Dragon Blood in 15 days!!!

[dangerdave]

Dave, I don't know if you've considered this yet, but your recipe is so packed full of flavor, I haven't been back sweetening it.
Since its such a fast drinker, that also reduces the need to sulfite this. I haven't been adding either and it keeps just fine. I've made dozens of wines without back sweetening, nor adding sulphite or sorbate at the end, with no trouble. My muscadine wine and port both kept well for over a year before we finally drank it all. Everything else has been consumed before making it that far, much of the reason I don't add the additional additives at the end. Just something you could experiment with.

You have a good point. If I add any sulphite at all from now on, it will be a small amount.

 

[tatud4life]

I have a batch going for a friend right now and it is super dark!!!!! I believe it is clear, but I can't really tell! It is similar to what someone posted on here about their blackberry batch. Just not as dark as in though. Lol Here is a pic.



You can see the sediment at the bottom. I believe it's clear. I'll have to wait until it is time to rack and back sweeten to make sure.

 

[Winofarmer]

I have a batch going for a friend right now and it is super dark!!!!! I believe it is clear, but I can't really tell! It is similar to what someone posted on here about their blackberry batch. Just not as dark as in though. Lol Here is a pic.

View attachment 5722

You can see the sediment at the bottom. I believe it's clear. I'll have to wait until it is time to rack and back sweeten to make sure.

That is what mine looked like and had the same concerns I waited 3 weeks to bottle and it was beautiful in the bottle....

 

[tatud4life]

That's awesome!! I'm giving mine another week. Then I'll back sweeten and bottle a week later.

 

[dangerdave]

That's usually the time schedule I keep, Marc. It does look nice in the bottle. It's kinda dark in the carboy, though. But that's a good thing, right?

 

[tatud4life]

Yes it is Dave!! I can't wait to see it in the bottle. I wish I didn't have to send it away. The strawberry batch that I made has turned into my wife's favorite.

 

[dangerdave]

Nice! My wife is also my biggest fan. "Anything you need!" she said.

<foolish woman >

 

[Dend78]

Dave,

I am getting ready to fire up another batch of this, my first batch the lemon was a bit more than i prefer so i am looking to cut it down quite a bit, would frozen lemon-aid concentrate work you think or does it really need to be the juice? I wasn't sure if you or anyone had tried that yet or not.

 

[dangerdave]

I haven't tried the concentrate, but it should work just fine. How much lemon juice did you use in your first batch? I'm down to using just one 48oz bottle of Real Lemon juice in mine.

 

[Dend78]

I used 1 bottle in my first batch but it was also a 3gal batch, so im going to see if it being in the concentrate form will do anything to it here's to testing!

 

[nash1521]

hi everyone well im a newbie and just got some skeeter pee going and was going to make a batch of dragons blood and had a question. all i have is a 6 gallon bucket can i ad everything in and not put that much water in untill after it ferments and i remove the fruit and then add the rest of the water thanks bill

 

[dangerdave]

I don't see why not, though I've never tried it that way. Your starting SG will be higher. What size carboy(s) do you have?

 

[Dend78]

yup cut the recipe by however many gallons you are making, i would just stick with a 5 gallon batch and try not to water it so much 1gal of water to this post fermentation will cut your abv and flavor quite a bit

 

[nash1521]

ive also got 6 gal carboys

 

[tatud4life]

First off, welcome to the family Nash!!!! I agree with sticking to a 5 gal batch. What size secondaries do you have? What yeast are you using? It is my understanding that some yeasts produce quite a bit of foam and you might spew over in a 6 gallon primary. I have only used EC-1118 so far and it doesn't foam too much. If you do a 5 gallon batch, the level will rise to about 5 1/2 gallons once you add the fruit bag.

 

[dangerdave]

Well, all you can do is try, nash. Make a 5 gallon batch---just do the math on the ingredients and add the right amount (roughly 4/5 of each additive)---and follow the directions. You'll have to figure out something when you get to racking it to the carboy. You'll need to make up for the extra space. Folks here have used marbels and blatters. I'm kinda at a lost for you at that point. Maybe someone else can give some suggestions.

 

[Dend78]

if you have a ferm shop close buy go for the 1gal glass jugs, they are like 5 bucks

 

[keena]

Theoretically if you follow the recipe exact but one gal less water, you should get higher alcohol and what not, but after that gal of water is added you would think it would level out to what you are supposed to have. Only problem I see is your abv might not be exactly what you want, but it should be close. Maybe I'm wrong but I feel like it should work.

 

[nash1521]

I'm gonna try it I'll let y'all know if it works or not thanks

 

[Dend78]

i see where you are coming from keena it does seem like it should but at the same time I would think adding water in the end would cause the flavor and the ABV to go haywire, keep us posted on your findings and how you go about it nash i would like to know