I've made a few different batches that have been pretty much in line with Dragon Blood, one that was 20 lbs of blueberries done just like Dragon Blood, turned out awesome.
My friend bought a house that has a TON of grapes everywhere, we live in Wisconsin, so I don't know what kind of grapes they are, but they want to make wine with them.
Can i pretty much follow the dragon blood process or do something else?
I'd probably forgo the lemon juice for a acid blend of citric, malic, and tartaric.
Other than that go any advice?
I'm assuming you're talking about red grapes, and offering a general process for reds. Try to pick the grapes when they are ripe, determined by checking pH and BRIX over time, look for increasing BRIX and increasing pH (which is a reducing of acidity). Good numbers are pH 3.3 or higher and BRIX 24 or higher. If they just don't get there because of the varietal and location, both can be adjusted as needed.
Once picked, crush and destem the grapes, by hand if you have no equipment, or with equipment if you have access. If the fruit is good (not moldy or dirty) and you intend to to MLF (which you should if the pH is lowish), consider skipping the addition of SO2. Add some enzymes to aid in breaking down the fruit, mix thoroughly to distribute the enzymes. Once that's done, test the must and adjust numbers if needed. pH can be raised with potassium bicarbonate, and BRIX raised with sugar, do the pH first, adjusting slowly to the target, then do your BRIX, slowly also. If you have the ability to test for TA, that would be helpful in calculating adjustments, but not a deal breaker. If your pH is too high, adjust only with tartaric acid, not acid blend.
Pitch your yeast and let nature take over. Once caps start to form, punch down several times per day, add your first dose of nutrients at first good cap formation, second dose when sugar is 1/3 to 1/2 depleted. If you are doing concurrent MLF, pitch MLB and nutrients at first good cap formation. With low pH must, strongly consider concurrent MLF.
When BRIX is down close to 0 (SG near 1.000), siphon off the wine and press the skins, try to control headspace, but a little is just fine at this stage, use vessels with airlocks. 2 -3 days after pressing, you should have a pretty good layer of gross lees in your vessels, and AF should be nearly finished, rack off of the gross lees into properly sized vessels to eliminate as much air space as possible and let it sit under airlock. If you have elected to to sequential MLF, this is the time to add your MLB and nutrients.
When MLF has completed (as indicated by testing with chromotography or malic acid test strips) you can go ahead and add your sulfite and get the wine protected. It's also a good time to rack again if you have more lees. Add oak or barrel age as desired, or bulk age another few months to a year, adding SO2 every 3 months or so.
I sort of breezed through the process from memory, and it's just a general process. Below is a link to a much more detailed process from MoreWine, I highly recommend that you read through it:
https://morewinemaking.com/web_files/intranet.morebeer.com/files/wredw.pdf
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