Newbie Intro

[wino-ang]

Hello all. I have been lurking on this forum since late December when my husband gave me a 1-gallon kit for Christmas. I started a couple batches - a strawberry recipe from Jack Keller and a Blackberry that was in the recipe book in my kit. Discouraging - both recipes take 5 years (sarcasm) to get results.

Fast forward to a few weeks ago when we went out and purchased equipment to make 6-gallon recipes. Our first batch was Dragon Blood that was just bottled Sunday. DE-LISH! Thanks Danger Dave!! This has gotten me so freakin excited! I also have a Pinot Gris kit on Step 3.

Tonight we started on the Dragonette recipe. I started with the 5 gallons of water, added all the chemicals, added the additional gallon of water and started with 17 cups of sugar. This did not give me the recommended SG of 1.072. I kept adding sugar, up to 10 lbs. and only got the SG to 1.064. Should I be concerned? Should I add even more sugar?

Another issue I had was the recipe says to add water to 6 gallons and then add the 12 pounds of fruit. Well my bucket overflowed. I took out a few cups and it's stilled filled to the rim. When this thing starts to ferment I am afraid I will have a mess on my hands. I pitch yeast tomorrow evening.

This is a great forum and I hope some day soon I will be able to contribute back!


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[Pumpkinman]

Welcome aboard, and welcome to the obsession!
A real good investment would be either a 10 gallon fermenting bucket, but I'd recommend getting a 20 gallon brute from Home Depot or Lowes, the Grey brutes are rated as food grade, this way you can make bigger batches of Dragon Blood!

 

[Rosa321]

Hello and Welcome!!

I used more fruit on my last batch is DB and had that same problem. The Blueberry did ferment/bubble out. If you can manage it, put a trashbag/old towel or something underneath it now, if it's not too late!

Take it as a learning curve. Next time, put in less water to account for the fruit. You can add more water if you need it AFTER you get the fruit in.

I'm ALSO making Dragonette. I'm on Day 3. All is happy and going well. I'm hoping I REALLY like this one!

 

[sour_grapes]

Welcome, wino-ang! Hope you have a good experience here!

 

[LoneStarLori]

Welcome Wino-ang. Sounds like you are on the right track to some serious wine therapy. I love making it. It's so much fun turning water into wine.

 

[bkisel]

Welcome to the learning curve... Oh, I mean forum!

 

[JohnT]

+1 on what has already been said...

A good rule of thumb is to ensure that you have at least minimum of at least 30% headspace in your primary fermenter. So for a 6 gallon batch, you need to have at least a 9 gallon bucket (a 10 gallon container is fine too)

 

[wino-ang]

Thanks for the welcomes.

We pitched the yeast tonight. The SG is now 1.07 so up a tad.


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[jvr06]

I set my fermenter in a black tub that you can buy at walmart for $5. Helps with any accidents along the way

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[wino-ang]

Thanks for the tip. Will do that next time. This one was a mess!


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