DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[Rosa321]

has anyone tried mad mango with peach or pineapple?
I'm just looking for an estimate on the amount of fruit you would use....
would it still be 30 pounds of mangoes and then 30 pounds of peaches or pineapple? or could you do 15 pounds of mangoes and 15 pounds of peaches or pineapple? anybody have experience with this?

my blueberry batch is not even done fermenting and I'm already contemplating my next batch hehe I love it!

 

[jamesngalveston]

bkisel, rack it off the lees and degass. if you are degassing with lees in the bottom it will never clear....'
I rack everytime I see 1/2 inch of lees are even less....and make sure that when you rack you have your hose hitting the side of the carboy....

 

[jamesngalveston]

mango, peach and pineapple are hard ones..
all three throw out tons and tons of lees, and you have to use a lot of fruit to get good flavor...I have done all three......for my 5 gallon of mango using fruit , I used 50 lbs of mangos, started out as 5 gallon , and after racking and clearing I ended up with about 3.5.
pineapple, I used 5 gallons of dole pineapple juice,
peach, I used 24 cans white grape peach concentrate....it is excellent.,

 

[bkisel]

bkisel, rack it off the lees and degass. if you are degassing with lees in the bottom it will never clear....'
I rack everytime I see 1/2 inch of lees are even less....and make sure that when you rack you have your hose hitting the side of the carboy....

James, Went dry in primary bucket. Racked off the gross lees Sunday, two days ago, into a carboy. Added stab and clearing agents Sunday. Did drill stir degassing Sunday then VacuVin degassing. Big bubbles are coming right off the bottom where I now have sediment from clearing. All small bubbles finished yesterday. Now only big bubbles. Guess what I really need to know is what are these big bubbles vs. the smaller bubbles that I understand to be CO2. [I know this little bubbles vs. big bubbles has been covered a number of times but I could not find a consistent authoritative answer/explanation.]

There is now plenty of sediment from clearing so I've decided to rack to a clean carboy and let sit about 2 weeks and then rack again for a little bulk aging.

Thanx...

 

[dangerdave]

Just for reference, my triple batch with one packet of yeast (EC-1118) has gone dry...SG = 0.995. Right on schedule. Do with that info what you will. I'm racking, degassing, stabilizing, and clearing today, before I head out of town for the rest of the week.

I'll catch up with you all next weekend. Good wining!

 

[jamesngalveston]

the smaller bubbles may be co2, the bigger is from swirling from the drill, I think. rack when you have 1/2 of lees.

 

[ckvchestnut]

My 2 cents! Found & drank a bottle of Dragon Blood last night from 2011!! Still GOOD, not sure if it's better, can't remember that far back. But it was good. Roy

That's good to know! Thanks for sharing!


Carolyn

 

[ckvchestnut]

Just for reference, my triple batch with one packet of yeast (EC-1118) has gone dry...SG = 0.995. Right on schedule. Do with that info what you will. I'm racking, degassing, stabilizing, and clearing today, before I head out of town for the rest of the week.

I'll catch up with you all next weekend. Good wining!

Great news! Good to know that we could make significantly larger batches of DB with only 1pkg of EC-1118. My batch was just racked to carboys it's just shy of 10 gals and it was started with a few tablespoons of juice with EC-1118 in it from my Liebfraumilch. Fermented to .990... It's clearing now.


Carolyn

 

[jamesngalveston]

Noooooooooooo.... it says on the yeast package...only use for 5 gallons are less.. and a company would not say that if it wasn't true.
Just like the internet... bonjourrrrrrrrrr, he is a French model.
lol

 

[bkisel]

Just for reference, my triple batch with one packet of yeast (EC-1118) has gone dry...SG = 0.995. Right on schedule. Do with that info what you will. I'm racking, degassing, stabilizing, and clearing today, before I head out of town for the rest of the week.

I'll catch up with you all next weekend. Good wining!

Hope you have a safe trip David...

 

[ckvchestnut]

That's just to Cover their asses no? Because they can't guarantee you can ferment more than 5...

I do have a quick question does the wine clear on its own after all the c02 is out only? Or does it begin to clear when it's still gassy? Asking because I haven't added any clearing agent yet but both carboys are clearing on their own. As well, I have two whites going right now that have been slowly fermenting for about a month. They are still slightly bubbly but almost clear?


Carolyn

 

[ckvchestnut]

Maybe I should say pretty clear for the whites!


Carolyn

 

[bkisel]

James, Went dry in primary bucket. Racked off the gross lees Sunday, two days ago, into a carboy. Added stab and clearing agents Sunday. Did drill stir degassing Sunday then VacuVin degassing. Big bubbles are coming right off the bottom where I now have sediment from clearing. All small bubbles finished yesterday. Now only big bubbles. Guess what I really need to know is what are these big bubbles vs. the smaller bubbles that I understand to be CO2. [I know this little bubbles vs. big bubbles has been covered a number of times but I could not find a consistent authoritative answer/explanation.]

There is now plenty of sediment from clearing so I've decided to rack to a clean carboy and let sit about 2 weeks and then rack again for a little bulk aging.

Thanx...

Okay, just finished cleaning up from racking glass carboy to Bubbler small mouth carboy and moved from kitchen to basement.

Got a little taste and am I impressed? YES! I'm really surprised how good it tastes so early in the making. Tasted a hint of strawberry on the front end and a bit of alcohol on the back end [Does that make me sound like a wine conosuer?]. This is DB with the quad-berry blend because I couldn't find the tri-berry blend.

Started Monday 02/24/2014

Day 1 (Monday) DB started SG 1.075
Day 2 (Tuesday) SG 1.074, Temp 80F +- / Pitched yeast
Day 5 (Friday) SG 1.040, Temp 80F +-
Day 7 (Sunday) SG 1.014, Temp 80F +-
Day 8 (Monday) SG 1.010, Temp 82F +-
Day 9 (Tuesday) SG 0.997, Temp 80F +- / Locked down / Bubble every ~4 seconds
Day 14 (Sunday) SG 0.992, Temp 80F +- / rack from bucket, stab agents, back sweeten 4.5 cups, clearing agents, stir degassing, started vacuum pump degassing / calculated ABV = 10.76%
Day 16 (Tuesday) Racked to Bubbler from glass carboy to get off of clearing sediment. Wine looks pretty clear but will probably drop a bit more sediment. Tasted good even at this early stage.

 

[jamesngalveston]

any wine will clear on its own. just takes time...
it will clear slowly if there is co2 present. the more you rack the less lees, and less co2, the faster it will clear. my observation. info not to be used as reference, my opinon only.
not supported by any info on wine making

 

[ckvchestnut]

Thanks James... I knew it would clear on its own just wasn't sure of it would start while there was still a significant amount of c02 present. I haven't trie degassing the DB yet. Will try today and see how much bubbles I get. I won't be degassing the whites as they are pretty clear and almost dry now. .994 and .992 but still small bubbles.


Carolyn

 

[ckvchestnut]

I think last batch of DB I let it clear for a week and it dropped a fair amt, racked and degassed and let vest for another week or 10 days.


Carolyn

 

[jamesngalveston]

did you get one of steves aio system, using a drill. how do you degass

 

[ckvchestnut]

I'm using a drill... Will be getting an aio likely with my tax return! Not sure if I could wait til my birthday in August... It going to cost me a pretty penny though with the currency exchange, shipping plus import charges :|

Currently camped out on a chair with my phone in one hand and drilling with the other - ugh! Wish I had 3 hands - one for a drink also! I never quite know when it's completely finished either. After I'm tired of degassing I usually let it sit for a few days and check it with the drill again... If no foam I'm happy...


Carolyn

 

[jamesngalveston]

how much with the currency exchange. I can get one and get to fargo for u. u will have to schedule a pickup when my driver is there, if it will help.

 

[Runningwolf]

James is correct about clearing after the C02 is gone. Be careful how often you rack though. Every time you remove the bung, rack or degas you are introducing oxygen which contributes to oxidation. Ensure your S02 (meta) levels are up to help protect against this.