DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[beano]

My favorite is blueberry/blackberry in any combination, with toasted white American oak in the primary. Done dry and back sweetened with grape juice concentrate. Tastes awesome. Makes me hiccup though. After a few glasses.

 

[mhopkins]

@beano Thanks for the tip ... I'll give it a try!

 

[Jal5]

Ended up with 28 bottles for this batch. Tastes very nice- off dry. Good berry flavor and a nice color.
Only hitch in this one was the fluffy sediment at the end after that dose of pectic enzyme which made it tricky to siphon.

Joe

 

[G259]

I bottled my 3 gal. batch today. I added 2 1/2 cups of sugar, that yielded an sg of 1.006 (it went dry at .990). I like mine a bit drier than that, next time will be 1 1/2 - 2, but it's drinkable. I will also double the fruit for more body, and not skimp on the lemon juice like I did, it needs it.

 

[Prosseco]

Thanks for that feedback reg backsweetening, il prob go 3 cups for my 5 1/2 G.
I just degassed yesterday, stabilized and poured in some finings. Most lees/sediment ended up in the bottom of the carboy but some floats at the top.
I never had that issue before, mind you its the first time i used anything but kits. Perhaps i did not degass enough.
Will it eventually sink to the bottom or is there a "trick" to it to make it sink?

 

[G259]

I'm going to say that it is gas, I've had that happen before. I just gently shook the top of the carboy and it started to fall.

 

[mhopkins]

Thanks for that feedback reg backsweetening, il prob go 3 cups for my 5 1/2 G.
I just degassed yesterday, stabilized and poured in some finings. Most lees/sediment ended up in the bottom of the carboy but some floats at the top.
I never had that issue before, mind you its the first time i used anything but kits. Perhaps i did not degass enough.
Will it eventually sink to the bottom or is there a "trick" to it to make it sink?

View attachment 55494

As for sugar, I am still experimenting. I have used 4C for a 6-gal batch and found it too sweet. Tried 3C and it was better IMHO. I have 2, 6-gal, 4-berry batches ready for backsweetening. Will go with 3C on one and 2C on the other. We shall see!

As for your floaties . . . what kind of finings did you use? For DB I use Kieselsol (and stir) and Chitosan (and stir). Some instructions say you can add the Chitosan immediately after Kieselsol. Other inst say wait a minimum of 1 hour prior to adding packet of Chitosan. Tried both and still had trouble clearing. Now, I find that waiting 12-24 hours between yields really excellent results.

I hope @G259 is right and yours falls after a shake.

 

[G259]

I added 1 cup to the 3 gal. batch, and tried a little. It was OK, but I thought that it needed more. You can't go back, so a slow start is warranted!

'Gentle shake', then a bit more if nothing happens, you are not trying to 'rock the boat' however. One time I only had to tap the plastic carboy (Better Bottle).

 

[G259]

Something happened when I transferred back to the bucket for back-sweetening. I added sorbate and pot. meta to the bucket. When I racked into it, there were little white floaters for a while, probably a few millimeters thick. At first I thought that something very bad had happened, then I figured that it was the sorbate. Does it do that when it is old?

 

[dangerdave]

I’ve had sorbate float on me before. It was from kits when it happened. Leave it behind when you rack. Get some fresh and redoes? About all you can do.

 

[G259]

I think it eventually was incorporated into the wine, maybe a porosity change as it ages?

 

[Prosseco]

Thanks for the advise. I gave the carboy a couple of carefull shakes and the sediment fell to the bottom. mhopkins, i use a $1 fining from the local shop, as cheap as it gets. It does what its supposed to do i guess so i will keep on using it. Just backsweetened it to 1.0020 and bottled 29 bottles. It tastes really nice,2-3 months from now even better

 

[DinoSorez]

Made up a a batch of this yesterday, will be my first wine that I have ever made. I make beer quite often and weirdly wine seemed much easier. I followed recipe to the T and have a starting gravity of 1.075. I'm a big fan of cabernets, so this will be a weird change of pace but good learning curve, just hoping I'll like it. Was wondering if adding oak chips would be beneficial at all? Would I add to primary or the secondary?

 

[dangerdave]

I always use untoasted oak powder in my primary. I like mine oaky.

 

[DinoSorez]

If I haven't added to the primary yet, would it be okay to just add to the secondary?

 

[G259]

Eventful weekend! I went to back-sweeten and bottle my DB, and added too much sugar (you can't take it back!) My SG turned out at 1.006, and was way too sweet. I found a few bottles of Juicy Juice Berry wine that I had made months earlier, and I added it 1:1 (I still have some sweet DB left (7L). It was a little sweet, but very good, I even spoke out loud while sampling it that 'I would buy this!'

I don't want to take away from the DB thread, but more on the blending theme: At the same time I was bottling an apple juice (store bought)6 mo. old wine that I threw spices in like: cinnamon nutmeg allspice cardamom etc., just playing. I xfered to bucket and tasted. WOW, spice overload! So I found some bottles of a peach wine, that I was unimpressed with, as it was one dimensional, and I added them. What a difference! I gave one to my brother and said, this will pair well with baked pork, or pork and sauerkraut with some caraway seeds.

I have a 4L batch of a fruit medley that I just call 'Melange', I think I'll blend it with the sweet DB.

 

[mhopkins]

If I haven't added to the primary yet, would it be okay to just add to the secondary?

Yes, you can add oak chips to secondary.

 

[bear6230]

Hi all.
Haven't been able to get on in a while. But still making DB.
I added more sugar to this batch pretty sweet but very fuity!!!CH

 

[DinoSorez]

I racked it yesterday to a carboy and didn't have enough wine to fill it up to the tip, the neck is open to air and it's sitting at the top ridge on the carboy. Is this okay?

 

[trolo]

Has anyone made Cherry? do you need more than 6lbs for 6 gal?