Skeeter Pee

Well my first batch turned out great. I used cherry koolaid, lime concentrate, and splenda to finish it off. Made for a very tasty hard cherry limeaid!

How often do you folks whip in some o2 mine just started fermenting like crazy... should I leave it?

I do it a couple times a day till it starts fermenting then about for another 3 days after that.

Does this sound about right?

In primary with dish cloth over and lid loosely sitting on top temp between 19 and 25 C


Forth day of fermentation day six since starting batch.
start sg 1070
Day 3 of fermentation added lemon, yeast nutrient and energizer at 1050 whipped, 3 inch foam head Tasted sweet and lemony no off flavor or smell
Day 4 of fermentation 1032 whipped and again 3 in foam head formed over night

I'm gonna bottle my first batch tomorrow night in 2 liter Sun Drop bottles with homemade carb caps! Wish me luck.

downsideup said:

Does this sound about right?

In primary with dish cloth over and lid loosely sitting on top temp between 19 and 25 C


Forth day of fermentation day six since starting batch.
start sg 1070
Day 3 of fermentation added lemon, yeast nutrient and energizer at 1050 whipped, 3 inch foam head Tasted sweet and lemony no off flavor or smell
Day 4 of fermentation 1032 whipped and again 3 in foam head formed over night

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Sounds good to me. Gratz!

Life got in the way, and I haven't bottled my skeeter pee. I back sweetened my pee about 2 months ago, and it has been sitting in an air locked carboy ever since at room temperature, in a fairly dark room. Is it still okay to bottle, and drink? It appears to still be crystal clear and look okay.

Thanks, I appreciate anybody's input.

Yes! DRINK DRINK DRINK!

I haven't read through the whole thread, but has anyone tried to make this recipe with 2 bottles of lemon juice and 1 bottle of lime juice, as opposed to 3 bottles of lemon juice? I think it'd be interesting to do a lemon lime skeeter pee.

My wife makes an awesome homemade strawberry lemonade would fresh squeezed lemonade work for skeeter pee? I was drinking a glass earlier and was like I got to ask

gcdowd said:

I haven't read through the whole thread, but has anyone tried to make this recipe with 2 bottles of lemon juice and 1 bottle of lime juice, as opposed to 3 bottles of lemon juice? I think it'd be interesting to do a lemon lime skeeter pee.

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I actually have this going now, I started it last Saturday ill let you know how it finishes.

thejudge said:

I actually have this going now, I started it last Saturday ill let you know how it finishes.

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Awesome, yeah let us know.

gcdowd said:

I haven't read through the whole thread, but has anyone tried to make this recipe with 2 bottles of lemon juice and 1 bottle of lime juice, as opposed to 3 bottles of lemon juice? I think it'd be interesting to do a lemon lime skeeter pee.

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I've made a couple of batches like that. It's a little less tart than all-lemon, but the lime doesn't come thru that much. I've also made several all-lime batches, aka "margarita wine" (back sweetened with triple sec syrup). I like the all lime better.

I haven't (yet) made a 2:1 batch of lime to lemon. I think it might give you more of a lime taste. Lemon, imho, seems to over-power the lime.

Fred

poolboy said:

Life got in the way, and I haven't bottled my skeeter pee. I back sweetened my pee about 2 months ago, and it has been sitting in an air locked carboy ever since at room temperature, in a fairly dark room. Is it still okay to bottle, and drink? It appears to still be crystal clear and look okay.

Thanks, I appreciate anybody's input.

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Poolboy - I made a SP back last fall. I only bottled it about 2 weeks ago. It is a wine, it should be fine, give it a taste.

If the taste is good, bottle. If it is too sweet, add a touch of sour (lemon juice which will probalby cloud a little, or citric acid). If it is to sour/tart, add some sugar.

HBngNOK said:

I've made a couple of batches like that. It's a little less tart than all-lemon, but the lime doesn't come thru that much. I've also made several all-lime batches, aka "margarita wine" (back sweetened with triple sec syrup). I like the all lime better.

I haven't (yet) made a 2:1 batch of lime to lemon. I think it might give you more of a lime taste. Lemon, imho, seems to over-power the lime.

Fred

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I was worried about the same so I planned on adding some more at finish when back sweeting, so I guess that is what I'll do.

Anyone have a recommended Splenda amount addition to roughly equal the same taste as the 6 cups of sugar sweetening per the recipe?

Roughster said:

Anyone have a recommended Splenda amount addition to roughly equal the same taste as the 6 cups of sugar sweetening per the recipe?

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according to the http://www.splenda.com/faq/cooking-baking first tab (about bakign with splenda) it is a 1 for 1 volume replacement, so 6 cups of sugar=6 cups of splenda. Remember I don't think splenda ferments - which might be a feature in your case, not a bug.

The bag I have shows 1 for 1 but I would start with 3 or 4 cups and then taste it and add more if it needs it. Easy to add more than take any away! I feel that splenda is a little sweeter even if it is supposed to be 1 for 1. At least in my coffee it seems sweeter.

A50SNAKE said:

hey Arpolis, thanks for your reply!!

ok, theres no issues there, I actually cleared/stabilized over 2-3 months ago...LOL, got busy with work, life...you know, the usual...

so, when I backsweeten now, adding the 6 cups of sugar, can I keg it right afterwards? or should I wait some time?

thanks,

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that's what i'm going to do, add the simple sugar directly to the keg and rack onto it. i don't see why it shouldn't work. somewhere on here i read to make it alittle sweeter than you like because the carbonating takes a little off. let me know if you've already done this and it worked.

Racked from primary to secondary. I only have imperial 5gal carboy so lots of head room. I am not too worried about it right now because of the amount of CO2 bubbling out of airlock.

sg 1.004 prior to first rack

Transferred with Home made vacuum pump took about 5 mins. I think it pulled quite a bit of CO2 out during transfer due to the vacuum set up in secondary. I am not sure if this is a good or bad thing. Does the CO2 that is pulled out during a vacuum session sit on top of wine, and then a rush of air comes in when relieving vacuum displacing the CO2?

Just tested my first batch today, still in primary with SG of 0.990. It's pretty clear already and to taste, it is tart and a tad yeasty, but not terrible. I am wondering if I need to let it reach .970 or if I can rack to carboy and backsweeten now?

thejudge said:

I actually have this going now, I started it last Saturday ill let you know how it finishes.

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I used lime juice, about a cup's worth, in the initial mixing. I doubt it will be enough to tell, though.

I'm sorta in the same boat as Paschendale. I've only been fermenting for a 8 days but it raced down to 1.000 and has been there for at least 48 hours. Should I consider this done or will the last few points come off if I let it sit? I have been agitating with my winged wine mixer.

I am using a mix of RO and spring water.

Great stuff I kegged mine and carbonated it. Does very well as a drink.

Paschendale said:

Just tested my first batch today, still in primary with SG of 0.990. It's pretty clear already and to taste, it is tart and a tad yeasty, but not terrible. I am wondering if I need to let it reach .970 or if I can rack to carboy and backsweeten now?

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Not quite sure it would go that low. Mine fermented down to 0.992 and stopped. Never heard of anything going down to 0.97. Make sure you stabilize it before you rack and back sweeten.

GenIke said:

I'm sorta in the same boat as Paschendale. I've only been fermenting for a 8 days but it raced down to 1.000 and has been there for at least 48 hours. Should I consider this done or will the last few points come off if I let it sit? I have been agitating with my winged wine mixer.

I am using a mix of RO and spring water.

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If it's been there for 2 days it's done. Go ahead and stabilize it

gcdowd said:

Not quite sure it would go that low. Mine fermented down to 0.992 and stopped. Never heard of anything going down to 0.97. Make sure you stabilize it before you rack and back sweeten.

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I copied down the directions from the SP website rather than directly printing...entirely possible I miscopied, will have to go back and double check. Thanks for the pointer. Yes, I have the stabilizers ready and on hand.

Thank you, gcdowd, for bringing that to my attention...I had miscopied. I hope my error did not lose time or cause spoilage. I will be racking and stabilizing later today.

gcdowd said:

If it's been there for 2 days it's done. Go ahead and stabilize it

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Thanks, I'll check once more today which would be 72 hours, but I'm pretty sure it stopped.

Can I rack, stabilize and then back sweeten right away or does stabilization take a little time?

GenIke said:

Thanks, I'll check once more today which would be 72 hours, but I'm pretty sure it stopped.

Can I rack, stabilize and then back sweeten right away or does stabilization take a little time?

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Well, when you stabilize you'll need to stir the crap out of it to de-gas it. So you'll want to wait until it's crystal clear, then rack and back sweeten.

gcdowd said:

Well, when you stabilize you'll need to stir the crap out of it to de-gas it. So you'll want to wait until it's crystal clear, then rack and back sweeten.

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Thanks again GC! I was doing some more browsing here and am thinking I might want to bottle carb using splenda to back sweeten and dextrose to carb. I'll have to read a little more tonight.

But, If I went that would I should skip both the sorbate and k meta, right? What about sparkloid?

This is pretty much my first try at anything wine like if you cant tell

Yeah stabilizing kills the yeast so if you want to bottle carb with dextrose, you'll need live yeast. I've never used splenda but many people on this forum do with great results. You can skip the stabilizing but if you want to clear it fast, use the sparkolloid, otherwise it'll clear on it's own but may take a while

gcdowd said:

Well, when you stabilize you'll need to stir the crap out of it to de-gas it. So you'll want to wait until it's crystal clear, then rack and back sweeten.

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I know degassing is just what it sounds like but I am curious how stirring does that, since it seems that would add more gas. Don't get me wrong, I'm not doubting you by any means! Just seems a bit counter-intuitive.

How can you tell when you have properly degassed, anyway?

Can I assume that this little spot of foam on the surface and the faint foamy ring around the perimeter means I need to stir more?



Sorry the pic is sideways.

Paschendale said:

I know degassing is just what it sounds like but I am curious how stirring does that, since it seems that would add more gas. Don't get me wrong, I'm not doubting you by any means! Just seems a bit counter-intuitive.

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During fermentation, CO2 gets trapped in solution. Stirring the crap out of it releases the CO2. You don't really put any air back into solution, that would take pressure

Scratch this post....error.

Paschendale said:

Can I assume that this little spot of foam on the surface and the faint foamy ring around the perimeter means I need to stir more?

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I usually just stir until I stop seeing bubbles come up to the surface. Usually takes 3-5 minutes, depending on how hard you are stirring

gcdowd said:

I usually just stir until I stop seeing bubbles come up to the surface. Usually takes 3-5 minutes, depending on how hard you are stirring

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Well, they don't look like they are rising when I stir, so I shall hope for the best. Many thanks, there! You have been quite helpful to me. This is my first batch and you have been very patient with this noob.

One more general question before I hush. Would it be advisable to airlock this while it stabilizes, or would my dishtowel over the top be sufficient? And does it need to be airlocked when I backsweeten, on down the road?