Skeeter Pee

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Vxjester said:
I pitched my yeast almost a month ago. I used d 47. Just to see how it will turn out.
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Let us know how the D47 worked out - I was almost going to use that instead of premier cuvee. Wondering if there are any noticable differences.
 
CidahMastah said:
Update - Yeast from packets and less steps:
My ferment started 2/13/11 and is just about dry, very slow ferment right now, should be done in a day or so.

I thought I would post back with the following information:

1. I only aerated at yeast pitching (which I did right away, and didn't wait 24 hours)
2. I did split the yeast nutrient and energizer additions, half up front and half about 24hours later.
3. I didn't touch the ferment again and it had a nice constant steady ferment throughout and no off smells from the ferment.

Details:

1. Double batch of skeeter pee in a demi john - planned on using 4x1118 yeast packs but had 5 on hand so figured eh, it won't hurt. So 5x1118 yeast packs @ 85 cents each.
2. started 2/13/11, should be done by end of week latest (3/4/11)
3. Used warm tap water to help dissolve the sugar, added 2/3 of lemon juice and 1/2 of nutrient and energizer up front (cooled pee to ~77F before pitching). I hydrated my yeast prior to pitching, but no starter.
3. Ferment temp ~68F-73F
4. About 24 hours and tossed in the rest of the lemon juice and the rest of the energizer and nutrient.

Conclusions:
There are a lot of extra steps in the original recipe (perhaps a few more that I did) that may or may not hurt the process (make you more prone to infect your wine, etc). I tend to think that extra aeration after the first 24-48 hours is not helpful, and possibly harmful. since this part of the fermentation is anaerobic anyhow. All you would be doing is oxidizing the must.


Next time:
I plan to pitch everything in at once next time and see what happens. I think as long as you prime it with enough yeast, you will be good to go.
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did you simply dissolve the the sugar in water and add it to your fermenter without inverting? if so, did you notice any kind of cidery off flavors? being able to skip that step would make this a reci-pee I could do completely lit and that is quite a selling point.
 
mcwilcr said:
did you simply dissolve the the sugar in water and add it to your fermenter without inverting? if so, did you notice any kind of cidery off flavors? being able to skip that step would make this a reci-pee I could do completely lit and that is quite a selling point.
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I used warm water from the sink (~90 degrees) and stirred in the sugar - it went into solution very quickly.

I don't think there is any real advantage to inverting the sugar. Plain table sugar is highly fermentable, so I am not aware of any need to take the extra steps to invert it on the stove.

Just be sure to patiently stir all the sugar into solution, or you might be a few points higher in O.G. than your reading (really who cares), but for the sake of accuracy...


No wild, cidery, or off flavors in my batch. Though the first double batch was a little yeasty at first, then it went away (I think 5 packets of yeast was over pitching). The next batches I did with double pitching didn't have that yeasty result.
 
CidahMastah said:
I used warm water from the sink (~90 degrees) and stirred in the sugar - it went into solution very quickly.

I don't think there is any real advantage to inverting the sugar. Plain table sugar is highly fermentable, so I am not aware of any need to take the extra steps to invert it on the stove.

Just be sure to patiently stir all the sugar into solution, or you might be a few points higher in O.G. than your reading (really who cares), but for the sake of accuracy...


No wild, cidery, or off flavors in my batch. Though the first double batch was a little yeasty at first, then it went away (I think 5 packets of yeast was over pitching). The next batches I did with double pitching didn't have that yeasty result.
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Cool, Thanks. :mug:

The way I understand it is that before the yeast can ferment it must invert the table sugar first and that this process can potentially produce off flavors, though I have never experienced them personally, and that is why the extra step of inverting was done before mixing the sugar into the solution. FWIW, I have started using a similar process any time a recipe calls for belgian candi sugar because the result is the same at a fraction of the cost and a little bit more time.
 
mcwilcr said:
Cool, Thanks. :mug:

The way I understand it is that before the yeast can ferment it must invert the table sugar first and that this process can potentially produce off flavors, though I have never experienced them personally, and that is why the extra step of inverting was done before mixing the sugar into the solution. FWIW, I have started using a similar process any time a recipe calls for belgian candi sugar because the result is the same at a fraction of the cost and a little bit more time.
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Gotcha - I should probably try it both ways, but I guess since I am happy with these results, my motivation is low. If someone else has tried both ways but prefers one over the other for taste reasons - please do let us know!
 
mcwilcr said:
Cool, Thanks. :mug:

The way I understand it is that before the yeast can ferment it must invert the table sugar first and that this process can potentially produce off flavors, though I have never experienced them personally, and that is why the extra step of inverting was done before mixing the sugar into the solution. FWIW, I have started using a similar process any time a recipe calls for belgian candi sugar because the result is the same at a fraction of the cost and a little bit more time.
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BTW - I am just getting interested in Belgian candi usage - you wouldn't by chance have any recipes that you really like the turn out of would you? I was thinking about getting some D2 Dark Candi.
 
CidahMastah said:
BTW - I am just getting interested in Belgian candi usage - you wouldn't by chance have any recipes that you really like the turn out of would you? I was thinking about getting some D2 Dark Candi.
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well, I cant comment on any other recipe but I have tried one I found online at www.brewplus.com/forum/alt-beer-home-brewing/861-making-your-own-belgian.html with the exception that I did not make a large batch so I didnt bother cooling it. I just started the inversion process when I started heating my water and added it just before the boil. also, I know there is a section on making candi sugar in the Wiki that is essentially the same but I think a bit simpler.
 
CidahMastah said:
Let us know how the D47 worked out - I was almost going to use that instead of premier cuvee. Wondering if there are any noticable differences.
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Well I stabilized it yesterday. I also racked it to another Carboy because it still had some lees in the bottom. Took a fg it's sitting at 0.998 which worked out to about 13% alcohol. My sg was 1.100 I added more sugar. Tasted it and it will make you pucker. But this was warm. So I figure I will need to back sweeten it just not sure if I should use splenda or good old fashion sugar. It does taste a lot like lemonade. So I think it will be great in the summer with ice after I back sweeten.
 
Vxjester said:
Well I stabilized it yesterday. I also racked it to another Carboy because it still had some lees in the bottom. Took a fg it's sitting at 0.998 which worked out to about 13% alcohol. My sg was 1.100 I added more sugar. Tasted it and it will make you pucker. But this was warm. So I figure I will need to back sweeten it just not sure if I should use splenda or good old fashion sugar. It does taste a lot like lemonade. So I think it will be great in the summer with ice after I back sweeten.
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I believe I back sweetened to 1.014 with sugar and of course I used sulfites and sorbate in the usual method. I carbed mine and it was very good - I prefer mine more dry than sweet. Close to a mikes hard lemonade - but not as sweet.
 
checked my gravity yesterday... jumped all the was down to 1.041. added the 2nd round of nutrient and energizer as well as the 3rd bottle of juice. when you backsweeter, is that just table sugar or are you supposed to invert that, too? also, i've read about using a mightyvac to degas, but the post i read said you might not want to do that on a 5 gallon carboy because the vaccuum could break the glass. has anyone actually experienced this? if so, wouldn't the risk or breaking be reduced by having the carboy closer to full? it seems that way in my head, but i don't know much about the physics of vaccuums. i'm fermenting in a 6 gallon betterbottle and i think i'm very close to 5 gallons exactly, so if i degas in a 5 gallon carboy, there won't be much headspace. sorry about the run-on paragraph, my phone won't let me do line breaks.
 
Just stabilized my skeeter pee. It was really cloudy, I used super kleer to clarify it. My OG was 1.065 and FG was .998 so I am figuring 9% ABV. Sampled some and it was quite tasty! Looking forward to bottling it and having a few.
 
A couple of questions:

1.) Has anyone made a "light" Skeeter Pee, i.e. around 10-12 Plato? If so, did you change anything about the recipe other than the amount of sugar, and how did it turn out?

2.) Is stabilizing with K-meta/K-sorbate necessary if kegged and kept under pressure at ~40 degrees after backsweetening? Intuitively, any fermentatation at that low temperature would be extremely slow.

Thanks!
 
ArcaneXor said:
A couple of questions:

1.) Has anyone made a "light" Skeeter Pee, i.e. around 10-12 Plato? If so, did you change anything about the recipe other than the amount of sugar, and how did it turn out?

2.) Is stabilizing with K-meta/K-sorbate necessary if kegged and kept under pressure at ~40 degrees after backsweetening? Intuitively, any fermentatation at that low temperature would be extremely slow.

Thanks!
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I made 2 batches of 1.056 (~14 Plato) - carbing them in the next couple of days. I don't think you would have any problem with lower ABV.

2. In theory yes should be ok, however there is always that chance.
 
Wow, I just accidentally made this. I was trying for a simple hard lemonade recipe... I used 96oz store brand lemon juice, 5# grandulated sugar, 1# dme (just had it laying around), and 5 gal water with some red star wine yeast.

It's in the bright tank at the moment, but at racking it was just like it says: light, crisp, dry, easy going. I'm excited to taste after bottling.... or maybe I'll keg this one.
 
ArcaneXor said:
A couple of questions:

1.) Has anyone made a "light" Skeeter Pee, i.e. around 10-12 Plato? If so, did you change anything about the recipe other than the amount of sugar, and how did it turn out?=QUOTE]

I was also thinking somewhat along these lines, but more so like starting the recipe as normal, and stopping the fermentation in the 1.015-1.020 range, instead of drying it all out, and backsweetening the final result. First question would be, is it difficult to stop an active fermentation with the sorbate alone, or would I have to crash cool it as well? If this would work, I guess my process would be like this:
1. start recipe as usual.
2. check gravity, taste sample, is it in the desired range, sweetness level?
3. If so, kill the yeast, and allow time for yeast to drop out.
4. Rack to keg and carb.

Like many of you, I am looking for ways to remove steps, and since I don't need 10% ABV on tap, (no good usually comes from that:drunk:) losing a couple %, skipping the backsweetening step, and not having to wait as long to get this in the keg seems obvious. Is/has anyone been doing this themselves, how has it worked for you? Or, if not on has/is, do you think it would work?
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lalnx said:
ArcaneXor said:
A couple of questions:
First question would be, is it difficult to stop an active fermentation with the sorbate alone, or would I have to crash cool it as well? If this would work, I guess my process would be like this:
1. start recipe as usual.
2. check gravity, taste sample, is it in the desired range, sweetness level?
3. If so, kill the yeast, and allow time for yeast to drop out.
4. Rack to keg and carb.
Click to expand...

I did mine to a 1.056 SG to dry and put it on tap. Sugar back up from 1.000 to 1.014 gave me what i was looking for. Some may like it sweeter. I carbed it and served off draft and it is great.


Sorbate cannot stop an active fermentation.

you need to:

1. Cold crash 24/48 hours (or more if ferment lingers on)
2. sorbate, sweeten and sulfite - in that order.
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Damn, so much for being lazy:p

for your lighter versions, you just cut the sugar by a 2-3 pounds (5 gallon batch), and left the juice, nutrient etc. the same? Also, by your numbers, back sweetening from 1.000 to 1.014, that's roughly 1.5-1.75lbs sugar for 5 gallons right?
 
lalnx said:
Damn, so much for being lazy:p

for your lighter versions, you just cut the sugar by a 2-3 pounds (5 gallon batch), and left the juice, nutrient etc. the same? Also, by your numbers, back sweetening from 1.000 to 1.014, that's roughly 1.5-1.75lbs sugar for 5 gallons right?
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if you want to be lazy - let your pee ferment and sit on the lees until it clears. Once that happens, cold crashing really isn't needed anymore because the yeast have dropped out of suspension. Then you would just rack onto sorbate in your bottling bucket, sweeten and sulphite and keg.

That might be right on the sugar amount - but i go by the hydrometer because it is more accurate.

Aside from sugar - the rest of the recipe stayed the same. I double pitched the yeast. Honestly - with the lower gravity a single pitch might be all that is needed.
 
PICTURE UPDATE ON CHERRY PEE

Hello everyone. Just an update...

So after a month the fermentation has finished at .999 and I just racked onto stabilizer:
IMG_3787.jpg

Unfortunately, in that time the nice blood red color has mellowed to something very close to apple cider. Next to the carboy are a couple of bottles that I reserved early, cold crashed, sweetened, carb'ed, and the pasteurized (WHEW!)

Obviously the color was awesome, but I am more concerned over taste, which I have a sample cooling and will let you know so very soon:D

Any thoughts on the loss of color? I kept it away from light buried in my closet with a heavy shirt over the carboy (he was a good enough guy, but he didn't have a head on his shoulders:cross:.)

The bottle carbed stuff is very good, but I didn't sweeten it enough, so I just add some sugar before drinking and I am good to go.

Lon, feel free to use the image if you like! I will have some more for you in 2 weeks!

Cheers everyone!
 
CidahMastah said:
if you want to be lazy - let your pee ferment and sit on the lees until it clears. Once that happens, cold crashing really isn't needed anymore because the yeast have dropped out of suspension. Then you would just rack onto sorbate in your bottling bucket, sweeten and sulphite and keg.

That might be right on the sugar amount - but i go by the hydrometer because it is more accurate.

Aside from sugar - the rest of the recipe stayed the same. I double pitched the yeast. Honestly - with the lower gravity a single pitch might be all that is needed.
Click to expand...

Why do you add the sulphite and sorbate if you are kegging? I was talking to a winemaker at a winery about this recipe when I was buying the yeast and he told me to skip them if I was kegging, he said they are not needed.
 
nyer said:
Why do you add the sulphite and sorbate if you are kegging? I was talking to a winemaker at a winery about this recipe when I was buying the yeast and he told me to skip them if I was kegging, he said they are not needed.
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depends on yeast (see oldmates yeast) and preference of bottling.

I keg this recipe to carb it, then I often bottle to clear room in my setup (hold only 4 kegs in the keezer).

If you plan on leaving in your keg for the whole time chilled you are good. But I don't often do that. I usually bottle about half and bring places and give to friends etc. I can't bring my draft tap (easily) with me camping, or even outside on the mower ;). If you give it to friends and they might leave it out, then you have a bottle bomb on your hands if the ferment starts back up.

Short answer was - as long as your yeast won't continue fermenting (probably all but oldmates yeast ha!), no problem AND you have no desire to bottle it; you can simply keg and leave refrigerated.
 
CidahMastah said:
depends on yeast (see oldmates yeast) and preference of bottling.

I keg this recipe to carb it, then I often bottle to clear room in my setup (hold only 4 kegs in the keezer).

If you plan on leaving in your keg for the whole time chilled you are good. But I don't often do that. I usually bottle about half and bring places and give to friends etc. I can't bring my draft tap (easily) with me camping, or even outside on the mower ;). If you give it to friends and they might leave it out, then you have a bottle bomb on your hands if the ferment starts back up.

Short answer was - as long as your yeast won't continue fermenting (probably all but oldmates yeast ha!), no problem AND you have no desire to bottle it; you can simply keg and leave refrigerated.
Click to expand...

Thanks, I keg and just use growler if I want to bring something camping or boating. When you backsweeten do you dissolve the sugar first like priming a keg with beer? This is my first try at anything like this, I only do beer.
 
Are you from Syracuse? I'm out by Seneca Falls right in the middle of wine country. By any chance have you heard anything about Clarks opening back up at a new location? Someone told me that was a possibility. I really miss the place.
 
nyer said:
Are you from Syracuse? I'm out by Seneca Falls right in the middle of wine country. By any chance have you heard anything about Clarks opening back up at a new location? Someone told me that was a possibility. I really miss the place.
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Yeah same thing as dissolving for priming. Just make your you stir it in good and it is dissolved (so when you taste it you are getting the actual flavor with ALL the sugar dissolved). Try not to aerate.

sulphites also help protect the pee for long term storage. I tend to keep a healthy pipline, so some of it might sit around for a while before I get to it.

Haven't anything about clarks reopening - though I heard about a cask conditioned beer day, I think this weekend - didn't clarks used to do that?

I like the growlers too - but I sometimes use my brews to say "thanks" for say a neighbor letting me borrow his tractor, etc. In times like those, I like to give him bottles.

FYI - yup I live near Syracuse
 
nyer said:
I don't know how I missed that my wife and I love cask beer, we may have to try to get there Sunday. Clarks used to do a cask beer event twice a year. I really miss the place. We go to blue tusk, al's and empire whenever we are over that way.
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Yeah I don't make it out there very often, but I know blue tusk has had cask ale in there for a while too. My brother hits the place up after indoor soccer during the winter time. Cool concept for hte bar to take on - too bad about clarks too.
 
I need some clarification on the process for SkeeterPee. I've got a batch that I made up last Saturday (six days ago) and the FG is currently at 1.005. I did the second feeding of the yeast nutrients two days ago, and per the recipe it is due to be transferred to a new carboy (end of paragraph five of the recipe). But I still have active fermentation going on so I am confused.

Also, in paragraph six of the recipe it calls for racking to a clean carboy again. Am I misreading the intent of the recipe? Until now I've primarily been a beer brewer, and we don't transfer until the active fermentation is complete.

Further info: I added strawberry puree to the fermentation, and this was started from dry yeast per Yooper's guidelines. The smell in the fermentation room has a nice, light citrus quality. I'm really looking forward to drinking this during the summer.
 
bigdoogmark

IMO - leave it in your primary fermenter until fermentation stops. Then decide if you want to leave it in the primary fermenter until it clears or use a secondary.

You can leave it in the primary until it clears - that is what I did on my first batch. My first batch was left on the lees for about 6 weeks and it cleared and was perfectly fine. Typically, I would rack it into a keg at stop of fermentation after sweetening and carb it. Let it clear out in the keg.

If you want to rack it, it will likely speed up clearing, but it isn't necessary. Just don't go leaving it on the lees for 2-3+ months.
 
My first batch of skeeter pee is now in the bottles. I can tell I will need to start another batch, because I will run out of pee before I run out of summer.
 
nyer said:
I made a 5.5 gallon batch of this yesterday by putting everything in at one time and I shook the carboy for a few minutes. I pitched 2 packs of rehydrated 1118 and had activity within 2 hrs. I checked it again 8 hrs. later and it's bubbling like crazy. Sweet.
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My pee went from 1.062 to 1.000 in 7 days. It's still bubbling a little bit though. I tasted it this morning and there doesn't seem to be as much lemon flavor as I expected. Should this have as much lemon taste as lemonade? Could I add another bottle of lemon juice after I sweeten and keg it?
 
bigdoogmark- here's my take (method).
I usually just start the Pee in the bucket to get it going, for stirring purposes, and ease of checking the SG. Then I rack to a Carboy and let it finish in the carboy after the 3rd bottle is obviously fermenting well. Normally for wine, you want to transfer to a carboy while there is active fermentation. This builds a CO2 blanket and prevents oxydation of the wine. With Pee it's not really an issue. The reason I rack is for "good habits", and the fact that I can see what's going on. The Pee should finish out below 1.000 so it's probably still going. Also, when active frementation ends, the Pee will naturally start to clear. I usually let it ferment out 2 weeks. At this point it's always finished. So I will pull out another carboy, stabilize, add Sparkloid per recipe, and give it another 1-2 weeks to clear. Then you can sweeten to taste, set for a week to verify no refermenting, and bottle.
 
nyer: there is a light lemon flavor, but not what I would consider lemonade. That's why the website tries numerous times to point out that it's not really Hard Lemonade.

you can add more juice later after you stabilize. Just realize it will probably cloud up some. I got more out of my 2nd batch than my first as well. I'm going to try and split one back out, back flavoring with various flavors in gallon sizes.
 
Reaver said:
nyer: there is a light lemon flavor, but not what I would consider lemonade. That's why the website tries numerous times to point out that it's not really Hard Lemonade.

you can add more juice later after you stabilize. Just realize it will probably cloud up some. I got more out of my 2nd batch than my first as well. I'm going to try and split one back out, back flavoring with various flavors in gallon sizes.
Click to expand...

I guess I will just backsweeten and keg it like it is. It's hard to get an idea how it should taste, I keep thinking it should taste like lemonade but I know it's not going to.
 
Posted in another thread but no answer. Has anyone pitched skeeter pee onto a yeast cake from Apfelwein? I would rack the apfelwein off the once yeast airlock activity stops. Sound good?
 
Daddymem said:
Posted in another thread but no answer. Has anyone pitched skeeter pee onto a yeast cake from Apfelwein? I would rack the apfelwein off the once yeast airlock activity stops. Sound good?
Click to expand...

I just did this myself after searching for examples of someone else doing it and coming up short. The other difference is that I used S-04 ale yeast. it's going ok so far but I have no idea how its going to really turn out. I'll post on how it turns out once I know.
 
newbrew77 said:
I started my Skeeter pee on 5/3/11. I just checked it and its clear. Is it too early to rack it and backsweeten it?
Click to expand...

Ive fermented, cleared, sweetened and drank all within 2 weeks before. Just dont seal it up in any tight locked bottles before you know ferm is completely done
 

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