Skeeter Pee

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So there is nothing wrong with my plan to sorbate treat the SP, sweeten it with normal cane sugar and then force carbonate? What is the reason for using artificial sweeteners (is there a down side to using sorbate)??

I don't have a keg, so I can only naturally carbonate. Therefore the only way I can sweeten without making bottle bombs is to use an artificial sweetener.

Your plan is fine. If you want to sweeten naturally you'll have to stabilize and force carbonate.
 
FredTheNuke said:
So there is nothing wrong with my plan to sorbate treat the SP, sweeten it with normal cane sugar and then force carbonate? What is the reason for using artificial sweeteners (is there a down side to using sorbate)??
only down sides are some people are allergic to sorbate (small%) and using an artificial (splenda) or natural (stevia) alcohol sugar will allow sum diabetics drink a sweet wine..

bk0 said:
Your plan is fine. If you want to sweeten naturally you'll have to stabilize and force carbonate.
+1
 
Thanks Folks! Now if I could have only prevented my Pinot Noir explosion i'd rolling smooth into the Wine Making world... LOL - it is still belching dark purple goop out of the airlock hole (now with no airlock inserted).
 
only down sides are some people are allergic to sorbate (small%) and using an artificial (splenda) or natural (stevia) alcohol sugar will allow sum diabetics drink a sweet wine..


+1

Well, it'll still be 10% alcohol, and that's not nothing for a diabetic. But you shave your carbohydrates where you shave 'em.

More to the point, some people who are probably mildly in the metabolic syndrome range may note that they can drink a bunch of beer and just get buzzed, but drink a bunch of something with sugar in it and feel ill.

I order a diet coke with my double cheeseburger not because i think it will help me keep my weight down, but because i won't feel like total crap after drinking 32oz of diet coke, and maybe i need the caffeine.

(Note: I have recently discovered that you can just buy caffeine - pure unadulterated pharmaceutical grade synthetic caffeine powder - and it's not expensive! But you WILL look like an addict measuring out 150mg on a .001g scale)
 
Damn - my Skitterpeay puttered out at around 1.028... So I added 3 tsp of nutrient and 1 tsp of energizer, another 32oz of lemon juice, mixed the hell out of it and added another packet of Red Star Premier Cuvee. It is now happily bubbling away again... Anyone see issues with the extra packet of late addition yeast? The stuff is dirt cheap so no love lost on the wallet....
 
I backsweetened my skeeter pee yesterday with a liter of blueberry syrup I found at a European market I recently discovered. I also added Sparkalloid again to re-clear it. Next week I will go for bottling.
 
I am getting married in october and the old lady wants 20 gallons of skeeter pee but she wants fall flavors any ideas?
 
TimpanogosSlim said:
apfelwein?

(sorry, too obvious)

cranberry maybe?

I suggested all that and she said she doesnt like cranberry. She asked about pumpkin and that just doesnt sound good to me but may try it. I started 15 gallons today and i am picking another pail up tomorrow so i will have all 20 going at once.
 
Two things that come to mind that I have both made:

Cherries. While it is more of a late summer fruit, it came out wonderful. I used this stuff: http://www.brownwoodacres.com/cherry-juice-concentrate/

Apple Pee: I simply added a touch of green food coloring and a bottle of apple flavoring from the homebrew store. Came out as my personal favorite Skeeter Pee of all time. Most of the food coloring fell out (although very slowly), so you may want to avoid that part of the adventure.

Ginger? Herbs? Maybe a "spiced" type flavor with some mulling spices? The problem is that if they don't come out nice, the wedding party doesn't get as much to drink. Risky proposition. Maybe stick with what you know and love?

Pumpkin came to mind as well, but it is difficult to actually do "pumpkin". I've seen on other posts for beer that sweet yams come out tasting more pumpkin like than pumpkins. Also, it is usually the spices in the pumpkin pie that people relate to pumpkin. Maybe look at some pumpkin pie spice instead of pumpkin? (yeah, I've actually got an old bottle of that spice that is now sounding like a good skeeter pee recipe to me).


I suggested all that and she said she doesnt like cranberry. She asked about pumpkin and that just doesnt sound good to me but may try it. I started 15 gallons today and i am picking another pail up tomorrow so i will have all 20 going at once.
 
You'll note from pumpkin ale recipes that the required quantity of pumpkin for mild pumpkin flavor is about a pound per gallon.

Some other gourd or root vegetable might work.

Ginger could turn out well, and it strikes me also as something you could add after fermentation is complete, so it would be possible to make a small test batch in a mason jar or something.

It's a bit of a brain cramp for me because aside from apple and cherry and maybe strawberry and blueberry most of the flavors we associate as pairing well with lemon are summer flavors.

I mean, I am yet to get my first skeeterpee into the fermenter (today!) but i could see going with rhubarb, but rhubarb is a flavor i associate with the hottest days of summer.
 
Hey, as i am starting my first batch in a little while here, could someone explain the reasoning for leaving the must in the carboy for a day or two before adding yeast? I can leave my ec-1118 starter on the stir plate, or even cold crash it, decant, and step it up again - but I'm not grasping the objective of waiting.

Is it to allow the acid to break down more of the sucrose into invert sugar?

What happens if i don't?
 
Hey, as i am starting my first batch in a little while here, could someone explain the reasoning for leaving the must in the carboy for a day or two before adding yeast? I can leave my ec-1118 starter on the stir plate, or even cold crash it, decant, and step it up again - but I'm not grasping the objective of waiting.

Is it to allow the acid to break down more of the sucrose into invert sugar?

What happens if i don't?

The intention is to let some of the preservatives in the lemon juice bleed off. However, honestly, I'm not that patient, and have never had any real issues. Especially with a starter on the stir plate, I wouldn't worry about it. I've had 0 issues with going straight to fermentation without a wait period. And that is without a starter. Your mileage may vary.

Another alternative is to add the lemon juice after the fermentation is going like gangbusters. Then, preservatives don't matter.
 
The intention is to let some of the preservatives in the lemon juice bleed off. However, honestly, I'm not that patient, and have never had any real issues. Especially with a starter on the stir plate, I wouldn't worry about it. I've had 0 issues with going straight to fermentation without a wait period. And that is without a starter. Your mileage may vary.

Another alternative is to add the lemon juice after the fermentation is going like gangbusters. Then, preservatives don't matter.

Yeah, two packets of ec-1118, a couple teaspoons of fermax yeast nutrient, a teaspoon of yeast energizer, and a litre of 1.040 sugar water, boiled with a little lime juice in it just for good measure. and the yeast was rehydrated in lukewarm sterile tap water.

It will have been spinning for a day with a deep vortex by the time i get the carboy filled.

OK. I'll probably just mix it all up today.
 
Yeah, two packets of ec-1118, a couple teaspoons of fermax yeast nutrient, a teaspoon of yeast energizer, and a litre of 1.040 sugar water, boiled with a little lime juice in it just for good measure. and the yeast was rehydrated in lukewarm sterile tap water.

It will have been spinning for a day with a deep vortex by the time i get the carboy filled.

OK. I'll probably just mix it all up today.

Remember - You are making something that costs $7 a case. Dear heavens ... 2 packets of EC-1118? That's like ... $2 of yeast?! What're you thinking?!

Seriously, though. You'll be fine. I'm so lazy, I typically sprinkle a random champagne yeast on top of the must right after mixing - no muss, no fuss, no inverse sugar, no nothing ... Literally I mix sugar, water, lemon juice, yeast ... TADA ... skeeter pee. I almost wish beer could be this simple. But then wheres the fun?

There is literally nothing you can do to mess this recipe up. I wish it were more complicated, based on the outcomes. The taste of the pee is so good, that you feel bad telling all of your beer drinking friends that this is half the price of beer. And it is easier, and arguably tastier, on a hot summers day. Living in PHX, right around January, I rummage up all of my buckets, make a trip to costco for sugar and lemon juice, and get brewing.

tl;dr - RDWHAHB
 
I even have an oxygenation system. Which i will use for the first time on this stuff. Got the .5 micron sintered stainless aerator, and a .1 micron hepa filter protecting it.

But only because, hey, i just assembled it, and why not?
 
Alright, my first batch of original recipe is assembled. Lemon juice quantity was eyeballed because i bought the 2-pack of 48oz bottles of RealLemon at costco. Tannin is nasty stuff to measure so i hope i added Just Enough.

Just have to wait for it to cool to room temperature before oxygenating and pitching yeast.
 
Airlock releasing about a bubble a minute this morning. Looks like i'm in business.

I oxygenated and pitched so late last night that i forgot to check gravity. No time this morning. Guess i'll just have to trust that it was 1.070ish.
 
Coming along nicely. Read about 1.053 just now. Looks like tomorrow i add the 2nd batch of nutrient and energizer and the last of the lemon juice. Probably stick the oxygenator wand in it for a minute too, just for good measure.
 
Currently, making my first batch...just racked to secondary after a week of fermentation. I used a 3qt white grape juice starter (2 days) and red star cuvee yeast. A bit concerned as it seems the ec1118 is the more popular option. I'm going to follow the recipe for this 1st batch, but want to try the lime back sweeten with the next. I have high hopes for this stuff! Thanks to all for the invaluable information in this thread.
 
Props and love to Lon & members for inspiring me to make this stuff. Certainly very good, and worth the minimal effort. I did mine about 3 months ago or so, and have racked it off of sediment/yeast twice. It is almost crystal clear. If I want to bottle carb this stuff now, is there enough yeast to do that? Or should I pitch a packet into my 4 gallons and do it that way? Thanks to all.
 
You won't be able to bottle carb if you want it back-sweetened with sugar, you'll have to use an artificial sweetener to prevent making a bunch of 12 oz hand grenades. I'm assuming that the Sparkolloid will pull most of the yeast out of the liquid so adding 1/3 packet of dry yeast during priming should suffice in getting it carbed up if that's how you want it. (Just don't sweeten with sugar).
 
I am making my first batch of Skeeter Pee today. I even have a freshly siphoned yeast slurry from my White Grape Peach Wine. The Yeast used with that was Lalvin 71B. I have since put it in the fridge to keep cool and will take that out and add it after 24 hours from the Pee Must creation time.

I will follow the recipe and instructions exactly except I have one small change I am making. I noticed I do not have the Tannnin for the recipe. So to make up for that I was going to add 1 TBS of Lipton Loose Leaf Black Tea.

Wish me luck on a healthy ferment! :mug:
 
I made tea-lemonade
0813100941-42151.jpg
 
LOL Opps. I mis read the instructions a little and remembered even that wrong. For some reason I thought it wanted 2TBS nutrients and 2 TBS Energizer. 1 for now and 1 for later of each. It is 6tsp! of nutrients and 2 energizer! Well 1 TBS = 3 tsp so I am fine on the nutriwnts but added 3 times the energizer. I am using "Nutiferm Advanced" for my energizer. Also I dont like finning agents and decided to add 1/2 TBS of pectic enzyme to the primary to help with that. Everything looks good and on track though
 
isn't pectin haze a problem unique to musts that, well, contain a lot of pectin? I'm sure lemons have some pectin-like compound of their own but i have a few doubts about whether pectase is really going to help here.

(I am vaguely aware, from my jelly-making habits, that citrus rind contains a pectin that is activated by the presence of calcium -- unlike apple pectin, which is active when you get it)
 
isn't pectin haze a problem unique to musts that, well, contain a lot of pectin? I'm sure lemons have some pectin-like compound of their own but i have a few doubts about whether pectase is really going to help here.

(I am vaguely aware, from my jelly-making habits, that citrus rind contains a pectin that is activated by the presence of calcium -- unlike apple pectin, which is active when you get it)

+1 and to add, the concentrate is processed and has been subject to pectic enzymes during the juice ectraction to help in a higher yeald.. i have never seen a need for sparkolloid either with a little time and a good cold crash!! :mug:
 
Thank you all for the education on Pectin. Hopefully I have no advers effects on the must with the pectic enzyme floating around. I have whiped the must 3 times now with a jerry riged Hanger Whip and Drill for about a minute at a time. About 24 hours have past so I added my white grape peach wine/Lalvin 71B yeast slurry to the must. I will whip it wih the drill daily and hope to see signs of a healthy ferment in the next 24 - 48 hours. Once it gets to a gravity of 1.050 I will add the last nutrients and lemon juice.

In the instructions it talks about racking off the lees in a matter of weeks. I come from background in mead making and am usually racking for the first time 2 - 3 months down the road. Will that have adverse effects knowing the recipe and the yeast choice I have?
 
I don't have yeast energizer.. Only nutrient. Does this matter with skeeter pee recipe or should I run and get some?
 
From what I read skeeter pee is infamous for having bad sulfur smells if you run low on nutrients or over stress the yeast by adding in your 3rd batch of lemon too soon or not de-gassing/aerating the must enough. I would run and get the energizer. Strait DAP which is what most “Yeast nutrients” mostly contain if not fully is great in the initial steps of fermentation but lends much less help once the yeast is in full force. You need natural forms of Nitrates to help the yeasties go.

An update on my skeeter pee. The yeast slurry did the job just fine. Just like the Skeeter Pee web site predicted. About 30 hours after pitching and the Pee was foaming with CO2. I have de-gassed with my wine whip several times and already added my 3rd batch of lemon juice plus the last bit of energizer. No sulfur smell and all looks great!

I had strained my Slurry with a coarse metal strainer to get the peach pulp out of there but plenty got through and there was a thin cap of “Stuff” that formed on the top. A small swirl every few hours would break it up and release a lot of CO2. Since so much peach pulp came through into this it may have been a good thing to add my pectic enzyme to this batch.
 
I also find that adding a second packet of dry yeast when you add your second round of energizer/nutrient goes a long way for boosting the process. At less than a dollar a packet it doesn't hurt the wallet either...
 
Anyone have the figures for a three gallon batch? My first time making this.
 
This will be my 4th batch of skeeterpee and wanted to try something new with it.

Picked up 4 48oz bottles of Montgomery Cherry Juice at the grocery store last night ( only non blended cherry juice they had) also got 3 16oz bottles of lime juice, from what I read lime is more acidic so I think cutting the lime in half would be a good idea.

Thinking of starting the wine with just the cherry juice and surgar and then add the lime as it ferments down over the week.

Have two wines I'm about to rack that I can use for a slurry first is a Welches white grape peach on cote due blanc yeast, second is a cheap kit white Ziff with 1118, both have raisins in there loose, normally when I do this I mix the must then when its around room temp I just poor it right on the yeast cake from the wine I just racked, but not sure if it would be smart to do that on top of the raisins that were just in with the last wine, although I here of reusing grape skins so maybe it will be fine?

My methodology all sound on what I'm doing? Any suggestions? Shooting for a SG of 1.09 to start to make this a bit stronger than normal pee
 
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