DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

Has anyone ever tried a plum version of the DB recipe? My plums will soon be ripe and I am looking for wine ideas. I found a melomel recipe that looks good, but it supposedly takes about a year to be ready....unfortunately patience is a virtue I do not possess...lol.

 

[JaJinAK]

Ok, I racked on the 9th of September and just took a small sample today. I added it to a shot glass and shook it up and it "puffed air".
Should I just let it sit longer? I added all of the potassium additives and stirred well and it cleared up great. I guess maybe I just need more patience??

Thanks,
Jules

 

[bkisel]

Ok, I racked on the 9th of September and just took a small sample today. I added it to a shot glass and shook it up and it "puffed air".
Should I just let it sit longer? I added all of the potassium additives and stirred well and it cleared up great. I guess maybe I just need more patience??

Thanks,
Jules

Did you do the vigorous stirring, in primary, that is recommended in the DB instructions? Did you sheet rack going from bucket to carboy? Sounds like you do have some more degassing that needs to take place and yes by sitting it should over time degas itself.

With my wines I add a Vacu Vin hand pump degassing phase. It is labor intensive over the course of generally two days but it does get the job done. Pump and drilled stopper was maybe something like $12.00US. I have to do a whole lot more pumping than what gets mentioned in the video below.

Ref: [ame="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjL80hXkHdI"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZjL80hXkHdI[/ame]

 

[JaJinAK]

Hi BKisel and thanks for your reply. I did stir quite vigorously with a drill, both directions. Not sure what sheet racking is? I used a siphon when I racked from the bucket to the carboy and then the carboy to the new carboy when I cleared and then sweetened later.
I hadn't seen that vacu vin video. I will give it another week or so and check it then.

Thanks!
Jules

 

[peaches9324]

this is what I use to preserve all my opened bottles of wine

 

[freqflyer]

When doubling the amount of fruit do you have to add extra pectic enzyme?

 

[bkisel]

When doubling the amount of fruit do you have to add extra pectic enzyme?

Good question! I don't know. The DB recipe with 6#s of berries calls for 3 tsp. and a Keller 5 gal peach recipe I found with 13#s of fruit only called for 1 tsp. Maybe different fruits need different amounts of pectic enzyme? Could using more than you need hurt?

 

[Jocelyn]

If your wine is clear, rack off of the sediment and add your sugar. I'd start by tasting it dry and see what you think. If you don't like it dry---most people don't---then I'd start with your half cup per gallon. Then taste again, and add more if you think it needs it.

Like I've warned in the recipe, it will deepen in flavor as time goes by in the bottle, so be very careful how much sugar you add. Go to the point where you think it could use just a little bit more sugar and stop. Let it sit as prescribed for a week and taste again. You can always add more sugar, but you can't take it out.

Do I need to top off when I add the sugar if the carboy isn't full?

 

[bkisel]

Do I need to top off when I add the sugar if the carboy isn't full?

Need? You could likely get away with not topping off ifin you were to bottle in a day or two but I personally wouldn't even risk that. Top off and wait the week or so like Dave suggested and taste again. DB is IMHO very good as an early drinker and I've found myself bottling after just a week or two in the carboy after having racked off the clearing sediment.

 

[freqflyer]

I have some questions about the differences between the Dragon's Blood recipe and the Dragonette. Are these differences specific or is it because one recipe has evolved and the other one hasn't?

1. Dragon's Blood calls for 6 pounds of fruit. Dragonette 12lbs. Is this because one has lemon juice to add flavor or was discovered that 6lbs is enough?

2. Dragons blood calls for waiting three days with a stable specific gravity. Dragonette just a drop below 1.000. Why the change? Was a problem with continued fermantation discovered?

3. Dragonette suggest back sweetening with a bags worth of juice. Dragon's Blood does not. Why?

Thanks for you replies.

 

[dangerdave]

Good questions...

1) I doubled the fruit to add flavor with the deletion of the lemon juice.

2) No problem. This was part of the evolved DB recipe that did not get added. You can stop your wine fermenting at 1.000 if you know what you are doing. Otherwise, it's best to give it the three days. Since a lot of new wine makers were making the DB recipes, I decided to err with caution.

3) Again, an attempt to add more fruit flavor.

 

[bkisel]

Had a little taste of the Lemon Peach DB wine I made and just racked for a little bulk aging. I tasted a bit of lemon but no peach. Janet said she did taste a bit of peach on the back end of the swallow. Overall the taste wasn't bad but nothing I would brag about. Janet [my wife] liked it enough that she felt I shouldn't tweak it with Schnapps or extract but I feel I'd still like to try a tweak to get a bit of peach aroma and a bit of peach taste.

If I were to make it again I'd probably go without the lemon juice but acid blend instead. I'd probably add a few bananas to the secondary (I used one) as the wine felt thin. Maybe the thinness had some to do with the very light color of the wine in the glass?

Overall I'd say the wine came out similar to the berry DB only different - if that makes any sense. I think it would make a decent summer hard lemonade type wine. It is a keeper but not a wine I would rave about. I wouldn't be embarrassed to have folks try a taste.

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

I recently started two different DB batches.

In the first, I used 12 pounds of the tropical fruit blend from Costco plus 2.5 pounds of red plums I had in the freezer. I just racked it yesterday and I think the color when it clears is going to be like orange Tang! At this stage, I mainly taste mango, but it definitely is going to be "tropical". With the previous tropical version I made, I followed a recipe from the forum that called for using pineapple juice...it turned out way to pineappley for my taste so this time I just followed the DB recipe except for the extra fruit. Going to call it Tropical Storm

In the second batch, I was cleaning up some partial bags of triple berry plus some home picked raspberries and blueberries so I had about 8 pounds to start. Then I added 2.5 pounds (the rest of the bag) of red plums. It got racked yesterday as well and I'm not quite sure yet what, if anything, the plums will add to the finished wine.

Both batches fermented to dry in 6 days...boy, what a difference adding the right amount of yeast nutrient makes! I will keep everyone posted on the taste and color of the final product. Next, I think I will be starting a plum-elderberry version...I have about 30 pounds or better of each in the freezer and an empty fermenting bucket so I might as well give it a try!

 

[bkisel]

Thanks Val. I value learning learning about others DB variations and whether they turn out to be hits or misses.

 

[boozehound]

Has anyone done DB or blueberry versions with oak chips. Thinkn about taking about 1 gal from each finished batch and tryn. Question is. How many ounces of oak and American or French oak? This wud b in 1 gal experiment. Let me know if anyone has tried.


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[calvin]

I've been using 1 cup per 6 gallons. I think it is a good addition to the wine.

Medium French toast

 

[Val-the-Brew-Gal]

I have used a handful of medium toast French oak cubes in all of my batches of Dragon Blood

 

[boozehound]

Thank you. Will try


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[dangerdave]

I use a 1/3 cup of untoasted American oak in six gallons. I love the flavor it imparts to the DB. This is not in the recipe on-line, and only briefly mentioned in the pdf file. I call it the "Current Perfected Version". It's how I make mine. Everyone seems to find their own favored tweaks.

 

[Johngottshall]

I used an Hungarian medium toast about 10 cubes in a gallon sample batch the taste is awesome had it in for about 45 days will be making more this way