Dragon Blood: Triple Berry Skeeter Pee

[PrincessVintah]

Thanks, Danger! Heading to the LHBS this afternoon to pick up the few items I need, and plan to get started tomorrow morning with a good friend of mine.

A couple of changes that I will be making for my own batch:

I am using fruit that my friend bought fresh at Winco a few months ago and rinsed and froze herself. She got a killer deal and bought a ton.

I will be adding a tad bit of Dragon's Blood herb resin. I won't use more than perhaps 2 tsp. for the whole 6 gal. batch, as I don't want to change the flavor too much. But I want the spiritual/metaphysical/magical properties of the herb infused into the wine. Plus it should enhance the red color. I have done my interweb research, and consulted an herbologist and and internist, so I am reassured that it is safe for ingestion. My bigger concern is the taste of the wine. Don't want to mess it up. I'll probably add it to the fruit in the mesh bag.

Well.........wish me luck!

 

[Dend78]

just a thought it may be better to add it in after fermentation has completed, then when back sweetening i would say pull a sample and bench test as to what is needed to not kill the flavor but get desired effect

 

[Geronimo]

I will be adding a tad bit of Dragon's Blood herb resin. I have done my interweb research, and consulted an herbologist and and internist, so I am reassured that it is safe for ingestion.

I've never heard of anyone consuming that stuff. It's usually just an incense.

 

[dangerdave]

I will be adding a tad bit of Dragon's Blood herb resin. I won't use more than perhaps 2 tsp. for the whole 6 gal. batch, as I don't want to change the flavor too much. But I want the spiritual/metaphysical/magical properties of the herb infused into the wine. Plus it should enhance the red color. I have done my interweb research, and consulted an herbologist and and internist, so I am reassured that it is safe for ingestion. My bigger concern is the taste of the wine. Don't want to mess it up. I'll probably add it to the fruit in the mesh bag.

Well.........wish me luck!

That is a very interesting idea! I'm intrigued! Keep us postsed.

 

[PrincessVintah]

My first attempt at Dragon's Blood. The dragon's blood resin did not have much, if any, taste. So I added it in with the berries in the mesh bag. Excited to have a full primary fermenter again!

 

[PrincessVintah]

I've never heard of anyone consuming that stuff. It's usually just an incense.

In doing my research I found that it is used in making essential oils, incense, bath salts, etc. But it's also taken internally for a myriad of uses: headaches, as a coagulant (stops bleeding), chest pains, menstrual problems, impotence, and many others.

I wouldn't be putting it in my wine if I wasn't absolutely sure it was okay. As I stated above, I consulted an herbologist and an internist just to be sure.

But I do have plenty left over that I will probably add to some incense, and I'm gonna buy some fractionated coconut oil to make some essential oil with it, as well.

 

[Dend78]

only issues i see is it may do something to the yeast causing off flavors or fermentation may remove some or all of the medicinal purpose from it. looks good though

 

[PrincessVintah]

Well, it's been racked to the secondary. The filmy stuff on top has started to break up and sink. Not sure if I degassed it well enough. I'll rack it again on Friday (the 21st) and degass it again before back sweetening. Any more suggestions or tips?

 

[dangerdave]

Was it dry when you racked it, PV? What was the SG? I'm just curious, because it looks different than any of mine ever has. What's all that foamy looking stuff on top? Is it still bubbling in the airlock?

 

[PrincessVintah]

The SG was .992 when we racked it. Not sure what the floaties were, kinda like floating yeast, even though we tried to leave all that in the primary. Really weird. I've never had that with any of the wine kits I've done. But we've racked it again, and there's still a few floaties, but not near as much as the photo above. Tons of sediment left behind after the second racking. We used a mesh bag for the fruit, so I didn't think there'd be that much sediment. We degassed it again after the second racking, very thoroughly this time. No pfft in the hydrometer tube at all when we shook up a sample. It's still pretty cloudy, and our color is a much deeper red than your pics. Probably from the Dragon's Blood resin we added. Gonna give it another week to settle and clear before back racking once more and back sweetening.

If it doesn't clear up would you suggest adding another dose of sparkaloid?

 

[dangerdave]

Could the Dragon's Blood resin have that much of an effect? I recall you saying you didn't add much. Odd, that.

As for clearing: Pectin haze is the number one cause of cloudy wine, as long as it's thoroughly degassed---which you've said it is. If you think it's not clearing quickly enough, rack it off any sediment, hit it with a couple tsp of pectic enzyme and stir well! That usually does the trick.

 

[PrincessVintah]

Really not sure whether or not the deeper color is from the resin or not, although that was one effect we were hoping for. It could just be our mix of fruits. We didn't use the triple berry blend, but rather used individual packages of frozen raspberries, blueberries, and blackberries that my friend picked up at Winco for a killer price. I'm sure that alone could affect the color.

The floaties are all settled to the bottom now, but it's still not that lovely crystal clear color. I'll rack it again on Friday, and then back sweeten at that point. Would you suggest adding the pectic enzyme then? Before or after adding the sugar?

I sincerely hope these questions aren't a nuisance. But I gotta admit I'm learning a ton through this trial and error process. Thanks for all of your help and willingness to share your experience with me, and all of us here. You da bestest!

Oh, and Merry Christmas and Happy New Year! To all of you!

 

[dangerdave]

You are very welcome. No nuisance at all. We all want to see you succeed!

I'd get it clear before adding any sugar. That's what I do with the DB, and it has worked well.

I love trying different stuff. You are right, it does teach you a lot. Wonderful things can happen when you experiment. The Dragon Blood (Easy Peesy) Recipe was just an experimentation/variation of Lon's original Skeeter Pee. I reduced it to the simplest form of comprehension I could devise, so that even noob-beginners could whip up a batch.

Good luck with your version! What are you going to call it? Did you mention that yet?

 

[suecasa]

1st batch started!

I've only made a couple "kits" before ... and both of them called for fermentation in primary and secondary ... then stabilizing ... from how i understand your directions i let it ferment completely in primary .. then stabilize when moving to secondary??

also ... my SG was only 1.070 ... i'm not looking for high alcohol content .. cuz expect it to go down easy!! how low of a SG is safe and will still ferment

 

[dangerdave]

I've only made a couple "kits" before ... and both of them called for fermentation in primary and secondary ... then stabilizing ... from how i understand your directions i let it ferment completely in primary .. then stabilize when moving to secondary??

also ... my SG was only 1.070 ... i'm not looking for high alcohol content .. cuz expect it to go down easy!! how low of a SG is safe and will still ferment

Yes, Sue. Just leave it in the primary until it goes dry (SG of 1.000 or less). Then, you'll rack it to a carboy, stabilize, degas, and hit it with a dose of Sparkolloid. If all goes accordingly, you'll have a batch of clear wine about a week later.

Your SG will be fine. Don't worry. You're gonna love this stuff!

 

[Pumpkinman]

PrincessVintah, how many lb of fruit did you use, more fruit would make a deeper color as well. as far as the foam on top...the two batches I've made never did that, I am curious.

 

[suecasa]

another question ... thanks in advance ...

I had a must saved from the coastal red ... added it last night ... the bubbles have started mildly ... as i'm reading though i wonder if the yeast may be about burnt out ... i didnt rack that batch until the SG had dropped to 0.990 ...i used all the nutrient & such as listed in the recipe ... should i let it go and see what happens .. or go ahead and add some yeast today?

 

[cheesehead]

just filled 33 bottles and of course sampled 1 1/2 more of the dragons blood and it turned out excellent!!! took a bit longer but thats ok , the wife and i were on vacation in Jamaica and that just contributed to the clearing process. Had no sediment in the carboy at all. now to let the batch age a bit and onto a Pomegranate Zin 6.5 gals fermenting and starting a 5 gal batch of cherry wine that my son wants to learn to make, Happy Holidays to all and will check back often! CHEERS!!!!!! p.s i think i got more buzzed on the D.B at 10.5% ABV than i did the whole time in jamaica, LOL

 

[dangerdave]

another question ... thanks in advance ...

I had a must saved from the coastal red ... added it last night ... the bubbles have started mildly ... as i'm reading though i wonder if the yeast may be about burnt out ... i didnt rack that batch until the SG had dropped to 0.990 ...i used all the nutrient & such as listed in the recipe ... should i let it go and see what happens .. or go ahead and add some yeast today?

I know I'm a couple of days slow, but how's it going now, Sue?

The yeast should take off again, if it started bubbling already. Just wondering how it's doing after a few days. Do you think it needs "help"?

 

[PrincessVintah]

PrincessVintah, how many lb of fruit did you use, more fruit would make a deeper color as well. as far as the foam on top...the two batches I've made never did that, I am curious.

Used 6 lb. of fruit, pretty much two lbs each of blueberries, blackberries, and raspberries.

Still not sure what caused the foamy stuff, but it's clearing up pretty nicely after another week of sitting, not adding anything. Will rack one last time and back sweeten probably tomorrow.

Thinking I'll call this "La sangre del dragón". Goes well with our label: Bodega de Vida Baja.