DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[Zintrigue]

You, sir, are a gentleman and a scholar. Thank you.

 

[Ajmassa]

Started 5/23. Cleared with dualfine. bottled 7/11. Crystal clear.
I stashed a few and all have a small amount of fluffy sediment in em now.
Maybe DB is just typically drank before it can occur?

 

[jumby]

Trouble Clearing several batches of wine.. Mostly the Dragon Blood Recipe..

Been a while since I have been on here..
This is one of my favorite recipes.. I have made it a bunch of times.. It is usually a very fast clearing wine..

This time, it is clearing super, super slow..
I have thought about it several times while waiting.. I can't think of anything I did different..
If I did, I went back and corrected it and tried it again..
Only main difference.. I tried a much finer powdered bentonite clay this time, thinking it would hydrate better than the more granular version I put in a blender and run for 5 minutes and then seep/boil for 15 or 20 minutes, but, I have even gone back and used the original Bentonite and did the blending and seeping and I still am looking at a very, very slow clearing wine..

The only other thing I didn't do is stir it daily, like I usually do, so I can't go back and fix that.. But, I am sure I have made a batch without stirring like I should have before.. At least didn't stir it like I should have.. This batch, I didn't stir at all.. Just started it and finished it...

I am the crazy guy who kills the yeast at the end of Primary(Potassium Sorbate and Metabisulfite), stirs, then pulls a vacuum on his brews to degass,then adds the Bentonite, stirs, and usually the wine clears over night with the bentonite clay mix... I may have one more subsequent racking maybe a week later to keep from having the dust in the bottom of the bottles.. Never any heavy settlements..
I make a 12 or 15 gallon batch every year and have never seen it not clear, or this slow clearing before..

Anyone have any ideas to clear it quickly??

I have 2-6 gallon batches and 1-5 gallon and 2-1gallon batches..
I did one "Full Body=6lbs fruit, two with 3lbs fruit=light wine, and the others were different frozen fruit juice mixes I was trying (New Recipes)..
All but one are having the same problem..
The second run, using the older more granular bentonite cleared the other gallon over night, but, not like it usually clears.. 2 Weeks after the second application of bentonite clay, and it just now looks ready to bottle.. Usually, it is overnight..

I had a real hard time with a bananna wine one time.. Thought it would never clear.. Read somewhere to use an extract of boiled "Old Bananas", and it worked like a charm.. But, I figured it was for Bananna wines??
Ready to try anything to see what works.. Not worried about changing the flavor, etc at this point..
Any ideas are very welcome.. I promised 5 gallons of this to a friend for a wedding party... It's making me a bit nervous.. Ha..

Another trick is to bottle in amber bottles. I never use clear bottles just for that reason.

 

[Mofous]

Started my wine making journey just this past weekend. Found a bunch of my father in-law's wine equipment so I decided to start up a new hobby. First thing I did was buy a riesling and get that set up (to appease my wife with my new hobby). About 3 days after that started fermenting I came across this recipe for Dragon Blood Wine. So what do I do? Immediately go out to the store to purchase all the ingredients necessary.

As mentioned I am a complete newbie when it comes to wine..I have a total of 1 week's experience and about 20 hrs of online "research" aka videos and forums.

Day 1 (Sunday) - created the must as per directions and let sit.
- SG 1.065 prior to adding berries

Day 2 (Monday Afternoon) - squeezed berries/pitched yeast/big stir
- SG 1.072

Day 3 (Tuesday Afternoon) - squeezed/stir
- SG 1.072

So at this point I start wondering what the hell is going on with my yeast..why hasn't it started fermenting? I read through numerous posts and I figure it has to be the temp. I currently don't have a reliable digital reader so I decided that is first thing on my shopping list for Wednesday (today).

I live in near Toronto and our temps are starting to drop...my house is typically 73 degrees so I decided to warm things up a bit and aid my must with bringing it closer to my furnace, wrapped in blankets etc..

Day 4 (Wednesday Morning) -

I practically jump out of bed this morning to check on things and BOOM! She has started and the fermentation is on its way.... It took roughly 36 hours for things to get going...it was a very long 36 hours. Didn't take a reading this morning because I was in a rush for work.

Moral of story - measure temp, if you live in Canada a heating belt might be a great investment. Looking forward to my first batch.

 

[jumby]

Or you can buy a cheap aquarium heater and use that,,,,,

Started my wine making journey just this past weekend. Found a bunch of my father in-law's wine equipment so I decided to start up a new hobby. First thing I did was buy a riesling and get that set up (to appease my wife with my new hobby). About 3 days after that started fermenting I came across this recipe for Dragon Blood Wine. So what do I do? Immediately go out to the store to purchase all the ingredients necessary.

As mentioned I am a complete newbie when it comes to wine..I have a total of 1 week's experience and about 20 hrs of online "research" aka videos and forums.

Day 1 (Sunday) - created the must as per directions and let sit.
- SG 1.065 prior to adding berries

Day 2 (Monday Afternoon) - squeezed berries/pitched yeast/big stir
- SG 1.072

Day 3 (Tuesday Afternoon) - squeezed/stir
- SG 1.072

So at this point I start wondering what the hell is going on with my yeast..why hasn't it started fermenting? I read through numerous posts and I figure it has to be the temp. I currently don't have a reliable digital reader so I decided that is first thing on my shopping list for Wednesday (today).

I live in near Toronto and our temps are starting to drop...my house is typically 73 degrees so I decided to warm things up a bit and aid my must with bringing it closer to my furnace, wrapped in blankets etc..

Day 4 (Wednesday Morning) -

I practically jump out of bed this morning to check on things and BOOM! She has started and the fermentation is on its way.... It took roughly 36 hours for things to get going...it was a very long 36 hours. Didn't take a reading this morning because I was in a rush for work.

Moral of story - measure temp, if you live in Canada a heating belt might be a great investment. Looking forward to my first batch.

 

[Mofous]

Or you can buy a cheap aquarium heater and use that,,,,,

\
Never even thought of that...great idea.

 

[Trick]

Does anyone have experience with an aged DB producing some kind of fluffy sediment? I racked off the final lees, then let it sit for 3 long months. Didn't see any more sediment come down, so then I bottled. Now there's this fluffy stuff in the bottles. I'm peeved, to say the least, and would love to explore why this is happening so that I can put a stop to it. Flavor isn't affected.

That was really a pain. It happens in every bottle of my fruit wine using sparkoloid as clarifier. I suspect sparkoloid is the trouble maker. I am still struggling to figure it out how to deal with it. I am trying a couple of 1 gal batches with bentonite/sparkoloid combination and Chitosan respectively to see which works. Maybe Superkleer is a good solution but I don't have it.

 

[wineforfun]

SuperKleer is your answer. It packs the lees much tighter. That is one of the downfalls of Sparklloid, the "whispies" that appear later in the bottle.

 

[Trick]

SuperKleer is your answer. It packs the lees much tighter. That is one of the downfalls of Sparklloid, the "whispies" that appear later in the bottle.

Agree. Superkleer consists of two part, negatively charged part helps to remove protein and the positively charged part helps to clean up the rest. Just like some clarifier comes with the kits.

I did some reading after my last post and I am guessing that the fluffy sediment is coming from protein, (issue called hot stability.) Negatively charged clarifiers can address this (such as bentonite and Kieselsol). Sparkoloid (positive) alone can make the wine very clear but cannot remove protein. After sometime, protein will polymerize and settle out. That is what exactly happened for all of my fruit wines using sparkoloid as fining agent.

Bentonite and Sparkoloid together might be a solution if SuperKleer is not available.

Here is a link to what I just read:
http://www.gencowinemakers.com/docs/Wine Clarification and Stabilization.pdf

 

[roboto65]

Hi new guy here I have a question about directions, now I am “somewhat” new to the fermenting scene I have been doing it off and on for a while.
On to my question well maybe a the problem first. I am a Tugboat Capt and work 2 weeks on the boat boat and one week home, so my time is kinda limited to well sort of one week I get off on say a Tuesday and back on a Tuesday so not really one week.
How can I work around stirring everyday and creeping up on 1.000.
Letting it sit For 2 weeks is no problem not much choice there LOL

I plan on starting the day I get off and crossing my fingers I can it to the point of racking in that week but if not can it sit for the 2 weeks you see my problem LOL.

How’s that for my first post.

 

[sour_grapes]

I think your plan can work. Let's say you have everything set up and ready to go upon your return. You pitch yeast on your Tuesday example. By the next Monday, I think the SG will likely be down to the range where you could transfer to a carboy, say 1.015 or less. In my experience, it will likely be less than 1.008 after a week. That would be fine, especially if your carboy has a little extra room for foam in it.

 

[roboto65]

Thanks well I have a plan would love to make some of this. I have kinda made it but not the fast method I have right now 2 gallon batches going a straight Blueberry and a Blackberry/Blueberry mix both were fermenting away when I caught the boat almost 2 weeks ago so hope to rack them when I get off into some gallon carboys.

 

[roboto65]

Ok well got off to a late start so i have another question I see no problem with it but figured I would ask the experts. Anyhow I started 1/5/18 and did the batch per the instruction everything is fine as of today 1/7/18 the DB is at 1.062 SG at 69° and doing great. I have 2 options as far as I see it now mind you the SG will have dropped some more by tomorrow night. Thinking the 2 options are as follows.
1. Pull fruit bag squeeze one more time and put the lid on with airlock.
2. Rack to Secondary leave some head space and put it under an airlock.
I will be gone 2 weeks so it will sit for this long either on the gross lees or not if I rack to secondary. What do you guys think?

 

[Monty Knapp]

Hello everyone.
I'm new to the forum, but I'm already into my second 3 gallon batch of Dragon's Blood Wine - and planning a 3rd.

For my third I'm planning all strawberry fruit. Instead of 1 lb of frozen fruit per gallon, I was thinking I should do more - at least 4 lbs for a 3 gallon batch. Or 5 lbs?

Any thoughts or pointers?

Thanks.

 

[glitch666]

Hi guys! New member hear and also just started my very first batch of this wine(3 gallon half batch). I am about to pitch my yeast and I noticed that in the recipe it says use manufactures directions but also use 1 cup of 100 degree water. While my packet of ec-1118 yeast says to use only 2 oz? What would be best since im only doing a 3 gallon batch?

 

[jumby]

I don't rehydrate my yeast. I just sprinkle it on top of the must. I keep my must at constant temp of 76 degrees with an aquarium heater.

 

[jumby]

Hello everyone.
I'm new to the forum, but I'm already into my second 3 gallon batch of Dragon's Blood Wine - and planning a 3rd.

For my third I'm planning all strawberry fruit. Instead of 1 lb of frozen fruit per gallon, I was thinking I should do more - at least 4 lbs for a 3 gallon batch. Or 5 lbs?

Any thoughts or pointers?

Thanks.

I use 1 1/2 pounds of fruit per gallon for all my batches.

 

[Monty Knapp]

Hi guys! New member hear and also just started my very first batch of this wine(3 gallon half batch). I am about to pitch my yeast and I noticed that in the recipe it says use manufactures directions but also use 1 cup of 100 degree water. While my packet of ec-1118 yeast says to use only 2 oz? What would be best since im only doing a 3 gallon batch?

I'd follow the yeast packet directions, but it probably wouldn't really make any difference.

 

[Trick]

I'd follow the yeast packet directions, but it probably wouldn't really make any difference.

The difference it can make is that you can identify the dead yeast and save a few frustrating days to wait and wait for a fermentation that never starts.

I experienced once and from then on i always rehydrate the yeast.

 

[Monty Knapp]

The difference it can make is that you can identify the dead yeast and save a few frustrating days to wait and wait for a fermentation that never starts.

I experienced once and from then on i always rehydrate the yeast.

I was saying that it probably didn't matter if he re-hydrated the yeast using a cup of water, per the recipe, or with 2 oz of water per the yeast packet directions.