My first Skeeter Pee!

Hey everyone!

I started my first batch of skeeter pee last night, and my second ever attempt at brewing! I thought I'd share.

Doing a one gallon batch. I'm enough of a noob that I don't want to do any large batches yet; and one gallon also allows for lots of experimentation!

This attempt:

12oz of organic lemon juice (because the co-op was closest)
3&1/2 cups sugar
1tsp yeast nutrient
1/2tsp yeast energizer
2 packets Lavin EC-1118

I dissolved the sugar in hot filtered tap water, added the lemon juice, the nutrient and the energizer. Then I rehydrated and pitched one packet of yeast. At this point I got distracted by youtube, then forgetting I had already done it, rehydrated and pitched yeast again. :smack: Finally, topped off with room temperature filtered water.

As of this morning it is bubbling pretty well. Getting a bubble from the airlock every 2 to 3 seconds. I'll keep you guys posted on how it goes. If you have any advice or criticism let me know!

Here is a quick visual.

Never made the stuff so FWIW, but if it were me I'd replace the airlock with cloth and let it get some air.

buMbLeB said:

Never made the stuff so FWIW, but if it were me I'd replace the airlock with cloth and let it get some air.

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Why is that? I have no idea what I am doing, but I have read in many places that O2 is the enemy.

That's true, but that applies later on in the process. Here's my understanding: it's not oxygen itself that's the problem, it's oxidation. When you first start your ferment the yeast are going to want to rapidly reproduce, and you want this too, and during this phase they are going to want lots of air. The yeast will be producing lots of CO2 and this prevents oxidation from being a problem. Many winemakers will stir or swirl their brews daily to try and release excess CO2 and get more air in.

Later on (I dunno, I usually play safe and assume after 3-4 days, eyeballing it) the focus shifts to anaerobic fermentation, and less CO2 is being given off, so it's time to switch to an airlock. By this time you'll have lots of yeast, and want them to focus on making alcohol. From what I've read, skeeter pee is trickier than other fruit wines due to the high acidity which can inhibit the yeast, so I'd try and give them every chance.

Alright, thanks for the info, buMbLeB. I'll do that! It seems to be going pretty good so far, I am up to one bubble from the airlock every second now. Can't hurt to play it on the safe side though.

Its pretty wild to watch all the pulp swirling around in the fermentor. It's like a classy man's yeast powered lava lamp.

That's cool, I can see how it would even taste good. Like they say, you can make alcohol out of water and sugar.

True! It probably wouldn't be too great without the lemon, however. Once I get my brewing legs under me I'll attempt making some more traditional wines.

You really want to use an hydrometer to check how the fermentation is going. Wine ain't beer and wine making ain't brewing. Wine makers tend to use a chemical called K-meta to sanitize their equipment and that means that when they draw a sample of wine or mead they have no compulsion about pouring that sample back in the carboy. Brewers need to fear both oxygen and bacteria as their wort (we ferment a must) is incredibly susceptible to souring (lactic bacteria) but lactic bacteria is not really a problem with fruit (brewers wort has a high pH our must is quite acidic). They also don't use sulfur to sanitize (the active ingredient in K-meta). Bottom line - wine makers tend to prefer to use buckets as their primaries - loosely covered with a towel. That encourages them to stir the contents vigorously a couple of times a day to incorporate air (O2) and to expel CO2 (carbon dioxide) CO2 will saturate the liquid and so exert pressure on the yeast cells. It will also add to the acidity of the must (and wine) and too low a pH (too much acidity) can stall a fermentation as the yeast can only tolerate so much acidity ( aim for no more than a pH of about 3.5) - so additives such as acid blend should not be added before the yeast has finished gobbling up the sugar - no matter what any recipe might suggest...

Thanks, bernardsmith. I didn't use any K-meta, but I did sanitize everything with StarSan. Does K-meta have any additional benefits over StarSan when used for sanitation?

I did use a hydrometer before fermentation began. The OG of my must was ~1.078, a bit higher than it should be I think.

When you refer to acid blend would I be correct to assume that in this instance it would be the lemon juice? So maybe I should let fermentation start before I add it, or maybe add it in doses over the course of fermentation? I will probably start another batch of this in about a week. I'll have to give that a shot in "Lemon Stuff MK-II."

RDMWest said:

Its pretty wild to watch all the pulp swirling around in the fermentor. It's like a classy man's yeast powered lava lamp.

Click to expand...

I'm totally transfixed watching it; I actually have several videos on my phone of back lit ferments I'm considering posting on YouTube as relaxation clips, and currently have a 1 gallon pickle jar burbling away on my nightstand.

But I still think it's hilarious you called it classy.

buMbLeB said:

But I still think it's hilarious you called it classy.

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Well,... at least more classy than an actual lava lamp! ipe:

Yeah, Campden tablets are K-meta with added filler. Wine makers typically add 1 crushed and dissolved tablet (they don't dissolve well in alcohol but do in water AND adding powders to a carboy full of CO2 will cause the gas to nucleate (think: the volcanoes that erupt when Mentos are added to Coke) each time they rack. K-meta at the dose of Campden tabs (far lower than the dose used for sanitizing) inhibits oxidation and wine is often aged for years. This suggests that if you use K-meta to sanitize carboys and bottles you don't need to ensure that every last drop of the K-meta has been removed. In dilution with the contents it will simply add a little more free SO2 and so will help in preventing oxidation.
Re the gravity reading of 1.078. That is in fact not too high at all. You want most wines to have an SG of about 1.090 (or about 12% ABV). Certainly, lower ABV wines are fine but the lower the ABV the shorter the lifespan of the wine (in other words, lower ABV wines are more susceptible to spoilage, oxidation, discoloration). But that said, there is apparently a big move at this time towards, for example, "session meads" because commercial mead makers are trying to get potential customers to see meads (honey wines) as similar to ciders and beers and so be drunk in pubs and bars by the pint and not by the glass (like wine)... so if you know what you are doing wines can be like cider with an SG of about 1.050...

Awesome, thanks for the info, bernardsmith! I will use K-meta tablets on the next batch. You guys are making sure I get educated fast, I appreciate it.

I am planning on trying to make some meads here soon. I had a bottle of Viking Blod by Dansk Mjød a few years ago, and totally fell in love. I'd like to work my way up to replicating it.

Quick update on the Pee:

I did a quick gravity reading and taste test. It has been 48 hours since fermentation began. Gravity is down to 1.052ish. It tasted pretty sweet, pretty lemony, tiny bit yeasty, and had a faint bit of an alcohol taste. The Alcohol smell was pretty clear. So I tossed in 1/2tsp of nutrient & 1/4tsp of energizer, gave it a good stir, and added an airlock. Getting one good sized bubble every 3 seconds or so.

I am half tempted not to even bottle it when it is done. Maybe cold crash it, siphon to a clean glass gallon, and drink from there?

It has a way to go. You are using a yeast that will happily rip through the sugar and leave you with a wine that will be bone dry. What you may want/need to do is then taste the wine to see if the levels of tartness and alcohol are balanced against the flavors. It may not be (but your taste is the only valid judge). If the SP needs to be sweeter you need to stabilize it by a) racking the wine off any remaining yeast cells and b) adding BOTH K-meta and K-sorbate. In tandem these chemicals will inhibit any refermentation (assuming that there may be only a few viable yeast cells remaining). You can then add any sweetener you like. You could do that by bench testing to see how much added sugar you prefer or you could modify a simple bench test to see if raising the gravity by 5 points, 10 points 15 points gives you your preferred sweetness (5 points is about 2 oz of sugar per gallon , 10 points is about 4 oz of sugar per gallon, 15 is 6 oz)

Awesome, I have the K-meta, but I didn't have any K-sorbate. I placed a quick order, it should be here before I need to stabilize it.

This is already a pretty fun hobby, I may have to have an internal battle to not head too far down the rabbit hole, or too far into my pocketbook, for that matter.