DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[Stevelaz]

Well my sg fell to under 0.990, about 0.986-88. So i racked but i got a lot of what i believe was fruit pulp into the wine that was just racked. So what i did was racked it again and filtered it thru 2 new mesh bags that i had. Worked great! I don't remember that much stuff in my last batch at the first rack. I then added the kmeta and sotbate.

I then degassed with the wine whip on drill, but man took a while and foam would not go away. I finally figured it is going to foam no matter what by whipping it?. I then did the poof test and nothing, so i guess i degassed it enough. Added super clear/duelfine. looking good!

 

[Stevelaz]

Wow . It is really clearing well with a nice layer of sediment at the bottom! Also my last batch i had a cloudy haze up 3-4 inches from the bottom that i do not see this time.

 

[Elmer]

Wow . It is really clearing good with a nice layer of sediment at the bottom! Also my last batch i had a cloudy haze up 3-4 inches from the bottom that i do not see this time.

Well!
Clearing well!

 

[Stevelaz]

Well!
Clearing well!

Sorry, didn't know we were being monitored by the grammer police.. My bad...lol

 

[willie]

Sorry, didn't know we were being monitored by the grammer police.. My bad...lol

I for one am happy you seem to really be getting into making this Dragon Blood wine and I enjoy reading your posts. Your enthusiasm has not gone unnoticed. We make kits and the Dragon Blood wines and I really enjoy making the D.B. Right after Christmas we made 2 kit wines and 6 gal. batch of Strawberry, Triple Berry, and just back sweetened a Tropical. Up next will be a Blueberry and another Triple Berry and a batch of Skeeter Pee to take us into Spring.

Will

 

[Stevelaz]

Thanks Will. Yes, I'm having fun making DB especially since my first batch, that was bottled before xmas, got raving reviews by most who tried it! I took 2 bottles this past weekend to a club i belong to see what the heavy drinkers thought of it. lol. needless to say they were both gone withing half hour!

Ive only been in this hobby for a few years now and hate to have to wait a year before I can start enjoying it, and thats early. I've been doing Chilean Merlot from fresh juice and i have an Amarone kit going now to. I really love that the DB can be bottled and enjoyed so quickly! Breaks up the boredom of waiting for the reds to finish. I cant wait for summer cause i feel DB is going to be a great summer drink over ice. I think i will try a tropical DB and was going to start looking at recipes soon. How do you like your tropical? What fruit do you use? Thanks

 

[mennyg19]

The rule on this site is "Pics or it didn't happen"...
[emoji23]

 

[Casper137]

What is peoples average clearing time when not filtering?

https://s27.postimg.org/djnkmzam9/image1_4.jpg
https://s28.postimg.org/z2lp71q0b/image1_6.jpg

I racked these two batches to the carboys on Jan 28 when they hit 1.000

Added 1/2 tsp Potassium Metabisulfate to each and mixed/degassed well
added 2.5 tsp Potassium Sorbate to each and mixed/degassed well
added 1 pack Kieselol to each and mixed/degassed well
added 1 pack Chitosan to each and mixed/degassed well

Other then what cleared in the first 24 hour I am not seeing any more lees falling to the bottom nor it clearing more.

It's odd as the pictures I just posted make it look clearer then it looks in person.

And the farther right one absolutely will not keep liquid in the bubbler. ARGH! it sucks it in everytime I put some in. Maybe the level is too high?

 

[Stevelaz]

I racked, added chems, degassed, and added super klear two days ago and its quit clear now. According to my notes from my last batch, i racked and back sweetened a bit more that a month after adding super kleer. Im not sure that is correct. I seem to remember racking a week or 2 after, then letting it clear further, but i may be wrong.

Anyhow my last batch was started Nov.1, 2016 and bottled Dec 23. Tried at Christmas and it was very good! Last weekend it was excellent!

Here is a pic of current batch.... I put in front of patio door to get a better look at it.

 

[willie]

Thanks Will. Yes, I'm having fun making DB especially since my first batch, that was bottled before xmas, got raving reviews by most who tried it! I took 2 bottles this past weekend to a club i belong to see what the heavy drinkers thought of it. lol. needless to say they were both gone withing half hour!

Ive only been in this hobby for a few years now and hate to have to wait a year before I can start enjoying it, and thats early. I've been doing Chilean Merlot from fresh juice and i have an Amarone kit going now to. I really love that the DB can be bottled and enjoyed so quickly! Breaks up the boredom of waiting for the reds to finish. I cant wait for summer cause i feel DB is going to be a great summer drink over ice. I think i will try a tropical DB and was going to start looking at recipes soon. How do you like your tropical? What fruit do you use? Thanks

In making the Tropical DB I use two 4lb. bags of Walmart's Great Value frozen Mixed Fruit and have used their Tropical mix also. I will throw in the fermenter with the bag of fruit a couple of bananas sliced and add a couple of cans Welches 100% frozen white grape juice. The bananas can be thrown in the bag or added to the water. Doesn't seem to mater. Anyways thats how I make it.

 

[LJC]

Hey Everyone,

I have been following the original recipe (with a bit extra fruit) and its been a week since starting to clear and has finished.

I am going to back-sweeten it tomorrow, but I noticed in the directions it says to wait another week after adding the sugar. Is this important if the wine is completely cleared? Is it to ensure fermentation doesn't restart?

 

[Johnd]

Hey Everyone,

I have been following the original recipe (with a bit extra fruit) and its been a week since starting to clear and has finished.

I am going to back-sweeten it tomorrow, but I noticed in the directions it says to wait another week after adding the sugar. Is this important if the wine is completely cleared? Is it to ensure fermentation doesn't restart?

Yes, and that is a good practice to follow on sweetened wines. If it kicks back in gear in the carboy, you're still in control, if it happens in bottles, you'll have corks blowing and a sticky mess.

 

[LJC]

Have another question in regards to clearing / back-sweetening.

My DB was super clear after 7 days using Chitosan / Kiesosol so I began to rack off the lees, I am pretty bad at it apparently and sucked up enough to make the wine look cloudy again, after back-sweetening with a simple syrup and stirring it well with the drill attachment the wine is super cloudy again. It has been a couple days and a decent amount of stuff has dropped back down to the bottom but its not anywhere near as clear. Will it clear again on its own in the next week back to its brilliantly clear state? If it doesn't can you add more clearing agents or is that bad?

 

[Johnd]

Have another question in regards to clearing / back-sweetening.

My DB was super clear after 7 days using Chitosan / Kiesosol so I began to rack off the lees, I am pretty bad at it apparently and sucked up enough to make the wine look cloudy again, after back-sweetening with a simple syrup and stirring it well with the drill attachment the wine is super cloudy again. It has been a couple days and a decent amount of stuff has dropped back down to the bottom but its not anywhere near as clear. Will it clear again on its own in the next week back to its brilliantly clear state? If it doesn't can you add more clearing agents or is that bad?

It'll clear again, just give it time and don't add any more clearing agents. I occasionally siphon some sediment when trying to get all of the good wine, especially when the sediment is deeper than the anti-sediment tip. It always works out fine.

 

[bkisel]

Hey Everyone,

I have been following the original recipe (with a bit extra fruit) and its been a week since starting to clear and has finished.

I am going to back-sweeten it tomorrow, but I noticed in the directions it says to wait another week after adding the sugar. Is this important if the wine is completely cleared? Is it to ensure fermentation doesn't restart?

In my experience it is a safety measure. I've on occasion back sweetened wines just before bottling with no I'll effect other than making me anxious about whether I made a smart move or not.

I've a friend who always back sweetens just before bottling. John has been making wine for decades this way but he also bulk ages for way longer than I do.

With DB (which I've done a whole bunch of times and know how much sugar to add) I do my back sweetening between the stabilizing and clearing agents.

 

[Casper137]

What is peoples average clearing time when not filtering?

https://s27.postimg.org/djnkmzam9/image1_4.jpg
https://s28.postimg.org/z2lp71q0b/image1_6.jpg

I racked these two batches to the carboys on Jan 28 when they hit 1.000

Added 1/2 tsp Potassium Metabisulfate to each and mixed/degassed well
added 2.5 tsp Potassium Sorbate to each and mixed/degassed well
added 1 pack Kieselol to each and mixed/degassed well
added 1 pack Chitosan to each and mixed/degassed well

Other then what cleared in the first 24 hour I am not seeing any more lees falling to the bottom nor it clearing more.

It's odd as the pictures I just posted make it look clearer then it looks in person.

And the farther right one absolutely will not keep liquid in the bubbler. ARGH! it sucks it in everytime I put some in. Maybe the level is too high?

As stated above I racked these two batches on Jan 28 and added everything I stated above.

Never really cleared too much.

A lot of lees fell to the bottom over the next week or so.

On Monday although not clear I racked to fresh carboys (leaving the lees behind obviously) to see if it would clear.

Still not clear 4 days later.

Very very little bubbles when I racked this time so I think I degassed sufficiently the first time.

Should I add another package of Chitosan and Kieselol and degas again?

 

[Stevelaz]

Im not sure it matters but i thought it was supposed to be totally degassed before adding clearing agents. Id make sure its degassed well before adding anymore clearing agents.. Im on my second batched of DB and both cleared very well after adding Superkleer/Duelfine. I also found you have to be very careful racking after clearing. Its very easy to get the crap at the bottom to mix back in. What i do is put a light behind the carboy so i can see clearly into the DB. I then rack holding the racking cane about half way down and let it down slowly until just above the cloudy sediment on the bottom, then stop. My first batch and this one in the carboy (1 month old) looks clear as day!

Since im here: My second batch i followed the "Dragonette" recipe and doubled the fruit. It seems a lot darker that my first batch where i followed the original recipe. Is that normal due to the extra fruit? I know a lot of you here double and even triple the fruit. The original DB color looks really cool in the bottle. Oh, I also added juice from another bag of triple berry (about 2 cups) when back sweetening. So Maybe that made it darker?

 

[willie]

Im not sure it matters but i thought it was supposed to be totally degassed before adding clearing agents. Id make sure its degassed well before adding anymore clearing agents.. Im on my second batched of DB and both cleared very well after adding Superkleer/Duelfine. I also found you have to be very careful racking after clearing. Its very easy to get the crap at the bottom to mix back in. What i do is put a light behind the carboy so i can see clearly into the DB. I then rack holding the racking cane about half way down and let it down slowly until just above the cloudy sediment on the bottom, then stop. My first batch and this one in the carboy (1 month old) looks clear as day!

Since im here: My second batch i followed the "Dragonette" recipe and doubled the fruit. It seems a lot darker that my first batch where i followed the original recipe. Is that normal due to the extra fruit? I know a lot of you here double and even triple the fruit. The original DB color looks really cool in the bottle. Oh, I also added juice from another bag of triple berry (about 2 cups) when back sweetening. So Maybe that made it darker?

I usually make the Triple Berry with 6 lbs. or 9 lbs. and noticed the 9 lb. one will be a bit darker due to the added berry's. I maybe wrong but I want to think that it is the blueberry's that give it the darkness. We are clearing a 100% blueberry now and it's very dark in color.

Will

 

[Casper137]

Disregard the whole not clearing thing I guess.

lol

Maybe it was the tripling of the berries.

Maybe it was the weird angle of sunlight.

Maybe it was the thickness of the carboy.

I don't know but I pulled a bottle and it was crystal clear in the bottle.

Added 2 tablespoons of sugar as that would equal about 2.5 cups for the 17 litres in the carboy (notice the headspace).

^^ this was the amount of sugar backsweetening I had read in this thread.

Wife and I found it way to sweet.

Split the bottle into two bottle and topped them both up which would make it 1 tablespoon per bottle and it was wonderful.

So I think that would equate to about 1.25 cups of sugar for 17 litres.


One thing I DID notice was when shaking the bottle with my thumb over it after adding sugar there was a constant pressure release every time I removed my thumb telling me there is still some carbonation in the wine.

Hmm ...maybe I should degas again before bottling.

 

[Floomagoo]

Dave, I have been dying to make this wine for a few months now and I'm about to start I have read some people say that it is not fruity enough for them, so when they make it they double the fruit and hold the tannin. As somebody who loves a sttong fruit flavor in my wine, that's what I'm considering doing but as I've never tasted or made this wine before, I thought I would ask you how you think that would turn out.