skeeter pee help

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CliffMongoloid

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So last night i made up some skeeter pee

Its sitting now covered with a dish towel in my bucket

2 questions

Should i make a starter on my stir plate or no stir plate?

Also will red star Montrachet yeast work or should i try and find the lavlin ec 1118? My lhbs was out of the lalvin but i am heading to my honetown to have my car fixed and their be shop might have it
 
Although I've made it with and without starters, my practice has evolved to making a good starter. :) I don't have a stir plate, so I do the "swirl when walk-by" technique. I hydrate the yeast and pour it and 1/2 gallon of white grape juice into a gallon jug and swirl when I walk by.
 
Took a gravity reading and it was 1.050

I added 1 bottle of lemon juice and 3tsps of nutrient and 1tsp of energizer

And man did it get angry... Foamed up and bubbled like crazy

Can't wait to try this
 
If you use finnings it is only a few weeks. Just let it finish fermenting. Hit it with the finnings and once clear rack off lees. I don't use finnings and let it go 2-3 months then rack for the first time.
 
Hrm ... if you oxygenated and all that then ... not sure where it went wrong. Definitely not done so maybe some more yeast will help. Mine went dry in less than a week.
 
What if I just use a few onces of apfelwein and all the lees as a starter? Too easy? Not enough viable yeasties?
 
Haha. Apparently LBussy doesn't like the outcome of that. :) I make a 1/2 liter starter with apple juice and 2 packets of Lalvin Lalvin EC-1118, then step it up several times with some of the pee after it starts bubbling over a few days. That works well. I'm not sure if it's necessary, but that's what I've done with good outcome. :)
 
Haha. Apparently LBussy doesn't like the outcome of that. :)

Well the Rhino farts were eye-watering, the H2S production off the charts, and then when I finally got rid of the sulfur (used CuSO4) the taste of apples still detracted from the product. As I've posted before a slice of lemon made it great but I still will do it differently this time (new batch going in this weekend).

I don't want to sound "elitist", but I am convinced some people don't care a whole bunch about the finer points of what they create. Maybe it's that they honestly can't taste the faults, which if you think about it is not a bad place to be. :cross: I do know more than a few folks who want to know things that just make me shake my head - like "how much sugar can I add to my beer to make the most alcohol possible?" In my head those are the ones that think Montrachet and Skeeter Pee are a good combo. I realize I might be offending people with that statement, and possibly casting a very wide net ... sincerely not my intention. I do know though that I did my yeasties right and they did me a disservice. I am left with the conclusion that Montrachet, and specifically Montrachet after apfelwein is the wrong choice for this product.
 
Well the Rhino farts were eye-watering, the H2S production off the charts, and then when I finally got rid of the sulfur (used CuSO4) the taste of apples still detracted from the product. As I've posted before a slice of lemon made it great but I still will do it differently this time (new batch going in this weekend).

I don't want to sound "elitist", but I am convinced some people don't care a whole bunch about the finer points of what they create. Maybe it's that they honestly can't taste the faults, which if you think about it is not a bad place to be. :cross: I do know more than a few folks who want to know things that just make me shake my head - like "how much sugar can I add to my beer to make the most alcohol possible?" In my head those are the ones that think Montrachet and Skeeter Pee are a good combo. I realize I might be offending people with that statement, and possibly casting a very wide net ... sincerely not my intention. I do know though that I did my yeasties right and they did me a disservice. I am left with the conclusion that Montrachet, and specifically Montrachet after apfelwein is the wrong choice for this product.

I don't have personal experience using it, so I was just bowing to your personal experience in my other comment. I'm glad you followed up quickly that it may not be a good idea.
 
Ok, dumb question. I got the RealLemon home yesterday and realized it had sulfites etc. Will this ferment? Is Skeeter Pee somehow special bc of the invert sugar?
 
Ok, dumb question. I got the RealLemon home yesterday and realized it had sulfites etc. Will this ferment? Is Skeeter Pee somehow special bc of the invert sugar?
Invert sugar, letting it breathe overnight, HUGE yeast payload, stepping nutrients, all of this helps to overcome the preservatives.
 
What if I put the fermentable atop the dreaded montreact yeast cake but pitched some Notty as well? Or am I overthinking this?
 
What if I put the fermentable atop the dreaded montreact yeast cake but pitched some Notty as well? Or am I overthinking this?

One yeast will win out if you are pitching two yeasts. If you are pitching on a montrachet cake, my best bet is they would take over, and the Notty would do nothing. The easy way to do it is to follow the recipe as is on the website (skeeterpee.com), but instead of reusing a yeast cake, just follow my instructions early on making a starter. You don't have to make the starter ahead of time, since you need to allow the pee to "breathe" for 24-48 hours (to get rid of sulfites, etc.) before pitching anyway.

Lalvin EC-1118 is also super cheap compared to Notty. I think my LHBS sells 1118 for $1 a pack, whereas I think Notty is $4. I have never had anyone else's, nor made it with different yeast, but I am very happy with my results with 1118. I came to the conclusion of using it after reading a lot on the Skeeter Pee thread on here.
 
I've had good luck with both EC-1118 and Red Cuvee yeast. I don't have a stir plate, but I do rehydrate, after about 10 minutes, I start tempering the yeast mixture with the SP until it gets down to about 5 degrees of the SP, then pitch it. I've always had very good attenuation and getting the SP down to the 1.000 or .990 mark.

Good luck.
 

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