DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[ThreeSheetsToTheWind]

So the verdict is in. We liked it best at an sg of 1.000. According to my calculations, performed after drinking a lot of this very tasty beverare rather quickly, that amounts to 2.6g sugar/100ml.

Sitting here I'm amazed at what a touch of sweetness will do to the flavor of a dry tart wine. That 3 year old chokecherry never would have survived until today had I backsweetened it.

When I was just a pup, before the internet made this sort of exchange of ideas so easy, I used to go down to my favorite LHBS for guidance. That guy treated me fantastically, laid a solid foundation so to speak. But one time, when I mentioned that I planned to backsweeten my first strawberry wine, he told me to never ever under any circumstance backsweeten a wine.

That was the worst advice i was ever given, because i took it as gospel, written in stone! Maybe what he told me was due to a bad experience he had, maybe the kid in his store had just stumbled onto the secret to his success ( there were a lot of medals and awards on his walls).

I've sat on bottles for years, waiting for "the sweetness to come out"and been dissapointed every time i opened the last of the batch. I see fruit wines in a whole new light now. I'm excited for summer now lol.

cheers to all of you who post your experiences here on the forum so that those who come after you may avoid the school of hard knocks. And once again, thanks to Dave for sharing this recipe!

 

[Tinwakr]

Here my latest batch, letting it sit right now, no time to bottle.

 

[dangerdave]

THIS is why I shared the recipe. You all make my day, every day.

You are more than welcome! Everyone enjoy!

 

[Michael Alspaugh]

So the verdict is in. We liked it best at an sg of 1.000. According to my calculations, performed after drinking a lot of this very tasty beverare rather quickly, that amounts to 2.6g sugar/100ml.

Sitting here I'm amazed at what a touch of sweetness will do to the flavor of a dry tart wine. That 3 year old chokecherry never would have survived until today had I backsweetened it.

When I was just a pup, before the internet made this sort of exchange of ideas so easy, I used to go down to my favorite LHBS for guidance. That guy treated me fantastically, laid a solid foundation so to speak. But one time, when I mentioned that I planned to backsweeten my first strawberry wine, he told me to never ever under any circumstance backsweeten a wine.

That was the worst advice i was ever given, because i took it as gospel, written in stone! Maybe what he told me was due to a bad experience he had, maybe the kid in his store had just stumbled onto the secret to his success ( there were a lot of medals and awards on his walls).

I've sat on bottles for years, waiting for "the sweetness to come out"and been dissapointed every time i opened the last of the batch. I see fruit wines in a whole new light now. I'm excited for summer now lol.

cheers to all of you who post your experiences here on the forum so that those who come after you may avoid the school of hard knocks. And once again, thanks to Dave for sharing this recipe!

I'm happy to here you say this because I too have found that no matter what kind of fruit I used a tiny bit of back sweetening brought out the true taste of the fruit. It takes it from moonshine "In my eyes that is" to a very enjoyable drink that gives me a nice buzz!!!! My wife freaks out when I say back sweetening but even she agrees that a slight amount of sweet flavor changes it to smooth a silk and that is what we love Smooth wine.

 

[Turn About Wines]

Threesheets,
I was also told to never backsweeten a wine, and would sit on a wine hoping that time would bring out the sweetness only to be disappointed. After allowing several gallons to sit, I took a sample and backsweetened it. It was a different ballgame afer that experiment. Now my family and friends are constantly requesting wine and even bringing me fruit to process.

 

[KCCam]

Well, here we go. I found this forum a couple months ago. Planned to make some DB for Christmas, but got vetoed by SWMBO (I use that term very lovingly). I have to do my wine in the kitchen and she wanted the space for entertaining family, or some such silly thing. Since I had the extra time, I read this entire thread, plus the couple threads that spawned it. I highly recommend you DO IT too! There is a wealth of information here. You just have to read a couple pages here and there and in no time you’re done. It’s worth it. So many questions answered!

So... I started a Skeeter Pee and a Dragon Blood 3 weeks ago. The DB is coming along slowly but surely, but my SP has been nothing but trouble. I followed the recipe to a T, except for pitching the yeast a little too soon. I’ll ask for help on that forum tho.

My DB variation is doing much better, although much slower than I expected.

• 8.8 lbs Costco (Canada) triple berry mix
• 32 oz Realemon
• 1.5 lbs Sultana raisins
• 6 very ripe bananas, sliced, with skins
• 16 lbs sugar (starting SG 1.110)
• Water to about 7.5 gal (I accidentally overshot due to adding the extra sugar)
• EC-1118 yeast
• 1 pair ladies’ knee-high nylons (thanks Dave)
• all other ingredients per recipe

All of those tweaks seem very common and reasonable, except for maybe the very high starting SG. James is the only one I ever recall saying he went that high. (I miss him.) Dave says he likes fermenting quite warm, so my belt and towel kept things in the low to mid 80’s. Maybe a little warmer than I should have.

Day #20, SG down to 0.992 and still dropping. I decided to vacuum rack to a carboy and let it finish there.

Can’t wait! It tastes so good, even now with no backsweetening.

 

[ThreeSheetsToTheWind]

Michael and Turn about, that's exactly what I mean. Mine doesnt even taste sweet, it just balanced the tartness so it doesn't feel like I'm trying to swallow an angry cat. And I can taste the fruit now.

KCCam, that's almost exactly the recipe I used, except I wanted an abv just a hair over 10%. I think I'll be sticking to this recipe. Fellow Canadian here

 

[KCCam]

Fellow Canadian here

Cheers! That avatar kind of gives you away. Wait a second... I thought that was a shovel! That’s not you in the ice water, is it?

 

[KCCam]

Folks: Don’t forget to add your totals to:
https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/how-many-gallons-of-lon-ds-skeeter-pee-have-been-made.36683

Almost 4000 gallons logged since it was started almost 6 years ago! Woo hoo!

Thanks Lon & Dave! What a legacy.

 

[Billie Rezarch]

I have been reading and following this thread for a while and I'm not even close to reading it through so this question may have been answered already! I have my first batch of DB (and actually first batch of wine) going and am planning to bottle this weekend. I back sweetened last Sunday and its not showing any signs of refermentation so let the first bottling begin! I do have one question: I just got into winemaking and have lots of plans for next batches but the tasting it all got a smidge side tracked as I just found out I'm expecting my second child and won't be drinking any wine for quite some time. My wine will have plenty of time to age without worry of me dipping into it! Can you over-age DB? The batch I have going is the original recipe but using quad berries. I have everything to start a tropical batch after this but want to make sure it won't over age before I can drink it!

Thanks in advance!!

 

[KCCam]

I’m just a newbie here, but I’ve read lots. I think the general consensus here for the original recipe (1 lb fruit per gallon), is that it peaks at about 3 months in the bottle. Some say it’s even better at 6 months. At a year, some say it starts to go downhill, some say it keeps getting better. Most can’t keep it around that long. Btw, congratulations! And make sure you let everyone know what yours tastes like after 9 months. Our first-born was 10 weeks early - hope you don’t get to taste that soon!

 

[ThreeSheetsToTheWind]

Congrats Billie!

I'm sure your DB will taste that much better when you get to properly celebrate the newest addition to your family! I wish I could give my wines a 9 month head start lol.

 

[Billie Rezarch]

Thanks all, we're excited to add to our little family! I was first a little disappointed that I timed my foray into wine making so perfectly but then realized I could age a bunch of wine without having to test my patience! I do feel a little bad for my husband as I told him he wouldn't be enjoying any of my wine until I could If anyone has any recommendations for (easier) wines I can make that might take longer to clear or need aging, I have time!

 

[ThreeSheetsToTheWind]

I told him he wouldn't be enjoying any of my wine until I could

lol stern but fair. Signs of a good moma.

anyone has any recommendations for (easier) wines I can make that might take longer to clear or need aging, I have time!

Joes Ancient Orange Mead (JOAM for short) is easy, and will test your patience for sure lol. You're just expected to mix it up and leave it alone until the fruit eventually sinks, like 8 months to a year! Like I'm not going to touch it for that long...

I messed with the recipe slightly, which as you will read, you're not supposed to do. But I'm a big boy, I'll do what I want. It's still fermenting almost a month later, and the one tiny sip I've had has me thinking I need to start more.

 

[TyYoda]

Try some Apple juice, banana and frozen Strawberry wines. Check out http://winemaking.jackkeller.net for recipes or do a google search. These are easy to make and benefit from 6 - 12 month bulk aging.

 

[Tinwakr]

Try some Apple juice, banana and frozen Strawberry wines. Check out http://winemaking.jackkeller.net for recipes or do a google search. These are easy to make and benefit from 6 - 12 month bulk aging.

The page came up blank.

 

[sour_grapes]

The page came up blank.

Evidently, you need an explict "index" part to the URL:

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/index.asp

 

[Tinwakr]

Evidently, you need an explict "index" part to the URL:

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/index.asp

Thank you. Got so far and then blank page again, lol

 

[TyYoda]

It's a bug on his website. After two pages of recipes, the third page is blank.

The rest of the recipes are under the Requested recipes section. Try this link and scroll to the end of the page and you will see a complete index of recipes.

http://winemaking.jackkeller.net/request.asp

 

[MickeyB]

Finally bottled the muscadine/lemon. Definitely as good as the first batch. Six gallons just doesn’t last long.