Dragon Blood: Triple Berry Skeeter Pee

[Tess]

Experiment!!! I think I might try it. I'll let you know

 

[Crown_King_Robb]

I made a batch of the DB as on the first page of the thread for a 6 gallon batch

Only I altered the recipe, by juicing the triple berry mix with a steam juicer. I may have gone over board though as I juiced 12 pounds of berries.

It's fermented dry and IM almost ready to rack it. It sure is purple and strong smelling. Like maybe too much berry?

Any thoughts or should I prepare to have my guests use this batch as to be mixed in crushed ice , lol

 

[Tripplett]

My only concerns with reducing berries over heat is pectin haze but then again I am fairly new to this. To be honest that is exactly what I did with my first DB for back sweetening - boil 1/2 the sugar with 1lb of berries and a few cups of water. As soon as it started to boil i pulled it and let it cool then added it to the carboy. I thought about a post I read on starting wine like this, boiling the fruit for the must, and how it was discouraged due to the chance of creating pectin haze. Am I remembering this wrong or am I just crazy?

 

[dangerdave]

Pectin haze can be a problem if your adding reduced fruit juice, but it is easy to fix with another dose of pectic enzyme without effecting the wine.

You are all great wine makers! Keep up the good work! I'm at the hospital for my mother-in-law's heart surgery, but tomorrow I'll try to catch up on these posts.

 

[ou8amaus]

i make simple syrup from strawberries...i take a 2 lb of strawberries
cut up and add to a pot, with 4 cups sugar,and one cup water. cook it until it reduces by a third, cool and stir in dragon blood.

That sounds like a great idea, I will try it on my next batch... Do you add any pectin into the mix?

 

[JetJockey]

Dave when using the fruit for back sweetening, should I put it in the mesh bag and squeeze it like done for the must? I thought the mesh bag may make racking it easier.

 

[bambiying]

I'm making my first batch and today was backsweetening day. Of course I was tasting while sweetening. Will some of the tartness subside? It's really tart....too tart. So far I'm liking my plain old skeeter pee more than this.

 

[kryptonitewine]

Asked this on another thread as well


I'm getting ready to start a batch of blueberry DB. I have 9 lbs of fresh blueberries. I cleaned them and froze them. Should I mix them in some water with a Camden tablet or two along with some peptic enzyme before mixing all the ingredients?

 

[stevolution]

Bottled mine tonight came out great and after just over a month... Already tastes much much better then when we tasted and sweetened 10 days ago... The color is amazing to. Your right Dave this has to go in clear bottles... Should have my labels next week sometime ill share when I get them.. Here's a couple pics of our night.. The lighter orange one is island mist kit raspberry dragon fruit which already tastes like heaven and it was just bottled... Anyone who likes the IM kits should deffinetly try that one..

 

[dangerdave]

Dave when using the fruit for back sweetening, should I put it in the mesh bag and squeeze it like done for the must? I thought the mesh bag may make racking it easier.

This is the first time I've tried the fruit steeped in the wine after fermentation with the DB. In other wines, I've used raisins, currants, apricots, blueberries, and dried mangos, so I figured soaking the wine with more fruit was worth a try. The DB is pretty cheap, so even if I screw it up (very doubtful), the loss is minimal.

I forced the triple berry fruit and all it's juice through a big funnel into the carboy, and racked the wine onto it. It's another experiment to improve the DB recipe.

 

[dangerdave]

I'm making my first batch and today was backsweetening day. Of course I was tasting while sweetening. Will some of the tartness subside? It's really tart....too tart. So far I'm liking my plain old skeeter pee more than this.

Like we alway tell eveyone, give it some time. The sweet will blend with the tart over time. Let it sit for a week in the carboy, then bottle. In the first few weeks in the bottle, it will impove dramatically. In a month, it will be very good. It peaks at about six months, becoming a nice light berry blush with a slight hint of lemon.

How much lemon juice did you use in the primary? Some people like a lot. After my first few batches, I reduced the lemon juice to 48oz. That's how I like it.

 

[dangerdave]

Asked this on another thread as well


I'm getting ready to start a batch of blueberry DB. I have 9 lbs of fresh blueberries. I cleaned them and froze them. Should I mix them in some water with a Camden tablet or two along with some peptic enzyme before mixing all the ingredients?

That sounds right, krypto. If you are using fresh fruit, you definately want to sanitize it before you mix up your must.

The blueberry DB is very good. I call mine Jet Blue. I have several bottles that I have saved for over a year. You will love it!

 

[dangerdave]

The DB looks great, Steve! Nice pics! You get a gold star!

My wife loves the IM kits. I'll have to try one of the raspberry dragon fruit kits for her.

 

[bambiying]

Like we alway tell eveyone, give it some time. The sweet will blend with the tart over time. Let it sit for a week in the carboy, then bottle. In the first few weeks in the bottle, it will impove dramatically. In a month, it will be very good. It peaks at about six months, becoming a nice light berry blush with a slight hint of lemon.

How much lemon juice did you use in the primary? Some people like a lot. After my first few batches, I reduced the lemon juice to 48oz. That's how I like it.

I used 48oz. I think I wished I might have used more, but hey, I'll just make more later. Live and learn.....oh, and drink!

 

[dangerdave]

I thought you said it was too tart? Was that "berry tart" or "lemon tart"?

 

[bambiying]

I thought you said it was too tart? Was that "berry tart" or "lemon tart"?

Sorry for the confusion.....it was berry tart.

 

[Tess]

maybe more sugar?

 

[ShawnDTurner]

Needs time in the bottle to mature. What was the final ph?

 

[PrincessVintah]

Ok, here's a couple of questions for DangerDave and all you other Wine Wizards out there.

Mr. Wonderful and I have now successfully made 4 different wines from kits and 2 batches of Dragon's Blood (truly our favorite) and now we're ready to tackle something a little different. We're thinking of a Mango/Jalapeno wine using a combination of the Dragon's Blood recipe and Jack Keller's Jalapeno wine recipe as our base.

My thoughts are to combine the raisins and jalapenos per JK's recipe (increasing the amounts for a 6 gal. batch), add the mango and continue using DD's recipe.

My questions are these:

#1: Because I'm adding jalapenos do you think it's still okay to start with the ReaLemon base of the Dragon's Blood?

#2: Do you think the EC-1118 yeast will still be the correct one for this combination of fruits?

Thanks for any and all replies.

 

[dangerdave]

Princess, I have no idea. You are moving out of my venue with this one. I plan to make some hot pepper wine some day, just not today. I would think the EC-1118 would be a safe bet. Most of the kits use it now-a-days. The lemon juice, I can't help you there, but it sounds good. Spicey-tart with a background hint of mango! How can you go wrong with that?

I, for one, would like to hear how it turns out. Always looking for new innovative recipes.