DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[Rosa321]

The first blueberry version I made finished just, well, not tatsing very blueberry-ish. Nobody drank it, so it sat in my rack (bottled) for a year. I popped a bottle every once in a while to check it's progress through time. It came up to 'good' after six months. In a year it was wonderful, with a nice full blueberry flavor. At least at that point, you could recognize it was blueberry. To the current batch I just bottled---in an attempt to make it more drinkable earlier---I soaked extra blueberries in it after clearing. It is much fruitier.

It's been in the bottle for a couple of weeks, so maybe I'll uncork a bottle tonight and see how she's coming along.

I'm a newbie! I am happy to report, so far, my first batch of triple berry seems to be going great! It's happily fermenting along!!!!! :-D

I have tons of blueberries in the freezer that I picked from my property over the summer and wanted to use them in my next batch. Can you just clarify, for a newbie, exactly what you did differently, Dave? So after adding the clarifying agent, and racking to another carboy, you added more berries? How much? For how long did it sit?
I'm just new to the process and want to clarify so I don't goof too badly.
THANK YOU!

 

[ckvchestnut]

This DB recipe can finish off completely dry... My last batch finished at .990 - I like my wines dry as well I ended up sweetening it to 1.000 and even though I found it just a tad sweet for what I normally drink it grew on me. I was going to keep this batch drier... But it finished at 1.000 because I really bumped the sugar on it... So it tastes like my last batch only stronger. I'm definitely leaving this one in the bottle longer so I can see how it evolves.

 

[JetJockey]

Carolyn,
I had just the opposite experiences. My other batches of DB finished between 0.994 and 0.996. This Blueberry batch started at 1.100 for ~14% ABV and it finished at 0.988 (temperature corrected) by day 11! I thought it was because I added more sugar that the finished SG dropped. I set my temperature controller (brew belt) to maintain about 75*F, but I don't have a cooler and the must hit 78*F Days 3-6 and remained at 76*F the rest of the fermentation. I used EC-1118 yeast.

 

[ckvchestnut]

Carolyn,
I had just the opposite experiences. My other batches of DB finished between 0.994 and 0.996. This Blueberry batch started at 1.100 for ~14% ABV and it finished at 0.988 (temperature corrected) by day 11! I thought it was because I added more sugar that the finished SG dropped. I set my temperature controller (brew belt) to maintain about 75*F, but I don't have a cooler and the must hit 78*F Days 3-6 and remained at 76*F the rest of the fermentation. I used EC-1118 yeast.

That's interesting Bob! This wine fermented at 72F very steady temps. I did the kieselsol and chitosan treatment to it on Sunday and it still hasn't cleared that much. It has dropped 1/2 inch of sediment but still cloudy. It's currently sitting at 66F in my carboy. I wonder if it isn't clearing as fast as my last batch because it was just "stuck" at 1.000 but it was like that for almost a week so, I just racked it and left it in the carboy for almost a week before clearing and stabilizing. I had no idea how long to wait after putting the kieselsol to put the chitosan. It said to wait at least an hour, I waited for 3 hours. I usually use sparkalloid. I used sparkalloid on my concord port same day and it cleared up 10 times faster. I've heard the opposite info for super kleer vs the sparkalloid. I guess now I'll have to wait until it clears on its own. I don't want to go back over it with sparkalloid...

 

[ckvchestnut]

I'll see what it looks like at the one week mark after i put the kieselsol and chitosan in it...

 

[ckvchestnut]

Ok I lied! I pulled a sample just to check and it's pretty darned clear after just a few days... I took a sip boy oh boy this one's a KICKER! Lol! I'm going to serve this to my sister who says she never gets drunk lol!

 

[ckvchestnut]

Still heavy on the fruit flavour but it has already mellowed out since racking to carboy... I think I'm pretty happy with this one so far! Better get making another batch so I can hide some bottles away for longer than 6 months haha!

So funny I just caught myself reaching for another sip but my sample is already gone! Lord I need help!

 

[JetJockey]

No, it sounds like you need a brute, some more carboys and more gallon bottles! I always hold a sample up in clear glass or wine thief and shine a bright light through to check the clearness.

 

[JetJockey]

Clearing: I always have used Sparkolloid for homemade wines and the Wine Expert kits come with chitosan or isinglass. When my Sparkolloid is gone, I'll switch to Super Kleer, since the consensus here is that is slightly better with more compact lees.

 

[ckvchestnut]

Ya I was thinking it wasn't clearing much because it seemed pretty dark in my carboy which is standing in a darkish area. My camera on my phone obviously isn't that great, but this wine is turning out NICE even though yet again it's a bit sweeter than my preference... I may try for a slightly lower OG this time... I brought it to 1.100 but forgot about what the fruit does so it spiked up to 1.120 before fermenting down to 1.000. My tropical daze I brought it up to 1.090 expecting it to spike to 1.100 but if it did, just barely so. Probably because it's different fruit type however, I used 13.23 lbs of fruit in the TD plus 6 bananas and some raisins and the DB batch only had 11.5lbs plus 2 bananas...

 

[ckvchestnut]

Clearing: I always have used Sparkolloid for homemade wines and the Wine Expert kits come with chitosan or isinglass. When my Sparkolloid is gone, I'll switch to Super Kleer, since the consensus here is that is slightly better with more compact lees.

Ya that's the reason I bought a pkg to try and definitely I can see the difference in the lees on the super kleer batch vs my sparkalloid one. It's looking dense easier for racking!

 

[keahunter]

Dave (or anyone else that wants to chime in)...this may have been brought up before but has anyone ever used juice (grape or otherwise) in place of the water in the DB recipe? Drinking my first batch of original DB and it's fantastic...just got me thinking of future batches.

 

[jamesngalveston]

i made a blackberry with all juice...wasnt as good ...reason
db is meant to be a lighter wine with some lemon taste are acid,but sweet,with fruit .
making with a pure juice gives it a heavy full bodied taste, if that can mean anything.
not sure how to describe it...
I made several batches of wine before finding Daves recipe...I adapted it for all my wines...pure fruit, are a mixed fruit...
I use more fruit then dave calls for, i clear before adding sorbate, and I start off at 1.120 on my abv...

 

[kzimmer0817]

Dave,

I've brewed a few batches of beer, but I've pretty much decided to switch to wine. Between your Dragon's Blood and Ron's Skeeter Pee along with the many variations of each, I think I can keep myself busy for a while.

Have a question about a photo you posted in your DB Melomel recipe:

I notice that you're using buckets that have spigots (like bottling buckets for beer-making). Are you able to use these spigots for racking or do they suck a bit too much causing the lees to get transferred as well? I had some good results using the Better Bottle with rotating racking attachment for a pumpkin beer I made 2 years ago which had a great deal of trub.

Even though I had an auto-siphon, I still hated having to hold it in place while it drained - and I had bad luck with the accompanying clip actually holding it in place without slipping and stirring up the trub.

Thanks,
Keith

 

[wildvines]

Started my first batch of DB tonight. Let's see how it goes. Doing quad berries ( blueberries, blackberries,raspberries,and strawberries).

 

[jamesngalveston]

good choice..makes a great summer wine.

 

[ou8amaus]

I am trying a blueberry version, exact same recipe... but with 9lbs of frozen blueberries. after 4 days of active ferment I am getting a hint of sulfur smell when I pull of the lid... apart from stirring it up like crazy every day, is there anything else i should do? Add a little more nutrient? I am paranoid after losing a jus kit recently to rotten eggs...

 

[ckvchestnut]

Whenever my batches start to smell a little volatile I pop in a teaspoon of nutrient and stir vigorously and it does go away... Can't hurt to try!

 

[ou8amaus]

Whenever my batches start to smell a little volatile I pop in a teaspoon of nutrient and stir vigorously and it does go away... Can't hurt to try!

I will give that a try and see if
there is a difference... thanks!

 

[ckvchestnut]

No problem... Hope it works out for you, is it getting enough air as well?