DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[jumby]

1 cup per gallon seems to be the sweet spot for me. No pun intended! It falls into the semi sweet range when finished at that rate.

 

[Bodenski]

1 cup per gallon seems to be the sweet spot for me. No pun intended! It falls into the semi sweet range when finished at that rate.

I'm curious, how long do wait from pitching yeast to drinking the first bottle at that level of sugar? I started my first ever batch Oct 29th, and wanted to take a bottle down for Thanksgiving. (It looks beautiful in the gallon jug, but I'm making sure it doesn't start refermenting before I bottle it). If a month isn't long enough, then it will bee a Christmas wine I guess!

 

[jumby]

I usually bottle about a month or so out from pitching the yeast. It's very drinkable and good at that point but the fruit flavors will be more detectable in a few weeks to a couple of months in the bottle. IMHO the fruit flavors peak at about 2-3 months. Just my 2 cents from my personal experiences.

 

[mennyg19]

I wouldve loved to bottle, but for some reason I cant get the gas out of my wine. Keep drilling and it keeps bubbling. I do the bottle shake test and it keeps failing

 

[jumby]

I wouldve loved to bottle, but for some reason I cant get the gas out of my wine. Keep drilling and it keeps bubbling. I do the bottle shake test and it keeps failing

Make sure you're not over agitating and actually adding co2 to your wine. I rarely degas my wine for more then 10-15 mins with a wine whip and drill. Give it a few weeks to month and bottle. It'll be fine. That only applies to my DB. Not wine from grapes.

btw, do a shake test with a commercial store bought wine and I'll betcha it fails too.

 

[reefman]

I wouldve loved to bottle, but for some reason I cant get the gas out of my wine. Keep drilling and it keeps bubbling. I do the bottle shake test and it keeps failing

What's your specific gravity? It could still be fermenting.

 

[Stevelaz]

I usually bottle about a month or so out from pitching the yeast. It's very drinkable and good at that point but the fruit flavors will be more detectable in a few weeks to a couple of months in the bottle. IMHO the fruit flavors peak at about 2-3 months. Just my 2 cents from my personal experiences.

Do you think bottling in a month as opposed to leaving it in the carboy to age for the 2-3 month makes a difference? I was just going to let nine age the 2-3 months in the carboy....

 

[jumby]

Do you think bottling in a month as opposed to leaving it in the carboy to age for the 2-3 month makes a difference? I was just going to let nine age the 2-3 months in the carboy....

I can only speak from my own personal experiences. I don't bulk age DB that long. Grape wines, that's a different story. As soon as my DB clears after sweetening, I bottle it. It usually takes about 2 weeks after sweetening for it to clear completely. Personally for me it doesn't make a difference as long as it's clear at bottling time. After a few months in the bottle it does become more fruit forward.

 

[tjgaul]

Christmas Dragon's Blood.

I made a 3 gallon batch of the standard recipe, sans energizer, which is now settling out in a carboy. It took almost a week to ferment (albeit it was on the cool side). I decided to get creative and make a Holiday version as a "Seconds" wine. I had just moved a small batch of Niagara out of primary so I took the dregs, including currants, and added in the leftover fruit bag (plus a 1.5 cups new fruit) from the first batch of DB to provide the yeast and fruit. Separately I steeped a cinnamon stick, cloves and allspice in some sugar water to get to SG 1.075. Once it cooled down to 80 I combined it all, added nutrient and energizer and let it go. Started it on Sunday and by Wednesday night it was already down to .995. That was a fast ferment. Smells great . . . fruity, but with the spice undertones. We'll see what it tastes like once it settles out. Should be ready just in time for the holidays.

Anyone else experiment with spicing up the DB for the holidays?

Tim

 

[willie]

Christmas Dragon's Blood.

I made a 3 gallon batch of the standard recipe, sans energizer, which is now settling out in a carboy. It took almost a week to ferment (albeit it was on the cool side). I decided to get creative and make a Holiday version as a "Seconds" wine. I had just moved a small batch of Niagara out of primary so I took the dregs, including currants, and added in the leftover fruit bag (plus a 1.5 cups new fruit) from the first batch of DB to provide the yeast and fruit. Separately I steeped a cinnamon stick, cloves and allspice in some sugar water to get to SG 1.075. Once it cooled down to 80 I combined it all, added nutrient and energizer and let it go. Started it on Sunday and by Wednesday night it was already down to .995. That was a fast ferment. Smells great . . . fruity, but with the spice undertones. We'll see what it tastes like once it settles out. Should be ready just in time for the holidays.

Anyone else experiment with spicing up the DB for the holidays?

Tim

Hey! go back to page 343 and you can read where a couple of folks are making it. The recipe I follow is from Jericurl. She can help you with it if you wish. You can add or subtract what ever you want to your taste. I have a batch that I back sweetened and added the goodies to just a few days ago.

Will

 

[tjgaul]

Thanks Willie . . . went back and read the earlier posts. This is a great thread, but it is a bit voluminous. I'm pretty certain I'll be making more DB soon.

 

[HeadWatersWine]

Have'nt posted in a while. Just started a Sweet Strawberry Tart using Daves recipe. Here we go again.

 

[willie]

Have'nt posted in a while. Just started a Sweet Strawberry Tart using Daves recipe. Here we go again.

This is a real good wine. When we make it we back off on the lemon some we don't like it quite so tart.

 

[Bodenski]

My first gallon, bottled and ready to go! And It seems OK with 3/4 cup of sugar for the back-sweetening.

 

[Stevelaz]

My first gallon, bottled and ready to go! And It seems OK with 3/4 cup of sugar for the back-sweetening.

That looks great! Mine should be ready in a few weeks to try. How long to when you bottled and how is taste? How would you describe what Dragon Blood taste like to someone? I was telling someone about it yesterday and really didn't know what to compare it to since ive never had it before. Also I like those smaller clear bottles with the caps! What type of bottle is that and where did you get it? I looked for clear beer bottles and really couldn't find anything. Thanks!

 

[Bodenski]

That looks great! Mine should be ready in a few weeks to try. How long to when you bottled and how is taste? How would you describe what Dragon Blood taste like to someone? I was telling someone about it yesterday and really didn't know what to compare it to since ive never had it before. Also I like those smaller clear bottles with the caps! What type of bottle is that and where did you get it? I looked for clear beer bottles and really couldn't find anything. Thanks!

It was 3 weeks from pitching yeast to bottling. A week was watching after I sweetened it (3/4 cup granulated sugar for the one gallon) to make sure it didn't start up fermenting again. I probably should have waited longer, but I wanted to take a bottle home for Thanksgiving, so I went ahead and risked capping it. (I don't mind a blown-out cork. Bottle bombs would be a different story!)

As far as taste goes, I'm not 100% sure how I'd describe it. It was light and fruity. Not too tart from the lemon juice (which I've heard some folks mention). Even just three weeks out I didn't think the alcohol was very hot tasting. I have a strong suspicion this won't last long enough for me to tell any difference with aging.

The smaller bottles are Stella Artois Cidre bottles. They are branded on the bottle, so I don't know if I'd gift those ones.

This was easy to make, and even SHMBO didn't mind it. So this will be on a pretty steady rotation I have a feeling.

 

[Stevelaz]

The smaller bottles are Stella Artois Cidre bottles. They are branded on the bottle, so I don't know if I'd gift those ones.

Did you buy those bottles empty or did you just save them?

 

[Bodenski]

Did you buy those bottles empty or did you just save them?

My home recycling program

I tried to get a bunch of different ciders at one point to determine how sweet a cider I liked before I made my last batch. The Stela ones were too sweet for my taste, but the clear bottles work awesome here.

 

[Whitehrs]

Why does my DDB not clear like everyone else. I follow instructions and no it's 3 weeks in and it's 5 days in the secondary at sg 0.099 and it is cloudy as anything. It is made from 100% juice concentrate and it just does not clear. I plan to treat with Sorbate, k-meta and sparkliod. just to see how it does. Any suggestions. if nothing else after treating, I will leave it for a month, rack and treat and bulk age for a month and see what happens. any ideas?

 

[wineforfun]

Why does my DDB not clear like everyone else. I follow instructions and no it's 3 weeks in and it's 5 days in the secondary at sg 0.099 and it is cloudy as anything. It is made from 100% juice concentrate and it just does not clear. I plan to treat with Sorbate, k-meta and sparkliod. just to see how it does. Any suggestions. if nothing else after treating, I will leave it for a month, rack and treat and bulk age for a month and see what happens. any ideas?

What does "no it's 3 weeks in and it's 5 days in the secondary" mean?

Anyway, so it appears you haven't added any clearing agents to it yet. If that is correct, that is why it is cloudy. Sparklloid is fine, SuperKleer will work better.