DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[gaboy]

Whatever happened to Danger Dave? We miss him!!!!

 

[wineforfun]

Dave, I have been dying to make this wine for a few months now and I'm about to start I have read some people say that it is not fruity enough for them, so when they make it they double the fruit and hold the tannin. As somebody who loves a sttong fruit flavor in my wine, that's what I'm considering doing but as I've never tasted or made this wine before, I thought I would ask you how you think that would turn out.

You can either 1.5x or 2x the fruit and you will be fine. As far as omitting the tannins, I always put them in and it is still plenty fruity. The key is to use at least 1.5x and when done and bottled, save some back for a few months. The fruit comes forward quite a bit after a few months in the bottle.

 

[JetJockey]

In my testing, I found that 1.5X had almost the same fruit flavor as the 2X and saved some $, i. e. 2X wasn't worth the extra expense for not much different taste.

 

[bionerd]

I just started my first batch today! Really excited!!!

 

[buckhorn]

OK - questions for all you experienced Dragon Slayers. For those that use the larger Brute cans for your fermentation,
1. How long do you leave in the open Brute before placing in a carboy that you can airlock? The SG=1.000 mark or??
2. How do you keep your fruit bags from sinking below the surface so you can access them for their daily squeezin' without having to submerge your arm in the brew?

I grabbed a 41 Qt (10+ gal) can yesterday as the extra fruit made my normal 6+ Gal bucket a little full for my liking. It is not a Brute, but it is Rubbermaid Commercial and is food safe (I researched online and it is a recycle #4 so is supposed to be food safe). My can did not come with a lid and I have it covered with a cloth now, but I don't want to leave it in open ferment too long and mess things up - plan to rack into a 6 gal. carboy at some point when the fruit is out. Also, when I went to pitch yeast today, 1 of my fruit bags (I have 3x 3lb fruit bags = 9 lb fruit) had sunk to the bottom of the can and I had to shove my arm down in to retrieve it. Any way you use to make these stay on top? I was thinking possibly fishing bobbers with string to the bag?

-Brian

 

[Johnd]

OK - questions for all you experienced Dragon Slayers. For those that use the larger Brute cans for your fermentation,
1. How long do you leave in the open Brute before placing in a carboy that you can airlock? The SG=1.000 mark or??
2. How do you keep your fruit bags from sinking below the surface so you can access them for their daily squeezin' without having to submerge your arm in the brew?

I grabbed a 41 Qt (10+ gal) can yesterday as the extra fruit made my normal 6+ Gal bucket a little full for my liking. It is not a Brute, but it is Rubbermaid Commercial and is food safe (I researched online and it is a recycle #4 so is supposed to be food safe). My can did not come with a lid and I have it covered with a cloth now, but I don't want to leave it in open ferment too long and mess things up - plan to rack into a 6 gal. carboy at some point when the fruit is out. Also, when I went to pitch yeast today, 1 of my fruit bags (I have 3x 3lb fruit bags = 9 lb fruit) had sunk to the bottom of the can and I had to shove my arm down in to retrieve it. Any way you use to make these stay on top? I was thinking possibly fishing bobbers with string to the bag?

-Brian

Transferring anywhere around 1.000 will be just fine.

Once fermentation starts, CO2 will float the bag and you'll have the opposite problem, keeping it submerged.

 

[jburtner]

And spray your hands and arms liberally with kmeta spritz since you will be handling the buttery morsels and juicy nuggets!

Cheers,
-johann

 

[Floomagoo]

Hey y'all, so I ended using the recipe and today my wine is at 1.000 SG. Should I rack it into my carboy today, or should I wait 3 days like the recipe says to? I don't see how waiting the 3 days would make a difference and I'm ready to rack it!

 

[willie]

Hey y'all, so I ended using the recipe and today my wine is at 1.000 SG. Should I rack it into my carboy today, or should I wait 3 days like the recipe says to? I don't see how waiting the 3 days would make a difference and I'm ready to rack it!

I'm thinking your ferment is not done yet at 1.000 SG. Almost all my ferments go to .990 and I wait 2-3 days with that same reading and then proceed to the next step. You can take your fruit bag out if you haven't. I follow Dave's process very closely. I don't try to hurry our wine making or take short cuts. There is know need to. If you follow Dave's instructions you will have a pretty tasty wine when all is said and done. And remember Dragon Blood takes about 3 months to really start tasting really good. Of course most of us start drinking it sooner than that I would guess.

Will

 

[barryjo]

Here is a little trick I learned to check whether fermentation is near done. Take a sample with your thief, and holding it at a 45 degree angle, check to see if small bubbles are still rising along the tube. No bubbles = no fermentation.

 

[Floomagoo]

I'm thinking your ferment is not done yet at 1.000 SG. Almost all my ferments go to .990 and I wait 2-3 days with that same reading and then proceed to the next step. You can take your fruit bag out if you haven't. I follow Dave's process very closely. I don't try to hurry our wine making or take short cuts. There is know need to. If you follow Dave's instructions you will have a pretty tasty wine when all is said and done. And remember Dragon Blood takes about 3 months to really start tasting really good. Of course most of us start drinking it sooner than that I would guess.

Will

Thank you! So since it was at 1.000 on Monday, I should rack it on Wednesday, right? And is there a reason you should leave it for three days?

 

[JetJockey]

I agree that my DB has all fermented below 1. Usually 0.996 with the lowest being just below 0.990 (corrected SG). I monitor the SG daily and when it doesn't change for 3 days. The reason to wait 3 days is that you are nearing the completion of fermentation and it is slowing down. At this slow rate, it may take a couple days to show a small drop. Waiting 3 days at a stable SG ensures fermentsion is truly complete..

 

[willie]

I agree that my DB has all fermented below 1. Usually 0.996 with the lowest being just below 0.990 (corrected SG). I monitor the SG daily and when it doesn't change for 3 days. The reason to wait 3 days is that you are nearing the completion of fermentation and it is slowing down. At this slow rate, it may take a couple days to show a small drop. Waiting 3 days at a stable SG ensures fermentsion is truly complete..

Excellent JetJockey.

Will

 

[Floomagoo]

Thanks for the help guys! I am leaving town Thursday afternoon, so I will keep an eye on the sg, but will have to rack it Thursday morning before I leave. I figure by then the sg will be stabilized anyways

Willie, I've read through most of this thread and you've been here since the beginning! You must really like DB! How has your recipe changed from Daves over time?

 

[willie]

Thanks for the help guys! I am leaving town Thursday afternoon, so I will keep an eye on the sg, but will have to rack it Thursday morning before I leave. I figure by then the sg will be stabilized anyways ��

Willie, I've read through most of this thread and you've been here since the beginning! You must really like DB! How has your recipe changed from Daves over time?

Well I have 3 or 4 copies of Dave's pfd file and I follow it right along. We just finished bottling Dave's original 6lb. Wyman's Triple Berry. I stick right to Dave's process and just make different fruit flavors from that. Dave's Sweet Strawberry Tart is very good.

Will

 

[Floomagoo]

And so the problems begin. I siphoned my wine into the six gallon csrboy and what do you know, the thing isn't even full. The top of the wine comes up to 4-6 inches of the top. I'm thinking I will top it off with more berry juice, and some water. Would that be a mistake?

 

[wineforfun]

And so the problems begin. I siphoned my wine into the six gallon csrboy and what do you know, the thing isn't even full. The top of the wine comes up to 4-6 inches of the top. I'm thinking I will top it off with more berry juice, and some water. Would that be a mistake?

Couple of things to keep in mind for the future.
A. keep an extra bottle or two of DB around for topping up
B. Make a little more than 6 gal. to start with so you will have "topping" up wine left from the beginning.

With that said, my first suggestion would be to rack down to a 5 gal., 3 gal. + 1 gal., etc. carboys if you have them available.
If not, then you could do as you mention or if you want to add wine to it, get some white zinfandel to top up with.

 

[barryjo]

And so the problems begin. I siphoned my wine into the six gallon csrboy and what do you know, the thing isn't even full. The top of the wine comes up to 4-6 inches of the top. I'm thinking I will top it off with more berry juice, and some water. Would that be a mistake?

You might try this. Do you have a 6 1/2 gallon fermenter? Siphon to that, add an airlock and relax. As long as outside air doesn't enter, you are good. Another solution which I use is to insert an appropriate size stopper in the carboy, add the barrel from a Bic pen ( a 2-piece airlock will also work. Just remove the top)) and suitable plastic tubing, The other end goes into a container with K-meta.

 

[Selleck]

Just bottled my first batch of DB. I'm a cider guy and this is the first fruit wine I have made. From pitch to bottle in 12 days!

I changed up the recipe a little bit (and metric'd it). For those interested:

500 ml Lemon Juice
900 g Grape Concentrate
4 kg Table Sugar
3 kg Frozen Berry Mix (Raspberry, Blackberry, Redcurrant, Blackcurrant)
300 g Frozen Blueberries
50 g White Oak Chips (Raw)
5 tsp Pectolase
5 tsp Tronozymol
Water to 23 Litres
1 Packet EC-1118 Yeast

I like fairly dry wines so I only back sweetened to 1.002. Tastes pretty good already like a crisp white wine. I expected the fruit flavours to emerge over time.

 

[jumby]

Pic of 6 gallons of "berry" and 6 gallons of "tropical" that I need to get bottled....