Skeeter Mead

Ok we are nearly 5 months into this now so thought I would post an update. The skeeter mead is just not clearing nearly as well as I would like it to. In my last skeeter pee I could see clearly through the whole 5 gallon carboy. My ginger mead right next to this one is crystal clear. I can see the silhouette of my hand well but this is not crystal clear. I racked it again and there was a small amount of lees at the bottom. The gravity right now is at 1.02. I want to bottle this in the next 30 days so I can free some space so I gave in and gave this a dose of bentonite. We will see what it does in the next 30 days. I tasted the gravity sample and it is nice. There is a bit of bite on the back end that I think is just hot alcohol. Still smooth but now there is a noticeable after taste of some alcohol. I tasted it side by side with my last Skeeter pee. The SP was sweetened with Splenda and I think I under did the Splenda and it is less sweet than the skeeter mead. The SP is more...wine like. Where as the skeeter mead is more lemony with a little honey character and a shot of week spirits at the end. I really like my SP but I think I like the SKeeter mead better. How is yours doing Atek? Are you having any clearing issues like mine?

Will it affect the "lemon" flavor much if I proactively use K-bicarbonate to raise the pH to around 3.5-4 before I start the ferment? I'm thinking that would be much easier than this "slurry" business, but figure there must be a reason why no one has mentioned it. I'm also thinking about using pectic enzyme since I'm going to be juicing fresh lemons. Thoughts?

I only speak from theory and educated guesses so take these words with a grain of salt. Lemon flavor is largely effected by Citric acid so if you offset the ph I bet the flavor will be vastly different. However if you record the PH before adjustment and after. Then bring the ph back down the same amount of point difference with citric acid after fermentation. It should taste close to the same.

Not sure if that is the best way to go about this but feel free to try it and let us all know how it goes.

I'm torn between two theories on how to get around making a slurry. The first I outlined above, the second is to use the lemon juice almost like a late SNA. Say, first 32oz at 50%, then 24 hours later. This would give the yeasties a couple of days in a 4.5 gallon "starter" before they're hit with all of that acid. I think I'm going to try this. Also, I'm going to use 1116, cause that stuff will ferment in the core of a reactor, lol. And lastly, I'm going to do my first batch with sugar and back sweeten with honey. If it fails, I'm out $10.00 in fermentables instead of $75.00.

Just heads up on what happened with the bentonite. Wow. It is super crystal clear now. It actually cleared so fast I could watch it clear. There was just a line if cloudy milkyness that traveled down the carboy. There is about an inch and a half of milky substance at the bottom that I can only guess is protean and bentonite mixed together. I'll still give it a few more weeks to see if the stuff at the bottom compresses more.

Interesting notes there, the first SP I made I had to clear with bentonite which seemed to tame some of the harsh lemon as well. To confirm my SMead is not clearing as well as I'd like either. Though I can see my hand through the mead and could read a newspaper if I had to it is still visibly occluded. I too have noticed that slight bite at the back of the tongue, to me it seems to be the blend of the clover floral flavors with the sour lemon. I too agree it is quite good but not quite yet as good as my standard SP. The really interesting thing is that the Smead is MUCH smoother than the SP at a much younger age. Given the tendency for mead to age the way it does I feel that the back bite will smooth out in another 6 months and will likely be FAR better than traditional SP.

Arpolis how much bentonite did you add to clear yours?

Atek said:

Arpolis how much bentonite did you add to clear yours?

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I mixed one canning jar of near boiling water with 2 tbs of bentonite in a blender. Let that roll for about 3 min and then mixed into the SM.

Vikings said:

I'm torn between two theories on how to get around making a slurry. The first I outlined above, the second is to use the lemon juice almost like a late SNA. Say, first 32oz at 50%, then 24 hours later. This would give the yeasties a couple of days in a 4.5 gallon "starter" before they're hit with all of that acid. I think I'm going to try this. Also, I'm going to use 1116, cause that stuff will ferment in the core of a reactor, lol. And lastly, I'm going to do my first batch with sugar and back sweeten with honey. If it fails, I'm out $10.00 in fermentables instead of $75.00.

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I would rather make a 2litre or bigger starter with your chosen yeast and pitch at high krausen.

So I went ahead an did this using the invert sugar for the base and back sweetening with honey. It is delicious and <21 says from pitch to bottle. Although I haven't bottled yet, I could. here is the thread I started in the wine making section, since honey wasn't my primary fermentable.

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f25/skeeter-pead-420084/

Ok, I just tried this again during a racking of a different wine I have and all I can say is this **** is amazing!!! Pardon the language but that is the ONLY way I can describe it.... WAY better than regular pee which is amazing already!

Bottled my skeeter mead today, man is it good!!!!

Awwww that looks super good. Now I want to bottle mine. I need to go through my clean empty bottles and see if I have enough.

Hey Arpolis, how is your SM doing? Would love to see a picture!

Atek said:

Hey Arpolis, how is your SM doing? Would love to see a picture!

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Ok I can take some pics. Actually I still have it bulk aging. It is crystal clear and looking great. Last a tastes it was months ago and it was great then. When I get home I will chill a wine glass and siphon enough to take a pic or two.

Ok here are some pics as I promised. On the left is a skeeter pee wine that is over a year old and on the right is my skeeter mead. The third pick is also skeeter mead.

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I was surprised the one with lighter color was the skeeter mead. I tasted the two side by side and wow the mead is so much better. But then again this last batch of skeeter pee was back sweetened with Splenda mostly. I tried to use some prong sugar and carb the wine but fermentation never kicked in. Also I was a bit low on the Splenda. So the skeeter pee is a bit more tart and has a bitter after tone. The skeeter mead is sweet and sour like you expect a lemonade. There is a lot less alcohol hot tastes in it compared to the wine. Soooo gooood!

Hmm attachments did not all work. Try this:

Ok I ended up bottling. I bottled most of the skeeter pee then I had 36fl oz of "just tart cherry juice" in a gallon jar and I racked the S.M. Onto it till full. That then went into it's own bottles. So I have S.M. And Cherry S.M. Bottled. I calculate the cherry to be just over 7% ABV and OMG is it good!!!!! Here are some picks:

Here is the cherry:

the unicorn really makes that photo

That is one nice looking mead there man!

Same to you. I can't get over how much I like the cherry skeeter mead. I really do not like cherry in general but this stuff is blowing my mind. I am sad I only blended up a gallons worth. I have 3 750ml bottles and 4 11.5oz bottles. Hmmmmmm that will go quick. I guess I need to start a new batch!

Hey Guys

Just wanted to tell you that this sounds so amazing! I started Atek's version of this last night. I saw my airlock bubbling within 5 hours! I did not rehydrate the yeast tho. I have never had good luck and always had better luck just dumping it it. Today I have noticed a layer of Krausen. Is this normal? Do I degass this everyday stirring the sediment back in? Also Atek, you racked this when it hit around 1 and then added the lemon juice correct?

Thanks in advance!

Ps Atek I have your coffee vanilla pyment recipe going and it is coming along nicely!!

I just wanted to update. I took my skeeter mead and my skeeter mead mixed with tart cherry juice over to a x-mas get together and it was a big hit. I went to bed early and when I woke up everyone was passed out on the couches and all the bottles I brought were empty lol!

Newbiewinemaker, this may be late but depending on the yeast used the krausen can be normal. I like to mix the wine twice daily for the first week or so and at the 1/3rd sugar break it should be safe to dump in the lemon. Once the yeast is that far into activity it is hard to stop.

Thanks for the update. The krausen fell right after I posted. It hit 1.000 so I racked to secondary and added the lemon juice and sulfites. I did not de gas during fermentation however. I plan on bulk aging so I may not need to worry about that. Thanks for the reply. I am going to mix some with tart cherry juice as well. That sounds fantastic!

Oh man the tart cherry juice is amazing. I just mixed up 32 oz into a gallon jar and topped off with the Skeeter mead. I am sad I only have a gallons worth.

Maybe ill make up the whole 5 gallons with cherry and start a new plain skeeter mead! Merry christmas and thanks for the response. This forum has helped me more than a few times.

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Oh I forgot to add! The bottles with the cherry started to ferment a bit more so these are carbonated. It looks like the amount of cherry juice I added was enough to dilute the sorbate enough to allow yeast to continue fermenting. So if you do this like me and mix in the juice after fermenting, stabilizing & back sweetening then make sure to hit it with a half dose of sorbate and Camden, wait a couple hours, mix the juice in and feel free to bottle after an additional 24 - 48 hours after that.

I have one more question. How many # should I use to back-sweeten this? I have 5 gallons sitting in the carboy and starting to clear. It is no where close to being done but its getting there. Should I do a 50/50 of honey and water or just honey.


Thanks!

It should be about 3.5 lb of honey. Take about 1/2 gallon of your skeeter mead and mix that with you honey with a mixer to make sure it dissolves well. Then add that to your carboy and mix well again.

Thanks for the info again! I will do this.

Sounds like an interesting mead....I prefer not to ferment sugar water, and this sounds like a good way of going about making skeeter pee mead-maker style ...added to my growing to-do list..heh

Quick questions. I need to rack this but I'm worried about head space. Can I use sanitized marbles in a hops back to top up? I'm not a big fan of topping up with water. Also I tasted a little of this tonight and it has a pretty lemon acidic taste will aging and back sweetening calm this a bit?

Back sweetening helps a lot. A little age helps a lot too. With skeeter pee age seems to not really change much but this skeeter mead ages very well it seems.

Yes marbles in a hops bag will work. Be careful though. Some companies use lead in the glass to keep bubbles out and older marbles even used arsenic.

I have to second that, the back sweetening assists quite a bit. I did the straight sugar to honey conversions and judging by taste came up just a bit short on sugars compared to standard skeeter. I would go ahead and sweeten to the same sugar amount (all honeys are different), let it sit a week after thoroughly dissolving and then taste again. Add more if needed. If its a little shy of the sweetness you want age will still help here, meads age extraordinarily well.

Ok here is an update. I have racked for the 2nd time now and have it sitting on marbles to take up room as it is just shy of 5 gallons and my next size down is 3 gallons. It is half ways cleared. Still pretty hazy. I think it will be ok to go a couple of months sitting like that and then I will rack off and stabilize.



Does that sound about right? I started this on 12/10 so it is still pretty young. I dont plan on bottleing until it hits about 80F here outside I'm in SD so that could be awhile yet!

Yea that sounds ok. Meads can stay hazy for a long time some times. But dropping temps to 60*F or lower helps meads clear a lot. So stick it outside in that SD winter weather for about a week and it will probably clear vastly.

Arpolis said:

Yea that sounds ok. Meads can stay hazy for a long time some times. But dropping temps to 60*F or lower helps meads clear a lot. So stick it outside in that SD winter weather for about a week and it will probably clear vastly.

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Whoa... SD weather, maybe not for a week unless you want it to actually freeze out the water... a high of -2 next monday over there. If you do, keep an eye on it, it should freeze slowly if it does start to do so which you can move inside if you see such crystals. Just wanted to forwarn on that one.

Lol sorry guess I was vague on that and did not mention the freezing thing. I just meant lowering temps helps a lot. I actually did have a mead recently freeze and turn to slush on me. Once it thawed though I will say it took two days of inside temps and it was crystal clear after that.

Thanks Guys. We had -20F windchills here yesterday. I decided to just cold crash in my fridge. Been in there for about 2 weeks it is crystal clear.

Thanks!

Ok Guys,

I back-sweetened the other day and it got very hazy so I did what you two did and used some bentonite in hot water and shock the piss out of it and then added it in. Its been about 3 days and its pretty hazy yet and I can see the bentonite sitting at the bottom in the carboy.

Is it still working or should I rack off and try a clarifying agent?

Thanks