DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[hounddawg]

sour_grapes.....Course I don't know what IMHO stands for, but I agree that the accusation, and most importantly, the disparaging remarks to Dawg were mean-spirited and uncalled for, completely!!

thank you, i am happy to just trying to make more wine,, i do appreciate everyone,
,(((((( IMHO= in my humble opinion)))),, yep first time i seen that elsewhere i had to ask too,,,lol
dawg

 

[winemanden]

That accusation (from the other user) was uncalled for, IMHO.

My apologies if I am the other user you refer to. What I said about the AA was meant as a JOKE.
Most of us over here in the UK can't make wine on the scale that you do over there - jealous I suppose.
We do age some of our wines, but property over here is tiny compared to the US, so mostly our wines are for early drinking.

 

[sour_grapes]

My apologies if I am the other user you refer to. What I said about the AA was meant as a JOKE.
Most of us over here in the UK can't make wine on the scale that you do over there - jealous I suppose.
We do age some of our wines, but property over here is tiny compared to the US, so mostly our wines are for early drinking.

No, no, not you. The accusation that I referred to has since been deleted, thankfully!

 

[RocketBee]

Hi there! I've made so many DB batches, I've lost count First off, I never degass during fermention. I vigorously mush the fruit bag, but I don't take it out and stir the heck out of the must. Second, I always use around 12 pounds of fruit and never add extra enzyme. Well, I take that back, I use a product called Lallzyme in addition to regular pectic enzyme but only put a pinch of it in. So, that being said, what did you use for a fining agent? And what kind of fruit did you use?

@Val-the-Brew-Gal thanks for the reply! I used Sparkalloid per the instructions and I used three bags of triple berry mix from Sam's Club (raspberry, blackberry blueberry). They are three pounds each, so 9 lbs. of fruit in all.

 

[hounddawg]

Hi all! Just reading through some recent posts. I've been making DP since I started making wine 6 years ago. For those wondering about different fruit options, I've tried almost every one you can think of and they all turned out great. Just a few examples include a peach/apricot, a huckleberry, one I call Backyard Bounty because I throw in whatever fruit is growing in my backyard, a Concord grape (very popular with my family), a plum/elderberry, and a host of other combinations. As a side note, I always use 12 pounds of fruit.

In the last couple years, I've gotten my hands on tons of grapes and so I use them a lot in different versions. I've made a grape/triple berry version that I call a pink "Moscato" because of the color. I've done lots of grape only batches, some using all green grapes, which results in a lovely white wine, and others using a combination of whatever ones I have (and I honestly have no idea what varieties of grapes I have but some are just a table grape). Actually, most of my recent batches have been a combination of some type of fruit along with grapes since I have so many (last year it was about 120 pounds). I usually go with a 1:1 ratio but it all depends on how much fruit I have to throw in with the grapes.

One of the current favorite wines is more of a Skeeter Pee spin-off using justhalf lime juice and half lemon. After it's fermented, I backsweeten with sugar and a can of limeade concentrate. Then I add a homemade mint infused lime rum, plus some mint and rum extract.

I guess my long winded post is to just let everyone know that any combination of fruit pretty much works so be creative or just clean out the freezer. I have yet to make one we didn't like so you won't be disappointed no matter what!

hum never heard of lallzyme before, i just looked it up, it and lallzyme max,
going to have to give that a try, thanks val
dawg

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

@Val-the-Brew-Gal thanks for the reply! I used Sparkalloid per the instructions and I used three bags of triple berry mix from Sam's Club (raspberry, blackberry blueberry). They are three pounds each, so 9 lbs. of fruit in all.

With 9 pounds of fruit, I wouldn't have adjusted the pectic enzyme amount myself. Sometimes when you have peaches, mango or apricots you need extra as they are harder to get clear. The berry mix though generally clears nicely without upping the enzyme amount. As for the Sparkalloid, I've only used it once and was not happy with the results. I personally love SuperKleer as it generally clears wine within a week at most. I have a grape-huckleberry that was pretty clear in just 3 days but I will let it sit about a week anyway just to be careful. Start to finish, most of my DBs are in the bottle in a little over 3 weeks...I'm not patient enough to wait longer and it tastes awesome anyway. If your wine doesn't seem to be getting clearer, you might want to get a package of the SuperKleer and give it a try.

 

[winemanden]

Regarding what Dawg says about ageing his wine for 8 to 10 years, here's a quote from the Bible!
Gospel of Luke, chapter 3, verse 39
'No man having drunk old wine immediately desireth new; for he saith, The old is better'
Enjoy your next glass, but don't forget, in the Bible, even Noah got into trouble drinking too much wine.
Regards to all; stay safe!

 

[hounddawg]

Regarding what Dawg says about ageing his wine for 8 to 10 years, here's a quote from the Bible!
Gospel of Luke, chapter 3, verse 39
'No man having drunk old wine immediately desireth new; for he saith, The old is better'
Enjoy your next glass, but don't forget, in the Bible, even Noah got into trouble drinking too much wine.
Regards to all; stay safe!

Amen

 

[DizzyIzzy]

My apologies if I am the other user you refer to. What I said about the AA was meant as a JOKE.
Most of us over here in the UK can't make wine on the scale that you do over there - jealous I suppose.
We do age some of our wines, but property over here is tiny compared to the US, so mostly our wines are for early drinking.

I don't think he was referring to you. As I recollect the poster was OMGPorkchop.......................Dizzy

 

[DizzyIzzy]

My apologies if I am the other user you refer to. What I said about the AA was meant as a JOKE.
Most of us over here in the UK can't make wine on the scale that you do over there - jealous I suppose.
We do age some of our wines, but property over here is tiny compared to the US, so mostly our wines are for early drinking.

Winemanden, question..................Do you mean city property is tiny, or country/suburbia property? Inquiring minds want to know LOL...................Dizzy

 

[sour_grapes]

Regarding what Dawg says about ageing his wine for 8 to 10 years, here's a quote from the Bible!
Gospel of Luke, chapter 3, verse 39
'No man having drunk old wine immediately desireth new; for he saith, The old is better'
Enjoy your next glass, but don't forget, in the Bible, even Noah got into trouble drinking too much wine.
Regards to all; stay safe!

That would be Luke 5:39, no?

(HEY! I get to say that I quoted someone chapter and verse! )

 

[hounddawg]

That would be Luke 5:39, no?

(HEY! I get to say that I quoted someone chapter and verse! )

God Bless,

 

[KCCam]

Toon Blood
I don’t recall anyone in this thread ever saying that they’ve tried a Saskatoon berry Dragon Blood. Did I miss it or am I the first? I got 10.5 lbs of berries last year from my Saskatoon tree. Added 6 frozen bananas with skins and used only 32 oz Real Lemon. Other than that I followed the recipe. SG is now 0.995 but still lots of action. Should be ready to clear soon tho.

 

[hounddawg]

Toon Blood
I don’t recall anyone in this thread ever saying that they’ve tried a Saskatoon berry Dragon Blood. Did I miss it or am I the first? I got 10.5 lbs of berries last year from my Saskatoon tree. Added 6 frozen bananas with skins and used only 32 oz Real Lemon. Other than that I followed the recipe. SG is now 0.995 but still lots of action. Should be ready to clear soon tho.
View attachment 62885

never heard of saskatoon berries,, you in the USA or elsewhere?
dawg

 

[hounddawg]

never heard of saskatoon berries,, you in the USA or elsewhere?
dawg

i'm on my first DDDB, sour cherry, black raspberry, blue berry,,
dawg

 

[DizzyIzzy]

Toon Blood
I don’t recall anyone in this thread ever saying that they’ve tried a Saskatoon berry Dragon Blood. Did I miss it or am I the first? I got 10.5 lbs of berries last year from my Saskatoon tree. Added 6 frozen bananas with skins and used only 32 oz Real Lemon. Other than that I followed the recipe. SG is now 0.995 but still lots of action. Should be ready to clear soon tho.
View attachment 62885

Never heard of a Saskatoon tree. What state is it?.........................Dizzy

 

[RocketBee]

Here is the US we usually refer to Saskatoon berries as "service berries". Service berries grow on bushes, although a friend of mine in Colorado who is a gardening whiz grew his pretty high...maybe 25 feet or so and it looked more like tree than a bush.

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

Toon Blood
I don’t recall anyone in this thread ever saying that they’ve tried a Saskatoon berry Dragon Blood. Did I miss it or am I the first? I got 10.5 lbs of berries last year from my Saskatoon tree. Added 6 frozen bananas with skins and used only 32 oz Real Lemon. Other than that I followed the recipe. SG is now 0.995 but still lots of action. Should be ready to clear soon tho.
View attachment 62885

I would love to hear how it turns out so keep us posted.

 

[KCCam]

Wow, just Googled it. I didn’t realize there are so many names, or how wonderful these berries really are. Here in central Alberta (Edmonton), they grow as wild trees, easily 15’ tall.

From the Saskatoon Berry Institute of North America:

“Saskatoon berries (Amelanchier alnifolia) look much like blueberries, though they are more closely related to the apple family.” “Saskatoon berries have a variety of names throughout North America, including: prairie berry, serviceberry, shadbush, juneberry and, in past centuries, pigeon berry.” “Saskatoon berries appear to be an excellent source of manganese, magnesium, iron, calcium, potassium, copper and carotene. Saskatoon berries are considered a better source of calcium than red meats, vegetables and cereals. Recent research indicates saskatoons have very high components of phenolics, flavonols and anthocyanins. Saskatoons are high in natural sugar, rich in Vitamin C, and also contain more than three times as much iron and copper in the same weight as raisins. (Saskatoon Nutrients: The Journal of Food Science – Volume 47 1982 Dr. G. Mazza)”

 

[KCCam]

i'm on my first DDDB, sour cherry, black raspberry, blue berry,,
dawg

@hounddawg, I saw a while back you started a sour cherry blend as your first Dragon Blood. Besides the saskatoons I picked last year, I got 11 lbs of Evans cherries from my neighbour's tree from just the branches that were hanging over the fence into my yard. I think the Evans cherry was developed locally. It's about the only cherry that will grow in our central Alberta climate, and it grows very well, producing a HUGE amount of cherries. They are sour, but not extremely so, and almost sweet when very ripe, sweet enough to eat right off the tree. But nothing like an actual sweet cherry. I had 4 lbs of frozen fresh blueberries in the freezer, and since l was less sure of how the cherries would ferment than the saskatoons, I added them to the Cherry Dragon Blood (still trying to come up with a good name). I see lots of comments about how bananas can help and we always have frozen bananas on hand for banana bread, so I threw a few of those in as well. It is fermenting almost identically to my Toon Blood though very slightly slower. It's a little darker which surprises me, and currently tastes very similar too, again, which surprises me. I can't wait until I can start clearing it. Dragon Blood is soooooo beautiful when clear! What quantities did you use in yours?