Skeeter Pee

TheCollector said:

Ok I'm at the stage where I killed the yeast and cleared it. Time to back-sweeten. I racked from primary to secondary when I added the kmeta and sparkkloid. Do I really need to rack to a third carboy to back-sweeten? Or could I back-sweeten right befor bottling? Thanks guys!

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I have never used Sparkelloid, I think it clears fine without it. I have also never seen the need to rack to the 3rd carboy. I have always just racked to secondary, then added the kmeta and it does well when I bottle a week or 2 later. I have also never added more than 5 cups of sugar. Yes, there is still a touch of yeastiness to the final product, but I find it gets mostly buried in the lemonade tartness and everybody who has sampled has enjoyed it, so I am satisfied. Yes, the 3rd racking probably does aid the clarity but I don't mind a touch of cloudiness and the final is clear enough for my taste.

My SP is in the secondary and the airlock is bubbling once every 45 seconds. Do I just leave it sit like that until it stops completely (will it totally stop - i.e. no bubble over a 5 minute period, etc)? Or do I remove the airlock and check the SG to see if it is around .995?

Airlock activity doesn't always mean it's still fermenting. It could be the CO2 escaping the solution, causing the airlock to bubble.
Checking gravity is always more reliable than seeing an airlock bubble.
It's not nearly as fun though

I'm about halfway finished with the latest batch of skeeter pee I just bottled... It's been very popular. I made a mint simple syrup as my backsweetener and it turned out awesome. I made my starter 2 nights ago, so I'll get things in gear after work today for my 2nd 6 gallon batch of pee this year. I'm testing my red pasteur yeast on this batch. I'll probably do the mint for 5 of the 6 gallons and put it in my keg and force carb it (I haven't tried this yet). The ladt gallon will be me experimenting with either a basil simple syrup or a rosemary simple syrup to backsweeten and add flavor.

Cheesy_Goodness said:

Airlock activity doesn't always mean it's still fermenting. It could be the CO2 escaping the solution, causing the airlock to bubble.
Checking gravity is always more reliable than seeing an airlock bubble.
It's not nearly as fun though

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OK - I just didn't want to open the airlock and risk exposure to oxygen as the fermentation was slowing. I will check the SG tonight and see where the small batch is at - the large carboy is still bubbling every 10 seconds or so.

So, Im planning to do a new batch of SP in the near future. My plan is to do 6 gallons of Mango SP, and a 2 gallon mini batch of something else, that way i can make a larger starter and pitch into both at same time. My questions are:

What flavor should I try for the 2 Gallon batch? Since its only 2 gallons, Im willing to try something a little more experimental, looking for suggestions.

Texconsinite said:

So, Im planning to do a new batch of SP in the near future. My plan is to do 6 gallons of Mango SP, and a 2 gallon mini batch of something else, that way i can make a larger starter and pitch into both at same time. My questions are:

What flavor should I try for the 2 Gallon batch? Since its only 2 gallons, Im willing to try something a little more experimental, looking for suggestions.

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I'd say take a stroll down the grocery store juice aisle and see what grabs ya.

I'm going to experiment with a gallon of basil infused skeeter pee. If you're looking to experiment with fruit flavors, go for blueberry.

I just made a batch with BlackBerry in it.

Tart cherry juice has been my favorite addition to S.P.

Texconsinite said:

So, Im planning to do a new batch of SP in the near future. My plan is to do 6 gallons of Mango SP, and a 2 gallon mini batch of something else, that way i can make a larger starter and pitch into both at same time. My questions are:

What flavor should I try for the 2 Gallon batch? Since its only 2 gallons, Im willing to try something a little more experimental, looking for suggestions.

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I have made batches of
Blueberry/Raspberry
Blueberry/Raspberry/Blackberry

Both were good variations.
However when making variants I cut the lemon in 1/2 and double the fruit per gallon. (ie: 1 gallon=2lbs fruit)
:rockin:

Pyg said:

I have made batches of
Blueberry/Raspberry
Blueberry/Raspberry/Blackberry

Both were good variations.
However when making variants I cut the lemon in 1/2 and double the fruit per gallon. (ie: 1 gallon=2lbs fruit)
:rockin:

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Interesting. When I've done fruit flavors in the past, i usually do full lemon, and steep 2lbs of fruit in primary, then backsweeten with fruit juice concentrate that compliments it. When you did your variants, what did you backsweeten with, or did all fruit flavor come from steeped?

Soo I'm ready to bottle my first batch of skeeterpee and I'm wondering.... Since I didn't use priming sugar or anything can I skip the bottling bucket and just use my auto-siphon with my bottle wand and do it straight from the better bottle? It's already been moved 3 times... Thanks guys

Most times there is a bit of sediment at the bottom of the vessel.
But, if there's nothing there (even a small amount, as the BB is light and will move easily and stir up whatever's there as it gets emptied) and if it's as clear as it's going to get, I don't see any problem with it.

I'd like to make a batch (5 gallons) of raspberry SP. Am I reading this right, people are adding 2lbs of berries per gallon, or 10# of berries to a 5 gallon batch? Will 5 gallons of must and 2# of berries fit in a 6 gallon bucket or carboy?

For ease and consistency, I make my raspberry pee with Oregon Fruit Products Canned Raspberries. 3 15-ounce cans in 5 gallons was nice, I'll try 4 next time.

Texconsinite said:

Interesting. When I've done fruit flavors in the past, i usually do full lemon, and steep 2lbs of fruit in primary, then backsweeten with fruit juice concentrate that compliments it. When you did your variants, what did you backsweeten with, or did all fruit flavor come from steeped?

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I have made berry wine in the past using 1lb of berries per gallon and also 2lbs per gallon.
The more fruit per gallon the more flavor that comes forward.
I recently made 6 gallon Blueberry/Raspberry and only used 6 lbs of berries. It is a very light drink, however it is very drinakble when served cold.

As far as backsweetening goes, I used plain white sugar.
I tend to use just under a cup per gallon as to not make it too sweet, but just sweet enough.

Six lbs for five gallons?? Was the six lbs added to the skeeter recipe?

oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer said:

Six lbs for five gallons?? Was the six lbs added to the skeeter recipe?

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basically, yes.
However when doing so I cut down the amount of lemon I use (in half), since the lemon can over power the fruit

Well there is a very little bit of sediment in the better bottle but it's been sitting still on my counter since last night. I was thinking I'd just carefully siphon.... I guess I'll just go ahead and use the bottling bucket.

You might be able to get away with it but personally, I wouldn't risk it.
I'd leave at least an inch or two and rack the rest in the bottling bucket. If you want to use the rest, you could always rack directly to a wine bottle from the carboy and label it as a "Trub bottle" and keep it tucked away for personal consumption.

Cheesy_Goodness said:

You might be able to get away with it but personally, I wouldn't risk it.
I'd leave at least an inch or two and rack the rest in the bottling bucket. If you want to use the rest, you could always rack directly to a wine bottle from the carboy and label it as a "Trub bottle" and keep it tucked away for personal consumption.

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This is what I do. Especially if you bottle two small batches in one night, you can combine the dregs of both into one bottle. I just stashed away a 12oz of Blackberry/pomegranate wine like this

My first batch of this has seem to stalled. It was racked to secondary on July 27 with SG=1.015. The airlock is bulling about once every 20-30 seconds (has slowed from original 10 seconds) but when I took an SG reading last night it was 1.012. Temps are constant @ 72.5F. About 3/4" of setiment on the bottom of the carboy. The 1 gallon jug of the extra from the primary is done (SG= 0.995 on Aug 2).
How do I get it started again - more nutrient, energizer, give it a stir or shake, increase the temp a bit, etc?? Or do I just wait for another week and see?

Ok bottled the 5 gallon better bottle but I've got an extra gallon in a separate jug that is untreated with yeast still in tact. Would like to carb this AND sweeten it in bottles. I know I'll have to stovetop pasteurize but how much sugar do I add to sweeten it? Then just time the pasteurizing right? Thanks guys!

I just sweeten the SP like normal and after about a week I pasteurize.

Just backsweetened mine today, got it in another carboy to make sure it's not going to start fermenting again, it shouldn't, the yeast should be dead. But I did sample it and, damn it's tasty, not overly sweet like commercial stuff, but very tasty, can't wait till it's fully ready and cold.

I love Pee!!!

Got another in secondary now and going to back sweeten with 2 cans of strawberry daiquiri and sugar to taste


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That sounds good, my next batch i may backsweeten with raspberry puree

That does sound good.

So I bottled mine over the weekend.

I used all three bottles of the lemon during the original stages like the recipe calls for. After backsweetening and tasting It seemed like very watered down lemonade and added another half bottle of the lemon and a half bottle of lime. Still seemed very weak and not tart at all.

I am used to very tart lemonade and this batch didn't hit the tartness factor at all.

Renegades_Brew said:

So I bottled mine over the weekend.

I used all three bottles of the lemon during the original stages like the recipe calls for. After backsweetening and tasting It seemed like very watered down lemonade and added another half bottle of the lemon and a half bottle of lime. Still seemed very weak and not tart at all.

I am used to very tart lemonade and this batch didn't hit the tartness factor at all.

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What yeast did you use?

This might be silly but how big of a batch did you do?

I used US05 yeast

I made a 6 gallon batch as the recipe calls for.

As shown below a copy/paste from the SP web site I always considered this a 5 gallon batch and always used a 5 gallon water jug or better bottle. That may be why this was a bit watered down.

The yeast you use is fine. Some yeasts metabolize malic acid which takes a lot of pucker out of the SP.

For a 5 gallon batch

3 bottles of 32 oz 100% lemon juice (e.g ReaLemon in the green plastic bottles or equivalent)

7 lbs sugar (or 16 cups) to ferment

3/4 tsp tannin

6 tsp. yeast nutrient (3 now, 3 later)

2 tsp. yeast energizer (1 now, 1 later)

Approx, 4 1/2 gallons water

Yeast Slurry

Potassium metabisulfite (Kmeta)

Potassium sorbate (sorbate)

Sparkolloid

2 1/3 lbs sugar (or 6 cups) to sweeten finished Skeeter Pee. Use more or less for your tastes.

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Unless you scaled up your recipe from 5 to 6 gallons, that's probably your problem there. The original recipe basically says to top off after you've got your simple syrup and lemon water, so if you're going from 5 (really 5.5 per the recipe) to 6, you're diluting it more.

Although, in my one finished batch of SP I backsweetened with the 6 cups of sugar AND a reduced bottle of simply lemon* because I was hoping for more tartness as well. The results were exactly what I was hoping for. The good thing about this recipe is it's relatively cheap, so you can afford to play around and screw it up more than you could with a fruit wine.

*It wasn't until well after I bottled that I realized a reduced bottle of simply lemon is probably nothing more than more lemon juice and sugar drunk so if you want to go the inexpensive/easy route, lemon juice and sugar would probably do you right.

Except that increasing from 5-6 gallons is only a 20% increase. I increased the amount of lemon juice by 33% in total.


Sent from a happy little yeastie.

When I upscaled to 6 gallons, I figured out how many ounces of lemon juice per gallon is used in the original recipe then multiplied by 6 to get the number of ounces of lemon juice for a 6 gallon batch. It hasnt failed me yet.

Strawberry Skeeter!! Added 20oz frozen daiquiri concentrate and only made Pee turn a light pink color. Drove out to grocery store and picked up a 33.8oz. Daiquiri mixer and pored til it was right, which was the whole bottle. Damn lemon is hard to conquer, geesh. Next I will incorporate strawberry into primary and see what happens...




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I tried this recipe once and couldn't get a good fermentation going..maybe ill just try a one gallon batch this time.

flyer12 said:

My first batch of this has seem to stalled. It was racked to secondary on July 27 with SG=1.015. The airlock is bulling about once every 20-30 seconds (has slowed from original 10 seconds) but when I took an SG reading last night it was 1.012. Temps are constant @ 72.5F. About 3/4" of setiment on the bottom of the carboy. The 1 gallon jug of the extra from the primary is done (SG= 0.995 on Aug 2).
How do I get it started again - more nutrient, energizer, give it a stir or shake, increase the temp a bit, etc?? Or do I just wait for another week and see?

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No help? Still sitting at SG=1.012, bubbling about once every 30 seconds. I increased the temp to 74F.

Lalvin EC1118