Dragon Blood: Triple Berry Skeeter Pee

[dangerdave]

Sue, it would appear the sulfite and sorbate come in different strengths. I have had sulfite from two different manufacturers, with two different measurements on the instructions. I wuld follow the instructions on your ingredients.

Tripplett, I add sulfite to mine because I do stash some bottles for aging. The one year old bottles of DB are to die for!

Tess, I like to drink mine chilled. It seems to bring out the fruitiness even more. From each batch, I fill up several gallon jugs and put the in the fridge. The rest gets bottled. My wife gets bags of frozen fruit from Walmart (peach/pineapple/mango/strawberry), adds a handful to a Ball jar, and pours the chilled DB over it. Drink the wine, eat the fruit. Win-win!

 

[dangerdave]

I was jumping around different threads and came across the back sweetening with Honey vs. White Sugar. I am reading this smooth's things out more? Since this is my 1st batch should I just go Sugar or does this help mellow the lemon faster? Also I was reading the Raisins and Banana's in a batch helps smooth as well as a Honey batch (15lbs) to start instead of the 20 cups of White Sugar (10lbs). So many choices what is the consensus?

I have not tried back sweetening with honey, but some others have (pumpkinman---Tom---for one). I have made a DB melomel (honey in the primary instead of sugar), although in the end, I could scarcely tell them from the original. The last three batches I made were DB Especial! with bananas and raisins in the primary. I think they are great! I don't have the most refined pallet, so the difference to me is practically indistinguishable.

My wife, however, wants me to return to the original recipe! She is my inspiration, so you know what I'll be making.

 

[wildcat2013]

I just bottled a 3 gallon batch of DB and I have to say it definitely has some "bite". Does it tend to mellow after it ages for a while? I'm really hoping so.

 

[Dend78]

yeah that bite goes away after a bit seems to be about a month or so and it smooths out

 

[JimC]

Okay just racked to 5 gallon from 6 gallon after racking, sorbating meta, and super kleener last weekend. It looks nice and clear. I can't say that the picture does it justice!

Now time to back sweeten

 

[JimC]

Okay this back sweeting is driving me crazy... I am going to take a 5 gallon carboy from .990 to 1.10 so that should just be 4 cups, Nice and easy. Well I am trying to test on 750 ML bottle which is ~1/5 of a gallon. I mixed up 8oz of Sugar in well only 3 oz of water... don't ask.... I came out with a little of 6oz of syrup and took to the best I could 1/5 of that (1.2 oz). Sound right? Now here is the weird part. I poured the sugar in then the wine on top and got some fizzy head and bubble when I shook it up. Is this normal? I was pretty sure I degassed last weekend very well racking it with allinone and then a drill wand not getting any fizz with the drill wand. I racked today off lees with allinone and did not see fizz... but I got a lot of bubbles when mixing with the sugar..... Then I used one of those temporary pressure corks that you can suck all the air out of the bottle and wine to store it and got bubbles off the bottom... HMM...

 

[wildcat2013]

Okay this back sweeting is driving me crazy... I am going to take a 5 gallon carboy from .990 to 1.10 so that should just be 4 cups, Nice and easy. Well I am trying to test on 750 ML bottle which is ~1/5 of a gallon. I mixed up 8oz of Sugar in well only 3 oz of water... don't ask.... I came out with a little of 6oz of syrup and took to the best I could 1/5 of that (1.2 oz). Sound right? Now here is the weird part. I poured the sugar in then the wine on top and got some fizzy head and bubble when I shook it up. Is this normal? I was pretty sure I degassed last weekend very well racking it with allinone and then a drill wand not getting any fizz with the drill wand. I racked today off lees with allinone and did not see fizz... but I got a lot of bubbles when mixing with the sugar..... Then I used one of those temporary pressure corks that you can suck all the air out of the bottle and wine to store it and got bubbles off the bottom... HMM...

I can tell you from experience that this wine creates a lot of CO2 and is very difficult to degass. I only made a 3 gallon batch and it took me almost a week to finally get all of the gas out of it. It's very likely you still have some degassing to do.

 

[dangerdave]

Even amongst batches made the exact same way, the amount of degassing required can very. Nice and clear, though. Lovely!

 

[FABulousWines]

Okay just racked to 5 gallon from 6 gallon after racking, sorbating meta, and super kleener last weekend. It looks nice and clear. I can't say that the picture does it justice!

Now time to back sweeten

If you are saying that it looks better that the pic then I will be over soon to have a glass. Does it get much better than this?

 

[jeranis]

I think fermentation kicked off a little in the Dragon Blood I bottled last weekend.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/onsowokjffdx9zm/20130504_163522.jpg
I dont have a clear picture, but it was pretty.

3 weeks ago I added 3 tsp potassium sorbate and 6 campden tabs and sparkolloid to my 6 gallon batch. It cleared over the next week and I then added 4 cups of sugar. The next weekend it was still clear and dark red, so i bottled to 12oz corona beer bottles. (2 weeks after stabilization and 1 week after backsweetening).

This weekend, I noticed the bottles were slightly hazy, with the haze being suspended. I opened one and a tiny puff happened. A few days later, the haze seems to have sunk to the bottom and a fresh bottle puffs, with the same force as before. It didnt seem to grow more gaseous and it definately doesnt seem carbonated yet.

I thought a week with sugar would be enough to see if any fermentation came back but maybe not? I will keep a close eye on the bottles (by drinking them of course).

 

[dangerdave]

Hmm. I haven't had that kind of suspended sediment before, jeranis. Interesting. If it falls to the bottom, then it's left over sediment. I've begun filtering mine to prevent such problems. Unless you are willing to let it sit for several months to clear before bottling, you'll get some sediment over time.

A little puff when openning is ok, but---like you said---keep an eye on those while you drink them.

 

[jeranis]

It has now fallen to the bottom. Funny, when i bottled it, there was NO haze. Tonights bottle poofed the same amount as the one before it. No extra carbonation as of yet.

 

[jamesngalveston]

i only have 5 gallon carboy, can i omit one lemon bottle and 1 gallon water.

 

[Dend78]

yeah just cut the total ingredients

 

[dangerdave]

Here is the updated version of my "Wine Made Easy" pdf file containing the current revised recipe for Dragon Blood. Download and enjoy!

View attachment Wine_Made_Easy 2.0.pdf

 

[wildcat2013]

I think fermentation kicked off a little in the Dragon Blood I bottled last weekend.
https://www.dropbox.com/s/onsowokjffdx9zm/20130504_163522.jpg
I dont have a clear picture, but it was pretty.

3 weeks ago I added 3 tsp potassium sorbate and 6 campden tabs and sparkolloid to my 6 gallon batch. It cleared over the next week and I then added 4 cups of sugar. The next weekend it was still clear and dark red, so i bottled to 12oz corona beer bottles. (2 weeks after stabilization and 1 week after backsweetening).

This weekend, I noticed the bottles were slightly hazy, with the haze being suspended. I opened one and a tiny puff happened. A few days later, the haze seems to have sunk to the bottom and a fresh bottle puffs, with the same force as before. It didnt seem to grow more gaseous and it definately doesnt seem carbonated yet.

I thought a week with sugar would be enough to see if any fermentation came back but maybe not? I will keep a close eye on the bottles (by drinking them of course).

I just checked the batch I bottled a few weeks ago and I've noticed there is some sediment at the bottom of each. It was perfectly clear when I bottled it. This is definitely a tricky wine to make.

 

[JetJockey]

DangerDave,
On behalf of all of us wine makers that are enjoying the process significantly due to your contributions - THANK YOU!

This document is fantastic. It makes it easy to reference with everything in one file. I would love to have your recommendations on how, the effects (smoother taste, etc.), and the quantity of adding oak, raisins, and bananas to these recipes.

 

[DirtyDawg10]

I just checked the batch I bottled a few weeks ago and I've noticed there is some sediment at the bottom of each. It was perfectly clear when I bottled it. This is definitely a tricky wine to make.

I had the same problem with one of mine. I think it is more a problem of going from carboy to bottle too quickly. Some of the fine sediment takes a while to truly come out of suspension in the wine. Any batch I have left in the carboy several months has had no issue with this.

 

[CBell]

Mine dropped a little sediment a week or two post bottling but a month later and it has all gone back into suspension except or 1 or 2 bottles. Bottle shock maybe? Either way, my next batch will stay in carboy for a few weeks after I think it's bottle-ready

 

[TommBomb]

can you back sweeten say, 2 months after aging in a carboy?