Dragon Blood in 15 days!!!

[southlake333]

I thought as much. Speaking about color. How do you get your SP to retain color? Mine went from a brilliant red to a pale yellow, after adding fining agents K-Meta and Sorbate. I'm gussing the skins in primary adds the color and it sticks after fining. If you switch to juice as oldwhiskers suggested above you will lose that great color?

I'm not sure why yours changed colors like that. I used fruit (not juice) so maybe that contributed to the color staying. But then again, I have many other batches of wine made from just juice that retain their color after clearing.

 

[nate0001]

In the past 4 days, my batch hasn't seem to change in clarity at all.

 

[oldwhiskers]

I transferred to a carboy and degassed, bumped drill one time to many and lost some to a volcano. Then I stabilized it and called it a night since it was getting late. The second picture is after 24 hours settling, I still need to add the Sparkolloid tonight. It looks like it is going to have a cranberry like color.

I will top up with the Sparkolloid and some more Skeeter Pee.

The third picture is 2 days after adding Sparkolloid with the clearing line clearly visible, still a ways to go on clearing though. The color is pretty nice.

The fourth and fifth picture show the nice coloration and the nearly fully clear wine.

I pitched the yeast on this batch on 6/25/12 the last pictures are on 7/7/12. Can hardly wait to back sweeten and sample this batch.

 

[southlake333]

I transferred to a carboy and degassed, bumped drill one time to many and lost some to a volcano. Then I stabilized it and called it a night since it was getting late. The second picture is after 24 hours settling, I still need to add the Sparkolloid tonight. It looks like it is going to have a cranberry like color.

I will top up with the Sparkolloid and some more Skeeter Pee.

Looks tasty! Now I'm tempted to get another batch going...lol.

 

[saramc]

SP: color loss vs. color retention

Speaking about color. How do you get your SP to retain color? Mine went from a brilliant red to a pale yellow, after adding fining agents K-Meta and Sorbate. I'm gussing the skins in primary adds the color and it sticks after fining. If you switch to juice as oldwhiskers suggested above you will lose that great color?

I make a raspberry SP using lees with a SG of ~ 1.030 and typically top off the lees to approximately 1/2 gallon of the wine/mead I am snagging the lees from. I don't use Sparkolloid in my Skeeter Pee and I have always been able to maintain color. I rarely use fining agents anyway, but from the batches of SP I have made I have never used lees from anything that had bentonite used at the beginning (pear, peach).

I have also had SP bottles go thru bottle shock, beautiful light raspberry shade when bottling and then days later it appears that the wine lost the color and appeared light yellow with a pink tinge. Checked a few weeks later and it was back to its original light raspberry shade. And of course, my wine is kept in the dark, stored around 55F.

Have a friend who made cherry SP and he used the pulp and the lees from his cherry wine and that cherry SP looked like cherry Kool-Aid when it was bottled.

 

[saramc]

Added sparkolloid and then racked?

Well I tested today and it was all the way down to .990. Added sparkolloid, kmeta, pot sorbate and racked. Lets see how quickly this baby clears. I started on 6/11 and its now 6/22 so I'm 11 days in. Who knows...I might make 15 days!

southlake....just wanted to make sure I read this properly...you "added sparkolloid, kmeta, pot sorbate and racked". How much time after adding these three items did you rack? Because usually the "dwell time" after adding Sparkolloid is a week minimum, depending on if you used Hot mix vs. Cold mix preparation. If you racked immediately after adding you will likely have issues with clearing.

 

[oldwhiskers]

So far, all of my SP has been made using a new batch of K1-V1116 yeast. I recently started using the Sparkolloid and so far out of four 6-gallon batches it has not stripped any colors out of anything. Three batches of apple juice wine that was fined with Sparkolloid looks like the same color as when I bought the juice.

 

[saramc]

DRY in 5 days or less

Same here, I've only done 9 wines so far but all have fermented dry in 5 days or less. I'm goin to be very sad when I get my first slow ferment that takes Weeks like that

To have a ferment go dry in 5 days or less can be very concerning. Many times if you have a wine finish dry that quickly you will likely be left with issues such as volatile esthers and off-flavors. Typically you would anticipate a wine ferment to have a S.G. decrease by 2/3 within 5-7 days, in a temp range of 70-72F, then rack wine to carboy/airlock and anticipate it to finish dry within the 30 day mark. If you increase the temperature it will likely ferment faster but that can definitely have a negative impact. It may be OK for a quick drinker like Skeeter Pee, but I definitely would not want that to be the norm. And then of course, certain yeasts are known to ferment fast--so you DO have to look at that. And then you have to consider the fruit you are working with--some are well known to be difficult to work with, your starting S.G., the pH, acid profile--so many factors.
But, I am in no rush, I want the best end product I can get, so I consider the temperature threshold, knowing that a cooler temperature will pull more aromatics into country wine or Skeeter Pee.
As long as you are happy with your wine that is all that matters.

 

[dangerdave]

I used to think the same way, saramc. Until I made this stuff. It goes dry in the bucket, gets stabilized and cleared right after, and sweetened in a week. And it's good!

I'm going to stop saying it because everyone will think I'm crowing too much. Try it!

 

[nate0001]

Anyone know what could be causing my pee to not clear? Been the same clarity for past 5 days.

 

[oldwhiskers]

Anyone know what could be causing my pee to not clear? Been the same clarity for past 5 days.

Not sure why yours is not clearing, but these steps will help ensure that a batch clears.

1. Ensure fermentation is complete, SG steady and generally less than SG 1.000 for three consecutive days.
2. Degass well!! This is a chore if stirring by hand and will probably have to be done multiple different times. I use a degassing setup in my drill, but beware of volcanoes if you get to agressive.
3. If using Sparkolloid, add 1 tbsp to one cup boiling water and simmer a minimum of 5 minutes stirring well. Add to must while still hot and stir in well.

If it is not degassed well, it will resist clearing.

 

[nate0001]

Not sure why yours is not clearing, but these steps will help ensure that a batch clears.

1. Ensure fermentation is complete, SG steady and generally less than SG 1.000 for three consecutive days.
2. Degass well!! This is a chore if stirring by hand and will probably have to be done multiple different times. I use a degassing setup in my drill, but beware of volcanoes if you get to agressive.
3. If using Sparkolloid, add 1 tbsp to one cup boiling water and simmer a minimum of 5 minutes stirring well. Add to must while still hot and stir in well.

If it is not degassed well, it will resist clearing.

Pretty much did all that. Followed everything exactly. Maybe i should try degassing again?

 

[dangerdave]

Nate! I have had three different wines that would not clear. One had a pectin haze (testable), another had suspended yeast (tasted like homemade bread), and another was not degassed thoroughly (it fizzed when I stuck my wine thief in it).

The first was solved with pectic enzyme, on the second I used sorbate and sparkolloid, and on the third---I bought a vacuum pump. Now, I am anal about degassing thoroughly, and all my wines clear quickly.

My first guess would be CO2. Degas some more...maybe.

 

[nate0001]

Definitely was gassy. Bubbles won't stop coming as a stir.

 

[dangerdave]

Stir, Nate, stir!

 

[oldwhiskers]

Nate, I updated the pictures on message #63 to include one after 2 days with Sparkolloid and the visible clearing line, it still likes several days to get crystal clear but it's headed that direction. The color looks like it will be pretty nice.

 

[nate0001]

Nate, I updated the pictures on message #63 to include one after 2 days with Sparkolloid and the visible clearing line, it still likes several days to get crystal clear but it's headed that direction. The color looks like it will be pretty nice.

Mine looked like picture 3 about 1-2 days after I racked (except there was no visible clearing line that i recall. the whole thing just looked like the top half except for the visible lees at the bottom of course) and sat like that with no improvement. I degassed it for quite a while the other day and it was back to looking the same the next day.

Getting fairly annoyed as I was hoping to have a fast turn around time that other people got.

 

[DirtyDawg10]

I'm thinking about starting my first skeeter pee and this recipe really peaked my interest. Just wondering if I can expect to be able to get the pectic enzyme, yeast nutrient, energizer and tannin at my LHBS. I was also wondering what you used for the nylon bag and where you got it. Oh...one more thing...could I use the leftover slurry from my merlot kit after it is done in the primary to fire up the pee?

 

[Hokapsig]

Dave, I think I squeezed my berries too hard and have a lot of pectin in my Dragon blood. I tossed in 2 teaspoons of pectic enzyme after stabilizing and sulfiting. Do you think this will help clear up the haze or should I have added the enzyme prior to Meta?

BTW, I was in Parkersburg this week, but work kept me busy, so I didn't call. Next time!!

 

[southlake333]

Just wondering if I can expect to be able to get the pectic enzyme, yeast nutrient, energizer and tannin at my LHBS. I was also wondering what you used for the nylon bag and where you got it. Oh...one more thing...could I use the leftover slurry from my merlot kit after it is done in the primary to fire up the pee?

Yes, yes, yes and yes.

The nylon bag will also be available at the LHBS (they carry varying sizes, get a big one).

You can use a slurry from anything but I don't. I just create a yeast starter and dump it.