DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[dangerdave]

Dave,
I'm a bit confused. Above you say you started off using 96oz. lemon and 6 cups of sugar. You say you reduced the lemon to 48oz and also backed off on the sugar but didn't give an amount however in the beginnig of the thread the recipe states 20 cups of granulated sugar! What is the actual current recomended sugar???
I just bottled my first batch and didn't bother to back sweeten since the residual sugar was pretty high after using the 20 cups.

My bad! Let me specify. I use 20 cups of sugar in the primary to get my desired SG, ferment to dry, then back sweeten after fining and stabilizing (per the recipe). The sugar I was referring to in the above post was for back sweetening. I have reduced the amount of sugar I back sweeten with, down to about 1/2 cup per gallon.

If you are leaving residual sugar in your DB following primary fermentation (not completely dry), you are correct, you will need less (if any) sugar to back sweeten.

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Gina's showing her hand! Good news for me, as I sent her strawberry DB to judge in the current contest.

 

[dangerdave]

Yes, Val. If you want to speed it along, a dose of nutrient would do the trick. If you are going to, make it soon. You don't want to add it too late in the fermentation process.

 

[Enologo]

My bad! Let me specify. I use 20 cups of sugar in the primary to get my desired SG, ferment to dry, then back sweeten after fining and stabilizing (per the recipe). The sugar I was referring to in the above post was for back sweetening. I have reduced the amount of sugar I back sweeten with, down to about 1/2 cup per gallon.

If you are leaving residual sugar in your DB following primary fermentation (not completely dry), you are correct, you will need less (if any) sugar to back sweeten.

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Ok. Got it now. I wasn't able to get a good sg reading since I made the mistake of adding the fruit loose before taking the reading but with all the sugar and the double fruit I know I was up there a little so when it didn't go all the way dry I thought I would just go with it since it had a pretty good fall, fg was close enough to where it would be with the back sweetening it was clear so I decided to go ahead and bottle. A little sweet for me but every one seemed to love it labor day weekend.
The sister inlaw said she could taste the blackberry in it. All in all a success.

 

[Jocelyn]

Is there any fruit that would turn it blue but still have some flavour ? I have heard the blueberry flavour is lost easier and would love a deep blue wine to match my hockey team (I know I know)

 

[dangerdave]

The only blue wine I have seen is made by Lon DePope. He makes lemon wine and flavors it with blue raspberry Kool Aid. It looks like Ramulan Ale. Blueberry wine is not blue. It looks more like a red wine---very red.

 

[Jocelyn]

That works awesome because next idea was to try some skeeter pee especially since I'm going to have the slurry from my dragons blood my only concern then though is that the Skeeter pee is going to turn red from the dragons blood which is that gorgeous dragons blood triple berry color I guess worst case scenario have a purple wine that's not too bad

 

[jojabri]

My bad! Let me specify. I use 20 cups of sugar in the primary to get my desired SG, ferment to dry, then back sweeten after fining and stabilizing (per the recipe). The sugar I was referring to in the above post was for back sweetening. I have reduced the amount of sugar I back sweeten with, down to about 1/2 cup per gallon.

If you are leaving residual sugar in your DB following primary fermentation (not completely dry), you are correct, you will need less (if any) sugar to back sweeten.

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Gina's showing her hand! Good news for me, as I sent her strawberry DB to judge in the current contest.

Wait up there bud... u did see, where I said I only kinda liked it at first AND that it was aged six months. Although I failed to mention I started it way back in December... methinks you're reading too much into this.

No spoilers!!!

 

[jojabri]

The only blue wine I have seen is made by Lon DePope. He makes lemon wine and flavors it with blue raspberry Kool Aid. It looks like Ramulan Ale. Blueberry wine is not blue. It looks more like a red wine---very red.

I have a blue wine. It's made from blueberry candy canes. But yes, its blue. The pic doesn't do it justice.

 

[bkisel]

Gina,

That looks like a wine that might be served in Chalmun's Cantina (Mos Eisley Cantina).

 

[agsimon]

First batch every homebrewing back sweetened and getting ready to bottle after 3 weeks! Only question / slight concern is that it had a yeasty taste to it. Is that normal, and is that something to expect from a young wine?

Thanks!

 

[bkisel]

First batch every homebrewing back sweetened and getting ready to bottle after 3 weeks! Only question / slight concern is that it had a yeasty taste to it. Is that normal, and is that something to expect from a young wine?

Thanks!

Welcome to wine making talk!

That's a real nice photo of a glass of DB.

I've made three batches of DB and have not tasted anything I would describe as yeasty. Is there a yeast smell to the wine? Did you veer any from the recipe? Could be your taste palate is more sensitive than mine.

 

[agsimon]

I made a few slight changes. I scaled it back to a 2 gallon batch and added 3 lbs of fruit for the 2 gallons. I also used a different yeast, Red Star Cote des Blancs. I doubt my palate is more sensitive, but I think a yeast taste is what I was getting. That was 5 days ago when I sweetened it, but it still tasted like it did during primary...yeasty. I will try it again tonight and see if there is any change. Otherwise I will just wait it out and see if it goes away.

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

I have a question for Dave (or for anyone who has made numerous batches of Dragon Blood and/or wine)...

The recipe calls for 3 tsp. yeast nutrient and 1 tsp. yeast energizer but, as a new winemaker, I am a bit confused by the difference between the two. One of the reasons for this probably is that one package I have is labeled Yeast Nutrient and says it contains "food grade urea and diammonium phospate" and the other is labeled Yeast Energizer (Nutrient Booster) and it contains DAP, Springcell, and Magnesium Sulphate. There is also Fermax, Fermaid K, Fermaid O, Biotin Wine Energizer and what seems to be a mind boggling selection of other additives to support yeast growth. What is what and when do you use each is extremely confusing to me.

So back to the recipe, can you tell me specifically what you use for nutrient and what you use for energizer?

I am thinking that the reason this Huckleberry DB is fermenting so slowly is that I added 3 tsp of the Yeast Energizer (Nutrient Booster) to the must when I should have used the Urea/DAP product???

 

[Jocelyn]

I have a blue wine. It's made from blueberry candy canes. But yes, its blue. The pic doesn't do it justice.

Do you have the recipe for this magic?

 

[dangerdave]

I use LD Carlson Yeast Energizer (pic below). "Contains Diammonium phosphate, yeast hulls, magnesium sulphate, & Vitamin B Complex.

Use: Add ½ teaspoon per gallon of wine must to stimulate fermentation."

And LD Carlson Yeast Nutrient (pic below): "Urea and Ammonium Phosphate. Acts as a food for the yeast and promotes rapid starting and complete fermentation. Use: 1 teaspoon per gallon of wine."

NOTE: Originally, with Lon's Skeeter Pee Recipe as a template (thanks, Lon!), I used these products as prescribed above, splitting the full dose, adding half up front in the primary and the rest half way through fermentation. One time, I forgot to add the second half and discovered (at least for this recipe) it was not necessary. After that, I always figured if the ferment slowed or stopped, I'd throw in the second dose. I have never had to do so. Why add something that is not needed? That is why you will find the lower doses of these additives in the DB recipe.

I would strongly suggest you find a few articles on yeast nutrient and energizer, so you will understand what you are doing when you add them, what they do, and how they work. A quick Google search (or whatever) will point you to this information.

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

I use LD Carlson Yeast Energizer (pic below). "Contains Diammonium phosphate, yeast hulls, magnesium sulphate, & Vitamin B Complex.

Use: Add ½ teaspoon per gallon of wine must to stimulate fermentation."

And LD Carlson Yeast Nutrient (pic below): "Urea and Ammonium Phosphate. Acts as a food for the yeast and promotes rapid starting and complete fermentation. Use: 1 teaspoon per gallon of wine."


NOTE: Originally, with Lon's Skeeter Pee Recipe as a template (thanks, Lon!), I used these products as prescribed above, splitting the full dose, adding half up front in the primary and the rest half way through fermentation. One time, I forgot to add the second half and discovered (at least for this recipe) it was not necessary. After that, I always figured if the ferment slowed or stopped, I'd throw in the second dose. I have never had to do so. Why add something that is not needed? That is why you will find the lower doses of these additives in the DB recipe.

I would strongly suggest you find a few articles on yeast nutrient and energizer, so you will understand what you are doing when you add them, what they do, and how they work. A quick Google search (or whatever) will point you to this information.

Thanks, Dave! Those are the same ones I have, I just messed up and added 3 tsp of the energizer and none of the nutrient. With my other DB batches, I had different additives on hand and this time I was confused by the "nutrient booster" subtitle, thinking that since they both had DAP, this was the better one to use.

I can definitely tell the difference in the ferment not using the nutrient! I am 10 days into fermentation and my gravity was 1.010 this morning so I don't expect for this to be finished before Monday at this rate, meaning it will be pretty close to a 2 week process. With my previous batches, I had fermented to dry within a week.

From everything I have read, it's probably not a good idea to add nutrient at this late date, but would it hurt to add energizer, just to make sure it finishes? I'm not noticing any off smells or anything yet, I am just a bit worried about it petering out, especially since it has slowed quite a bit in the last few days. Any opinions?

Thanks a ton! Oh, and I have been gathering Internet articles on yeast nutrient and energizer this afternoon to make sure I have this clear in my head now

 

[Jocelyn]

So my dragon blood is stagnant as far as the primary goes at .93 I added about half a cup extra sugar does that seem right? Also can I use that as a slurry for skeeter pee now or because of it fermenting dry (I think thats the term?) it wont work? Mine is also the one with twice the yeast (because hubby doesnt listen to directions) and three times the nutrient (because wife cant read) not sure if that makes a difference...

 

[agsimon]

Welcome to wine making talk!

That's a real nice photo of a glass of DB.

I've made three batches of DB and have not tasted anything I would describe as yeasty. Is there a yeast smell to the wine? Did you veer any from the recipe? Could be your taste palate is more sensitive than mine.

Did a quick reply before, but only significant change was using Red Star Cote des Blancs yeast. However, the "off" flavor was right after I added the sugar. Fast forward 5 days later to tonight, and it has drastically improved already. I'm not noticing any of that flavor anymore!

 

[jojabri]

Do you have the recipe for this magic?

I used a basic Candy Cane wine recipe I found online and substituted blueberry candy canes for peppermint ones. I'll try to find the exact one and message it to you.

 

[maurtis]

My second batch of DB (a blueberry this time) should be dry tomorrow, so will likely rack on Monday. My palate is incredibly crude so whether a wine is dry/off-dry/sweet, etc does not matter so much. So when I shared my first DB most of my friends who routinely drink wine said they would have preferred it to be a bit dryer.

Like a bonehead I did not take an FG measurement after I backsweetened my first batch so I have no idea where I landed at. I likely stuck with the 3/4 cups of sugar per gallon. I saw that Dave mentioned he went with 1/2 cup per gallon now. That might do the trick.

What FG do you guys normally backsweeten to? I would think off-dry would be what I am shooting for with a fruit wine?