Skeeter pee

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peterrankin

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I want to try a batch of skeeter pee, and from reading it is best to use yeast from a previous batch of wine. I have just finished a batch of cider and harvested the yeast show in the pic.

My questions are does the yeast look like it should(never reused before)

It is a nottingham yest will it be resilient enough?

do i need to do anything to it before i use it?

and lastly has any one else used cider yeast for skeeter pee and what were your results?

Thanks

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I use nottingham for cider and I've reused it to make skeeter pee......worked great. I started my batch with 1/3 of the lemon concentrate and added a bottle every third day. I liked the results.
 
I didn't notice any but I don't have the most refined palate. There are posts here about "yeast washing" if you still have concerns.

I just racked out my cider and poured my skeeter pee into the bucket w/o any further sanitizing....took off immediately.
 
ok thanks i racked of the cider and have the yeast in a jar in the fridge ... i will dig around to see what i should do from here. ... just wanted some feedback on nottinham yeast/ Cider.

Many thanks
 
I came up with a better way to start skeeter pee than reusing a cake from a previous brew. Take a look at this quote from another post


If you have done any reading about skeeter pee you will quickly realize the hardest part about making it is getting it to start. If you make a typical starter or simply pitch the dry yeast directly in to the must the acids from the lemon and the preservatives (sodium benzoate, sodium metabisulfite, and sodium sulfate)slow down the yeast and it can take a week or better before it really starts to take off.

Another solution that is common practice among skeeter pee makers is to simply make the skeeter pee or SP on top of the lees from a previous batch of wine. This is highly effective, however has two drawbacks, first it means you can only make SP when you have just finished another wine or cider, and two if the "starter wine" had any color to it (like a red) those colors can muddy the SP.

I have come up with a third solution that is highly effective and gets the SP going within about 48-72 hours.

After I have mixed my lemon, water, and sugar to create the SP must I sanitize a clear beer bottle and then use it as a container to make a starter with 4 oz of apple juice (I use a 4oz juice box, also I have found yeast seam to really do well in apple juice) and the yeast I am using. I fit the bottle with an air lock and let it sit for about an hour or two, watching for activity. When I have vigorous bubbling I add about 4oz of my SP mix and weight until it starts vigorously bubbling again (usually takes about 6-8 hours) I then add 4 more ounces of SP and once again give it about 6-8 hours. At this point my beer bottle is full, and quite foamy at the top from the activity. I then pour 1/2 of my starter in to the SP must, give the jug a quick swirl and refill the starter bottle with more SP liquid. Again it takes about 6-8 hours for the starter to start bubbling vigorously again and when I get to that point I repeat the previous step only I pour 2/3 of the starter in to the must, again give the must a swirl, replace the liquid in the starter with more SP, and repeat. I continue this process until my jug of skeeter pee starts bubbling on its own, at which point I dump the entire starter into the jug and top it off. I used this technique and made a starter two mornings ago and by this morning only 48 hours later my SP was bubbling away on its own. I have found this technique works extremely well and I believe it minimizes the stress on the yeast so I figured I would share.
 
No yeast from a previous batch? No problem! Watch this video:
 
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@ roadymi, is it okay to crack straight on without further sanatizing?? im going to do an Apfelwein, so once i rack it of the primary i can just start adding sugar and lemon juice etc.
 
it is nearly ready to keg ... and tastes great

Mine seemed to have no trouble starting and it fermented right out.

But since I added the last ingredients including the Sparkaloid it hasn't cleared at all like yours. Mine is still a cloudy yellow. I haven't tasted it yet.
 
Mine seemed to have no trouble starting and it fermented right out.

But since I added the last ingredients including the Sparkaloid it hasn't cleared at all like yours. Mine is still a cloudy yellow. I haven't tasted it yet.

mine stayed cloudy for two weeks, i got impatient and mixed up another batch of sparkloid (used boiling water let it sit for 10 min) then added to carboy and stirred. it went from cloudy to this clear in three days.
 
mine stayed cloudy for two weeks, i got impatient and mixed up another batch of sparkloid (used boiling water let it sit for 10 min) then added to carboy and stirred. it went from cloudy to this clear in three days.

I'm gonna try this tonight.

Mine has been in the secondary now for at least three weeks and it's not clearing.
 
Well the pee is in the keg, with an extra gallon of still pee to go straight in the fridge. I used 6 cups of sugar to sweeten tastes awesome. I cant wait to finish mowing the lawn

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Mine cleared up about 4-5 weeks after I racked to secondary. Crystal clear too. It was neat watching the top start clearing with a distinct line forming between the clear and unclear. The line slowly moved its way down as time went by.

Did you degas? I don't think it will clear quickly unless you do.
 
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