40 Bottle Batch Dragons Blood by Beggarsu

[beggarsu]

I am making 7.92 US Gallons Dragon's Blood in two batches 3.96 Gal each.
3.96 gal is 15 litres is 20 bottles each.

I have plenty of one and 3/4 gallon jugs for carboys so I can make odd batches - this will probably end up in a 6 gallon carboy + 2 jugs.

Basic Ingredients




The basic fruit packs.
Dangerdave said he could get about 6 pounds fruit packs for about 20 bucks. I scoured the supermarkets to see if Canada here could match that. I found out that the normal cost of fruit packs here is twice or three times as much or more than what Dangerdave paid - must be a fruit belt there!!
However there was one seemingly exception - a brand "President's Choice" "Four Berry Mix" (plus some other interesting high quality freezer packs) - for 3.99 (I still have to double check this is the regular price) and I got them on sale for $3.49. So if that is the regular price , this can be repeated many times.

If the standard price is $3.99 per 600 gm then it's $18.60 pounds unit cost for a 6 gallon batch. Not bad! Actually the sale price was 3.49.
So I got 3 packs of those President Choice and 3 packs of another brand in another store "Co-Op Gold". for again $3.49 on sale - but get this - that was special half-price sale and other brands were even more expensive. (ouch). So President's Choice is the only sure thing.

I don't have access to big box discount supermarkets in this small city - it might be better shopping there in the capitol but I go there so seldom and don't know the stores.





So considering Dave uses 6 pounds for 6 gallons then for my quantity of fruit - (6 times 600 gm) times 2.2 = 7.92 pounds = 7.92 gallons according to the recipe.

This is my mark , the ratio of fruit to gallons in the recipe, for all the measurements to follow.
So I separated the ingredients into two batches to target 3.96 gal each which is 15 litres exactly which is 20 bottles each exactly.
...
Then I can taste test each batch with the two different kinds of fruit packs and maybe might decide to merge them - or not.




The lemon juice 32 ounce 946 ml) a bottle is only 2 bucks a bottle.
Again using Dangerdave's recipe of 48 oz lemon for 6 gal US (22.71 litres) I calculated that I need 32 oz lemon in each of my batches.

I started the first batch with the President's choice 4 Berry Mix I will give my full recipe and progress to follow.
I didn't eat the Berry's at all - didn't want to rob the wine - they look pretty good - I should probably buy some to eat, but that's a second priority.

 

[bkisel]

Is this your first batch of DB? I used a 4 berry blend (~$20.00 USA for the 6 pounds @ Super Stop & Shop) for my first batch. Mine came out great, I hope yours does also. Good luck!

 

[beggarsu]

Is this your first batch of DB? I used a 4 berry blend (~$20.00 USA for the 6 pounds @ Super Stop & Shop) for my first batch. Mine came out great, I hope yours does also. Good luck!

Thanks -yes, first batch, it's interesting to know what products are available to others and what the local cost is.

Here in Canada everything is in grams/kg so it makes cross country shared recipes a little troublesome.

I could have used just five of the berry packs for a six gallon ferment. That would be the standard here in Canada for anyone else wish to try it.
....
That's 5 times 600gm = 3,000 gm = 6.6 pounds - just thrown in the extra fruit.

But for various reason I decided to make 2 batches with 6 packs - works out to almost 8 gallons. Why make 6 gallons when you can make eight!!?

So all my measurements of the various ingredients are probably not much use to anyone else.

There were actually 3 or more other kinds of berry or fruit packs in that same line (President's choice). There were further some specialty fruit packs - blueberry, cherry etc in other brands that were pricier - they look quite delicious and it might be worth it to cost analyze , wait for a sale or just splurge it try them out.

 

[JDesCotes]

Beggarsu,

I live in canada and have the convenience of a costco being only 45 minutes away. My cost comparison for my next batch is as follows:

$3.49 for 2 bottles of lemon juice
$12.99 for 2.72 kg of frozen strawberries (exact amount needed for the recipe... But i bought 2 to double up the fruit)
Sugar was slightly cheaper then Walmart, but don't remember the price.

I calculated my last batch of Skeeterpee (no fruit) to cost about 30 cents per bottle and that included yeast, nutrition, and all other additives and clearing agents purchased from my local wine shop (calculated to the fraction of each purchase that is used in the recipe)

Since coming to that number I have started 3 more 6 gallon batches!!

It certainly is interesting seeing the wide array of prices out there.

The only down side to these "cheap" yet delicious wines is that they fly off my wine rack... My sister in law is now half expecting a bottle of wine to be brought every time I stop by and I'm not going to lie, I normally bring one or two and drink it with the family!

 

[beggarsu]

Beggarsu,

I live in canada and have the convenience of a costco being only 45 minutes away. My cost comparison for my next batch is as follows:

$3.49 for 2 bottles of lemon juice
$12.99 for 2.72 kg of frozen strawberries (exact amount needed for the recipe... But i bought 2 to double up the fruit)
Sugar was slightly cheaper then Walmart, but don't remember the price.

I calculated my last batch of Skeeterpee (no fruit) to cost about 30 cents per bottle and that included yeast, nutrition, and all other additives and clearing agents purchased from my local wine shop (calculated to the fraction of each purchase that is used in the recipe)

Since coming to that number I have started 3 more 6 gallon batches!!

It certainly is interesting seeing the wide array of prices out there.

The only down side to these "cheap" yet delicious wines is that they fly off my wine rack... My sister in law is now half expecting a bottle of wine to be brought every time I stop by and I'm not going to lie, I normally bring one or two and drink it with the family!

Thanks I appreciate the cost comparison.

I knew it probably was cheaper at the big box stores - though it's still cheap and there are occasional sales at Superstore, Safeway, Co-Op and Walmarts on concentrates and fruit packs.

This spring I've been interesting in making wines from whatever produce is available just out of curiosity I've been thinking of every kind of thing potatoes , ginger, tea, nuts, frozen concentrate, bananas, chocolate - anything that can reasonably be scrounged or sourced.
turn it all into wine!!-

 

[JDesCotes]

Funny you mention that. I cleaned out my fridge and freezer for my last batch and ended up putting in frozen mango and fresh pineapple, honeydew and bananas.

I figured they were past the point of eating fresh so would be perfectly suited for wine it's still clearing and has been racked for now 2 1/2 months.

I've since started the habit of cutting and freezing all my fruit as soon as I passes the "too ripe to eat" phase just so I can throw it in my next wine batch. Just one more way to save on cost I guess.

 

[dangerdave]

Thanks for sharing your process and your relative costs, beggarsu. The best of luck to you on this one!