DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[jumby]

I'm having a trouble with clearing. I followed the instructions, other than I used a 4 berry blend (4 lbs) and blueberries (2 lbs). It's been clearing for about 10 days now, and although there is quite a bit of dropout, it is still very foggy. The only thing I maybe didn't follow that well was I think the sparkalloid mix had cooled quite a bit by the time I pitched it in the carboy.

Any advice? Should I add more sparkalloid or should I throw super kleer at it?

I gave up on Sparkoloid long ago. I use DualFine(SuperKleer) in all of my wines. You might want to dose it again with pectin enzyme. It could be pectic haze.

 

[RiderEh]

So what would the steps be, rack it, hit it with pectic or more sparkalloid, or should I rack and go super kleer? Sounds like either option may work.

 

[jumby]

So what would the steps be, rack it, hit it with pectic or more sparkalloid, or should I rack and go super kleer? Sounds like either option may work.

Personally I would rack it, dose it again with pectic enzyme, then hit it with SuperKleer. All in 1 step.

 

[loopline]

You have to boil the Sparkalloid for 5 minutes before adding it to the wine, and you should stir it into the wine as soon as it comes off the heat. If you did that - then you might want to wait a bit longer to see if it will clear. It took about 10 days for the Cucumber Wine I made to clear.

If you let the Sparkalloid cool first - then I'd rack it off the sediment you have now and try the Super Kleer. Be sure to follow the instructions - you have to add 1 pack then wait a while before adding the 2nd pack.

Cucumber Wine, now that is interesting. Cucumbers don't have a whole lot of flavor to me, how did that turn out?

Did you just use cucumbers and peels or did you just them all and make it from the juice or ? Im mostly curious if it has any real flavor or if its more a cool refreshing wine over ice for the summer?

 

[wildhair]

This is the Dragon Blood thread, so - I will update & comment here on the Cucumber Wine -

https://www.winemakingtalk.com/threads/cucumber-wine.57360/
Red

 

[scurry64]

My Tropical Dragon's Blood is done fermenting and is now clearing in the secondary. If the flavor is as appealing as the color, I'll be extremely happy.

 

[Jal5]

Ihave a 3 G kumquat plus tropical fruit that looks just like that!

 

[jumby]

So what would the steps be, rack it, hit it with pectic or more sparkalloid, or should I rack and go super kleer? Sounds like either option may work.

Did your wine clear?

 

[David W Huey]

Since looks good I know taste good when do you add your potassium sorbate! I have several batch sitting in the corner that I let extend until til the airlock stopped on its on! Now it taste like rubbing alocohol! So to preserve that good taste when do u or how do you stop your secondary fermentation maintaining that get flavor pattern and look!

 

[sour_grapes]

Since looks good I know taste good when do you add your potassium sorbate! I have several batch sitting in the corner that I let extend until til the airlock stopped on its on! Now it taste like rubbing alocohol! So to preserve that good taste when do u or how do you stop your secondary fermentation maintaining that get flavor pattern and look!

It is very difficult for a home winemaker to stop an active fermentation. Your best bet is to let it ferment all the way to dry, then stabilize it by adding potassium sorbate and k-meta, then backsweeten to the desired degree of sweetness.

 

[TyYoda]

Since looks good I know taste good when do you add your potassium sorbate! I have several batch sitting in the corner that I let extend until til the airlock stopped on its on! Now it taste like rubbing alocohol! So to preserve that good taste when do u or how do you stop your secondary fermentation maintaining that get flavor pattern and look!

One of my "Ah ha's" in good fruit wine making is what we often taste in the bottle is a result of adding back in some fruit flavor and sweetness through either a flavor pack (do a search on how to create) or by simply adding in some unfermented fruit juice or sugar after adding pot sorbate and k-meta to prevent the yeast from fermenting your additions. Completely dry fruit wines are unbalanced and not very fun to drink. Some sugar or a f-pak does wonders.

 

[wildhair]

I added several cans of Berry Blend frozen concentrate and a little bit of simple syrup to replace the lost flavor and add body. See my post - #4766 in this thread.
Berry based wines especially need to be backsweetened. I made a black raspberry that I planned to leave dry, except that it tasted like dirt, literally, when dry. Added some simple syrup and BAM - back came the black raspberry flavor.

 

[Alibi Wines]

I've only read 100ish of the 240 pages of this thread, and I'm already on my 4th and 5th batch of DB.  Great recipe and thread everyone has contributed to.

 

[dangerdave]

Great advice, winemakers! You are all awesome!

 

[Lori2626]

One of my "Ah ha's" in good fruit wine making is what we often taste in the bottle is a result of adding back in some fruit flavor and sweetness through either a flavor pack (do a search on how to create) or by simply adding in some unfermented fruit juice or sugar after adding pot sorbate and k-meta to prevent the yeast from fermenting your additions. Completely dry fruit wines are unbalanced and not very fun to drink. Some sugar or a f-pak does wonders.

I wish I had read this post 5 years ago, I have made several batches of dirt tasting wine. But even an old dog can learn, finally read enough of these and learned to make decent (and occasionally good) wine. Thanks

 

[bear6230]

• 
  
• oneHello all have not been on in a while.e Still makin DB as it is one of my favorites. This is my lasted one clearing pretty nice after only 3 days in carboy.
• Also enclosed Is pic of my pumpkin wine I started in November with the leftover decoration pumpkins .
• May call it Jacko Wine to give out for Halloween this year.
• Name is in working progress.. Make it a Good Day my friends!!

 

[G259]

Ooo, I haven't tried that, it sounds like a good idea! Is there a recipe here that you are using for that pumpkin wine? I think I will have to try that sometime. My DB is still in the bulk stage, I know that it can be an 'early drinker', but I prefer to wait for it, It's about 6 months along now. I stuck pretty much to the recipe, but only used half the lemon juice, I thought it sounded high to me, and I was scared (lol)!

 

[Elmer]

Need to problem solve.
I want to compare back sweetening using a simple sugar and berry concentrate.
Unfortunately, no store in my area (market 32, target, wall mart, shop & save) carries this frozen concentrate.

What would be a good alternative?

 

[Cellar Vader]

Just a thought, but perhaps that “option” isn't available because it is a frozen item, and Walmart is interpreting your intent as an online order? Have you actually looked for it in-store? If you have, and they simply don’t carry it, that’s a bummer cuz that juice really improved the double-batch that I made.

 

[wildhair]

I get it at Piggly Wiggly, Walmart doesn't have it in store. Not sure what a good alternative might be, but I did find it on-line -
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Old-Orchard-100-Juice-Berry-Blend-Frozen-Concentrate-12-fl-oz/22257678

It definitely is an excellent way to backsweeten and flavor boost.