DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[jojabri]

I can't speak for Dave, as he is the creator, but I believe the original recipe is a stand on its own recipe.

Whether or not it was intended for so many variation to pop up, they have, and Dave has been awesome enough to share those as well.

As with any thing, you eat or drink, personal preference is key. Some may like if better with 1lb fruit per gallon, others may prefer doubled. In any key the basic recipe and method leaves open for a world of variation. I can't say that I've even made two identical batches, but they have all been good.

So to each their own. Its your wine, do with it what you will. Stick to the original, or change it up some. That's another one of the wonders of DB.

 

[corinth]

dragon blood wine

My next batch, I will probably add a bit more fruit. My wife likes wine with a fruity aroma and slightly sweet. that being said, I have one batch which is clearing that I have not back sweetened yet.

will adding a pure juice concentrate as a back sweetener work OK? My sons are into very healthy juice so they bought me some juice concentrate from one of their health food stores.
Corinth
thank you

 

[jojabri]

My next batch, I will probably add a bit more fruit. My wife likes wine with a fruity aroma and slightly sweet. that being said, I have one batch which is clearing that I have not back sweetened yet.

will adding a pure juice concentrate as a back sweetener work OK? My sons are into very healthy juice so they bought me some juice concentrate from one of their health food stores.
Corinth
thank you

I've used concentrate, a mix of concentrate and sugar mixed, and simple syrup. Just try not to add so much liquid that it will knock down your abv. I find using a concentrate can go a long way in adding a bit more mouth feel and flavor.

 

[beggarsu]

I can't speak for Dave, as he is the creator, but I believe the original recipe is a stand on its own recipe.

Whether or not it was intended for so many variation to pop up, they have, and Dave has been awesome enough to share those as well.

As with any thing, you eat or drink, personal preference is key. Some may like if better with 1lb fruit per gallon, others may prefer doubled. In any key the basic recipe and method leaves open for a world of variation. I can't say that I've even made two identical batches, but they have all been good.

So to each their own. Its your wine, do with it what you will. Stick to the original, or change it up some. That's another one of the wonders of DB.

Yeah, I figured that part out on my own.
...
The question I asked is what is the actual recipe on page one here Dangerdave's actual recipe supposed to be because a phrase in it is not clear English.
The idea of following someone's actual recipe is to give me a benchmark and save me some months or repetitive batches of testing.

 

[bkisel]

I can't speak for Dave, as he is the creator, but I believe the original recipe is a stand on its own recipe.

Whether or not it was intended for so many variation to pop up, they have, and Dave has been awesome enough to share those as well.

As with any thing, you eat or drink, personal preference is key. Some may like if better with 1lb fruit per gallon, others may prefer doubled. In any key the basic recipe and method leaves open for a world of variation. I can't say that I've even made two identical batches, but they have all been good.

So to each their own. Its your wine, do with it what you will. Stick to the original, or change it up some. That's another one of the wonders of DB.

I think it may well have been intended for many variations. [What say you Dave?] This is a copy and paste from Dave's DB recipe notes...

SO MANY VARIATIONS!
Any kind of fruit you can imagine may be substituted for the triple berries in the above recipe. Use the exact same procedure, just use different fruit in the bag. I personally have made blueberry, blackberry, strawberry, raspberry, and a delightful tropical blend using pineapple/mango/peach/strawberry. Other wine makers have had success with a quad-berry blend (blueberry/blackberry/raspberry/strawberry), a tropical blend using pineapple juice instead of lemon, and even cherry-lime (with lime juice). Fruit purees and fruit wine bases abound on the market. Try oak and/or raisins in the primary or secondary. The list of possibilities is endless. Use your imagination. Pick your favorite fruit, and make a Dragon Blood version of your own. Try raisins, spices, oak, or extracts. Give it a catchy name, and make this recipe yours!

 

[dangerdave]

Beggarsu, I apprieciate all your questions, but I think you might be over-thinking this a bit. Just for clarification, I refered to the "original recipe" in some of my older posts, I'm actually now refering to as the "current recipe"---if that makes any sense at all. The current/original recipe calls for 48oz of lemon juice and six pounds of fruit for a six gallon batch. The first batch I ever made used 98oz (just like Skeeter Pee), but I found that too acidic (though very good) for my liking. It was not intended---at first---for modification. I hadn't made enough wine back then to be confident in changing recipes very much. Through the invaluable help, recommendations, comments, and suggestions from the wonderful wine makers in this forum, many different variations and tweeks came to light. "Blanace" is a matter of personal taste. My suggestion for everyone now who is new to this recipe is to make the current recipe as is, so you can form a baseline, then tweek it to your liking in future batches. The next time I update the pdf file, I'll add that as a final note.

Dragon Blood boils down to just a simple blush fruit wine recipe. Use lemon juice if you want---or none. Use the triple berry fruit---or anything else you can imagine. Double the fruit if you like. Start with the specified starting SG---or bump it up for an added kick. Back sweeten---or not---with whatever you can come up with: sugar, concentrate, fruit, etc. It just turned out to be more versitile than I could ever have imagined. This is really not new information for old winos, it's just compiled comprehensibly for newer wine makers.

I hope that explains things a little better.

 

[calvin]

Anyone try sweetening there dragon blood with Splenda or other no calorie sweetener to make a "diet dragon blood". I've noticed since I've been drinking a lot more wine I've been packing on pounds. And I sure as hell don't want to drink less wine.


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[Julie]

Anyone try sweetening there dragon blood with Splenda or other no calorie sweetener to make a "diet dragon blood". I've noticed since I've been drinking a lot more wine I've been packing on pounds. And I sure as hell don't want to drink less wine.


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I think the artificial sweeteners was giving off an off taste, I can't be sure of that but I know there have been members who bottle their wines dry and just sweeten with Splenda as they open the bottle.

 

[bkisel]

Anyone try sweetening there dragon blood with Splenda or other no calorie sweetener to make a "diet dragon blood". I've noticed since I've been drinking a lot more wine I've been packing on pounds. And I sure as hell don't want to drink less wine.


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Eat less, exercise more and sweeten your DB with sugar.

 

[calvin]

Thanks Julie and bkisel. That's what I figured everyone on here would say. But I still had to ask


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[jojabri]

Anyone try sweetening there dragon blood with Splenda or other no calorie sweetener to make a "diet dragon blood". I've noticed since I've been drinking a lot more wine I've been packing on pounds. And I sure as hell don't want to drink less wine.


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Hrm, well, tell yah what. I have a 18 gal batch of blackberry db that will be going to demijohn and carboys tomorrow. I'll make a 1 gal experiment using Splena when I back sweeten. I don't mind playing guinea pig.

 

[calvin]

Cool. Let us know how it turns out please


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[beggarsu]

Beggarsu, I apprieciate all your questions, but I think you might be over-thinking this a bit.
.

Actually, I just call it thinking and it serves me quite well.
..
In this case I have used thinking to try to clarify what is the meaning of the ambiguous phrase "1 bottle (48 oz each)" can mean in your recipe on page one as the word "each" refers to more than one of the item quantified but the phrase starts with the numeral one.
You have clarified that it actually means "one" and I assume the word "each" was left in by accident from a previous version of the recipe..

Thank-you.

 

[datcv]

I opened a bottle of my DB trashcan wine last night. Again, the main difference was that I added a bag of leftover apple cores from cider making to the bucket, as well as a couple of bags of frozen fruit leftover like pineapple and mango. I don't think that I got much apple flavor into it just because I didn't put enough pectic enzyme in. That said, it tastes pretty damn good.


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[fabrictodyefor]

I've just finished my Blueberry DB and was doing some back sweetening tests for preferred SG.


I tasted it throughout the process and now the final SG 1.00 wine as well as the batch at SG 1.01 has an indescribable off taste . The taste has been there all along. The carboys were very full, so it shouldn't be oxidation. My rackings were done by vacuum.

Is this just what blueberry tastes like or could freezer burn affect the taste. Is having frozen berries for 7 months too long?

Any help would be appreciated! The taste isn't chemical, metallic, moldy, or anything else I can describe. I can obviously taste the higher alcohol, but there is another off taste.

I made a straight blueberry DB, started on 3/2 using 6 qts Knudson blueberry juice and 9 lbs of fresh, then frozen blueberries, then following the DB recipe. The only addition was campden tablets, as I was unsure because these were fresh blueberries. My starting sg was 1.078, ending sg was 0.992. This was a slower ferment, but racked to a carboy on 3/11. I haven't added the sparkaloid or potassiums. And thought to taste it last night...and it has an "off" taste! The "off" is more and "off" scent.... My car boy, too was full. I've made several DB's and have loved them all, and was disappointed with the blueberry. Has your "off" flavor tapered off JetJockey?

 

[ckvchestnut]

Thanks Julie and bkisel. That's what I figured everyone on here would say. But I still had to ask


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You could try using pure Stevia extract I never ever use Splenda because I can't stand it's sickening fake sweet taste. It's too chemically for me. I haven't tried using the stevia to backsweeten an entire batch but I have used it to sweet wine in the glass and it works out well.

 

[jojabri]

Anyone do a Banana DB? Meijer has them on sale 38cents per lb and my "Big Blue" primaries will be empty by Friday, so it'd be a good time to buy IMHO. Even if there's not a possibility of it, I'll try a different recipe.

I have a feeling I'll be going all kooky in the kitchen Gwen Stefani Style: This #$%^ is BANANAS B-A-N-A-N-A-S!:

 

[dangerdave]

Are gonna sing that song everytime you stir it, Gina? LOL!

Never done a straight banana. Added some bananas, yes, but never only bananas.

 

[jojabri]

Are gonna sing that song everytime you stir it, Gina? LOL!

Never done a straight banana. Added some bananas, yes, but never only bananas.

Prolly Dave! I am a karaoke Jockey/Junkie from way back! And I will defo be singing it and thinking about you when I'm bag squeezing. ROFLMBO!

Hrm songs about squeezing to sing while squeezing... Soul To Squeeze (Red Hot Chilli Peppers) or Squeezebox (The Who)

Current batch is a 3x batch that I sing: "Whao-oh black berry (bambalamba) Whao-oh black berry (bambalamba)"

 

[calvin]

I was bored at work today and made a spreadsheet to figure out the exact cost of making a batch of Dragon Blood per Dave's recipe. enjoy

View attachment cost workout.pdf