DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[jumby]

Make sure to add extra Pectin. I started a 6 gal batch of Pineapple, Mango, Peach, Banana about a month ago. I started with 6 tsp Pectin Enzyme and added 3 more after clearing for 2 weeks with Superkleer. There was so much haze you couldn't see through it at all. About 6 days after adding the extra Pectin it finally started to clear. Good luck with your batch!

I never have a problem with any of my wine clearing. I use SuperKleer and it usually clears in 24-48 hours. Here's a mango batch I started clearing less then 24 hours ago.

 

[Rosa321]

Speaking of clearing...

I decided to clean out my freezer to make room for this year's fruit crop, so I threw ALL the blueberries into a batch of dragon's blood.
Probably not a good idea as I have a REALLY dark wine now. I'm not sure how to tell when it's clear.
I'm trying to shine a flashlight through but even that is difficult.
Thoughts?

 

[bkisel]

What I do with red wine is watch the build up of sediment at the bottom of the carboy. At some point it appears to stop which is time to rack and look for more sediment to fall out. Generally what falls out next if anything is just a "dusting". Rack again before bottling. Steal some wine into a glass and check for clarity.

What I need to watch for in my DB and DB variations is a sediment that when shook looks like worms floating in the bottle. I think they're just protein strands or something like that which doesn't hurt the wine in taste... just looks.

 

[MRITRAVIS]

Wanted to say Thanks to DangerDave for the recipe and guidance in this post. I have been lurking for some time and I decided to do a DB. I bottled it tonight. I am very pleased with it. It took 12 days from start to finish. The SG was 1.082 and finished out at .992 in 7 days. It came out to 11.81% abv. I have never had anything go this fast. It is beautiful. I got 26 Bottles out of it. It actually tastes good at bottling. I can't wait to try it with a little aging. Thanks to everyone for the information in this thread. The picture doesn't do it justice!
Thanks,
Travis

 

[drainsurgeon]

I never have a problem with any of my wine clearing. I use SuperKleer and it usually clears in 24-48 hours. Here's a mango batch I started clearing less then 24 hours ago.

Nice! Wish mine would clear that fast. Did you make yours from fruit or juice? I make mine with real fruit and it wasn't clearing so the extra pectin helped.

Nice collection of wine in the background. Did you put those out just for the photo? Just wondering because I thought you were supposed to keep the cork wet by storing bottles horizontal. I've heard some people seal their cork tops with wax.

 

[Flofern]

I use very little zip ties.

 

[Flofern]

I use tiny zip ties to close my fruit bags. They stay very good and tight. Be careful removing and don't poke a hole in your fruit bag.

 

[jumby]

Nice! Wish mine would clear that fast. Did you make yours from fruit or juice? I make mine with real fruit and it wasn't clearing so the extra pectin helped.

Nice collection of wine in the background. Did you put those out just for the photo? Just wondering because I thought you were supposed to keep the cork wet by storing bottles horizontal. I've heard some people seal their cork tops with wax.

I use frozen fruit for all my batches. Like I said I've made 100's of bottles of DB and never had a problem with them clearing. I hope I don't jinx myself!

As for the bottles no I didn't put them out for the picture. I use Nomacorc corks so there's no need to store the bottles on their side. I have about a 1,000 bottles aging and they are all standing up on shelves or in cases.

 

[drainsurgeon]

1000 bottles aging. Wow! I've got about 275 in cold storage right now and I thought that was a lot! I'll have to look into the Nomacorc corks. I'm assuming that they cost a little more than the 19 cent #9 corks I'm using now. What size do you use and where did you buy them?

 

[jumby]

1000 bottles aging. Wow! I've got about 275 in cold storage right now and I thought that was a lot! I'll have to look into the Nomacorc corks. I'm assuming that they cost a little more than the 19 cent #9 corks I'm using now. What size do you use and where did you buy them?

I use 9 x 1 1/2 and buy them from Label Peelers... they cost $21.38 for a 100 count bag.

 

[jumby]

1000 bottles aging. Wow! I've got about 275 in cold storage right now and I thought that was a lot! I'll have to look into the Nomacorc corks. I'm assuming that they cost a little more than the 19 cent #9 corks I'm using now. What size do you use and where did you buy them?

I won't tell ya how many gallons of limencello I have aging...

 

[Noobberry]

Hmmmmmm. ...I was thinking, and I may be way out in left field here buuuut:
What if I were to take this recipe and try a cider variation? I'm new at this whole thing but I was thinking, if I used apples, racked only once and then added more sugar and bottles it like beer, it should fizz right? Or wrong?

 

[Whitehrs]

It may also be bombs.. But t then it could be awesome.

 

[Rosa321]

Hmmmmmm. ...I was thinking, and I may be way out in left field here buuuut:
What if I were to take this recipe and try a cider variation? I'm new at this whole thing but I was thinking, if I used apples, racked only once and then added more sugar and bottles it like beer, it should fizz right? Or wrong?

I've made hard cider before. Slightly different recipe, and I used a different yeast, but it came out great. You just have to be careful and measure the sugar very carefully or your bottles will explode!

 

[drainsurgeon]

I won't tell ya how many gallons of limencello I have aging...

You Dog! Looks good and I love those bottles. Where did you get them?

 

[jumby]

You Dog! Looks good and I love those bottles. Where did you get them?

I picked them up on eBay.

 

[Whitehrs]

You Dog! Looks good and I love those bottles. Where did you get them?

I picked up some of those fliptop bottles at TJ MAXX on clearence.. were like 1.99 each. I bought them all. I have not produced a nice enough looking wine that I felt should go in them yet.

 

[Double Daylo]

1000 bottles aging. Wow! I've got about 275 in cold storage right now and I thought that was a lot! I'll have to look into the Nomacorc corks. I'm assuming that they cost a little more than the 19 cent #9 corks I'm using now. What size do you use and where did you buy them?

Look into lafitte. Alot of people on this board purchase corks from them. Very high quality corks for the same price as competitors. I pay 140 for 1000 count then 50 to ship them. If you like for a one time fee of $100 you can have custom die made so your local or wine name or what ever you want can be printed on every cork. Once the die is made it doesn't cost you any more to run corks with your logo on them. I do it and the results are fantastic. Check them out. We all buy the agglo 1+1 corks. You won't be dissapointed. I was buying cheapo corks from amazon for 16 cents each. These cost 19 cents each and are ten times higher quality and they have my logo and winery name on them!

http://www.lafitte-usa.com/

 

[Noobberry]

I've made hard cider before. Slightly different recipe, and I used a different yeast, but it came out great. You just have to be careful and measure the sugar very carefully or your bottles will explode!

So to be clear, use a proper cider recipe? Or, just use the apples for this recipes as intended.

 

[Rosa321]

If you're starting with cider, I would recommend a proper cider recipe. I used one posted in the recipe forum.
I remember it being a little different, not having acid/lemon juice, and using another yeast.


If you're using just apple juice, then I don't see why you couldn't give this recipe a shot and see what happens