Bulk aging Dragons Blood

[wineview]

Any benefit in bulk aging Dragons Blood. Three months, six months, nine months?

 

[David Violante]

I made some at the end of last year for summer consumption and so it sat for about 6 months. It had a very ‘cherry medicine’ flavor. I just opened a bottle last week and now… wow. That medicine flavor is gone and it’s very smooth.

Were I to do it again, which is quite possible, I would bulk age for a smidge longer. I didn’t have the same issue with skeeter pee though. So, maybe it was the berries? The only reason I might keep it in bulk to age vs bottle aging is if I wanted to adjust all of it somehow. (Ex backsweeten, remove acid, etc…)

You can always taste at intervals to see if it’s where you like it prior to bottling. I was able to drink the skeeter pee right away but it did seem to improve with time. Same for a mojito blend I did.

 

[wineview]

Thanks. A question about your sugar addition. I added 5/8 cup of sugar to five gallons. This is my second batch and I did the same with my first summer batch that went very quickly. I just tasted this second one and think it maybe needs a little more sugar. If I were to add more, will the first dose of Sorbate take care of preventing re-fermentation? Any opinion on how much more sugar I should add?

 

[David Violante]

The sorbate acts on the yeast, so further additions should be fine. In terms of how much sugar to use, halve what you think you need and taste and wait. There’s an online calculator you can use for sugar addition to get you to a SG you like. Fermcalc I would add, mix well, taste, wait a day or so, taste again. Repeat until you are where you want to be. Small increments are better. It’s harder to adjust over-sweetened wine. Also, for mixing purposes, it may be easier to use a simple syrup than straight sugar granules.