DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[ckvchestnut]

Very fruity! I'm surprised! It's in the secondary now. And I did use the combination of frozen grapes with the concentrate. What I find is it's a little hot obviously but really well balanced on the acidity easy to drink right now! But due to the way it turned out with the head space etc, I'm having to add the brandy in increments. I hope that's ok?

I'm topping of with the brandy at each racking basically. Here's what she looks like today. PLEASE, PLEASE, PLEASE don't be mad at me because I promised to follow this to a t... But I couldn't help myself - I put 21 med toasted French oak cubes in it. I promise you will not be blamed if it doesn't turn out how you know it to be! Also I just added sparkolloid today so obviously not clear yet. I only had one pkg of super Kleer and since I'll be in more of a hurry with my DB I saved it for that.



Edit: and if it turns out every bit as good as I hope it will I'll send you a bottle if they let me ship it internationally! ;-)

 

[dangerdave]

Looks great John and Carolyn! Don't you just love that color!

 

[datcv]

I started this small batch maybe 20 days ago. It fermented in about 5 days and the sparkalloid cleared it in only a week so I went ahead and sweetened and bottled it. A hair over 1.000 tastes pretty good to me.

I imagine it will be really good in a few weeks.

I have a three gallon batch of apple core frozen fruit trash can wine about done in the primary.

 

[ckvchestnut]

Looks great John and Carolyn! Don't you just love that color!

Love love love #love that colour!! I'm so gung-ho that I picked up 2 bags of blueberries and one bag of the quad berry do I could try that variation of the 2-1 ratio of blueberries and quad berry. I think I was afraid to try all blueberry so thought I'd transition to that soon. I can't wait to see the color on that one!

 

[ckvchestnut]

I started this small batch maybe 20 days ago. It fermented in about 5 days and the sparkalloid cleared it in only a week so I went ahead and sweetened and bottled it. A hair over 1.000 tastes pretty good to me.

I imagine it will be really good in a few weeks.

I have a three gallon batch of apple core frozen fruit trash can wine about done in the primary.

View attachment 13296

Wow! Nice it never ceases to amaze me the color!

 

[dangerdave]

Carolyn, I bottled my blueberry version ("Jet Blue") just last week. I'll work up a picture for you. This time, I used an extra bag (3 lbs) of blueberries to soak in it after it had cleared. It came out really fruity. As we have discussed before, it seems to take the blueberry a little more time to "come around". A bottle of the last batch I made was absolutely excellent after a year.

datcv: What is this "small batch" you speak of? I'd have to make an aweful lot of those!

 

[ckvchestnut]

Dave, I apologize for the questions but was it all blueberry or a mix? How much fruit did you use at ferment and for how many gallons. I have 11.50 lbs of fruit for. 6 gal batch. I may add bananas as I honestly feel it does add to the mouthfeel and to soften acidity somewhat. Call me crazy. Gives a bit of a buttery feel. Did you use the fruit soak after stopping ferment? Thanks I appreciate your feedback! Love photos always is the blueberry like so dark you can't see through it?

 

[ckvchestnut]

I realize most people use more fruit and perhaps I'll use 5 bags instead of 3 but I'll definitely go out and get another bag within the next week.

And now that I want to start experimenting with oak may try some I the Hungarian or French oak I bought!

 

[jamesngalveston]

there is no end of the possibilities of dragon sang (sang) cajun for blood.

 

[ckvchestnut]

there is no end of the possibilities of dragon sang (sang) cajun for blood.

Maybe that could be translated to Dragon's Song! Did you see my post on the port James?

 

[ckvchestnut]

Hmmm all this degassing is holding me back from the tropical and blueberry versions I wanted to start today... Had to help hubby rack the apple wine also it's his project so I forgot about it!

 

[jamesngalveston]

Yea I saw it, I hope its good with the oak, have not oaked any thing yet.
I want to concentrate on making everything better before I start adding ingredients...
Took me two years to make the perfect cream puff that I could stuff with a french creme, now..i can add other things to it, and its even better.

 

[ckvchestnut]

Ah sorry James! I understand your approach! I do that with my work and riding but every once in awhile I throw something else in just to see what happens and I actually find that it benefits my learning curve. It's like a lottery - either I learn quickly from my mistakes or I hit the jackpot and get lucky with a shortcut or addition or tweak of some sort. I didn't mean to step on toes.... Really! I'm going to send you a bottle or else I'll be eating some crow!

 

[ckvchestnut]

James I apologize! I'm one of those ppl who sometimes can't leave well enough alone. I'll remove the oak and keep it for another batch of something...

 

[jamesngalveston]

you keep going girl, you can always make more later, just keep up with what you started....just have confidence in yourself and what you make...it may be excellent...probably will be.

 

[ckvchestnut]

James if we were neighbors we'd be good friends! Or not! Maybe you'd hate me! I'm a real relaxed kinda gal! Wine will be on the way IF it ends up worthy of your taste buds!

 

[datcv]

datcv: What is this "small batch" you speak of? I'd have to make an aweful lot of those!

It's my first batch! I'm sure I will need to scale up soon. I'm hoping to get some actual locally grown berries in the spring to make a batch with (I want to find some black raspberries). There is also an awesome peach orchard not far from here for some summer peach wine. And the Apple orchard up the hill for fall cider and apple wine making...

Luckily there are also a lot of wineries, cideries, and breweries near my house to supplement my home-brewed stuff with. Although the homebrew is much cheaper.

If you're ever near central Virginia, I have some recommendations!

 

[dangerdave]

Dave, I apologize for the questions but was it all blueberry or a mix? How much fruit did you use at ferment and for how many gallons. I have 11.50 lbs of fruit for. 6 gal batch. I may add bananas as I honestly feel it does add to the mouthfeel and to soften acidity somewhat. Call me crazy. Gives a bit of a buttery feel. Did you use the fruit soak after stopping ferment? Thanks I appreciate your feedback! Love photos always is the blueberry like so dark you can't see through it?

I have no problem with questions, Carolyn.

First, I fermented with 12 pounds of fruit in two bags. I think your 11.5 pounds will do fine along with the bananas. I have tried bananas before, in my Dragon Blood Especiale. My unsophisticated pallet couldn't tell the difference, but my wife---my inspiration---is not a fan of the "butteriness" of some wines. That was some time ago, so---inspired by you---I may revisit then once again.

After the wine was completely clear, I racked it off the Sparkolloid into a carboy where I had stuffed (literally, through a big funnel) three pounds of blueberried and their accompanying juices. I let it sit like that for a month, stirring it up once a week. In the end, the blueberries setteld out nicely. I then filtered and added a little bit of sugar for balance (it didn't need nearly as much as normal due to the flavor added by the extra blueberries).

It did come out darker red than the regular blueberry DB version, but it's still technically a "blush". Straight blueberry wine will use more like 5-6 pounds of fruit per gallon. Now that would be very dark!

You seem to be a very energetic and creative lady. I see many great DB versions in your future. Keep at it!

 

[dangerdave]

It's my first batch! I'm sure I will need to scale up soon. I'm hoping to get some actual locally grown berries in the spring to make a batch with (I want to find some black raspberries). There is also an awesome peach orchard not far from here for some summer peach wine. And the Apple orchard up the hill for fall cider and apple wine making...

Luckily there are also a lot of wineries, cideries, and breweries near my house to supplement my home-brewed stuff with. Although the homebrew is much cheaper.

If you're ever near central Virginia, I have some recommendations!

You are very lucky, indeed. Ohio was 7th in wine producing states in 2012, but you wouldn't know it in Chillicothe. There isn't a single wine related anything within an hour of my home. If I had more ambition, I'd open up this area to wine after I retired in five years. There would be no competition whatsoever. But that sounds like a lot of work and responsibility at a time in my life where I'm ready to relax and play.

Virginia is a beautiful state. My wife and I spent a week some years back in the Shenandoah Valley area visiting numerous vinyards there abouts. We still talk about that trip. We hope to do it again some day.

 

[datcv]

Virginia is a beautiful state. My wife and I spent a week some years back in the Shenandoah Valley area visiting numerous vinyards there abouts. We still talk about that trip. We hope to do it again some day.

I have a beautiful drive to work over in the Shenandoah valley! The wine industry in this area has really taken off. I am not sure it will ever be able to scale up like California because of the humid summers but some of the vineyards around here are producing some pretty good stuff. They have to really baby those grape vines. Cider has also taken off in the last couple of years. I took some friends to a tasting at Albemarle cider works last weekend and I think they were impressed by how good cider can be when it is done well. I can't say that my first cider that I bottled measures up... But I'm going to work on that.