Author: Matt Del Fiacco

One of the challenges faced by home winemakers is the seasonality of ingredients, which leads some to make larger batches at a specific time in the year, while others rely on alternative juice sources to more regularly scratch the fermentation itch. One recipe that has gained a place of niche prominence is Dragon Blood.

Dragon Blood Wine was invented by David Land, who posted about it under his username dangerdave on the Wine Making Talk forum. Dave notes that Lon DePoppe’s Skeeter Pee was the first recipe he made himself and that Dragon Blood was built on both experimentation and the foundations established by other home winemakers. David describes Dragon Blood as a country fruit wine that is cheap, quick, and tastes good.

After sharing my experience making Sparkling Skeeter Pee, a question I received numerous times was if I’d tried making Dragon Blood Wine. I hadn’t, and given how much I enjoyed that batch of Skeeter Pee along with the positive reports from others, I decided to try my hand at making my own batch of Dragon Blood Wine.

| Making Dragon Blood Wine |

This being my first batch of Dragon Blood Wine, I stuck to Dave’s original recipe as closely as possible.

Dragon Blood Wine

Recipe Details Batch Size Boil Time IBU SRM Est. OG Est. FG ABV 5 gal 60 min 0.0 IBUs 41.2 SRM 1.073 0.999 9.9 % Actuals 1.073 0.988 11.3 % Fermentables Name Amount % Mixed Berries (Frozen) 6 lbs 30.77 Lemon Juice (1 x 48 oz Bottle) 3 lbs 15.38 Table Sugar 8.75 lbs 44.87 Table Sugar (for backsweetening) 1.75 lbs 8.97 Miscs Name Amount min Type Fermaid O 3.00 tsp 0 min Primary Other Pectic Enzyme 3.00 tsp 0 min Primary Other GoFerm Protect 1.00 tsp 0 min Primary Other Wine Tannin 1.00 tsp 0 min Primary Other Sparkalloid 1.00 tbsp 0 min Secondary Fining Cheap White Zinfandel 750.00 ml 0 min Secondary Other Potassium Sorbate 3.00 tsp 0 min Secondary Other Potassium Metabisulfite 0.25 tsp 0 min Secondary Other Yeast Name Lab Attenuation Temperature Lalvin EC-1118 (EC-1118) Lallemand - Lalvin 75% 45°F - 95°F Download Download this recipe's BeerXML file

PROCESS

After a quick trip to the grocery store, I had all of the ingredients needed for Dragon Blood Wine.

I started off by mixing the yeast and GoFerm in a small amount of water then letting it sit while I put everything else together.

With the yeast rehydrating, I poured the lemon juice and 4 gallons of RO water into a sanitized fermentation bucket.

Next, I added the sugar to the solution and stirred with a sanitized spoon.

Once the sugar was fully dissolved, I took a hydrometer measurement showing the solution was at 1.073 OG.

At this point, I dissolved the tannin, pectic enzyme, and yeast nutrient in a small sample of the liquid then poured it into the fermenter.

I then added the frozen fruit to a sanitized muslin bag, which was then tossed into the fermenter and squeezed in order to work in the pectic enzyme, as recommended by Dave in his original post.

I pitched the reydrated yeast and GoFerm then used a degassing wand to aerate the solution.

The wine was covered with sanitized cheese cloth with the lid sat loosely on top and left to ferment in my 62°F/17°C basement.

The following day, I pulled the bag of fruit and gave it a good squeeze to release the juices, after which it was all added back to the fermenter and the wine was degassed.

Over the following 6 days, I repeated the fruit-squeezing and degassing daily, after which I secured the lid to the bucket, put an airlock in place, and left it alone for 2 more weeks before taking a hydrometer measurement showing fermentation was complete.

I proceeded to rack the Dragon Blood Wine off of the lees and into a sanitized carboy.

Once the carboy was filled, I prepared the Sparkloid and added it along with the sorbate and metabisulfite to the Dragon Blood Wine.

I then topped off the carboy with some cheap white zinfandel.

After two weeks, I boiled the backsweetening sugar in a small amount of RO water, poured the solution in a sanitized keg, then transferred the Dragon Blood Wine into the keg.

The keg was left in my keezer for a couple weeks to clarify before I attached a small amount of CO2 just to allow for serving from a tap.

| IMPRESSIONS |

The process of making Dragon Blood Wine felt closer to prison hooch than wine making, similar to my experience with Skeeter Pee. Admittedly, I was somewhat skeptical of how this stuff would turn out, but I was pleasantly surprised with the final product. Despite being around 11% ABV, I didn’t perceive a hot booziness in this Dragon Blood Wine, just a pleasant generic berry character that made it quite easy to drink.

After drinking a few samples of the still Dragon Blood Wine, I burst carbonated it to see how a little fizz might change its character. In my opinion, the carbonated version was a notable improvement, particularly in that it compensated a bit for the thin body of the wine.

Overall, my experience making Dragon Blood Wine was largely positive, and I can definitely see how it would appeal to those looking for a quick and easy fruit-forward boozy beverage. While I won’t be making this stuff regularly, in part because there are other things I like more (like Skeeter Pee), the next time I do, I’ll likely bump the acidity up a bit by adding more lemon juice, and I’ll definitely be carbonating it. As David mentions, the beauty of Dragon Blood Wine is that changes can be made to suit the drinkers preference, so if nothing else, I recommend giving a shot to see if it’s for you!

If you have thoughts about this recipe or experience making something similar, please feel free to share in the comments section below!

Support Brülosophy In Style!

All designs are available in various colors and sizes on Amazon!

Follow Brülosophy on:

If you enjoy this stuff and feel compelled to support Brulosophy.com, please check out the Support page for details on how you can very easily do so. Thanks!

Advertisements

Share this: Facebook

Twitter

Pinterest

Tumblr

Email



Like this: Like Loading...