Dragon Blood: Triple Berry Skeeter Pee

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Lalvin ICV-D47 (C�tes-du-Rh�ne) : This is a low-foaming quick fermenter that settles well and forms compact lees at the end of fermentation, although when left on the lees, ripe spicy aromas with tropical and citrus notes develop. This strain tolerates fermentation temperatures ranging from 50� to 86� F. and enhances mouth feel due to complex carbohydrates and high polysaccharide production. Malolactic fermentation proceeds well in wine made with ICV-D47. This strain is recommended for making wines from white varieties such as Chardonnay and for ros� style wines. It is ideal for persimmon, peach, nectarine, paw-paw, and mango, as well as aromatic wines such as rose petal, elderflower, anise and woodruff. It is also an excellent choice for producing mead if supplemented with yeast nutrients, especially usable nitrogen. Its alcohol ceiling is 14%.
 
I substituted 2 cans of Pineapple Juice for the Lemon Juice, I used a mix of sugar and honey since I was just about out of honey.
Here is my variation based on Dave's recipe:

Tropical Daze

Ingredients

• 1 bottles (48 oz each) 100% Lemon Juice (Rea Lemon in the green bottle)
• Water to about six gallons
• 20 cups of white granulated sugar (looking for a SG btw 1.085-1.090)
• 8 cups Honey use to bring SG up to desired amount
• 2 – 48 oz Cans Dole Pineapple Juice
• 1 tsp. tannin
• 4 tsp. yeast nutrient
• 2 tsp. yeast energizer
• 3 Tsp Acid Blend
• 3 tsp. pectin enzyme
• 12 lbs. of Mixed Fruit Blend (Pineapple/ Peach/Mango/Strawberry/Grape) I put the fruit in a nylon drawstring bag or two if necessary, this will make for a much cleaner brew. I take a spring clamp and hold the drawstring in place so I don’t have to fish for them later.
• Yeast, 1 gram of yeast per gallon of Must. Lalvin 71B-1122 & ICV D47 blend,( you can use any of the following as well. DV10, QA23 - (Saccharomyces cerevisiae bayanus
• Go Ferm – 1.25 Gram per each gram of yeast used
• ½ -1 Oak Infusion spiral stick
• 2 oz untoasted oak.
• 20 oz. Raisins, chopped & re-hydrated
• Add 1/4 tsp. Potassium Metabisulfite
• Add 3 tsp. Potassium Sorbate
• Sparkolloid
• Sugar or honey for Back sweetening - 4 cups

Preparation: Add to Fermenting bucket

• 20 Cups of Sugar
• 2 gallons of hot water, stir until completely dissolved
• Add Honey, take SG reading, add until you reach 1.090
• 2 - 48oz Cans of Dole Pineapple Juice
• 3 Tbl acid blend
• 1 tsp. tannin ( I prefer Tannin riche, it imparts a nice sweetness to wine)
• 4 tsp. yeast nutrient
• 2 tsp. yeast energizer
• 3 tsp. pectin enzyme
• Stir well to incorporate all of the dry ingredients.
• 12 lbs of Mixed Fruit Blend (Pineapple/ Peach/Mango/Strawberry/Grape), thawed. I put the fruit in a nylon drawstring bag or two if necessary; this will make for a much cleaner brew. I take a spring clamp and hold the drawstring in place so I don’t have to fish for them later.
• ½ - 1 Oak Infusion Stick
• 2 oz untoasted Oak – helps reduce any vegetal flavors – I add in nylon drawstring bag or grain steeping bag.
• 20 oz chopped and re-hydrated raisins placed in Nylon drawstring bag
• Add the remaining water up to the 6 -6.5 gallon mark, taking into consideration the volume of the mesh bags.
• Take an SG reading, you want the must to be between 1.075 – 1.090

I let this sit overnight, with a heat mat wrapped around the fermenter, a brew belt would do too, just until it reaches 85°.

This yeast can handle 80-85° with no problems.

The following Day:

I take my selected yeast, 1 gram per gallon of must and rehydrate as follows:
I heat a half cup of water to 120° and add 7.5 grams of Goferm (1.25 g per gram of yeast used), add to the water and mix it in. When the water cools to 110-115° add the yeast, just sprinkle on top and let it rehydrate, let sit for 15 minutes or until you see it starting to foam (reproduce), then add ¼ cup of the must. This will give it a source of food to continue to reproduce and multiply, and it will get the yeast acclimated to the temp of the must.
Let sit for 5 mins and add to the primary.

Stir Primary Vigorously!

Every Day:

Check temp
Check specific gravity
Squeeze juices from fruit pack into fermenter---remove fruit pack: Temporarily place in sanitized bowl bucket.
Stir primary to introduce a little oxygen into must, the yeast will need it.
Replace fruit pack
Cover primary
When specific gravity (SG) reaches <1.000, do the following:
Squeeze juices from fruit pack into fermenter---remove fruit pack: Discard fruit.
Rack to cleaned and sanitized six gallon carboy
Add 1/4 tsp. Potassium Metabisulfite (stir)
Add 3 tsp. Potassium Sorbate (stir)
Degas very thoroughly: I cannot emphasize this enough!
Add Sparkolloid* as per package. Add hot mixture to carboy.
Allow to clear undisturbed for about 1 week

When wine is clear:

Carefully rack off of lees into cleaned & sanitized six gallon carboy

Back sweeten, if you are going to use sugar, I would make a simple syrup, 2 cups sugar to 1 cup water, heated just shy of a boil, you will see it turn to a syrup, make sure you stir constantly, you will probably need double that amount.
Back sweeten to your own taste

Remember! The sugars will blend with the fruit flavors over time, and the sweetness will come forward.
Do not over-sweeten!
Allow wine to clear free of all sediment: This may or may not require more racking over the next few weeks.

thx Pumpkinman
 
Awesome, Tom! I am interested in trying your recipe with the pineapple juice. Nice addition.
 
When I started my Tropical Daze a couple days ago... SG was at 1.090 BEFORE the honey. If you want to make sure you can add the honey in the primary, you may want to back off on the sugar some. I also substituted key lime juice in place of the lemon. Mine is fermenting nicely this morning.
 
So I racked and stabilized my ( 4 - Gallon) Sang Vrai (True Blood). I will be performing Batonnage on mine for a month. I took one gallon and added Medium French toast to it. After a month of Batonnage on both. I will backsweeten and then do Egg white clarification. Once this is complete I will filter and bottle.
 
It is hard not to drink at this stage. My kids all have had a small glass and it is their favorite stage of my wine making next to the bottling stage.

haha
I was thinking the same thing last night when I put together a batch of Dave's DB Melomel. It tasted great and would make a good summer drink for kids just using the berries, water, honey and lemon juice.
 
For those of you back sweetening with fruit reduced on the stove - how many lbs are you reducing and for how long? Do you add pectic enzyme? I'm thinking of reducing 1 to 2 lb for 30 minutes to an hour and then letting that cool. Adding that to the must and taking an SG reading. Sampling and then going from there. From the comments I'm guessing I need to stop short of where I 'really' want it as it will sweeten more over a week. How much more comes forward over that week? I know that's a lot of questions but its kind of hard to go back. Slow and easy is prudent here I suppose.
 
Pumpkin,

Per your tropical recipe, did you add standard raisins, or golden raisins? Also, what made you decide to double the amount of fruit?
 
I picked up a box of Sunmaid raisins.
I decided to double the fruit after experimenting on a smaller batch and finding that the tropical fruit didn't give me enough "WOW" when I tasted it.
I also substituted the pineapple juice for the lemon, that put it over the top!
 
Danger,

Thank you for introducing me to such a fun wine. I has bubbled up up and over the airlock twice. It is so active!

It smells amazing! I cannot wait to bottle this.

James
 
Just wondering, has anyone ever tried Dragon Blood as a sparkling wine? How would one make this happen without making it "champagne"?
 

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