Dragon Blood: Triple Berry Skeeter Pee

Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum

Help Support Winemaking Talk - Winemaking Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
ou8amaus.. pineapple and mango are both light in flavor at the amounts you started with. i would buy a few fresh pineapples, peel and core,
chop up and add with a can of pineapple juice and put on stove on med and cook it down to a syrup, strain and add to the wine.
since you added sugar all ready, you wouldnt want to add more.
except what is natural in the pineapple.
when i make my pineapple blood, i use 14 40oz cans of juice (3 gl batch)
when i make my mango blood i use 40 lbs of mangos for a 3 gallon
and 60 lbs for a 5 gallon

Wow, so I really undershot the required fruit/juice on these... With traditional DB using only 6lbs of fruit I assume the qty would more or less carry over for other fruits. Lesson learned! Thanks for the f-pack idea, I am on it!
 
i think you were on the right track.... berries have more flavor, expecially blackberries....
i am no expert, but it looks like the darker the fruit the more the flavor the lighter the fruit the least amount of flavor , lb for lb.
 
James is right, Micky. The tropical typically needs a little help. Extracts and f-packs help a lot to boost flavor. I've got one (tropical) clearing myself that will need some extra "love" to come around. Keep at it, I'm sure you'll be pleased in the end!
 
I have been watching this thread for a while. I am new to winemaking and this DB is my 2nd batch ever (my first being a Vino Italiano Tuscan Rosso Magnifico.) The DB is currently on day 3 of clearing. I sure hope it taste as good as everyone says!!!! Looks and smells awesome. Mine seems a bit darker than what I see in other pics. I used the same recipe but I only used 64oz of lemon juice.


Sorry about the side-ways pic. Not sure why it did that.

image.jpg
 
Last edited:
Behind the DB is the Tropical variation with 64oz pineapple juice and 16oz lime juice which just started clearing yesterday. You can barely see the 5 gal of the VI Rosso also.

I have a 6 gal batch of SP which started fermenting yesterday in another room.

I'm going to need some bottles.

Thanks to everyone contributing to this forum. It really helps us new guys start out on the right foot!
 
Last edited:
Hawk regarding the color did you use the triple berry blend or the 4 berry blend? I saw the recipe said 1- 48oz bottle of lemon juice. Did you taste that while racking to the carboys? I used 40oz of lemon juice in mine and had a quick taste last night, it's not fully fermented out yet, I'll be leaving it in the primary over the weekend and perhaps racking Sunday night or Monday morning. I did find it slightly on the acidic side but back sweetening will probably help mine. It's very fruity though! I myself used the 4 berry blend from Walmart and it is currently a bright ruby red.
 
Last edited:
I used the triple berry mix. I started the DB reading from the 1st post which had the original recipe of (2) 48oz bottles. I didn't see there had been 2 revisions until after I started the ferment, lol. It looked quite dark until I compared it with the Rosso. I think after it clears and with some good sunlight it should have more of that ruby red color I see in others.

No, I didn't taste it when I racked it to the carboy. I knew it would be tart w/o the back sweetening and I didn't want to ruin the picture I had in my head of the final product and the sweet smell of it fermenting...

I started with 1.090 SG and racked it at 0.993.
 
Ya, I was lucky to have seen the revised recipe before the original one! But back sweetening should help, there must be other ways to tone down the acidity in the way of additives if it's too much for you and it will mellow with time. I agree that once it clears you should have a nice color. I'm doing and elderberry blush as well, more of a second run and I found it peculiar that it seemed to darken like yours to a purplish color after racking to the carboy. It definitely not oxidized though. I also think that it will revert somewhat to a ruby red once it clears some... Was your DB lighter prior to racking?
 
It does look lighter a tad unless it's my imagination?? Also I'm sure each bag of fruit must vary in ratios of dark fruit to red fruit. It also occurred to me that the 4 berry fruit blend has strawberries too so an additional red fruit over the triple berry blend.
 
Last edited:
I used 2 of the 32 oz bottles from Walmart instead of the 48 oz. It is good but not much lemon zing. I have acid reflux so it is good this way for me. It's a great recipe. Ill be making more.
 
u are good to go. you could cut it back to 1 bottle of lemon if u want.
most of the lemon is invisible after going dry and racking...
 
Behind the DB is the Tropical variation with 64oz pineapple juice and 16oz lime juice which just started clearing yesterday. You can barely see the 5 gal of the VI Rosso also.

I have a 6 gal batch of SP which started fermenting yesterday in another room.

I'm going to need some bottles.

Thanks to everyone contributing to this forum. It really helps us new guys start out on the right foot!

You might try looking on Craigslist for your bottles. I picked up 5 cases of used bottles last week for $2.50 a case. Some of them were really nice ones too.
 
Looking great everyone! Don't worry about the extra lemon juice, Hawk. If it's not right for you, reduced it in your next batch. But I think you'll like it fine.

As to the color being darker: It has been my experience that the citric acid in the lemon juice has a profound extraction effect on the skins and pulp of the fruit used. This is the main reason, I think, that we can make a nice fruity batch of wine from a mere six pounds of fruit. After dozens of batches and numerous attempts to improve the recipe, I am yet---for my taste---to improve any on the original recipe except for cutting the lemon juice by half.

Recently, I have tried a batch without the brew belt, allowing the must to ferment at room temperature (in my basement, that is about 68F). The DB, which was racked from primary to carboy yesterday, is much lighter in hue that any I have ever made. Usually, my DB ferments at temps approaching 90F at the peak of fermentation under brew belt. This higher temp may also contribute to positive extraction from the skins. In addition, I have always taken my frozen fruit and microwaved it to thaw before placing it in the bag and dumping the extra juice and bag into the fermenter. This time, I dumped the frozen fruit into it's mesh bag and placed it in the must to thaw on it's own overnight, before pitching the yeast. Now I am reading about how beneficial microwaving your must can be in wine making. After this experience, I am going back to microwaving my fruit and jacking up the fermentation temp on my DB. The EC-1118 can tolerate the higher temp, and both factors seem to positively effect the outcome of the wine.

Always experimenting. Always learning. Sometimes, I learn new things. Other times, I affirm what I already knew.
 
Last edited:
That was great info thanks Dave. I too just put my frozen fruit into my straining bag (pantyhose) and left over night. I have a bright ruby red color despite my having added a jug of dark antioxia juice to get my starting SG up. I can't wait to bottle it and post it up here! Also I would like to know if you all get a strong fresh fruity taste and aroma when racking to the carboy? I was under the impression when all the sugar was fermented out that the fruitiness sort of disappeared until after aging awhile. This is not the case with me as I'm getting fruitiness in a strong way. I added 1 banana and 1lb of raisins. Would that have really made a difference? Or do you think it could have been the added antioxia juice? I added everything up front and added nothing between SG 1.030 and 1.020...
 
Yes, mine is always super fruity, even when it's dry.

Sounds like you're right on track, ckvchestnut! I like how you varied the recipe and made it your own. Nobody seems to make the exact same DB. Perfect! I've tried the banana and raisin version. It comes out very good! But each time I try a variation, my wife sends me back to my original recipe. LOL!

It's not about me and my recipe, it's about you and your wine.
 
Haha! Thanks Dave I will tell you this - I normally like to get out there and be creative with recipes. This was NOT my original intention whatsoever for my first batch of DB because I read over and over how the original is better than all the variations... But as luck would have it, I miscalculated how many 2kg bags of sugar to buy for the 20 cups... How many is it anyway?? So my SG came out too low and all I had in the house was 1 banana, some raisins and a jug of juice! So I'll have to get what I get! I will make it my mission to stick to the original reduced lemon juice recipe next time which I'm sure won't be far off in the future! Thanks for your responses!
 
Well, in these here United States, we just gotta be different from the rest of the world---for some strange reason. Sugar at my grocer comes in pounds. A cup of sugar weights in at about half a pound (7.5 ounces, actually). So, I can get about 20 cups of sugar from a 10 pound bag (more or less). For you, a cup of granuated white sugar weights in at 220 grams. Twenty cups times 220g = 4400g. That's 4 and half kilos (roughly).
 
Last edited:
Thank you!! I think I bought 2 - 2kg bags and duh had an extra gallon or gallon and a half extra liquid! I'm guessing the first batch is always a leaning curve right down to my little glitch of filing my carboy too much for the allowance of the sparkalloid moisture! Oh well! Next batch will go smoother!!
 
now i have to admit....made this the first time about 6 months ago...just tried a bottle thats aged awhile....sooo much better

sorta smooth and a bit of a buttery flavor.....really digging this recipe dangerdave! already have another one going i started 2 months ago
 

Latest posts

Back
Top