Skeeter Pee

02fx4dude said:

Question for the skeeter pee gurus...

Since I'm more a beer brewer than wine maker, I don't have any active wine fermentations at the moment, so I chose to pick up some Lalvin EC-1118. Would it be better to hydrate the yeast before pitching, or just sprinkle dry yeast into the fermentor?

Thanks

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always better to hydrate. I would just double pitch (two packets of 1118) and hydrate in water that is about 90-95F for 5-10 minutes before pitching.

I hydrate the 1118, then take a 64oz bottle of white grape juice, pour a glass of it to give to one of the kids, then add the hydrated yeast slurry into the jug, and set the lid bak on top, instant starter. I can even crank the lid down occasionally and give it a shake. Mix up the Pee, and then 24 hours later pitch in the starter.

Thanks all, I will at least rehydrate the yeast, although sirthomas has me thinking about starters for the future. I only picked up one packet of yeast at LHBS so that will have to do.

The few wine kits I have made say to sprinkle the yeast into the must without rehydrating or stirring. Wasn't sure if there was a specific reason wine doesn't require it.

Sirthomas, have you considered trying kiwi? I make Belgian Wit with kiwi and its great. Can be pricey though.

The way I understand it, unless from concentrate kit, wine is generally pure juice. Rehydrating would mean dilution but honestly who cares about a few mL if it means a cleaner ferment?

Never made kiwi before. I'll add it to the list. I might be intoxicated on my Mango Pee ATM. For a couple hours of checking on a starter, you end up with a rocking and raging starter to pitch. I has a mixed berry pee with the 71-b yeast Ferment 1.106 to dry in 3 days. It was insane. Made quite the tasty beverage with just a little more work

After listening to some shows on the Brewing Network. And learning ALOT more about Brewing Beer in my evolution to All Grain, I have become a huge advocate of starters. I *was* doing starters before on my Pee but got time constrained (lazy) on my last couple of batches. So I half ass'ed the starter. And it makes a difference with the Dry Yeast Method.

And starter's don't necessarily mean dilution... I use a bit of water to re-hydrate and then build the starter with half strength of my must and slowly add full strength additions to it.

When making my starters, the only diluting comes from the 2-3 oz of water I rehydrate the yeast in. After that, I'll either use the straight must, or a juice concentrate similar to what I'm making and mix it with water so the starter's OG is roughly the same as the must.

Haven't had a batch fizzle out since I started doing this.

I didn't mean dilution of the gravity as much as I meant dilution with something other than pure juice. Either way, seems to me it would be worth losing a point of gravity with a better finished result anyway.

Well, looks like I will be doing a starter anyway. I rehydrated the yeast friday night and pitched and this morning there's not much activity to speak of, an occasional bubble in the airlock and that's all.


So it will probably be Saturday before I can get to the LHBS and get a starter going. I have a mead that is actively fermenting at this time. Is it possible to use some yeast from that to make a starter for the pee?

Guess I spoke too soon. Got home from work this afternoon and it was bubbling away.

I'm still doing a starter for the next batch. It's all about learning I guess.

Has anyone tried adding Synsepalum dulcificum to Skeeter pee?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Synsepalum_dulcificum

Wow.....HBT is full of all kinds of information.

I don't know if anyone has given you an answer, but my 48 oz. bottle says it contains the juice of 31 lemons. 48/31=1.54 oz of juice per lemon.

Put my second round of nutrient in and doing its thing. When it ferments dry is it ok to put the kmeta, sorbate and sparkaloid into my car before racking? I dont have a spare carboy right now. I am assuming it is but wanted t ask.

Clifton said:

I'm pretty sure that I've read this entire thread, but not positive. I don't think this has been asked so......

Lemon Juice has no sugar in it. Couldn't you just ferment the sugar water and add the lemon juice after it is done? Does the fermentation process break down the lemon juice and change the flavor of the beverage?

I have 5 gallons going right now that I waited 6 hours after pitching to add the first bottle of juice and another 9 for the second. I had CO2 production at each addition.

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I had the same question listed above. Why is it that the lemon or lime juice can't be added at the end of the fermentation?

I did something very similar to this. I basically made a 4.25 gallon starter with inverted sugar and water, yeast nutrient, etc. Then after fermentation was going like gangbusters I added one bottle every day and aerated it each time. Seemed to work pretty well. I got a weird sulfer like smell, and the acidity was super harsh. I don't know if it's because of the way that I did things, or the fact that I used store brand lemon juice. Ingredients were the same as "Real Lemon" but maybe something about it gave me the off flavors. I wasn't nuts about it. I have around half of the batch sitting in bottles in my basement. Maybe this summer they will have mellowed out a little bit.

I would think that adding the lemon juice during fermentation would stress the hell out of th yeast and cause some off flavors. When you start it with the juice the yeast are already adjusted to the high acidity. You should be able to ferment the inverted sugar solution to completion, stabilize, then add the lemon juice and back sweeten. I would imagine the yeast do play a part in consuming some part of the lemon juice and changing the flavor profile a bit.

Actually, lemon juice does have sugar in it - not much, but some (1 gram per ounce). Maybe adding it per the recipe lets the sugar in the lemon juice ferment out, so the Pee softens - isn't as acidic?

if you add the lemon juice after fermentation it might cause your drink to be extremely sour but I haven't done it so I don't know

I had a batch going with intent to let it go dry before adding the lemon juice. I lost my patience and tossed in a bottle when the ferment slowed.

Heres the funny part.. the yeast seemed to like it. The pulp bits served as nucleation points, but i think the yeast get something out of it too. I just put in the second bottle (this is like day 35) and it perked up again!
I have heard it said before that yeast can eat sugar but cannot survive on sugar alone.. might be credible.

HBngNOK said:

Actually, lemon juice does have sugar in it - not much, but some (1 gram per ounce). Maybe adding it per the recipe lets the sugar in the lemon juice ferment out, so the Pee softens - isn't as acidic?

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Removing the sugar, or i guess converting it to alcohol wouldn't raise the pH. If anything, it might lower the pH, make it more acidic, because as the co2 bubbles through the liquid it some would get dissolved into solution and converted to carbonic acid. I think finished beer has a lower pH than unfermented wort, and this is the only thing that i can think of that lowers the pH. I could be completely pulling that out of my butt though, so take it for what it's worth.

Has anybody tried to backswerten with truvia?

Even if you choose to chaptalize your SkeeterPee with the LEMON CONCENTRATE, NOT LEMON JUICE you are definitely feeding it some sugar. A 3.5-oz. serving of plain lemon juice concentrate contains 50 g of sugar. Read more: http://www.livestrong.com/article/319691-lemon-juice-concentrate-nutritional-facts/#ixzz1mmIpvf5n

And you can definitely backsweeten SP with truvia. It is not a fermentable sugar source so you do not have to use sorbate. I suggest some bench trials before you decide where you want to go with it. The word is still out on the long term storage of a wine backsweetened with truvia, but heck my Skeeter Pee is lucky to last 90 days. Finally gave up and keep a consecutive batch going.

Clifton said:

Lemon Juice has no sugar in it. Couldn't you just ferment the sugar water and add the lemon juice after it is done? Does the fermentation process break down the lemon juice and change the flavor of the beverage?

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Thanks to all who commented on my post.

I realized some time after this post that LJ does have sugar (just not listed on the label as it is less than 1 g per serving). It is amazing the deception the FDA allows to take place in the food industry.

I am still interested in hearing about the experiences of those who've fermented with and without.

OMG! skeeter pee rocks! I now have a lemon lime going and a batch of strawberry lemon made from the orig. Recipe only I added 4 pounds of fresh strawberries! I can't wait!

mine is fermenting fine without yeast energizer, I did however use yeast nutrient, honestly I dont know what the difference is....

If you use both like it calls for it keeps the bad smells at bay! Energizer is like giving the yeast a double shot from starbucks really wakes them up and gets them going. I had a batch of skeeter pee go to. 998 in three days!

Im not as lazy as it looks, but I can't read every post in this thread.....Its finally the weekend and my attention span is runnin low.

Can you use a apfelwein yeast cake to start fermentation? Anyone tried this? Thx..

Yep that is what i started mine with and it is soooooooo good four wine glasses full and i am toastie... And i am no light weight!

Hi all,
I have a problem and am looking for advise to cure my problem.
I used a cake from a date wine that I was fermenting on my skeeter pee and I turned the SP really dark, it's almost fermented completely and at this time I'm cold crashing to see if I can get a nice yellow-green color back. If the CC doesn't work can I use an egg white to clear before I rack? I also have gelatin if that would work.
In any case those two items are what I have to work with.
How much egg white for 5 gal batch, or how much gelatin for the same batch?
Any simple instructions would be considered Icing on the cake, thanks in advance.

I was going to offer to mail you some sparkaloid but idont see your country on the USPS list... And also I'm not sure how good of an idea out is to send powder in an envelope....

It would take about two weeks or longer, and by that time I'll have the primary frozen and thawed.
But thanks for the thought.

I don't think any of the LHBS's near me sell tannin. Will it be OK without it?

TwiggyTwig said:

I don't think any of the LHBS's near me sell tannin. Will it be OK without it?

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Yes. I doubt anyone that adds the Tannin tastes the tannin in the Skeeter Pee.

Beer-Baron said:

Yes. I doubt anyone that adds the Tannin tastes the tannin in the Skeeter Pee.

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i stll add the tannin and have for over 10 batches now.. its hard to tell its even in the pee because the lemon makes your mouth dry to begin with.. this last batch i however forgot to pickup more neutrient so i just boiled a cup of raisins and the yeast really love them... almost every raision was completely covered by the yeast the second day for the last bottle of lemon

TwiggyTwig said:

I don't think any of the LHBS's near me sell tannin. Will it be OK without it?

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you might need to go to a wine shop if the brew shop doesnt do both and ask for grape tannin

I just started a 1 gallon batch of this but I made one change. I added a bit more lemon than the recipe called for because I wanted more lemon flavor. The down side to doing tis it made the acid content higher so I added 1 tsp of baking soda to the must. This neutralized some of the acid from the lemon giving me just the right tartness But left the increased lemon flavor.

What size bung would one use for the one gallon Carlos Rossi wine jugs? Also would I just divide the original recipe by 5 and be good to go?

Even though you are in Bozeman and I am a Griz I will still help not sure the bung size, but I can help on the batch size, just divide by 5. For my batch I used less sugar than 1/5 of the original because I wanted a lower ABV. I also used more lemon, almost a full 32 oz bottle, + the baking soda because I wanted a stronger lemon flavor.

I use either a number 6 or number 6 1/2 stopper in my 1 gallon jugs.

Thanks daze, how much baking soda? And I'm so sorry to hear about you being a griz fan lol ever come to bozeman for the cat-griz game? Next time hit me up. Yeah msu had a great year till the griz whipped that ass, then they just fell apart, as always. And damn the griz always has some badass white boy running backs lol