DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[cintipam]

Forgot to say yes, double the yeast. Technically I think you may get by with one pack if you carefully watch and feed in several portions, but yeast is cheap so I have never tried that route.

Pam in cinti

 

[cintipam]

Just double checked myself by googling Brute trash can. Brand is actually rubbermaid, but Brute is their commercial quality line of trashcans that are all food quality. They actually do come in smaller and larger sizes, but 20 gal is pretty roomy. Unless I'm trying an extra large batch from fruit from my yard I can't imagine ever needing bigger.

Pam in cinti hopefully for the last time

 

[fabrictodyefor]

Thank you, Pam, our local mini hardware store does not have the "Brute" but I need a bigger one for my bursting at the seams concord grape wine, so we're headed to town (80 mile round trip) to pick one up from Home Depot! Thanks for the prompt reply.

 

[dangerdave]

Any thoughts on the Lemon or Lime juice question?

Mario, the lime juice will work just fine. Sub it out for the lemon, if you like, and good luck!

 

[Winenoob66]

Dave did you ever try the taste tests with super kleer and sparkloid ? If so how did it turn out?

 

[cintipam]

FTDF, happy to help. I'm also a fabriholic and vintage sewing machine fanatic. I know how cool that price is for a very roomy fermentation bucket. I have to laugh at myself since when I first started this winemaking thing I honestly thought I was just going to do gallon jugs. Not very efficient with a backyard full of asian pear and tart cherry trees.

Pam in cinti

 

[dangerdave]

Dave did you ever try the taste tests with super kleer and sparkloid ? If so how did it turn out?

Just posted it. Check the thread.

 

[ckvchestnut]

Hi everyone! Hope you all had a wonderful holiday! I'm back at my 2nd attempt at DB this time to the T except for 2 bananas - I really enjoyed the banana in the last batch and in the recipe I read it said that bananas were optional!

Anyways I have a quick silly question. I'm doing a larger batch again because I have a huge plastic trash can kind of like the trash can you all are taking about, that I'm using. It too heavy to bring upstairs to my walk in closet/brewery! So I left it near my pellet stove which is thermostatically controlled. I did the first step last night using warm water. Today the temp of the juice is 64F. Must I have it between 70-80F just to get the fermentation started?

I know that others have done cold fermentations - far colder than this but wondering if it really does need that temp range just to get rolling first and then whatever goes. I'm thinking yes but just wanted to see what everyone else's experiences were. If yes I'll get my trusty space heater out. In tried fitting my never used brew belt on it last night and it snapped! Not sure if we can fix it ourselves. I'm pitching the yeast tonight so if needed, i'll have to get my juice up to the right temp prior.

 

[jamesngalveston]

i think it will ferment at 64 but will be slow....if you could get it up to at least 70 you would be better off.

 

[kryptonitewine]

I'm no expert but I think it would be fine. May just be slow to start.

per the Lalvin website for EC-1118

This strain ferments well over a very wide temperature range, from 10° to 30°C (50° to 86°F)

 

[LoneStarLori]

What are these crystals?

I made this TBDB in Oct. My first batch. After all the fermenting and such, I used Super-kleer and let it sit about 10 days. It was perfectly clear. before bottling, I filtered into another carboy using the Allinone with a .5 filter. (I didn't want to strip the color using the #1.) then bottled.

Everything looked fine.. Now that it has sat about 6 weeks, I have these particles or crystals floating in every bottle. I have kept them in my wine storage room/office at the same temp (70º-72º- ish) as my other wines and none of them has done this. The particles are light in color, some big and some micro, there are loads of them.
Any thoughts?

 

[ckvchestnut]

Thanks James and Kryptonite yes I'm obviously using the EC-1118 as I've never had an issue with it whatsoever... I have my space heater on it to see if I can get up to about 70F. It's bloody cold up here in my neck of the woods and I happen to live in an old 1902 log home worth nothing but my pellet stove as heat currently! So naturally it's a bit chilly around here!

Lori: I sure hope someone gets back to you! That happened to me too, but I thought it was because I didn't filter mine. It was super clear after a week of my using sparkalloid. Then carefully racked off the sediment with being nowhere close to the bottom, I make extra for this purpose. The only difference for me is it looked like flakes almost but not as much as you have there. Were you using tap water? I used tap water but my tap water is softened water so I thought maybe that had something to do with it. But my other wines and my cider did not do it either... So also a little confused about why only the DB?

 

[fabrictodyefor]

darn, Lori, hope one the experts get back to you, We are almost done with my first batch of DB, (gave a lot away for Christmas!) it was bottled 11/25 and we opened one just the other day and it was clear as a bell! I did use Sparkaloid and waited about 2 weeks before I bottled.

 

[ckvchestnut]

I'm wondering now if I should have waited longer after my sparkalloid application. What about tartrate crystals that precipitate in storage at cooler temps? I've never had this happen only read about it.

 

[LoneStarLori]

I always use spring water. It is recommended most for wine as it has lots of minerals and helps keep the yeasties happy.

I don't think they are Tartaric crystals since the storage temp is far too high to cold crash.
Someone will chime in soon I'm sure.

 

[ckvchestnut]

I always use spring water. It is recommended most for wine as it has lots of minerals and helps keep the yeasties happy. I don't think they are Tartaric crystals since the storage temp is far too high to cold crash. Someone will chime in soon I'm sure.

Ya I normally do use spring water... Our water is SO HARD at 26 GPG that we couldn't ever drink it like that either so we've always relied on spring water here... Interested to see the feedback!

 

[kryptonitewine]

I've experienced little whispy things in mine if I bottle too quickly after using sparkoloid but so far (knock on wood) haven't experienced an issue with superkleer.

I haven't seen these types of crystals before. Are they firm or mushy?

wondering if it's new yeasties, if sorbate wasn't mixed in good and you sweetened then bottled. But I would think you'd be noticing the gas when you opened a bottle.

 

[ckvchestnut]

Wispy as in soft flexible debris? My flakes or particles are soft I never bothered to remove them and I didn't seem to see or taste them once in the glass. I expected to see it on the bottom of my glass but no. I think in my own personal experience that I didn't wait long enough even though it was at least a week and so clear I could see straight through the carboy. I'm going to use super Kleer this batch but that's what Lori used and you waited 2 weeks right? I only racked off that carboy with sparkalloid in it straight to bottles. Maybe I'll rack into clean carboy and wait another week before bottling this time...

Looking at your photos again Lori that looks exactly like what I had in mine... Could it still be left over proteins from the fruit? Did you use te called for fruit or extra? And did you adjust the amount of pectic enzyme? I think I added more of both on mine.

 

[kryptonitewine]

Wispy as in soft flexible debris? QUOTE]

Yeah, it almost looked like a thin little cloud in the wine.

When I use sparkaloid, I add the hot mix to the wine wait two weeks and rack, wait another week to ensure no other fallout, and then backsweeten and bottle.

 

[ckvchestnut]

Do you do the same amt of rackings with super Kleer? I'll definitely try the extra rackings. I also read that filtration does not necessarily get everything out of wines either unless you filter with progressively smaller filters or finer whatever. I have a filtration a system but haven't used it yet.