DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[willie]

Hey Beggarsu how did your Raspberry Banana wine turn out? It sounds good. Also I like the sound of the Apple Orange wine your making.
Will

 

[kad2371]

I searched for an answer to this, but without luck. I just started my first batch of DB (well, lemon juice, sugar, the additives have been mixed together in my primary, berries thawed but not yet added) and I realized I forgot to get the pectic enzymes. How big of a deal will this be? The earliest I can get it now is 4 days from now. I'm tempted to keep going and add the enzyme later, but I was hoping to hear from someone with experience. This is my first time making any type of wine. So, will I still be OK?

 

[dangerdave]

The pectic enzyme will help break down the fruit and prevent protein haze during clearing. I have not tried adding it in the middle of primary fementation, but I'm all about experimenting, so if it were me, I'd get it going and add the PE as soon as you can. And post your results (good or bad) so that in the future, someone like you can find an answer to this very question. Shoot, I want to know now!

Good luck, and keep us posted!

 

[kad2371]

Thanks for the quick answer, I'll certainly let people know how things go with this batch.

 

[Rosa321]

Well......Decided to rack and stir the wine that is not quite clear. I was hoping the racking and stirring would remove any residual gas and aid in clearing. Fingers Crossed!!!

Also.....got three 1 gallon glass jugs from my uncle this weekend. And a stopper fits in them! I am very excited to start some "test" batches!

 

[barbl72]

And if some of you haven't heard me hype this: Muscato blends wonderfully with original Dragon Blood. My wife loves it so much, she started openning my Muscato and mixing the bottles. So, I got as WE Muscato kit and made it next to a batch of DB. After some experimentation---and input from my wife---we discovered a 5:3 ratio of DB to Muscato is spot on! I took a six gallon carboy, added 3.75 gallons of DB and 2.25 gallons of Muscato. It is slightly lighter in color than the DB, and I call it Dragon Lady.

To be bottled soon.

I mixed some green apple Riesling with DB and it was really good! Mixed it in the glass - a cool drink on a nice day - PERFECT!

 

[bkisel]

I mixed some green apple Riesling with DB and it was really good! Mixed it in the glass - a cool drink on a nice day - PERFECT!

Thank you! Never thought of blending in that fashion. For some reason up until your post I'm always thinking that blending is something you do before bottling. I like the way you did it, gives me an excuse to have several bottles open at one time.

BTW, are there some rules-of-thumb for blending that help to insure success instead of disaster?

 

[ou8amaus]

Got a weird one. Followed standard db recipe minus half the lemon juice. Cleared really well, but I put it through a 1 micron filter just to be sure. Backsweetened with black currant concentrate. Looked great... but 2 weeks later I am seeing more sediment? Not fine sediment like you might expect,but the kind that falls out after clarifiers are added! No bottle explosions. Obviously need to re-filter, but anyone have an idea what went wrong?

 

[Rosa321]

Thanks for posting!!!

My first batch did that too..........but I thought I goofed and didn't let it clear long enough.
I always let them go a REALLY long time now before I bottle (months) and rack a few times.
I'm only on my 3rd batch.... but the first batch I made is doing the same thing....My second batch (blueberry only) is not.

 

[Elmer]

Showed up to a neighbors cookout yesterday.
Found a few of neighborhood women finishing off a bottle of my Blueberry/Raspberry!
They loved it.
Good thing I arrived with 2 more bottles in hand!

 

[dangerdave]

I mixed some green apple Riesling with DB and it was really good! Mixed it in the glass - a cool drink on a nice day - PERFECT!

Yes, we've tried that one, too. Pretty good, but we prefer the muscato.

 

[beggarsu]

Got a weird one. Followed standard db recipe minus half the lemon juice. Cleared really well, but I put it through a 1 micron filter just to be sure. Backsweetened with black currant concentrate. Looked great... but 2 weeks later I am seeing more sediment? Not fine sediment like you might expect,but the kind that falls out after clarifiers are added! No bottle explosions. Obviously need to re-filter, but anyone have an idea what went wrong?

Yeah I've seen that from my rhubarb which is the reason I started filtering.

I would say from the concentrate - sounds like the only wild card - maybe better to use in the primary and backsweeten with pure simple syrup.

I did 2 times 4 gallon batches with different berry packs - used bentonite in the startup.

Bottled at the 4 week mark. Both are still clear and were very clear even before filtering with whole house filter - almost didn't need filtering.

 

[ou8amaus]

I would say from the concentrate - sounds like the only wild card - maybe better to use in the primary and backsweeten with pure simple syrup.

I think you hit the nail on the head! I am going to dump it back into a carboy and re-filter. Is it possible some of the clarified stayed in the wine after racking and it ended up precipitating some if the particles in the juice concentrate?

 

[beggarsu]

I think you hit the nail on the head! I am going to dump it back into a carboy and re-filter. Is it possible some of the clarified stayed in the wine after racking and it ended up precipitating some if the particles in the juice concentrate?

That sounds like a good explanation, the concentrate is probably not 'pure'. Maybe you should re-settle it as well before re-filtering it.

 

[beggarsu]

Hey Beggarsu how did your Raspberry Banana wine turn out? It sounds good. Also I like the sound of the Apple Orange wine your making.
Will

OT

Raspberry Banana from my home raspberry patch - two months in carboy and six weeks in bottle - was enough to make it a hit and popular on the table, I only had 21 bottles so I selfishly had to hide the rest away. Going to crack some for my birthday party , the sixth + month mark since bottling.

Orange apple here:
http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/f45/six-gallons-walmart-apple-juice-suggestions-44629/

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Dragon Blood and Dragon Breath ( 4 gallons each) - both are lovely - goes down smooth without much aging - too smooth - just the right balance of tart and berry.

I made a second batch of Skeeter Pee - 12 litres and am going to add orange kool-aid for colouring - however, from now on, I think I will just prefer my way over to the berry and lemon combination of the Dragons Combinations. It's more interesting and still inexpensive and you don't need as much fruit because of the lemon balance and there are many berry packs to try out as well as the tropical recipes.

 

[cthompson116]

Back sweeten

Any one not back sweeten when bottling? To me, it makes sense to not back sweeten until ready to serve. This way you can serve to taste etc... Any disadvantages to this approach?

 

[Elmer]

Any one not back sweeten when bottling? To me, it makes sense to not back sweeten until ready to serve. This way you can serve to taste etc... Any disadvantages to this approach?

it would just add extra work to drinking!

I usually hold a gallon back in a jug. This gives me a chance to oak or not sweeten as much.
Then I can bottle and allows for a comparison of the same wine with different characters.

 

[beggarsu]

I didn't have the time right now to design labels I liked and none of the labels at the wine store were appropriate .

So I used blank labels from the dollar store but also besides hand printing the information I used children's stickers on the labels to easily identify the bottles.

I used shark stickers on the Skeeter Pee/Lemon Wine. (what else for that "shark bite"?)

Kitten stickers on the Dragons Blood and/or Dragons "_______" variations . (I couldn't find dragon stickers lol. )

And honey bears on the apple wine labels. ...

I put one or two stickers on each label;.

I really works well because I identify the bottle just by the sticker I don't even need to read the label.

 

[freqflyer]

I've made several wine kits years ago. This will be my first attempt at something from scratch.

What type of yeast nutrient do I need or does it matter?

Urea & ammonium phosphate or something like Fermax?

Also, what is a good size to buy the other additives? Tannin, yeast energizer, pectic enzyme, sparkolloid, etc? It seem as though they are sold either in small packages of a 1-4 oz or by the pound. I'm not starting a vineyard but I would like to be able to make at least a few batches before having to reorder things.

 

[sour_grapes]

Freqflyer: As for nutrient, many around here swear by Fermaid. It comes in two varieties, Fermaid-O and Fermaid-K. I myself use Nutriferm Advance because that is what my LHBS carries.

I hear you on the quantities of the other ingredients. I think the larger amounts are worth it, because (at least where I live), the pound is only a few dollars more than the 2 oz. version of many of these things.