Well... I finally got to mine and racked into secondary.. I'm not going to use anything for clearing on it because it looked clear as it is.. I'm going to backsweeten with a alcohol sugar and force carb in a keg.. My FG was at .996
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.
Do you know approx. how much sugar you used to get to 1.014?
Do you know approx. how much sugar you used to get to 1.014?
That was Cidah's post, but I come up with about 5 oz per gallon if 16 oz per gallon nets you 46 gravity points
That was Cidah's post, but I come up with about 5 oz per gallon if 16 oz per gallon nets you 46 gravity points
Thank you.
Thank you.
and be sure to taste it before you sulphite. When you add sulphites it will taste a little funny for a day or two, then it will not be noticeable.
Remember carbonation will give it some more acidity - so keep that in mind when sweetening.
Please post what FG you end up with when you have it sweetened to your palate.
edmanster said:This is indeed going to be the summertime panty dropper thinking I better get another batch going but do a strawberry lemon this time... Thinking just a strawberry concentrate or maybe racking onto fresh/frozen.. What ya think?
The one thing I've learned about strawberries is that you shouldn't leave the fruit in there too long. Those tiny seeds have a bitterness that will leach into the wine. I would add it now and remove the bag after 3 days. Hopefully your bag has a tight weave that will contain the seeds.nice mountains
i am also thinking about some fresh strawberries, sliced, frozen, in a nylon bag in primary. i have never fermented with strawberries before so if anyone has advice... should i wait until fermentation subsides or get them in early? i wasn't planning racking this stuff
This is indeed going to be the summertime panty dropper thinking I better get another batch going but do a strawberry lemon this time... Thinking just a strawberry concentrate or maybe racking onto fresh/frozen.. What ya think?
and be sure to taste it before you sulphite. When you add sulphites it will taste a little funny for a day or two, then it will not be noticeable.
Remember carbonation will give it some more acidity - so keep that in mind when sweetening.
Please post what FG you end up with when you have it sweetened to your palate.
I dissolved 20 oz. of sugar in hot water and was only able to add about half because my keg was so full. I checked the gravity and it was at 1.020. I'm not sure if I shook it enough to mix it though. It tasted fairly sweet to me and I have to say I don't really care for it. I left it in the fridge on gas and tried it again last night and it's not carbing up like I would like and I still don't think I'm going to like it. I'm letting it sit till the weekend so I can try it again.
I dissolved 20 oz. of sugar in hot water and was only able to add about half because my keg was so full. I checked the gravity and it was at 1.020. I'm not sure if I shook it enough to mix it though. It tasted fairly sweet to me and I have to say I don't really care for it. I left it in the fridge on gas and tried it again last night and it's not carbing up like I would like and I still don't think I'm going to like it. I'm letting it sit till the weekend so I can try it again.
I made a batch pretty quick (I was impatient) and it seems VERY acidic to me. Almost like it will give you some serious heartburn. I did use a generic lemon juice but am not sure if that is normal from skeeter pee.
Let it get nice and carbed, like 13psi balanced with your kegs nice and cold. I bet it will round out more to your liking. I prefer like 1.014, but I have to say the 1.020/1.022 one i did for my wife is carbed up fully now and I won't be pushing the glass away now that it is carbed. It definitely took the sweet down.
Hopefully that sugar is all mixed in at 1.020 and you don't have a bunch at the bottom that will bring you up higher. When you tried it, were you dispensing it off the keg? You might have been pulling up undissolved sugar on the bottom.
If you are still too sweet, you could add in lemon (unless there is too much lemon or sour for your taste). Last ditch option is, siphon some off the keg and add in some water (little at a time). A little goes a long way.
it's a real pain for people outside the (otherwise modern) country of the us to follow recipes that don't use the metric system. the skeeter pee recipe, and i thank the originator for the lovely website, for example gives the amount of sugar in pounds and cups, juice is in 32 oz bottles, etc. and i am trying to convert a 5 gallon recipe into 5 liters. in the rest of the world there is an exquisite measurement system where everything is divisible by 10!! try it; i'm not saying quarts and fathoms are bad, they are just not easy to use. what is a tenth of a pint? who the hell knows. the exception is the foot, which although having something broken into units of 12 is preposterous, it is a better size for practical human usage than the meter, which is slightly too big. the reason i embark on this bitter rant is not to vent my frustration... no wait- it definitely is partly that, but also because i converted the original skeeter pee recipe to metric, for a 5L size (now i really i hope my math is correct! but i just mixed it up and the gravity was bang on 1.070) which can be scaled up easily. i stuck with rough estimates of the stuff measured in tsp (except K-meta) since it is easy enough to estimate 1/4 tsp if you have a 1/2 tsp measure. the rest of the recipe is basically copied from the website but without the explanations. here it is
Skeeter Pee in the 21st century: 5 L batch:
760 ml lemon juice
835 g sugar
1/4 tsp tannin
1.5 tsp yeast nutrient (3/4 now, 3/4 later)
1/2 tsp yeast energizer (1/4 now, 1/4 later)
4.5 L water
Yeast Slurry
K-Metabisulfite
K-Sorbate
Clearing agent (sparkolloid)
260 g sugar to backsweeten
Add 835 g sugar to 500 ml water and 20 ml lemon juice in a pot, heat to just below boiling, stir to dissolve, and keep at this temperature for 30 minutes. allow to cool slightly and add to primary with 500 ml lemon juice, 1/4 tsp tannin, 3/4 tsp yeast nutrient 1/4 tsp yeast energizer, and water to bring it to 5L. Take a gravity reading which should be 1.070. Whip vigorously to aerate, cover with a towel and leave it 24-48 hours.
Whip again to aerate and add the slurry from a previous batch of wine. Keep it warm (22-26) and fermentation should be active within a couple of days. Whip to aerate if it is proceeding slowly.
When gravity is around 1.050, add the remainder of the yeast nutrient, energizer, and lemon juice, mix vigorously. In a few days, rack to a clean carboy.
Ferment dry (0.995-0.998), rack to a clean carboy, and degas. Add K-meta (1/10 of a teaspoon, or 0.6 grams; see below) and 1/2 tsp K-Sorbate, and follow the directions for your clearing agent. After two weeks, rack to a clean carboy, add 260 g sugar, stir to dissolve, wait two weeks to be sure no new fermentation begins, and bottle.
K-meta: Use serial dilution to add 1/10 tsp: for example dissolve 1 tsp in 100 mls of water and add 10 ml of this solution.
well, yes and no- you can convert each individual ingredient in 2 seconds, and then divide it by 3.8 to change to 5L, and then do the rest of the list the same way. i'm not suggesting it's calculus, it's just dull and now that it's done the next guy doesn't have to bother
now i hope that 1. it lives up to expectations, and 2. there is an actual summer in this soggy country
I must have deleted this post - or posted it somewhere else
but I had the same issue with these two batches regarding the carbing. I put an uncarbed hefe and a skeeter pee in at 60 psi for 36-48hours. The hefe was pretty much ready and carbed up 100% - the pee had no carb.
I think this might have something to do with degassing or similar. I didn't ahve this issue on my first skeeter pee when i let it sit in the fermenter for 1.5 months. However the two batches that I cardbe at say maybe 10-14 days old are taking way longer to carb.
I checked my pee and I definately need to recheck it again. The sample I checked was still bubbling and it was 48 degrees but the gravity was only 1.010. I obviously didn't shake or stir enough when I added the sugar. It still has less carbonation at 15 psi than my beer at 11 psi. I poured another sample to let it warm up and hopefully decarb before I test again but I'm definately low on sugar. It also smells yeasty even though it pours clear. I noticed that same smell when I made edworts apfelwein and I think thats what I didn't like about it.
The carb will catch up - trust me . I am now at day 3-4 with 60 psi and barely noticeable carb.
Next time you might want to try mixing in a bucket first - so you can get a good mix of the sugar.
The yeasty smell will go away - just a sign of it being young and green. You can also encourage its exodus by leaving it under airlock and letting it condition for a few weeks, but the CO2 will scrub it as well.
also - just thought - be sure to compensate for temperature on your gravity reading. I am sure your pee was colder than 68F or so. That will through your gravity reading off. I don't have the numbers on hand, but it should be slightly higher of a reading (than actual) the colder it is, lower of a reading (than actual) the warmer it is.
I checked it again at the proper temp. and I'm only at 1.007. I added more sugar water and shook the heck out of it. I guess I'll be checking it again later.
Well at least now you have a starting block Just keep in mind that your sugar may have a harder time going into solution at a lower temp (watch for the first few glasses to be sweet, and the follow up to be tart).
i'm thinking about giving this a shot. i do have just a few questions. i don't make wine, so would the yeast cake from a belgian wit be ok? also i don't have K-meta or sorbate or any of that, but i plan on kegging. so if i ferment this dry and then backsweeten and keg imediately (and keep it really cold) does anyone see this being an issue? shouldn't the cold temps keep it from fermenting further?
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