DRAGONETTE: Triple Berry Wine

[dangerdave]

"DRAGONETTE" (Triple Berry Wine)

A VARIATION OF DANGERDAVE'S DRAGON BLOOD RECIPE

Ingredients: For a six gallon batch:

Step 1: To a cleaned and sanitized seven gallon primary, add---in this order:
Water to about five gallons
17 cups of white granulated sugar (you will be looking for a SG of around 1.075 after filling to 6 gallons below*): use more/less sugar for high/lower desired final ABV. Stir sugar until completely desolved.
1 tsp. tannin (stir)
3 tsp. yeast nutrient (stir)
1 tsp. yeast energizer (stir)
3 tsp. pectic enzyme (stir)
3 tsp. acid blend (stir)
Top water to six (6) gallons* and stir well
Test SG (looking for a SG around 1.075) Note: The natural sugars from the fruit will slightly increase the final ABV, so be careful how high you drive up the SG at this point!
12 lbs. of Triple Berry Blend (raspberry/blackberry/blueberry--available in most grocery store freezer sections), frozen then thawed, in a nylon fine mesh bag (tied shut), placed in primary (add any extra juice from the fruit as well): Give the bag a couple of squeezes to work in pectic enzyme. May also toss fruit directly into primary, but this makes for a "messier" fermentation and subsequently will require more clearing time and racking.
Cover primary
Place brew belt: Keep temp in 70F-80F range.
Let sit undisturbed for 12-24 hours...

Step 2: To the primary fermenter, add:
1 packet of EC-1118 Yeast (starter, per yeast directions): Sprinkle yeast into one cup of warm water (100F), let sit for 15 minutes (no longer), stir and add to primary. Other yeast strains may also work well.
Stir Primary Vigorously!

Step 3: Each day, do the following, in this order:
Check temp
Check specific gravity
Squeeze juices from fruit pack into fermenter---remove friut pack: Temporarily place in sanitized bucket.
Stir primary vigorously: To introduce oxygen into must.
Replace fruit pack
Cover primary

Step 4: When specific gravity (SG) reaches <1.000, do the following:
Squeeze juices from fruit pack into fermenter---remove friut 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* (or other cleaing agent): *1 tbs in one cup of water simmered for about 30 minutes. Add hot mixture to carboy.
Allow to clear undistrubed for no less than 1 week

Step 4: When wine is clear:
Carefully rack off of lees into cleaned & sanitized six gallon carboy
Add 4-5 cups of white granulated sugar (stir until sugar is completely disolved): Add more or less sugar to taste. Remember! The sugars will blend with the berry flavors over time, and the sweetness will come forward. Do not over-sweeten!
Squeeze all the available juice from another 3# bag of thawed Triple Berry Fuit Blend (same as in step one) and stir into wine: I was able to extract a full quart of juice. This step (and the pectic enzyme below) can be skipped for a dryer, lighter wine.
Add 2 tsp of pectic enzyme to wine and stir thoroughly
Allow wine to clear free of all sediment: This may or may not require more racking over the next few weeks.

Step 5: When wine is completely clear:
Bottle in clear bottles
Note: Never bottle cloudy wine! NEVER!

Good luck, everyone, and good wine!

 

[tucson]

Imported orange vodka to back sweeten

I have some really potent orange flavored vodka and was planning to add to my dragon blood before bottling. This stuff is from Italy and very nice and smooth and have a very distinct orange flavor? Comments?

 

[dangerdave]

My OrangaTang Wine is made using the original Skeeter Pee lemon wine recipe. To give it an intense orange flavor, after clearing, I added a liqueur I had made from the zest of a dozen oranges steeped in Everclear for three months. The 10oz of orange liqueur smelled like liquid oranges. The resulting wine is awesome, with a massive lemon-orange taste and a bold acidity.

I didn't try adding any of the liqueur to the Dragon Blood, but why not? Try a little as a bench test. See how it tastes. It could be wonderful!

 

[hmoss]

Sorry for pulling up an old thread if there is something more recent about this recipe! Anyways, I am excited to try this one out. However, I shopped and planned for a 3-gallon recipe, completely forgetting that my 3-gallon carboy is tied up for another month or so. My finances this month don't allow me to go back out and buy 2 more 3-lb bags of fruit (hello student loan debt!). My options carboy-wise are 5 gallons and 1 gallon. My question is....would it be ok for me to use the 5-gallon carboy for a 3-gallon recipe? I'm thinking it would be fine, at least during secondary fermentation. Then I could just leave the wine in the carboy without racking, a little longer than dangerdave's instructions call for. Then the 3-gallon will be opened up and all will be well. This would work out better for me anyways by giving the wine time to degas on its own since I have no idea how to do it. Thoughts?

 

[jamesngalveston]

this is what i would do.
use the fruit from a 6 gallon batch.
add 3 gallons of water to your pail are whatever.
add your chemicals
add your fruit
add your sugar
with 3 gallons of water, plus fruit, plus sugar you will almost be at 5.
if you do it the other way

add sugar/fruit/then add water to 3 gallons, you will have way less then three when your done.
sugar and fruit take up space, lots of it.
look up degassing wine on goggle. it is very easily done with a cordless drill.

 

[hmoss]

Thanks James. As far as the first suggestion, that's kind of my whole problem-that I can't go out and get the additional fruit for a 6 gallon batch.

 

[jamesngalveston]

dont buy anymore..use the fruit you have...

 

[billyPre]

I was thinking of trying this because original Dragons Blood gives me heartburn. There doesn't seem to be a lot of support on this forum for this recipe.
Have you tried this recipe? How was it? Any variations that add body?

 

[hmoss]

I have tried it and really liked it. (I actually see my past self up above in the thread asking silly questions, it's funny to see how far I have come since then!) It's a great alternative to Dragon's Blood since I'm not into lemon...it's a sweet, easy drinker. No advice to pass out on variations, just confirmation that I followed the recipe as stated and was happy with the result!

 

[daveb50]

I made 4 gallons of Dragonette triple berry according to this recipe. I added Davinci sugar free liquid sweetener to 3 gallons. It tasted pretty good after adding the sweetener. I separated the 4th gallon and added some Lemon and Key Lime juice. Will let it all age for a couple more months before tasting again.

 

[Basilhaydens]

Squeeze juices from fruit pack into fermenter---remove friut pack: Temporarily place in sanitized bucket.

How are you squeezing this? By hand or other means? Is it safe to squeeze with hands then put back into primary fermenter?

 

[Rembee]

Yes, it's safe to squeeze by hand as long as you do so with clean hands.
Have you ever heard the term "grape stompers" ?
People for thousands of years have been crushing grapes with their feet and hands to extract the juice. Just wash your hands and rinse them really good so there is no soap residue left on your hands. Then squeeze the bag as directed by the recipe.
Wine is very forgiving.

 

[Basilhaydens]

Just wash your hands and rinse them really good so there is no soap residue left on your hands.

Ok after washing hands would it hurt to rinse your hands in the same bucket of the ez clean solution I keep my spoons and stuff in?

 

[Rembee]

No it would not hurt to dip your hands in the ez clean.

 

[Raptor99]

Or wear gloves, and sanitize the outside of your gloves with Starsan. You can't really sanitize your hands. That's why surgeons always wear gloves.

 

[DnaNC]

How long before this wine is clear and drinkable start to finish?