First attempt: Klingon Blood Wine

For my first mead I am going to be attempting to make some Klingon Blood Wine to bring with me to conventions.

I was thinking about it and seeing as how Klingons are so much like vikings I think Blood Wine should be more mead than wine. Most recipes I've tasted were just a funky "pruno" type wine that tasted horrible. I like sweeter drinks so I was thinking a sweet mead would not only be thicker but also possibly be more "authentic" to what Klingons would really drink, lol.

My basic idea is honey, water, cranberry juice (lots of it to give it a tart kick) and a little white grape juice for extra sweetness.

Thoughts? I've even considered things for future batches to make it more "Klingon" like perhaps adding in something hot like pepper or something else wild and out there. I figure Klingons drink stuff that's really got a kick to it. Also thought about using Plums, since Worf seemed to think that prune juice was a "warrior's drink" so maybe whatever they use in blood wine is close to plums.

The following recipe is one I used to make a blood-red metheglin. The red color is from dried hibiscus. The hibiscus also provides a tartness that lends itself well to mead. It is not necessary to use all the spices I used. To get the red color, you must steep the dried hibiscus like a tea first. Alcohol does NOT extract the color well. Hope this helps!

Kvasir Metheglin
1/4 tsp mace
1/4 whole nutmeg quartered
1/2 stick of cinnamon
1 small clove
1 inch piece of ginger, sliced
1 black peppercorns
1 small sprig of Rosemary
1/2 oz hibiscus

Put all spices in a French press to steep with 2 cups boiling water.
Let cool.

Add 3.5 lbs honey (mixture of OB and Sue Bee Raw), cooled spice liquid, and water to 1 gallon to fermenter.
Add 1 tsp of 1:2 DAP:Fermaid K and 3/4 tsp potassium carbonate.

Shake like hell to aerate.

Add KIV-1116 rehydrated in GoFerm once it was cool.

SG 1.13 (a bit warm though, may be 1.14)

Blew through the airlock in less than an hour!

Cleaned and replaced airlock with no liquid in it for one week.

Also considering doing something with Cane Syrup, since I live in Louisiana and it's extremely plentiful. Not for the blood wine, but for a different batch. Thinking maybe cane syrup and pecan flavors to give it a unique Louisiana taste.

Wasn't Klingon blood a pepto bismol pinkish color?

Only in Star Trek VI. It was never established for certain whether or not blood wine contained blood. It was always shown to be a deep red color.

Do you think it could be similar to vikings blood mead?
https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f80/viking-blood-meat-280382/

Cool, thanks for the link. I will try to use that info to fine-tune my recipe.

Make it so number one, engage

Being a Star Trek fan from way back... I can tell ya, Klingon Blood Wine has the blood of SOMETHING in there! Tell a Klingon his Blood Wine gets its color from FRUIT or FLOWERS, and he'll kill ya.

Probably some vicious tasting Klingon fruit or flowers though

Made my little batch last night, 3.5lbs of clover honey and one 32oz bottle of Cranberry/Grape juice rounded out with some distilled water and used some Lalvin D47 yeast and a little yeast nutrient for my 1 gallon batch. This morning it seems to be bubbling.

I've never done any form of wine before, only beer. How long does fermentation typically take? From what I gather wine typically ferments quickly and then you just stabilize it and let it age, correct?

maxsideburn said:

Probably some vicious tasting Klingon fruit or flowers though

Made my little batch last night, 3.5lbs of clover honey and one 32oz bottle of Cranberry/Grape juice rounded out with some distilled water and used some Lalvin D47 yeast and a little yeast nutrient for my 1 gallon batch. This morning it seems to be bubbling.

I've never done any form of wine before, only beer. How long does fermentation typically take? From what I gather wine typically ferments quickly and then you just stabilize it and let it age, correct?

Click to expand...

Prickly pears would fit that description and they have the cool reddish purple color.

Just a quick update, seems to be fermenting well, guess I will give it a week or two then rack it into a secondary before letting it sit for another couple of months before bottling it.

Smells pretty good considering it's a must, so I have high hopes for this one.

How did it come out?!

I have yet to rack it. I hope to do so this weekend and I will let you know.

How's the color?

Looking good. Took a taste when I racked it and right now it basically tastes like a semi-dry blush. Strong alcohol content.

I was looking to do a Blood wine and a Romulan Ale here in the near future. If you don't mind, could you shoot me over the recipie that you used and do you have any suggestions as to how the Romulan Ale? From what I can gather from the tv shows and movies its more like a wine than anything else, so I figured I might try it as a mead since they generally more abv than a normal wine.

Recipe for this batch as follows:

1.5lb clover honey
1 64oz bottle of Cranberry/Grape juice (deLish from Walgreens)
One packet of Lalvin EC-1118

Mixed up the honey and juice well, topped off with distilled water then pitched the yeast. At 60 days I racked into secondary and tasted, already quite drinkable. Tastes like a very potent blush wine. Day 94 I added Sorbate and Metabisulfite, day 95 I back-sweetened with about 4 tablespoons of honey. Day 96 I bottled.

Totally just a recipe I made up in my head and it seemed to have worked quite well. Not sure if it will be any kind of prize winner but it certainly is drinkable and potent.

I think it totally works as bloodwine, the cranberry gives it a little bite that I think Klingon beverages should have. The next batch I do I might throw in a few fresh cranberries as well to up the ante.

As for Romulan Ale I've given it some thought and I think I've come up with an idea. Ok, they call it "ale" but it's blue. I've tried making blue beer before but because beer comes out yellow or brown it's impossible with food coloring so I think a white mead is the way to go. Also we know that it's supposed to be very strong (for an ale) which an 11-13% ABV mead would certainly be. This will be my recipe when I try it:

(1 gallon batch)
1.5lbs clover honey
1 liter bottle of Sprite (they used colored sprite in ST:VI and it also adds fermentable sugar)
Fill with distilled water
Lalvin EC-1118
Blue food coloring

I would let it ferment for about 30 days, rack to secondary then around day 90 I'd bottle it on top of 1/2tsp of superfine bar sugar (per bottle). This should cause a tiny bit of fermentation in-bottle and carbonate it.

I know it sounds like a strange recipe but I'm thinking it would result in something like a white wine with blue coloring, a little fizz and a fairly good ABV without being too dry. I would suggest shaking the carbonation out of the Sprite before putting it into your must, also a yeast nutrient might be a good idea. My only fear with the Sprite is the PH, but I think it could work since it's only 1 liter.

Most folks will probably balk at the idea of fermenting Sprite, but hey, you gotta try before you know it won't work. If you're afraid of using Sprite you could always just add a bunch of lemon and lime to the batch in its place.

Got the bloodwine bottled. Gonna get into the screw-top in a couple of weeks but the rest I will let age out for another 6-10 months. Gonna keep one bottle to age for a couple of years.

Hey. I know this is an old thread, but I did something with black cherry juice. I did a 250 mL honey mead starter with EC-1118 and let it percolate for about a day. Then I added it to 4L dark cherry juice and gave it another 21 days. Then I crashed it and did the spices listed above. I then put in a a spice bag 5g fresh grated horseradish and 2 chopped habaneros that had been de-seeded and de-veined and let that soak for about 12 hours.

Let's just say it's not for everybody but the smokin' nerd girl with the OCD 'boyfriend' thought it was love in a jug.