DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

[WineMan00]

After 7 days I was at .998 and removed fruit. Now this morning day 8 I was at .992. Tonight 'm at .990. Should I rack to secondary. And stabilize degas and back sweeten at same time?

1.080 was OG. How much sugar does the fruit bag add on in terms of ABV?

 

[reefman]

I always go by the rule to wait for three days of stable SpG readings before racking, sweetening and stabilizing.
Then wait another week to make sure fermentation doesn't restart....then bottle.

 

[wineforfun]

After 7 days I was at .998 and removed fruit. Now this morning day 8 I was at .992. Tonight 'm at .990. Should I rack to secondary. And stabilize degas and back sweeten at same time?

1.080 was OG. How much sugar does the fruit bag add on in terms of ABV?

You need to clear it before adding sorbate and backsweetening.
If it is at .990, rack it to a carboy, add kmeta and SuperKleer. After approx. 1-2 weeks, rack it off the lees. Then you can sorbate, backsweeten, etc. and get ready for bottling.

 

[WineMan00]

14 hours after racking, degassing, fining. Sparklloid all seemed to be settle out to the bottom already but not much clearer. Will have to give it time.

Afterwards I read to let the sparklloid sit for 15 min after boiling but I poured it in right away. My directions didn't mention that. Should I add more?

 

[reefman]

when you can shine a flashlight through the carboy and not see the beam reflecting off particles in the wine, then its done clearing!

 

[wineforfun]

View attachment 28004

14 hours after racking, degassing, fining. Sparklloid all seemed to be settle out to the bottom already but not much clearer. Will have to give it time.

Afterwards I read to let the sparklloid sit for 15 min after boiling but I poured it in right away. My directions didn't mention that. Should I add more?

Give it time to work. It won't clear in a day. I boil mine for 5 minutes, then add immediately while still hot. That is per instructions on container. I will say that I no longer use Sparkloid due to the "whispies" it seems to leave behind. I only use SuperKleer now.

 

[jumby]

Give it time to work. It won't clear in a day. I boil mine for 5 minutes, then add immediately while still hot. That is per instructions on container. I will say that I no longer use Sparkloid due to the "whispies" it seems to leave behind. I only use SuperKleer now.

+1 for not using Sparkloid. SuperKleer does much better job IMHO.

 

[Rampage4all]

Racked tripleberry and back sweetened with 120oz. blueberry blackberry juice and blended one liter of 100% blackberry wine 12%abv

 

[CGish]

Finally got around to bottling the Tropical Dragon batch. Yield was 76.5 bottles. Taste at bottling is an in your face blast of pineapple acidity that flows into a wonderful I just bit into a fresh apricot taste. Not sure where the apricot is coming from - perhaps the mango/peach combination from the mixed fruit blend?

 

[bkisel]

Another SuperKlear fan here with easily a half dozen or more DBs or DB variations made.

 

[RedRockGirl]

I finally get it.... why people love DB.
DB was the first wine I made in early December last year. I made 6 gallons, and then after racking it to secondary, I started an 18 gallon batch. When I first tried it at 3 weeks, I thought it was awful. I was seriously regretting making 18 gallons. Friends wanted to try my wine, and I didn't dare because it was not good. We let it age for a month, bottled and started drinking it. I still didn't love it, but with each bottle/week I could tell it was getting better. At 3+ months, I'm really loving it. Now I just need to bottle the 18 gallons and get another 18 started.

 

[WineMan00]

It's been a week after sparklloid and doesn't seem much clearer. Seems hazy Is it ok to add superkleer and pectic enzyme?

 

[jumby]

Approximately how much sugar does the fruit bag add to the fermentation?

 

[Rmarsh]

Bottled 24 bottles a few days ago, about a month from pitching to bottling. Already planning on making another batch when my fermenter is free next week!

 

[Winenoob66]

Nice, I like the label to.

 

[knifemaker]

It's been a week after sparklloid and doesn't seem much clearer. Seems hazy Is it ok to add superkleer and pectic enzyme?

Just give it some time, are you sure it was degassed enough? If it's still holding onto co2, then it's going to take longer to clear. You can stir the sparkalloid back up into it and it's not going to hurt anything and also degas a little more while you're doing it. Or you can just forget about it and start two more batches to keep you busy! Dale.

 

[WineMan00]

I racked again. Added super kleer and pectic enzyme. 4 hours later it's crystal clear. With about 1.5 -2 inches of sediment. That stuff is amazing

 

[swedgin]

Is there a recipe for Blue Macaw somewhere?

 

[mwulf67]

Is there a recipe for Blue Macaw somewhere?

This is what have in my DB notes that I've pruned from this thread over time. I haven't personally made this version yet....

"The Blue Macaw (tropical fruit) is made exactly like the Dragon Blood, with the following exception(s). I use 6# of Walmart Best Value Tropical Fruit Blend (peach, mango, pineapple, strawberry) in place of the 6# of triple berry blend. There are a few variations you can do based on your personal preference. In my original batch of tropical fruit wine, I left out the lemon juice altogether, and instead added 3tsp of acid blend. This resulted in a very smooth, fruity finish. Sweet and supple. The next time, I used a single bottle of Real Lemon Juice (48oz) in the primary. The result was a nicely balanced fruity tropical wine with just a hit of acidity." If you don't have acid blend, just add some lemon juice. A whole 48oz may be too much for some folks. If I did it again, I'd add maybe 24oz of lemon juice. Otherwise, it is made exactly like the DB. How is that for easy! It's one of my wife's favorates. I'm starting some of this wine this week in anticipation of summer consumption

 

[swedgin]

So what makes it blue? Pardon my ignorance.