Skeeter Pee

CornyKegs 728
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Ok, i have a batch going now.... So excited to try it!

My question is if it can be made the same way using key lime juice??? Or even regular lime juice???
 
firepie said:
Ok, i have a batch going now.... So excited to try it!

My question is if it can be made the same way using key lime juice??? Or even regular lime juice???
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Several people have tried lime versions and I think the consensus was that it wasn't nearly as good. If you would like to try lime in the mix, I'd suggest 2/3 lemon and 1/3 lime; people have reported really liking this combination.
 
BoundForBeer said:
No I did not de gas. This is my first "wine" and wasn't sure about that step. Is de gassing just as simple as stiring it? Thanks for the info guys.
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Stirring will help, but it's hard to get all the "fizz" out with just stirring. I degas using vacuum pressure (I use a hand operated brake bleeder to generate vacuum). Another thing that seems to be effective is leaving an airlock on the carboy, putting it on a couple layers of thick towel and then on a slippery floor surface. Sliding the carboy back and forth will agitate the contents and this shaking and sloshing action will often release more CO2. Doing it at warmer temps also helps release the gas. When you cease to get activity in the airlock, you are fully degassed.
 
Captive said:
Stirring will help, but it's hard to get all the "fizz" out with just stirring. I degas using vacuum pressure (I use a hand operated brake bleeder to generate vacuum). Another thing that seems to be effective is leaving an airlock on the carboy, putting it on a couple layers of thick towel and then on a slippery floor surface. Sliding the carboy back and forth will agitate the contents and this shaking and sloshing action will often release more CO2. Doing it at warmer temps also helps release the gas. When you cease to get activity in the airlock, you are fully degassed.
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Thanks this makes alot more sense then stirring it (oxygenation). If I try this again will make sure to do this so I don't get 3 quarts of skeeter pee on my basement floor.
 
Somebody sense check me here but it seems that if you are degassing using a tool that attached to a drill, you aren't really disturbing the surface all that much, plus, CO2 is coming OUT of solution and should be keeping a pretty think blanket over the wine that stops the oxygen being absorbed?

Am I missing something?

Cheers

HW
 
HappyWino said:
Somebody sense check me here but it seems that if you are degassing using a tool that attached to a drill, you aren't really disturbing the surface all that much, plus, CO2 is coming OUT of solution and should be keeping a pretty think blanket over the wine that stops the oxygen being absorbed?

Am I missing something?

Cheers

HW
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I think you are correct in your statement. I suggest the "shake it on a slippery floor" for a couple of reasons.

1. I find that I get more gas out when I degas over time. It seems that a 30 minute rest between many agitations is more effective than a long continuous agitation. Even when I use the stirring method, several shorter stirs seems to work better than one long stir.

2. It's cleaner, I don't have to sanitize the stirrer and clean it when done.

3. Although I don't think oxygen exposure is very high with stirring, and Skeeter Pee isn't all that sensitive to it, keeping it under airlock is extra insurance.

4. I often degas using vacuum. Shaking works under vacuum, stirring doesn't unless you have one of those magnetic mixers.

Either system will work, it all depends on your equipment, set-up, and preference.
 
Just pitched the yeast off a chardonnay into a batch of skeeter pee and things are going nicely. Fizzing like crazy within 12 hrs.

Can i use the yeast cake off this batch when i rack it to inoculate a second batch?
 
Made it, tried it, hated it. I don't know where I went wrong (maybe in my lemon concentrate?) but it tasted like I was drinking puree lemon peel. I still have some lemon concentrate left so I'll try it again.
 
Hmm I have some Apfelwein that I just started, I think I am going to make this when that is done from the yeast cake. I think the wife is going to really like this one. :mug:
 
markephraim said:
Just pitched the yeast off a chardonnay into a batch of skeeter pee and things are going nicely. Fizzing like crazy within 12 hrs.

Can i use the yeast cake off this batch when i rack it to inoculate a second batch?
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Common thought is not to, since the yeast were stressed in such an cidic environment. But I think you could probably get away with it. But is it worth risking when you could buy 2 packs of yeast? eh....
 
ok, so I am in my first batch of this, with my half gallon starter, and additions of back sweetening (juice concentrate) I come to about 5.5 gallons. 1 gallon of still with 1 can cranberry concentrate and 1/2 cup sugar, 4.5 gallons carbonated with 4 cans limeade concentrate and 2 cups sugar . The cranberry one is pretty good as is(a little tart and dry), but the lime one I think is to "sweet tart", a reel pucker upper. I don't know if it is a problem with the back sweetening or that it is just a lot of lemon juice to overcome. So my question is, has any one tried this with just 2 bottles of juice? If I were to try this I wonder if the must sugar would also have to be reduced because there would be less lemon to cover up the high alcohal content? Skeeter pee light? By the way, I had to many of these last night trying to figure things out. I'm a hurt'n unit today. 4:00 can't cme soon enough.:drunk:
 
oldmate said:
Made it, tried it, hated it. I don't know where I went wrong (maybe in my lemon concentrate?) but it tasted like I was drinking puree lemon peel. I still have some lemon concentrate left so I'll try it again.
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Lemon concentrate? The recipe calls for lemon juice, maybe this is where it went wonky? :)

Cheers

HW
 
I think the backsweetening calls for sugar only - I think when you backsweetened with concentrate (lime), you magnified the tart.

My double batch is still bubbling away, so I can't comment on the flavor just yet. Can't wait till it chills out!
 
HappyWino said:
Lemon concentrate? The recipe calls for lemon juice, maybe this is where it went wonky? :)

Cheers

HW
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I meant lemon juice, sorry! Although, it does taste like a concentrate... I dunno, I'm sure I'll be able to fiddle with the recipe for what I've got :)
 
If it is too powerful. You can take a sample and water it down a bit and sweeten it.
 
Just wanted to give an update and some advice. I learned an important rule to brewing on my batch of skeeter pee. That rule is as follows, smell and taste ALL your ingredients (perhaps not the lemon juice concentrate). If any particular ingredient has an off odor or taste, do not use it. I used all natural dehydrated cane juice in my skeeter pee in place of white sugar. I figured this would be fine even though the smell of the sugar wasn't too pleasant. Well, when the brew finished can you guess what happened? Yup, it tasted a bit like, and definately smelled like a concentrated form of what the sugar smelled like (poop). I let this sit and sit, hoping it would fade out but it did not. Finally I racked it onto 20lbs of strawberries for a few days. Luckily that flavor and smell are now gone, replaced by a wonderful strawberry aroma and flavor. I feel extremely lucky with this one. Just wanted to share this and hopefully save someone else the headache.
 
My black Raspberry pee knocks the socks off of any commercial hard lemonade. And me, for that matter. It goes down so easy I'm thinking of re-bottling to 12oz beer bottles, to help with portion control. Me and my room mates just can't (shouldn't) finish a liter in a night of casual drinking.:tank:
 
Hey guys,

Interested in trying this, I am racking a Pale Mild off of a cake of White Labs British Ale yeast, and think this might be interesting to try with it.

One problem: I don't have a homebrew supply store within 60 miles that has tannin, yeast nutrient or yeast energizer, and I don't want to pay shipping just for those items. Also, the Pale Mild is ready to be racked.

Would it be bad if I left those items out? What would it taste like? I think there is probably plenty of viable yeast in the cake from the Pale Mild, since it's only been in the fermenter for two weeks.

Also, I don't have any of the stabilizers or Sparkeloid. I don't care if it's super clear, and I plan on back sweetening with Splenda instead of 6 cups of sugar anyway, so this shouldn't be a problem, right? I just hate to waste a good yeast cake when I paid $8 for the yeast at my LHBS (I know it's expensive).
 
If I was you, I would refrigerate the slurry and have the ingredients shipped to you. It is a very stressful fermentation and the yeast can put off some horrible smells/flavors.
 
I don't think the ale yeast will be able to ferment the recipe dry, with the high alcohol combined with the acidity and other stresses. It will end up as a weak, sweet pee
 
mmmmmm weak sweet pee!

Ha

I do think the ale yeast will have a challenge out for itself, but the cost on this recipe is low so I say go for it (though you should add the adjunct ingredients as well - IMHO).

The reason they suggest wine/champagne yeast over ale yeast is that wine yeasts and in particular champagne yeasts are very robust, more so than beer yeasts. There is a chance the ale yeasts will stress out and produce off flavors more so than the wine yeasts. However, I think you should try it. Of a yeast cake, it would have a decent shot. If it comes out with off flavors, consider your starting blocks before you discount the recipe.
 
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.
 
CidahMastah said:
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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What kind of lemon juice did you use? Does it contain any preservatives at all?

Cheers

HW
 
HappyWino said:
What kind of lemon juice did you use? Does it contain any preservatives at all?

Cheers

HW
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I used "realemon juice". Crazy thing is, I assumed it didn't have preservatives, but it does - see below.

Nutrition facts:
http://www.dietfacts.com/html/nutri...e-from-concentrate-natural-strength-15481.htm

INGREDIENTS:
Lemon juice from concentrate (water, concentrated lemon juice), sodium benzoate, sodium metabisulfite and sodium sulfite (preservatives), lemon oil.

Now that I read this I have to laugh. Holy monkey I have to give respect to L1118. I thought benzoate was a show stopper. Let me tell you though, I had no issues getting this started off. Part of it could be the dilution of it across 10-11 gallons of water (mine was a double batch). But my fermentation ran like clock work and I skipped a lot of the steps that were mentioned.
 
I've got my first batch of skeeter pee going on 7 days now. I started it by mixing up everything except the lemon juice in primary and let that sit for about 12 hours. Was bubbling like crazy, so added the first bottle of lemon juice, then around 6-8 hours later, the bubbling was still going well, so added the 2nd bottle. 24 hours later, I tested the SG, and was at 1.050, so I dissolved the second batch of nutrient in the 3rd bottle of lemon juice. Kept it upstairs in my living room which is the warmest spot in the house. I started to get a little sulfur smell that was bothering the wife, so placed the fermenter down in the basement. Bubbling has slowed a little bit, but it's still chugging along quite well. I'm planning on racking into secondary in the next few days, let it sit for a while, then treat with k-meta and sorbate and sparkalloid, rack again and then bottle.

I'm wondering if anyone has ideas for two questions:

1. How would i go about carbonating this? The kmeta and sorbate are gonna kill my yeast off, so there wouldn't be anything to convert my priming sugar. I'd also have to use some kind of artificial sweetener to backsweeten also? I hate the artificial sweetness, so maybe there is no way to bottle carb this?

2. I love, i mean love, cherry limeade. Anyone have an idea on how to give skeeter pee this type of flavor? Maybe use a combination of lemon and lime juice, and then when racking into secondary put a few pounds of cherries and pectic enzyme into the carboy? I really want the flavor of cherries, not just the color of them. I'd love to not use a cherry extract if at all possible.
 
gregkeller said:
1. How would i go about carbonating this?

2. I love, i mean love, cherry limeade. Anyone have an idea on how to give skeeter pee this type of flavor? Maybe use a combination of lemon and lime juice, and then when racking into secondary put a few pounds of cherries and pectic enzyme into the carboy? I really want the flavor of cherries, not just the color of them. I'd love to not use a cherry extract if at all possible.
Click to expand...

For carbonating, people have done a couple things. First is to carbonate in the bottle with a sugar primer. But this leaves you with a dry beverage. I guess you could sweeten with a non fermentable sugar prior to priming, but I haven't tasted that combo yet. Other people have had luck force carbonating and keeping it in a corny keg.

Skeeter pee usually does pretty well accepting flavor combos. It would be tough to gauge the impact of adding fresh or frozen cherries. You might get a lot of flavor extraction or not much. If you were to use a cherry syrup of some sort, you could add some and taste, then add more if you thought it needed it.

Let me know how it turns out, I'd love to relay your experiences on the SP website.
drinkingskeeter4.gif
 
I have a couple of questions that I'm hoping some of you might be able to help me with. I'm currently about to rack a 5 gallon carboy of Ed Wort's Apfelwein. However I would like to make skeeter pee next, and am under the impression that I can use the remaining yeast from my apfelwein as the slurry ingredient in the skeeter pee. Can i store this somehow? Also it's coming out of a carboy (better bottle to be precise) do I just sort of dump it in whatever I'm storing it in and then store it say in the fridge until I get the ingredients ready for the skeeter pee? (this will be probably 24 hours or so). Any advice would be greatly appreciated since I definitely want to make this as my next brew, and if I don't have to make something else just to get a slurry that would be helpful for sure.
 
Yep, just clean, sanitize a container and dump it in. I used a big Mason jar and left the top loose. I did this with a slurry that I needed a weekend between to open up capacity. Works fine. Left it on the counter until someone told me to put it in the fridge. It will put the yeast in hibernation and prevent them from using up all the food in the limited space.

Swirl up the slurry a little bit to get it suspended and dump it in a clean, sanitized container. Then I would pull it out the day you start your batch, and while the must is setting to release the preserv's. your slurry is warming up and becoming active again.
I would leave the top loose on it at all times.
 
Well, I have read all 24 pages and it's been Mr. Toad's wild ride.

I am 2 days into pitching my first skeeter pee, and decided on a cheery pee.

Followed Lon's recipe, and used a slurry from an apfelwein (Montrachet.) Acutually, from all the reading, I wanted to be safe (since it was a slurry from a 1 gallon jug) and used the slurry to make a starter. After a day, pitched that into the must, and it was going after about 6 hours!

Well, by day two my mind got the best of me, and I had to start tweeking the recipie, so I went out and got a pound of frozen cherries. Boiled with 1.5 cups water and 1/2 cups sugar to make a syrup of sorts. Cooled and added to the pee.

Started with 1.070 SG, right now it's 1.060...no change from the cherries, which is nice. Once it hits 1.050, i'll add in the other stuff called for.

For now we wait...

Oh, and I am going to reserve 1 gallon at 1.010 and bottle, wait a week or two while checking on the carb levels, then stove top pasturize, becuase I have this crazy idea that I can have sweet and sparkling at the same time without a keg;)

I'll keep anyone who is interested in the loop.

Cheers,
The Doctor
 
I am wanting to use the the lees from one of the 1 gallon batches I will be racking on in two weeks for a 1 gallon batch of skeeter pee but I have some decisions to make and wanted to get your opinions.

I have a sparkling cider going that I used Safale S-04 yeast for that I was thinking would probably be the best choice but has anyone ever used it before? in my searching I couldn't find any mention of it being done.

also, I have two gallons of sweet mead going that I used White Labs WLP720 for. I know it has a pretty low alcohol tolerance so I figure it wont work well for this... right? both of these are my first time doing a cider and a mead so I have little experience with it but the sweet mead yeast should be all dead when that batch finishes right?

has anyone used a sweet mead yeast for a skeeter pee variant before?
 
Doctor:

I too have a cherry skeeter pee brewing. I actually had a bad experience with just using a sweet cherry (bing) in a mead. I have never before made something that tasted like cough syrup, and I hope I never do again. Hopefully aging will resolve those problems ...

Instead, I decided to use a tart cherry concentrate for the skeeter pee. However, I am having the darnedest time getting this stuff to clear. I think it is going to be perpetually cloudy. Everything else has cleared - and I've put plenty of fruit in to skeeter pee. This cherry, though, seems to be problematic.

What types of cherries did you use, and did you use anything to help with the haze?
 
Daedolon said:
Doctor:

What types of cherries did you use, and did you use anything to help with the haze?
Click to expand...

My cherries were frozen dark sweet cherries. I actually got this idea from reading someone who made a cherry wine by adding cans of cherry pie filling. I felt that if I made my own filling, it would be slightly better. Fingers Crossed.

And no, I didn't add any pectic enzyme or anything. Again, I have read that frozen cherries don't give as much haze as fresh. Could be wrong, thought.

Also, I don't mind a bit of haze as long as the flavor is there. I would hate to end up with medicinal cherry flavor. (Would be good for a cold;))

For you, I would try some pectic enzyme if you have any, that should clear it up.

Let me know how your pee turns out!
 
Yeah - I've dropped some pectic enzyme in there ... let's see how it works out. So far the haze has persisted through every fining agent that I have. The only one that I have left is time. And time heals all wounds, right? If it doesn't drop out in a month or so, I'll give it a quick cold crash and bottle it anyway. It tastes delicious, however, so I will give you a thumbs up on the idea.
 
has anyone ever tried making skeeter pee from a slurry of ale yeast?

I will have a slurry from a gallon of cider I made with S-04 ale yeast and wanted to know if anyone has tried to make skeeter pee using that or similar high tolerance ale yeast.
 
My only real concern would be that skeeter pee does take on a slight flavor of the yeast cake that is used. In one case, I actually used a mead, and it tasted like a raw mead. Had a bad aftertaste to it that isn't present in any other skeeter pee recipe's I've made.

So if you have a low hop lager, I don't see any problem. Check to make sure your yeast can hit the 11%, or alter the recipe as suggested to bring the OG down. But if you made a highly hopped beer like a barley wine or an IPA ... I frankly don't know how much I would like hops mixed in my lemonade. It may just be me - it may be the best thing since sliced bread.

If you decide to do it, let us know how it went.
 

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