DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[Lwrightjs]

Made my first dragons blood today. Any experience with how long this whole process takes before I get a good tasting beverage?

 

[dangerdave]

Started today? Well, I’ve produced a find drinkable batch in under two weeks, clear and bottled. I remember someone getting it under 10 days. Get it warm, get it dry, then get it clear and you are there!

 

[Jal5]

What do you think about clarity. Wait longer or add pectic? Already treated with dualfine and major sediment dropped out.
Joe

 

[Johnd]

View attachment 55293 View attachment 55293 View attachment 55294 What do you think about clarity. Wait longer or add pectic? Already treated with dualfine and major sediment dropped out.
Joe

I wouldn’t bottle that yet....it needs to be crystal clear, IMHO.

 

[Jal5]

I agree John. Do I wait it out and do racking as needed or add something?
Joe

 

[Lwrightjs]

I agree John. Do I wait it out and do racking as needed or add something?
Joe

I'd just wait it out. Give it another week. If it's still not clear, then you can look into what to add.

 

[G259]

. . . I guess my reticence is due to my want to have each procedure mapped out, so that my wine experiences the minimum of 'air' time. Perhaps I shouldn't be so protective, but it's out of an abundance of caution (you can't go back!).

 

[G259]

I forgot about the lemon juice (acid), so . . .

 

[AstroQueen]

So reading the instructions, the first part says to keep the lid on loose with no airlock. After adding the yeast it does not say to secure the lid and add an airlock, so I should still leave it loose with a towel on top?

 

[G259]

Yes, initially the yeast needs air to multiply, but you don't want anything to fall into your wine. As it gets going (2,3,4,5 days), you can then snap the lid down, and rely on the airlock. Sometimes you can go longer, as the CO2 that the ferment gives off will blanket, and protect the wine from the O2 in the air. You will see the fermentation die down, yes, this is the time to lock down the lid.

 

[Johnd]

So reading the instructions, the first part says to keep the lid on loose with no airlock. After adding the yeast it does not say to secure the lid and add an airlock, so I should still leave it loose with a towel on top?

Yes, you can cover your fermenting must loosely, loose lid, or towel, some use cheesecloth, your choice.

No need to make any changes to your covering during AF, but close to the end (when your SG gets down to 1.010 or less) you’ll rack into a carboy, this is to leave fruit / lees behind, as well as to get your wine under airlock to complete AF.

After this point, though initially your wine has plenty CO2 to protect it for a bit, you’ll want to be more vigilant. Once your wine SG is below .998 and is steady for 3 days straight, AF is over. Time to move on to next steps, which should include topping up to limit air exposure.

 

[Jal5]

Definitely clearer one week later.
What do you think- bottling?
Joe

 

[mhopkins]

It is up to you how clear you want your wine. My practice is to never bottle cloudy wine so as to avoid the possibility of sediment developing (or simply bottling cloudy wine). And Dragon Blood is really pretty when it is crystal clear. Some say that if you can read a newspaper through the class, you are clear enough. Others counsel that you can test clarity by aiming a flashlight through the carboy. If you can see the beam; that’s suspended particles. Then again, this is Dragon Blood … it doesn’t last too long around our house.

 

[Prosseco]

HI,

Would like some advise from experienced DB ers.
Fermentation on my first ever DB is on 1.0010, its been going for 9 days. I could not find any lemon juice so i just sliced one lemon and one lime i had lying in the fridge and put in the straining bag with the other berries. Blueberry, strawberry, raspberry and blackberry mix.
I followed the instructions, squeezing the straining bag, stirring and so on, temp has been good all along.

I just had a taste today after stirring and it is very sour, like my mouth is "crumbling" type of sour, is this normal and will backsweetening sort that out?

 

[dangerdave]

DB is tart by design. Without back sweetening it will curl your tongue. Don’t fret; sugar will balance that out later.

 

[Prosseco]

Thanks Dave for the quick reply. Fermentation is almost finished. When i moved it to a secondary carboy to finish it off i took some good whifs and it smells great.
For the backsweetening, will it make any difference what sugar i use like cane sugar, caster sugar, brown organic sugar?

 

[willie]

We usually use organic sugar from our local amish store which is a very light brown color. It's not brown sugar that is used in baking. And we have also used regular cane sugar also. 4.5 - 5 cups of sugar to a 6 gal. batch is what we use.

Will

 

[Jal5]

Dosed it with pectic enzyme 48 hrs ago. Did the trick! Time to sweeten and bottle by end of this week.

 

[dangerdave]

DB is not fancy so I do everything simple. Plain old table sugar stirred straight in.

 

[mhopkins]

@dangerdave I see "Dragon Blood Variant Contest" on your signature. My current fav is a 4-berry blend. But, I think it would be fun to branch out. Is there a page/thread with variant recipes? Thanks! Mark