Dragon Blood: Triple Berry Skeeter Pee

[JetJockey]

James,
Thanks! It sounds great. All of these super recipes to try! What do I make next?

 

[jamesngalveston]

i think that just about anything will work...maybe not beets....i hate beets.
black and blue is good blueberry/blackberry
red and black is good strawberry/blackberry
green and gold is good kiwi/banana
yellow and purple is good cantaloupe/welches
red and yellow is good cantaloupe/strawberry
green and yellow is good kiwi/honeydew

since discovering dave the mans dragon blood.
i make every wine as dragon blood regardless of what it is.
i have made so much that I have a pile aging, and so far
out of maybe 50 tasters, not one single person did not like it.
thats all i care about...if i like it and my snobby, so called wine people, friends like it...its done deal

 

[JoyofWine]

Beardy~ Love the label!

 

[dangerdave]

since discovering dave the mans dragon blood.
i make every wine as dragon blood regardless of what it is.
i have made so much that I have a pile aging, and so far
out of maybe 50 tasters, not one single person did not like it.
thats all i care about...if i like it and my snobby, so called wine people, friends like it...its done deal

I wish I could express how pleased I am that so many people are using the recipe in so many variations. I never knew it could be so versatile.

Way to go, James! All of you are showing me more uses for this recipe every day. I'm going to have to branch out with it a little more this winter, to stock up for next summer. Right now, with several hundred bottles already gracing my racks, I'm running out of room! The holidays are coming, though. That will clear out some rack space, for sure!

Keep at it! I'm taking notes!

 

[jamesngalveston]

all i can say is Thank You..for your vision into this specatacle of wine making.

 

[beardy]

all i can say is Thank You..for your vision into this specatacle of wine making.

Amen. What he said, and DITTO!!!

 

[Tess]

Tess,
You "bottling" again?

Not yet. must have not had my reading glasses on

 

[Tess]

i think that just about anything will work...maybe not beets....i hate beets.
black and blue is good blueberry/blackberry
red and black is good strawberry/blackberry
green and gold is good kiwi/banana
yellow and purple is good cantaloupe/welches
red and yellow is good cantaloupe/strawberry
green and yellow is good kiwi/honeydew

since discovering dave the mans dragon blood.
i make every wine as dragon blood regardless of what it is.
i have made so much that I have a pile aging, and so far
out of maybe 50 tasters, not one single person did not like it.
thats all i care about...if i like it and my snobby, so called wine people, friends like it...its done deal

I'll bet someone somewhere has made a batch of beat wine!! lol

 

[Tess]

Nice Label beardy!!

 

[RotGut76]

I just started the clearing process on my DB. It looks smells and tastes great so far. I can't wait to back sweeten and, of course, bottle and drink. I need more patience.

I think the next batch I will use this instead of berry blend:



6lb bad $8.

 

[Crown_King_Robb]

could use some advice. Made my Dragon's blood about a month and a half ago, have racked and degassed several times and this weekend ran it through a 1 micron filter.

Problem is its way too tart and too much berry flavor.

What I did different from the instructions is that instead of must-fermenting, I used a steam juicer to the get the berries juiced out and only used the juice. The recipe called for 6lbs of berries normally. I juiced out 12lbs thinking that I needed to make possible differences. I also used both bottles of the lemon juice and now see that only one bottle is recommended. My wine is not red but purple at this time. I back sweetened with a couple of cups of sugar and even tried mixing in some sprite to a glass of it, and its "too much".

Here is what Im thinking and want to see what you think:

Im thinking I need to thin out my batch by almost half. If I do that with straight water I will also reduce the alcohol content. Im thinking I could water down a glass or two of what I have find out the right ration where the flavor mellows, and then make some sugar water and throw some yeast and tannin in it, and ferment that into something that I can cut my original batch by.

Does that sound reasonable ?

thanks,
Robb

 

[wineforfun]

The tartness will subside over the next few months. Not completely go away, but mellow quite a bit. The berry flavor however, will probably stay. Not sure how to get rid of the berry flavor without diluting it, which like you say, will cut the ABV down.
Personally, I would leave it alone and make another batch (according to the instructions) and mix them together, if you don't like this batch.

 

[Crown_King_Robb]

i think that just about anything will work...maybe not beets....i hate beets.
black and blue is good blueberry/blackberry
red and black is good strawberry/blackberry
green and gold is good kiwi/banana
yellow and purple is good cantaloupe/welches
red and yellow is good cantaloupe/strawberry
green and yellow is good kiwi/honeydew

since discovering dave the mans dragon blood.
i make every wine as dragon blood regardless of what it is.
i have made so much that I have a pile aging, and so far
out of maybe 50 tasters, not one single person did not like it.
thats all i care about...if i like it and my snobby, so called wine people, friends like it...its done deal

I had a similar thought as James is doing and this last weekend I steam-juiced out a bucket of ripe prickly pear fruit and started fermenting to the basic Skeeter pee/Dragons blood recipe'. I did add 1 lb of raisins though as a must while it ferments, and I had to use Montrachet yeast instead since thats all I had on hand.

The prickly pears juiced out really easy with the steamer. I didnt have to pull or burnish spines or anything. Got a lot of juice out of them too. They have a distinctive flavor already so it may take some doing to get the blend right so the taste is smooth. May take more aging ? I dont know but Im going to find out.

 

[dangerdave]

Robb, that might work. I've heard of others doing something like that. I believe it's called Water Wine. nothing but water, sugar, and yeast---some tannin wouldn't hurt, as you mentioned---then use that product to cut your overly tart DB. I think it's still saveble.

I'm going to change the recipe to recommend 48oz of lemon juice and then suggest more if desired. Right now it says to use 96oz and use less if desired. My apologies if the recipe was confusing on that note. But thanks for the info. Hopefully your example will keep others from making the same mistake.

 

[Crown_King_Robb]

Thanks for the feedback Dave. Im stopping by the brew-shoppe tonite for some supplies.

My other thought was to just cut it with water, and be done with it, for a triple berry cider or whatever it would be called... a wine cooler ? I dont know...

Ill be sure to come back with results so that anyone else wanting to do a steam juice application on the berries will have some info from my experience. Right now I can tell you dont do 12lbs in the steam juicer. Its toooooo much. haha.

 

[RotGut76]

I started my batch of, yet to be named, tropical blend skeeter pee. It already took on a beautiful color. And it smells delicious. I can't wait for this one!!



The pic was taken after I added the fruit. I just removed the bag for the photo.

 

[petey]

My Tropical Breeze
1 can pineapple juice
In straining bag:6# peaches,2# mango, 4 banana
Same nutrients as DB
Water and inverted sugar to SG 1.075
Total volume 7 gal.
When SG .992 stabilized waited 1 week
Back sweeten w/ 1 can pineapple concentrate SG .996
Sat for a week still was quite cloudy
Racked add 30 oz orange/ pineapple , couldn't find that pineapple concentrate
Hit it with super kleer and you see the results..taste great F SG 1.010

 

[jpsmithny]

Just started my first batch the other day. It has a wonderful color to it. The only change I made was adding another three pounds of fruit blend to the primary.

Can't wait to try it.

 

[Crown_King_Robb]

Thanks for the feedback Dave. Im stopping by the brew-shoppe tonite for some supplies.

My other thought was to just cut it with water, and be done with it, for a triple berry cider or whatever it would be called... a wine cooler ? I dont know...

Ill be sure to come back with results so that anyone else wanting to do a steam juice application on the berries will have some info from my experience. Right now I can tell you dont do 12lbs in the steam juicer. Its toooooo much. haha.

Ooooookkkkkayyyyy. Hmmm. Not what I expected.

Tonites results from a six pack of wine tasters and me and my measuring cup decanter...

I need to cut my batch by only 1/3.... According to those that like me felt it was overwhelming. 1 part existing and 1/3 part water-wine.

Half the group also liked it the way it is now even though I think it leaned a little towards mad dog 20/20. Just for a different Summer Time experience.

Looks like I'm going to make both versions. Everyone's pretty stoked actually.

 

[dangerdave]

Good to get feedback, Robb. You might want to keep a few bottles of the full strength version for tasting in a few months. Wines, as you no doubt already know, really change as they sit in the bottle.