dragon blood liqueur experiment ..

[sommadogg]

i know this site is all about wine making but i wanted to share this with you all , i see alot of posts about dragon blood wine (my father makes it all the time ).. so i wanted to try to make it as a liqueur ( i make more liqueurs then wine ). and heres the recipe

100g-blackberries
100g-raspberries
100g-blueberries
1-lemon (zest not peels)
1 1/4 cup- everclear
3/4 cup - water
1cup - sugar

i put everclear , lemon zest and berries in a mason jar and let sit for 7 days
after 7 days i made a syrup with water and sugar and let cool
strained the liqueur into the syrup , mixed well the bottled and put in freezer
it was really good , next time ill use more lemon bc i couldnt taste the lemon at all ,all in all it was really good
this recipe makes 500ml

let me know what you guys think ...

 

[BernardSmith]

I routinely make liqueurs and I can see an issue with your recipe. I strongly agree that you should allow the fruit to macerate before you add the sugar syrup, but the amount of water and sugar you add to the syrup should dilute the alcohol to a specific amount that YOU want. Most liqueurs are from about 30 -40 % ABV (or 60 - 80 proof). There's a formula for diluting any spirit with a known proof and a known volume to a target proof. Simply adding 3/4 C of water and a cup of sugar may or may not be too little dilutant or too much.
There is another little known secret - in fact two secrets.
1. You might experiment by heating the fruit and alcohol mix with a sous vide to 150 F for about 90 minutes - two hours. As long as the container is sealed tight, the heat will extract as much flavor in that time period as you would by allowing the mix to stand for a week or longer. I just made a chocolate liqueur using cocoa nibs and after 2 hours, the liquid was chocolate colored.
2. Rather than strain off the fruit as if it has no more value for THAT liqueur, I would add the fruit to your water and sugar and so flavor the syrup with those berries - and whatever other fruits or nuts or botanicals you were steeping. Again, you are using heat and so you are a) extracting more flavor and b) the fruit is infused with alcohol, simply adding the fruit to the syrup, will further pull more of the alcohol from that fruit (even if you had pressed the fruit as you strained it.

 

[Ericphotoart]

I make liqueurs from different fruits and last year around September I did "Dragon Blood Liqueur" using frozen berry blend from Aldi (raspberry,blackberry,strawberry, blueberry). It was one of the best I've made. I didn't use lemon though as you did. I don't drink yet. It is much better after 6-12 months.

 

[sommadogg]

I routinely make liqueurs and I can see an issue with your recipe. I strongly agree that you should allow the fruit to macerate before you add the sugar syrup, but the amount of water and sugar you add to the syrup should dilute the alcohol to a specific amount that YOU want. Most liqueurs are from about 30 -40 % ABV (or 60 - 80 proof). There's a formula for diluting any spirit with a known proof and a known volume to a target proof. Simply adding 3/4 C of water and a cup of sugar may or may not be too little dilutant or too much.
There is another little known secret - in fact two secrets.
1. You might experiment by heating the fruit and alcohol mix with a sous vide to 150 F for about 90 minutes - two hours. As long as the container is sealed tight, the heat will extract as much flavor in that time period as you would by allowing the mix to stand for a week or longer. I just made a chocolate liqueur using cocoa nibs and after 2 hours, the liquid was chocolate colored.
2. Rather than strain off the fruit as if it has no more value for THAT liqueur, I would add the fruit to your water and sugar and so flavor the syrup with those berries - and whatever other fruits or nuts or botanicals you were steeping. Again, you are using heat and so you are a) extracting more flavor and b) the fruit is infused with alcohol, simply adding the fruit to the syrup, will further pull more of the alcohol from that fruit (even if you had pressed the fruit as you strained it.

Ill have to give that a try

 

[sommadogg]

I make liqueurs from different fruits and last year around September I did "Dragon Blood Liqueur" using frozen berry blend from Aldi (raspberry,blackberry,strawberry, blueberry). It was one of the best I've made. I didn't use lemon though as you did. I don't drink yet. It is much better after 6-12 months.

I never used frozen fruit for liqueurs, I always use fresh ..

 

[sommadogg]

I never used frozen fruit for liqueurs, I always use fresh ..

I make liqueurs from different fruits and last year around September I did "Dragon Blood Liqueur" using frozen berry blend from Aldi (raspberry,blackberry,strawberry, blueberry). It was one of the best I've made. I didn't use lemon though as you did. I don't drink yet. It is much better after 6-12 month

I’m going to make a batch with frozen fruit next batch

 

[BrainEC1118]

Has anyone one used fermpro turbo yeast and dr.pepper? I am close to sending it to the lab they have. I have original readings calibrated 1.160 and 1.158ish and it's still working just using the fermpro turbo yeast and 2 cups of sugar with intentionally flattened dr.peper. I will let you know. I believe it will be done next day or so. If my calculations are right hell im getting close to 23 percent without adding liquor or anything and I will get this confirmed with melanie in the lab. Just curious if anyone else has tried lol. I thought ec1118 was a beast. pshhhh

 

[BernardSmith]

I’m going to make a batch with frozen fruit next batch

The thing is fresh fruit that you buy is rarely picked at the peak of ripeness. It's harvested early and is typically grown to be able to be shipped across the country with little damage. Taste is NEVER near the top priority for such produce. Frozen fruit is always [picked at the peak of ripeness, flash frozen and shipping is not a problem as long as the carrier can keep it frozen. For the wine maker and the maker of liqueurs, frozen fruit has the added advantage of the cells in the fruit being ripped open by the ice crystals that form from the juice. And that makes maceration a fraction of the problem you'd get when you use fresh fruit: thawed fruit is half juice before extraction.

 

[sommadogg]

im going to do this with the next batch i make , just finished up using my fresh blueberries today , im making lemon blueberry liqueur ( almost a blueberry limoncello