DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[Tinwakr]

That’s the time frame I was hoping for...

I think I’m going to rack off the sediment and dose it again with 3 tsp of pectic enzyme. Hopefully it clears after that. If not, hmmm.

Let us know how it goes, I dosed mine with another 1-1/2 tsp of pectic enzyme and still isn’t clearing as it should.

 

[Bliorg]

The carboy is in the garage since racking, holding about 48F, which I think is too cold for enzymatic activity. Going to rack to a clean carboy tonight and move it inside to warm up for 24 hours then heavily dose it. Tempted to throw the brew belt on the carboy but heat and glass, dunno...

 

[TyYoda]

I had a similar experience with my 12# Tripleberry Dragon Blood not clearing quickly after fining with Durafine. I gave it another dose of Pectic enzyme and within three days it was totally cleared. My basement doesn't have great side lighting so my Dragon Blood carboy looked like your picture but it was actually cleared. I had to use my cell phone with the flashlight on to be able to tell it was clear. The wine probably cleared within a day or two and I just couldn't tell until I used a light source on the side of the carboy.

 

[TyYoda]

Your carboy should be able to handle the brew belt especially if you can set it to a reasonable temperature. I use a PID controller with a home heating pad and have set the temp as high as 76F to help get a fermentation going. My basement glass carboys stay at 60F unless I use heating pads.

 

[Bliorg]

Yeah, I don’t have access to a P-I-D controller, and that’s my main concern with the Brew Belt - no control. Pretty much constant on and heats based on draw. I can attenuate that with a rheostat I wired to a receptacle but that’s all guesswork too. I need to implement a control scheme as I get further along but for now I think I’m just letting the temperature come up to ambient gradually. Which will start tonight, had a houseguest that kind of kept us from wine stuff last night...

 

[Bliorg]

Not as bad as it looks in bulk:
Hazy by Scott, on Flickr

Racked tonight, topped with some white zin. Will hit it with PE tomorrow night. The taste has definitely evolved. Will come out nicely with some sweetness. We may actually get it in bottle before my son goes back to school.

 

[ThreeSheetsToTheWind]

Finally getting to try this!!!

I've been putting it off for a while now, I started a mead, then a batch of skeeter pee. But I bought the lemon juice and 4 kg of triple berry, just need to stop in at the lhbs for a couple of things tomorrow, and a few bananas at the grocery store, and I'll be good to go on some db!

 

[TyYoda]

I have a Inkbirk ITC-106VH PID (proportional integral derivative controller). You can find kits on amazon prime (or ebay) where they provide a 40A SSR (solid state relay) and the thermocouple for $35. I've seen some kits for $20. I wired mine with a light switch and a duplex outlet so I could plug various kinds of electrical devices (lead pots, toaster ovens, heating pads, brew belts, freezer, refrigerator, etc) to accurately control their temperature.

 

[Bliorg]

Let us know how it goes, I dosed mine with another 1-1/2 tsp of pectic enzyme and still isn’t clearing as it should.

So Friday we added 4+ teaspoons of the powder. Mixed with a little water to slurry so it wouldn’t clump on the surface then stirred into the wine for like three or four minutes. Wine is right at 70F. Maybe a slight improvement since then. Not the improvement I was hoping for. I’m now wondering if I should fine with bentonite in case it’s protein, fine again with Dualfine, or buy fresh (liquid) pectic enzyme in case my powder was past expiry. Regardless I’m now jacking with this enough that I’m afraid it’s going to be detrimental to quality. Ugh.

 

[Keith5]

Hi Bliorg, get a cheap 24 hour timer for $5-10 and use with Brew Belt. Just set it to go on and off every 2-3 hours. Check temps, this worked fairly good until I got PID controller. Also you can use it to turn lamp light on and off when you go on vacation

 

[Bliorg]

Hi Bliorg, get a cheap 24 hour timer for $5-10 and use with Brew Belt. Just set it to go on and off every 2-3 hours. Check temps, this worked fairly good until I got PID controller. Also you can use it to turn lamp light on and off when you go on vacation

Something like https://www.amazon.com/dp/B071VLQLRY/?tag=skimlinks_replacement-20 ? Interesting idea.

 

[Keith5]

That’s very close to the timer I have. Inexpensive and has multiple uses. Remember though, the PID is the most accurate solution, but timer is close enough until you want more control

 

[Bliorg]

Okay, last effort on the maybe-pectin haze: Went out and got liquid pectic enzyme and a FermWrap. Pulled a sample before, and it's definitely more clear, but shining a light through the carboy shows a lot of haze still. Double dosed the PE, stirred three minutes, airlocked. Attached the heat and have it on steady to bring it up to temp, then will have the timer set to run 30 minutes, off an hour (read that online somewhere). Attached one of those stick-on thermometers just to get an idea - reading 66F now.

If this doesn't do it, well, dunno.

 

[Keith5]

Sounds good to me. If it doesn’t work out, just call it Pectic Haze instead of Purple Haze. Lol. If you would eat the pectin as a fruit, surely we can drink it as wine.dont fret, that’s why we don’t do this for a living. I think you’ll be fine with your solution

 

[Tinwakr]

Okay, last effort on the maybe-pectin haze: Went out and got liquid pectic enzyme and a FermWrap. Pulled a sample before, and it's definitely more clear, but shining a light through the carboy shows a lot of haze still. Double dosed the PE, stirred three minutes, airlocked. Attached the heat and have it on steady to bring it up to temp, then will have the timer set to run 30 minutes, off an hour (read that online somewhere). Attached one of those stick-on thermometers just to get an idea - reading 66F now.

If this doesn't do it, well, dunno.

Mine has become crystal clear, gonna let it sit for an additional few weeks and then bottle.

My apple wine however hasn’t cleared as nicely but is almost clear. Hopefully when I am ready to bottle my DB the apple will also be ready.

 

[Bliorg]

Well, I'm easing off the gas on this a bit now - my son goes back to school this weekend, so not likely that we'll finish it together...

I'm hopeful that this will clear now. The glassful I pulled was much nicer than before. Time to let time do its thing. But the temp has come up a bit already, so I'm curious to see if the enzymes will work.

We did run up to Keystone this afternoon and picked up a floor corker, bottles, and some miscellany. So even if we're not bottling together, we did that part as a team.

 

[TyYoda]

You might be surprised - you might be bottling first thing Sat morning or Friday evening. With my first batch I had to had to hit it with pectic enzyme and I really had a hard time being patient - I wanted it to clear so badly. Fortunately after two or so days it cleared. I can now see why folks filter after clearing. While aging in the Carboy (after the initial clear over the past 10 days) I noticed the DB settled out some wispy stuff to the bottom of the bottle.

 

[dangerdave]

Even after clearing, I run mine through a simple gravity filter to prevent sediment in the bottles.

 

[Tinwakr]

Even after clearing, I run mine through a simple gravity filter to prevent sediment in the bottles.

Can you tell us what kind of gravity filter you use?

 

[cmason1957]

Can you tell us what kind of gravity filter you use?

I use the KLR filter system, simple gravity fed. https://klrfilter.com/

Very simple, fairly inexpensive, adds maybe 4 or 5 minutes to the gravity racking time. Has been reviewed and evaluated by Daniel Pambianchi (considered by many to be seated at the right hand of god) http://www.techniquesinhomewinemaking.com/home winemaking product reviews.html