Skeeter Pee

CornyKegs 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
flyer12 said:
No help? Still sitting at SG=1.012, bubbling about once every 30 seconds. I increased the temp to 74F.

Lalvin EC1118
Click to expand...

It sounds like a stall or at least slow ferment. The good thing is that the SG is well within the range of sweetened SP if not on the low side. I personally would let it ride. Add finnings here in a few weeks if needed and then go about racking, stabilizing, topping up with your dry 1gallon batch and then sweetening to taste.

For next time you may just wait for first racking till after you get to the 1.002 - .996 range. So that way IF racking and loosing that large yeast count was what got you stuck, you don't worry about that next time.
 
I didn't leave enough room in my carboy to add the third bottle of lemon juice, I put the last of the nutrients and energize in and about a third of the bottle of lemon juice but had no room to shake it up. I'm planning to rack to secondary in a couple days and add the rest of the lemon juice then. Think it will be ok?
 
flyer: If it were me, I'd give it a quick stir (assuming you're not in a hurry for it to clear), then let it ride. You'd probably be ok just waiting it out though.

justin: Should be fine, just don't forget your second round of energizer and nutrient.
 
ok - I am off for vacation for a bit so I will give it a shake to disperse the cake on the bottom and will see what that does after I am back. I am not in a big rush for this as I bottled the 1 gallon jug already and it is coming with us on vacation.
 
First batch of SP is in process here. Hope it comes out well.
I started by making a must with some all natural white grape juice from a local vendor (.5 gal). The wine tasted like crap, but I just wanted to get some good yeast going.. EC-1118. I poured off most of the wine, stirred up the slurry in the rest and added another pack of yeast to this and some clean water as a starter. I kept it stirred and at about 80F while I made my invert sugar.

Tossed it all in my fermentation bucket, added two bottles of lemon juice, topped off and aerated really good. Put on a lid and an airlock. OG was a tad low, but I am okay with that I guess.. it cam out about 1.059.
Aerated again one more time about 24 hours in.
Fermentation has been really slow compared to the beers I am used to. If I pop the top, it looks like a poured mountain dew. Clear yellow with tiny champagne like bubbles coming up. Nothing super vigorous. A couple yeast rafts will float up from time to time. This is fermenting at about 65F. Is this how it normally ferments or could there be a problem here?

I haven't looked in a couple days, going to sample/test gravity today and add more nutrient and energizer as well as the last bottle of LJ.
Any pointers or things I may have missed? Thanks
 
Thanks..gravity is 1.030 @65F (uncorrected). Looks clean, still bubbling. Added nutrient, energizer and remaining LJ. Grav sample tasted good. Cant wait to have the finished product.
 
Sudsyone said:
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...

View attachment 217551


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
Click to expand...

My skeeter pee had one pound of BlackBerrys in primary and I'm planning on backsweeten with the frozen strawberry concentrates. I picked up four. My wife wants a sweet dessert type strawberry wine so that's what I'm going for.
 
I really like this daiquiri idea. I'm so used to using 100% juice in winemaking so as not to introduce any preservatives that might hurt the yeast, but after fermentation has stopped it really shouldn't matter anymore, and gives me drastically more backsweetening choices in frozen juice aisle.

Thanks for the tip!
 
What is the max temp you would ferment this at with EC1118? I am going slow at 65F now, but I need to speed things up so I can get my fermentation chamber open for another brew. I am time limited as these are going to an event in October.

I dont want off tastes, and I can 'cold crash' to clear in my kegerator.
 
A warning about skeeter pee: whatever you do, DO NOT add three cans of Oregon Fruit Red Raspberries in Syrup in a secondary fermentation, backsweeten, bottle and consume. If you have mistakenly done this, send it to me and I will dispose <hic> of it for you...
 
Can I get advertising royalties from both HBT and the skeeter pee guy?

skeeter.jpg
 
Texconsinite said:
I really like this daiquiri idea. I'm so used to using 100% juice in winemaking so as not to introduce any preservatives that might hurt the yeast, but after fermentation has stopped it really shouldn't matter anymore, and gives me drastically more backsweetening choices in frozen juice aisle.

Thanks for the tip!
Click to expand...

Even sweeteners with preservatives will continue to ferment unless your yeast is dead, dead, dead (which could take several months or more).
 
Got my 6 th batch finished and easy to bottle. Noticed that the flavors are quite a bit off of past batches. But I have gotten a little slack in my process, as well as this is the first batch in the new house. I'm getting an apple juice flavor with a bit of the lemon tartness. Any thoughts?


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew
 
Bottled my first batch of Skeeter Pee yesterday.

It tastes pretty damn amazing i must say.

Went with smaller 375ml bottles rather than full 750's. I figure for people who want more they can get more. That way im not giving away big bottles to people who will drink one glass and dump the rest of the bottle.
10616540_10100315814437204_2172852569345878643_n.jpg


Ended up with 44 crystal clear bottles. I still had a bit of cloudy stuff at the bottom of my secondary after using the Sparkkloid. I bottled the last 4 bottles with the last bit of the secondary as i wanted everything, i dont care if theres floaty crap in the stuff i drink its just harder to explain to people you give it too. And it looks much better when its crystal clear
 
I back sweetened with blueberry concentrate, and kegged,to make a blueberry lemonade "wine cooler". Tastes amazing!
 
BradTheGeek said:
What is the max temp you would ferment this at with EC1118? I am going slow at 65F now, but I need to speed things up so I can get my fermentation chamber open for another brew. I am time limited as these are going to an event in October.

I dont want off tastes, and I can 'cold crash' to clear in my kegerator.
Click to expand...

I started mine @ abut 72 but moved it up to 75 to get it to finish.
 
DisturbdChemist said:
I have. You just do the same with beer. I like mine kinda still but you can still carb it normally.
Click to expand...

Never kegged then bottled beer before either. With beer I add priming sugar to the bottling bucket before siphoning the beer on top of it, then bottling it.

I plan on making the pee still like normal, put it in the keg, and add CO2 via the tank I have.
 
Strawberry daiquiri carbonated pee! No need to try to clear this as strawberry flavoring leaves it cloudy anyways. Pretty damn good. My last two batches have come from a beer yeast. I now have lalvin 1118 and brewing a batch now. Can't wait to see if there's a difference...
ImageUploadedByHome Brew1409350198.603755.jpg


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I have done something similar before with cider, but wanted to see if this made sense to you guys/gals.
I have a batch of pee fermented dry. Today I am going to rack to secondary, add sparkolloid, but not sorbate or kmeta. I am going to store it cold and let it clear, then backsweeten.
The reason for not killing the yeast is I want to bottle carb half the batch. My plan is to bottle half, add a touch more sugar to the other half and bottle it. The first half I will pasteurize at 170-180 for 10 minutes using an immersion canner. The second batch I will let carb for 1-4 weeks, testing a bottle a week for carb level vs. sweetness, then pasteurize it as well when I am happy with it.

Anyone see any issues with this methodology?
 
BradTheGeek said:
I have done something similar before with cider, but wanted to see if this made sense to you guys/gals.
I have a batch of pee fermented dry. Today I am going to rack to secondary, add sparkolloid, but not sorbate or kmeta. I am going to store it cold and let it clear, then backsweeten.
The reason for not killing the yeast is I want to bottle carb half the batch. My plan is to bottle half, add a touch more sugar to the other half and bottle it. The first half I will pasteurize at 170-180 for 10 minutes using an immersion canner. The second batch I will let carb for 1-4 weeks, testing a bottle a week for carb level vs. sweetness, then pasteurize it as well when I am happy with it.

Anyone see any issues with this methodology?
Click to expand...

I would test more frequently than once a week. Daily is good if you're bottle conditioning at 70ish. The higher amount of sugar needed to back sweeten will cause a faster carb, and if it's too carbed, it will blow the bottles when you try to pasteurize. THIS is the voice of experience...
 
Black Island Brewer said:
I would test more frequently than once a week. Daily is good if you're bottle conditioning at 70ish. The higher amount of sugar needed to back sweeten will cause a faster carb, and if it's too carbed, it will blow the bottles when you try to pasteurize. THIS is the voice of experience...
Click to expand...

Thanks and 10-4. Will wait 3-4 after bottling, then check daily. I think I can handle drinking one a night to test :p
 
I've had perfect carbed pee on two occasions at two weeks with diff amts of sugar. The yeast is pretty much toast at the point of carbing so from my experience won't carb up too quick within a week per say. 2 weeks has been the sweet spot for me.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
I started a batch last weekend. I didn't make a starter, nor did I have slurry. I just put one bottle of the lemon juice and the sugar in war water in a bucket. I sanitized my arm and stirred it up. I used 1 packet of Montrachet yeast. I started another batch of apfelwein at the same time, also using Montrachet. They started fermenting around the same time. Once the fermentation was going along good, I added the rest of the lemon, as well as some more nutrients. The apfelwein is just about done. The skeeter pee reads 1.020. I drank the sample over ice. Very nice even with the yeast. I'm excited.

I read Montrachet was not suggested for skeeter pee at a few places, but it is my favorite yeast, so I used it anyway because I like that it ferments happily in the 80s. No one said why they didn't suggest using it. Anyone have any idea why that would be?

I'm going to have to order 4-5 more kegs or I won't get to keg any beer! lol.
 
Prolly cause folks tend to make skeeter pee on the strong side and Montrachet is only rated up to about 14%, iirc.
 
I follow the basic recipe, which is about 10%, and use three packets of Montrachet instead of using a yeast cake from a previous batch, and am satisfied with my results. I can get Montrachet for 85 cents a pack.
 
RealFloopyGuy said:
I started a batch last weekend. I didn't make a starter, nor did I have slurry. I just put one bottle of the lemon juice and the sugar in war water in a bucket. I sanitized my arm and stirred it up. I used 1 packet of Montrachet yeast. I started another batch of apfelwein at the same time, also using Montrachet. They started fermenting around the same time. Once the fermentation was going along good, I added the rest of the lemon, as well as some more nutrients. The apfelwein is just about done. The skeeter pee reads 1.020. I drank the sample over ice. Very nice even with the yeast. I'm excited.

I read Montrachet was not suggested for skeeter pee at a few places, but it is my favorite yeast, so I used it anyway because I like that it ferments happily in the 80s. No one said why they didn't suggest using it. Anyone have any idea why that would be?

I'm going to have to order 4-5 more kegs or I won't get to keg any beer! lol.
Click to expand...

Montrachet is a yeast that if not used properly and overly stressed then it hives awful rhino fart problems. And then if that happens and not treated right you get some permanent and gross off flavors. But if you go a little overboard on the nutrients. Provide lots of O2 in the beginning and step the lemon juice then it should be fine.
 
i figured out if you start fermenting on just the sugar water and nutrient and then add the lemon juice later it works much better.....yey!!! Im finally peeing!!!!
 
RegarRenill said:
Prolly cause folks tend to make skeeter pee on the strong side and Montrachet is only rated up to about 14%, iirc.
Click to expand...

I guess that could be it. I don't think I would go much over 10%

Black Island Brewer said:
I follow the basic recipe, which is about 10%, and use three packets of Montrachet instead of using a yeast cake from a previous batch, and am satisfied with my results. I can get Montrachet for 85 cents a pack.
Click to expand...

I used 1 packet of Montrachet and it was moving happily the next day. .69 at Northern Brewer. I order about 10 of them every time I make a order. Then I hand them out to people who are just getting started to make apfelwein. I just tell them to put 1/4 of it in a apple juice container and just set the lid on without tightening it and keep the rest in a ziplock. It helps get people into brewing. Confidence and not having to wait 6 weeks for your first brew is a very helpful thing. Montrachet does a great job at 80+ degrees.

Arpolis said:
Montrachet is a yeast that if not used properly and overly stressed then it hives awful rhino fart problems. And then if that happens and not treated right you get some permanent and gross off flavors. But if you go a little overboard on the nutrients. Provide lots of O2 in the beginning and step the lemon juice then it should be fine.
Click to expand...

I've never noticed it being stressed out. I use it for simplicity. I let my house get to 80 degrees while I am at work and montrachet is my favorite cider yeast. It brews happily at 80 degrees ambient temp while I am work. I don't really age it. It goes straight into the keg and is being drank in 3-4 days. Of course, I am only going 5-6% and then adding concentrate to get to the ideal sweetness with malic acid to get to the ideal tartness.

What did you do to get it to stress out?
 
RealFloopyGuy said:
I've never noticed it being stressed out. I use it for simplicity. I let my house get to 80 degrees while I am at work and montrachet is my favorite cider yeast. It brews happily at 80 degrees ambient temp while I am work. I don't really age it. It goes straight into the keg and is being drank in 3-4 days. Of course, I am only going 5-6% and then adding concentrate to get to the ideal sweetness with malic acid to get to the ideal tartness.

What did you do to get it to stress out?
Click to expand...

I have not had the problem in other wines/cider but in this massive thread that I have followed over the years there are several people that would use a yeast cake off of apfelwein using the traditional Montrachet and the SP had some off results and I have experienced the same. Hopefully some of them can notice the thread and speak to this. Maybe the stress part is not only from the high acid content but maybe Montrachet does not liked to be used in one wine then again in another? My favorite yeast for SP now is a slurry off a white grape peach wine with lalvin 71b-1112. I can never get that to bottle carb but the taste is still sooo awesome.
 
In Apfelwein thread it was decided that the "rhino farts" from Montrachet were most likely caused by nutrient deficiencies. Usually as soon as someone added some nutrient/energizer, they'd clear up...they only lasted a few days to a week, anyway, but they *can* be pretty awful...it's one of the reasons my SWMBO kicked me out of the kitchen for my brewing, lol. So now I've taken over the basement...pffft, we didn't play pool much, anyway, hahahaha.
 
My skeeter pee as per the original recipe is about ten percent and it likes to sneak up and kick my ass. I would think a 14% yeast would be fine.
 
The skeeter pee I've made with Montrachet turned out delicious and no bad smells either. I've also never used an exisiting yeast cake; I make a starter and let it grow for a day or two before adding it to the must. The Pasteur Red I'm using right now has been very slow however.
 
I've never had an issue not using a yeast cake. Yes, a yeast cake will get fermenting much quicker, but results are basically the same in the end within a day or two.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 
Just brewed up an acai-blueberry pee using bottle concentrate. Gonna brew it the same as original recipe with a lb less sugar in fermentation and back sweeten to taste


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 

Similar threads

S
What is meant by ferment dry?
Replies
18
Views
1K
Sculptorofstone
S
A
Meat Grinders
Replies
33
Views
1K
AzOr
A
rallenhall
Speculaas for Christmas Ale?
Replies
1
Views
425
huckdavidson
H
C
Phosphorus and Skeeter pee
Replies
0
Views
465
Colesrt8
C
S
Wanted Blichmann Tri-clamp G2 Linear Flow Valves
Replies
0
Views
240
ShaLaH
S
Brewer's Friend 300

Latest posts

Back
Top