I'll need more carboy's........Oh boy......here we go again!

 

[Matty_Kay]

Making a list tonight for supplies, ingredients etc. to start a batch this weekend. Easily one of the most requested wines I have made from friends and family.

 

[Double Daylo]

Made our first batch of this starting last week. Got it into secondaries last night. Starting out with 10 gallons of this.

Typically with fruit wines we are starting a like a 1.090 sg and racking into secondaries at like 1.020-1.040.

I racked this at 1.020 and realized the instructions say to rack below 1.000 and once it has stopped fermentation. I am assuming the only downside to this will be a slightly weaker wine? Obviously we will check sg before we bottle. But just wondering if anyone has racked a little early and what their experience was.

Once we taste and decide if we like it or not we will probably start doing 15 gallon batches at a time. Bottling in 3-4 weeks is sweet!! Great wine for drinking a ton of while we make our long term batches!

 

[wineforfun]

DD,
One of the main reasons to wait longer is you will have much less sediment in your secondary to deal with.
No problem racking that soon, it will just take longer to reach below 1.000.

 

[freqflyer]

What fruit are you using to get the yellow color in the Tropical? I have made several batches of the regular DB. I thought I would try a tropical version so I bought Wyman's blueberry, strawberry, mango. It's fermenting now and this stuff is red or at least a blush. I'm guessing from the strawberries? Has anybody made batch with this mixture? How does it compare to the original?

 

[Johngottshall]

I used pineapple,mango,peach,strawberry, mix from Sam's club I used 10 lbs for a 4 gallon batch

 

[Johngottshall]

Tropical blend clearing nicely

 

[jayhkr]

So I am in the final clearing stages of my 6+ gallons and I have to ask, before back sweetening, what am I tasting? I guess I'm used to grape wines and since this has blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries with lime juice I don't know what to expect. I know the taste of it "dry" isn't what I like so much, so I will be sweetening at least 4 gallons. But I just can't quite describe the taste, not like any wine I've had before. I don't even get that back taste I'm used to from grape wines. I expected a fruity taste, but it's not quite "fruity" in my opinion.

 

[Double Daylo]

We are in secondaries with our first batch. We made 12 gallons right away. Next time we are going to cut back on the lemon a little. Little too lemony for us we think. Time will tell when it is cleared out and bottled. Bottling in two weeks most likely.

 

[Winenoob66]

So I am in the final clearing stages of my 6+ gallons and I have to ask, before back sweetening, what am I tasting? I guess I'm used to grape wines and since this has blueberries, blackberries, and strawberries with lime juice I don't know what to expect. I know the taste of it "dry" isn't what I like so much, so I will be sweetening at least 4 gallons. But I just can't quite describe the taste, not like any wine I've had before. I don't even get that back taste I'm used to from grape wines. I expected a fruity taste, but it's not quite "fruity" in my opinion.

When it is freshly done you can expect a lil strong lemon tartness, but as it ages a little the fruit starts to come forward some to give you the light fruitiness. It is best around 3 months if you can wait that long. Personally I cut the lemon juice back to about 32 oz for a 6g batch and drop the ABV some so it is drinkable earlier.

Also when you back sweeten be sure to stop on the sweetening just below where you think it is perfect as it will sweeten a little more as the fruit comes forward

 

[barbiek]

What fruit are you using to get the yellow color in the Tropical? I have made several batches of the regular DB. I thought I would try a tropical version so I bought Wyman's blueberry, strawberry, mango. It's fermenting now and this stuff is red or at least a blush. I'm guessing from the strawberries? Has anybody made batch with this mixture? How does it compare to the original?

freqflyer the blueberries is what the red color is coming from. The strawberry don't offer up hardly any color. Wouldn't think tropical blend would have blueberry in it or strawberry for that matter. Were all three packaged together and listed as tropical blend or did you just buy them separately?
Thanks