Dragon Blood in 15 days!!!

[Dend78]

okay here is a rookie question/comment here that may have been answered in the last 400 replies to this thread or maybe another thread all together, but due to the rate at which this stuff is ready to bottle and drink is it really necessary to top it up?

normally we top up to prevent oxidization and off flavors caused by it but really this stuff sits for less than 3 weeks in the carboy if you have a slow clear, but generally 2 weeks. from what i can tell with the banana sherry i was tooling around with i noticed no change after a month in a untopped carboy, which leads me to believe that unless you are letting it sit in a carboy for a long period of time its not totally necessary.

Thoughts?

 

[tatud4life]

I don't. I don't know if it's the lemon juice or what, but I haven't had a problem yet. Now that could change on my next batch.

 

[keena]

i also did start a batch of your dragon blood but i couldnt find the berry blend, so i got a bag that had strawberries, blueberries, and raspberries. so it will be a lil different but hopefully similar results!

a little different then the dragon blood as i said before, but since i started this wine its been about 5 months... still havent tried/bottles it... about to do it tomorrow! im so excited to taste it!

 

[wineforfun]

okay here is a rookie question/comment here that may have been answered in the last 400 replies to this thread or maybe another thread all together, but due to the rate at which this stuff is ready to bottle and drink is it really necessary to top it up?

normally we top up to prevent oxidization and off flavors caused by it but really this stuff sits for less than 3 weeks in the carboy if you have a slow clear, but generally 2 weeks. from what i can tell with the banana sherry i was tooling around with i noticed no change after a month in a untopped carboy, which leads me to believe that unless you are letting it sit in a carboy for a long period of time its not totally necessary.

Thoughts?

Great question as I did top mine up and wondered the same thing as dend. Since the timespan to get to bottling is so short with DB, I wouldn't think the extra headspace would be a problem. Curious to hear what the DB experts thoughts are on this. Mine is going to get bottled this weekend. First batch.

 

[Dend78]

im not topping mine up that i have going now or from here on out, its just tearing down the abv that you shoot for if you use water of juice. im just going to backsweeten with juices/sugar(simple syrup) and be done with it. it will be effected but i believe it would be on such a small scale it wouldn't matter.

keena jump in there and give it a try its very good stuff, and 5 months it should be about at its prime, taste it and backsweeten more if needed let us know what you think!

 

[dangerdave]

I have the good fortune of always having some extra on hand for topping up a new batch. Plan a little ahead, and you'll always have DB around when "needed". Start a new batch today!

 

[Dend78]

I would but i change up how i make each batch

 

[tatud4life]

I would, but we drink it too fast!!

 

[Dend78]

I would, but we drink it too fast!!

very true that's another big issue with it

 

[Wyatt]

Hi all. Wyatt here. I've been reading the threads and it sounds great. The DB. I am running with some ad libs. Thats just me. Did I mention i'm a pretty new Mad Scientist. LoL. I'm putting in 4 pounds rhubarb, 3 pounds strawberries and 1/2 pounds of blueberry's. I'm putting in fresh lemons. I pealed 12 lemons,leaving the pith out. Yuck. I then juiced them. I added the juice and peals to the must bag. The other change I made was I put in a 12 oz can of Old Orchard triple berry blended 100% juice. Then now I am finely following the directions. Thanks for the inspiration all. I would love feedback an d tips and tricks from everyone. Did I mention I'm a new Mad Scientist. Talk to you all soon. Thanks Dave!

 

[tatud4life]

Hi all. Wyatt here. I've been reading the threads and it sounds great. The DB. I am running with some ad libs. Thats just me. Did I mention i'm a pretty new Mad Scientist. LoL. I'm putting in 4 pounds rhubarb, 3 pounds strawberries and 1/2 pounds of blueberry's. I'm putting in fresh lemons. I pealed 12 lemons,leaving the pith out. Yuck. I then juiced them. I added the juice and peals to the must bag. The other change I made was I put in a 12 oz can of Old Orchard triple berry blended 100% juice. Then now I am finely following the directions. Thanks for the inspiration all. I would love feedback an d tips and tricks from everyone. Did I mention I'm a new Mad Scientist. Talk to you all soon. Thanks Dave!

Sounds delicious!!! Please let us know how it turns out!!!!

 

[dangerdave]

Ecellent, Wyatt! Keep us up to date. The intent for this recipe was to make it easy to modify, adding different fruits as desired---or rinds, in your case. Experimentation is encouraged. A lot of folks here have made their own wine from this recipe. Looks like you are doing the same. Oh, and welcome to the Mad Scientist Guild. We love pictures! If you can, show us what you are doing and where you're doing it.

...and you are very welcome. My pleasure, really.

 

[Pumpkinman]

Wyatt, the beauty of that recipe is that it is a great template, everything you do to personalize it to your tastes is a bonus! I add several products that suit our taste, raisins for added mouth feel and a light flavor that compliments the fruit, I add a small amount oak as well, it really compliments the final product! But those are our tastes, and everyone that have tasted it seems to love it, that puts a big ole smile on our faces!
have fun and make it personalized!

 

[Tripplett]

You guys have convinced me to try this even though I just started. I received my winemaking kit a few weeks ago with a World Vinyard California Trinity Red kit that I just racked to the secondary. Hence I'm already thinking of the next thing and DB seems like a good fit!

I checked online and the local Wal-Mart doesn't seem to carry the Wyman's triple berry. I found some Berry Medley at Trader Joe's in 1lb packages. Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, and raspberries. The price seems right and since I had planned on adding strawberries anyway I was set. 6 packages came home with me along with 10 lbs of sugar.





I started last night, adding only 1 bottle of lemon juice. I let it all sit for 24 hrs and just pitched the yeast this evening. I'm looking forward to having something to sample in a month or so since the CTRed kit won't be drinkable for 6-12 months. Besides, I had a good reason to pick up another secondary. I'm leaning towards the Better Bottles for now due to convenience, weight, and price. I am looking for some used glass carboys locally.

I used a mix stir for mixing after adding the yeast, I hope that was ok. When I rinsed the bags out (to get ALL that juice goodness) I dumped some raspberry fruit remains into the primary so that is what you see in the pictures below.




I'm looking forward to this, thanks for all the information.

 

[dangerdave]

I'm sure it will turn out fine, Tripplett. Welcome to the site, and the best of luck in your wine making!

 

[Pumpkinman]

Awesome!!!!!! That's the same blend of berries that I use, you will love it! Don't worry about some fruit getting into your juice, not a problem!

 

[tatud4life]

Tripplet, I use the same berry blend. It turns out fantastic!! After you bottle it, give it a couple of weeks and the berry flavor will jump to the front! Like others have said before, the beauty of that recipe is the ability to mold it to your likings with different fruits.

 

[Tripplett]

Ok so I went down this morning to check on things 12 hrs after pitching yeast and this is what it looks like.



I am assuming that this is just yeast and I just need to stir it back in based on what I've read from the Quadberry Dragons Blood Skeeter Pee post?

 

[wineforfun]

I bottled my first DB this weekend. DB is crystal clear in the bottles, however, I noticed when holding them up to a light, you can see some very fine "floaters" that can't be seen in regular light.
Also, I believe I had "fine lees" according to Dave in an earlier post. It resembled a puff/haze of smoke inside the carboy. I used a racking cane when racking and bottling, yet still got some of the fine lees. How do you a. get rid of fine lees and/or b. rack/bottle without bringing them over?
Thanks.

 

[Dend78]

yup stir it up looks like its doing really well, punch the bag down in a few times before you pull it to get most of the nasty off the outside then stir, be careful you may get heavy foaming action, put the fruit bag back in and do it again tomorrow and the day after until you are ready to rack it to the carboy.