DangerDave's Dragon Blood Wine

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pandakatelyn said:
Thank you! I'll leave it for another week to see what happens before messing with it more. My goal was to bottle for Christmas gifts.
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Oh, I see. No one here (well, almost no one here) would think less of you if you rushed it a bit for Christmas. Just follow the recipe, sorbate, then backsweeten to taste. If you rush a bit, it is possible your bottles will drop a little sediment. It is up to you whether that bothers you (and/or your guests) or not.
 
. . . and most country wine gifts are drank before possible settling! As far as back-sweetening, go slow, it's easy to over-do it.
 
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Has anyone following this thread modified this recipe to use honey instead of sugar to make a mead/melomel? I did a search and have seen several folks who back sweeten with honey, but only one who used it instead of the sugar. His comment was it didn't make that much of a difference to justify the cost. I realize most folks here don't want to spend the extra currency to pay for honey. But for the few folks out there who are beekeepers (like me), it might make some sense. Just curious and, if there is anyone, would love to hear your comments.
 
pandakatelyn said:
Just backsweetened today with 4 cups of sugar and it went from .0995 to 1.000. It tastes beautiful and is crystal clear. Going to leave it to settle until Christmas Eve to bottle. :)
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Obviously you enjoy dry wine, as do many. I backsweeten all my wines, Dragons Blood and Skeeter Pee to 1.02 . That's what is great about making your own wines, you make it the way you like.
 
fsa46 said:
Obviously you enjoy dry wine, as do many. I backsweeten all my wines, Dragons Blood and Skeeter Pee to 1.02 . That's what is great about making your own wines, you make it the way you like.
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I sure do!! I really like how this tastes dry. Going to make an extra sweet batch next time around.
 
Making a Dragon Daze or Tropical Dragon Blood or Tropical Daze.
Three gallon carboy batch
...
The Lime bottles here are 440 ml, the packages of fruit are 600 gm
I'm making a 3 gallon batch (Actually 3 gallons + 2 litre (overflow)
So my calculations are for 11,356 litres + 2 litres = 13.356 litres
I process the overflow in plastic bottles of which I have very very many of all sizes.
I use overflow bottles because I like to make sure I always top up on racking and reracking.
And this may have a lot of lees.

Just started SG of base liquid = 1.094, SG of liquid when all fruit was added is 1.090

Volume in primary was 13.3 litres and after fruit addition was (very approximate) of must may have been 17.5 litres , the final separated stuff after fermentation will probably be maybe a litre over 3 gallons., I'm guessing.. I may have done some overkill with my overflow bottle method.
..
I stopped using the squeeze method. I just mash or chop the fruit in a blender.
Yeah I have to hand filter the must into a carboy through a kitchen strainer and keep unplugging the strainer but I was ending up doing that anyway with the squeeze method so I finally said to myself "why bother? " with that.
Cutting up the pineapple was very tedious
Calculated using 834 ml of the lime juice.

The base weight of the fruit packs was 1800 gms = 3.96 lbs which is over the 3.53 lbs needed
Bananas and pineapple are extra.
As for acidity...I wondering about that - I should get into the use of a ph meter? and acid blend? I don't know anything about those things.
 

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pandakatelyn said:
Just backsweetened today with 4 cups of sugar and it went from .0995 to 1.000. It tastes beautiful and is crystal clear. Going to leave it to settle until Christmas Eve to bottle. :)
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I haven't seen that SG method of back-sweetening before.
....
I'm about to bottle six gallons of Dragon Blood , traditional recipe. It's ready on the 25th though I should be doing that on boxing Day.
I used 4 berry blend (Walmart - Strawberies, blueberries, raspberries, blackberries) - 5 packages 5 * 600 gm = 3 KG = 6.6 pounds (edit, fixed) and a little bit more than the 1430 ml (48 oz ) lemon juice because I use an overflow bottle method .
That means I make more than 6 gals in the carboy and process the overflow in plastic airtight bottles which I have all kinds, of sizes.many many many.
This way I never short the ullage in the carboy.
..
Anyway, color is beautiful , well settled with sparkloid and I will filter it through a one micron filter before bottling.
Four cups of sugar for 6 gallons is 2/3 cup per gallon.
I use ratios in calculations so I can easily know how to back sweeten any amount.
eg for one bottle , I can multiply 750 by .0208333 (which is 1/3 cup per gallon ratio ) = 15.62 ml sugar (granulated) = 3 tsp level..
And I use Betty Crocker level measuring cup system in ml.

1/4 is .015625
1/3 is .0208333
1/2 is .03125
2/3 is .041666
3/4 is .0468748
1 CPG = .062500 which I think was Dangerdave's original preference..

I got it all written out and use my chart so it is easy.

I've been experimenting a lot trying to find the optimal sweetness, that still brings out the taste , makes it palatable and doesn't mask the taste.
I pretty sure that the taste of fruit wines doesn't come out without sugar.
And I think maybe if I tweak a grape wine with fruit then back sweeten helps bring out the fruit taste.
Seemed that way on my Merlot tweaked with cherries - hasn't aged yet so I am not sure..

I've pretty much settled on 1/3 cup per gallon for everything DB, Reds and Whites.
So far anyway.

I pretty sure that the taste of fruit wines doesn't come out without sugar.

Like for the last about 5 or so kits (just the grape not DB) reds and whites I've bottled 8-12 dry , some to give to my sugar adverse friends and some for myself to try to see if I'm masking the taste by not trying dry.
I'm not sure because I don't have the results yet but I think some for me are pretty ok dry and some not for me
I'm not sure about my optimal sweetness levels
I gotta do a lot more testing... and testing... and testing..
A tough job and a long haul but I guess it's gotta be done. :ib:ib:ib
 
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@Chinook , really appreciate the information as I've only done two batches of DB so far. First one I back-sweetened with 2/3 per gallon. The last one I backed it off to 1/2 cup per gallon. Next one I try I think I'll go with 1/3 cup like you prefer. I saved one bottle from my first batch. My lovely bride and I along with our four daughters will be comparing them at some point this next week. I think they're going to like Batch #2 at 1/2 cup per gallon better. We will see...and as you say...testing and testing...and testing. Merry Christmas.
 
I tested commercial wines, and the results were interesting. I used Woodbridge: Chardonnay 1.000, Cab. Sav. 1.000, Pinot Grigio 1.150, Reisling (Kabinette) 1.010, Blanc. .996.
 
. . . however, the sg is also balanced with the acid. If there is more acid present, the sugar will be less perceived by the tongue. I once added too much sugar to a batch, and was told here to add acid blend, and it worked. So, the sg is not the absolute measure of the perceived sweetness of a wine, acid HAS to be figured into the equation as well.
 
I just finished the last bottle of my most recent batch of DB Classic. I had topped up that batch with some very inexpensive Cab Sauv because I didn't have Zinfandel available. I would definitely do the Cab Sauv top up again :D Time to break out the brew belt and get another batch going :D
 
CheerfulHeart said:
I just finished the last bottle of my most recent batch of DB Classic. I had topped up that batch with some very inexpensive Cab Sauv because I didn't have Zinfandel available. I would definitely do the Cab Sauv top up again :D Time to break out the brew belt and get another batch going :D
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Oooo, I need to try that!! I used white zin last time and I was curious what it'd be with a darker wine.
 
H - if this is your second time, make sure you take notes, this is the best advice that I have ever gotten.! My memory is bad, but even yours probably will not hold up.
Notes, notes, notes, and you can refer back to them later. You can ask here, but referring back is the best way.
 
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