a very effective way to "start" skeeter pee

[Daze]

There is a ton of lees, but I figure that'll be an awesome starter for my next batch of skeeter pee.

UPDATE

Just washed my skeeterpee cake today after racking the brew to a new carboy and most of the lees was dead. I know that because most of the sediment that I had originally seen in the carboy settled out after 20 minutes when I suspended it in the cold sterol water used to wash the yeast. Turned out I got about the same amount of viable yeast remaining is suspension as I normally get from a 1 gallon batch of something other than skeeterpee. I am assuming the high acidity caused the individual yeast to have a shorter life span, and that they kept reproducing to replace their faller brethren. May not be true but at least that theory would explain all the sediment, and it sounds good

 

[D_Nyholm]

Oh no! I started my first batch (created starter last night and am waiting 48 hours to pitch) but I was hoping to start a new batch on the old yeast cake after 1 week or so. Doesn't sound that promising if that is the case!

 

[Daze]

should work just fine. Like I said I got as much as I would get out of a normal gallon of wine, so it would be no different than starting it on a cake from another win, except the SP cake will be more adapted to the higher acid.

 

[D_Nyholm]

should work just fine. Like I said I got as much as I would get out of a normal gallon of wine, so it would be no different than starting it on a cake from another win, except the SP cake will be more adapted to the higher acid.

Ahh, sounds good then. Ill give it a shot and see how it turns out. Worst case i can just pitch another packet of dry yeast into it to get it fermenting again.

 

[Daze]

rather than just pitching or letting the starter get going for a few days, it is better to do it the way I outlined at the beginning of this thread.

 

[JonM]

I'm in the middle of a batch that I pitched on the yeast cake from my last batch of skeeter pee.

I made it on Sunday and had little, if any, activity. Now on Thursday there's lots of bubbling and everything looks right.

That was a bit of a surprise because, when I put beer on an old yeast cake, I have bubbling in a couple hours and vigorous fermentation in less than 12. I guess wine yeast and skeeter pee take their time. But, everything looks good now!

 

[D_Nyholm]

Well, I started mine on Sunday with the starter method and 2 packs of 1118 and it was fermenting like crazy in the growler. Added half of the growler to my must and added more must to the growler. That.started going well and the main fermenters had some krausen on the top. Dumped the rest of the starter in on Wednesday and so far nothing is happening. I stirred it up like crazy and there was plenty of carbonation coming out of the must, so I assume something is happening, but the gravity has only dropped 2-4 points since then. Going to see what happens by next week, hopefully it starts going by then and I won't have to make another starter. Surely smells bad though. Not rhino farts bad, but just like something is fermenting/rotting.

 

[fannypack]

question for ya daze.. (or anyone else with an answer)

ive had my starter going since last night as per your instructions.. added a bit of the SP must a few hours ago.. how active should i wait for the starter to be before i add more SP.. or add it to the SP batch itself? the apple start had a decent little krausen and was rising and falling, obvious activity.. so what do i look for now?

 

[Daze]

after you add to the starter or pore some in to the must and then add more you need to weight until the activity gets back up to where it was before you added and/or took away. make sense??

 

[fannypack]

yeah it does.. the thing thats tough for me is that ive never done a wine or anything other than beer so the activity is very different looking than what im used to. i see tiny bubbles rising to the top.. which i know is a good thing.. but at what bubbling point should i feel okay about adding more must or adding to the must? should i be looking for a foam of any sort?

 

[Daze]

A steady stream of bubbles is what you are looking for.

 

[A50SNAKE]

hey Daze or anyone else...when you use the sparkaloid and agents to clear, how long does it usually take to clear?

Mines been sitting since Apr 2nd and its still looking kinda cloudy, but lots of cake in the bottom of the carboy, like up to the first "ring", seems like allot, but by the looks of the cloudiness, there's lots more to fall still.

TIA.

 

[Daze]

I would not use a fining agent. simply rack it in to another carboy and let it clear on its own.

 

[A50SNAKE]

I would not use a fining agent. simply rack it in to another carboy and let it clear on its own.

Oh ya? & just keep doing that when there's a certain amount of lees on the bottom? Or until it's very clear?

Also, mined about a gallon shy from the neck of my carboy, should I add more water or is that ok?

Thanks

 

[Daze]

if it is no longer out gassing you ned to make sure there is little to no air exposure. I would transfer to smaller carboys.

 

[A50SNAKE]

there is an airlock on the top of my carboy @ all times, is that not limiting/stopping the air exposure?
sorry if that's a dumb question, been making wine for years, but just recently found this site, so possibly I've been not exactly doing things the "right" way... thanks soo much for your help.

 

[Daze]

air exposure is surface air not fresh air. It is not a big deal to have a half filled carboy when it is gassing as the air in the space is co2 but once the gas is out the wine will be gin to oxidize. the more air in contact with the wine the more oxidization.

 

[A50SNAKE]

ok, gotcha now... perfect...well, not for my SP, LOL....but I'll have to try to figure something out then...as I have whipped it and whipped it good...going to try to use a my food saver tomorrow night to suck out the rest of the co2.

I only have the large 23L carboys, and a smaller 1/2 batch (I used for ice wines and late harvests) and 3 1L carboys, two of which are in use now for some of yoopers welch's wines...I'll have to try to figure something out to get the SP into smaller containers with less head space...thanks for your help once again...

 

[A50SNAKE]

oh, also is there a sign or something to look for to tell if my SP has gotten oxidized?

thanks,

 

[Daze]

oh, also is there a sign or something to look for to tell if my SP has gotten oxidized?

thanks,

sure is, it tastes really bad. You know that taste you get when a bottle of wine that has been opened has been in the fridge to long?? that is the taste of oxidization.

 

[A50SNAKE]

ok thanks once again.

I had already done the clearing stage (kmeta, sparkoloid...) with mine, and its sitting in the carboy, but like I said its not full all the way to the top. not sure if I should top it up with water, or if that will dilute it too much.

its not clearing as fast as I thought it might, so tonight I'll likely rack it off of the cake into my pail, clean my carboy and rack it back into that, if its ok to top off with water...otherwise, I'll have to do some fancy finagling to make some room in some other things to get it to fit better there, but we'll see I guess...see how it goes and what it looks like...

thanks once again for your help Daze.

 

[Daze]

You can add water but needing to add a gallon of water is going to dilute it a lot. Topping up with water is done all the time when it is just a little bit but a full gallon is way to much IMHO. If it were me I would do one of two things:

1. find a way to put it in smaller carboys so head space is not longer an issue.
2. Top it up as is on the current cake with 3 cans of lemonade concentrate (no preservatives) and enough water to get it close to the top and then let the fermentation start back up and work through all the sugar in the concentrate.

 

[A50SNAKE]

hmmm....I'm thinking I might try the first option, only because I'M DYING TO DRINK THIS STUFF!!! hahahahaha, and I don't know how long the new ferment will take to finish...

thanks once again Daze...I might have to make another trip to Costco to get more ingredients to fire up another batch of this stuff...and hopefully have better luck with that batch.

 

[A50SNAKE]

ok, got it into my 3G & 1G carboys, right up to the bottom of both necks, plus 3 750ml bottles...hopefully that'll help it out allot more and hopefully I caught it in time.

I tasted some, had to , and it doesn't really have much of a lemony taste...there is alcohol in there, I can taste that...but as for taste wise, I think maybe its just dry, needs sweetening maybe I think...

I'm going to be bottling into wine bottles, with corks whats the best/safest way to bottle this in wine bottles with corks and no bottle bombs.

thanks,

 

[Daze]

Was it sour??? mush of what makes lemon, lemon is the acid and sour taste. Sugar will bring back the lemon flavor. Either way skeeter pee needs to be sweetened so you will need to stabilize. I prefer to pasteurize but most people use sorbate and campden

 

[A50SNAKE]

I wouldn't say sour...just maybe, like not much flavor at all, kinda...hmmm, maybe a bit sour I guess...I have already added the sorbate and the metabisulphite (campden tablets are made from that I understand)...so the stabilie should be well on its way...

just a matter of how do I sweeten it now that its in a 3 G & 1 G plus 3 bottles...also, I was thinking of adding some flavor via kool-aid or actually I was thinking of crystal light for some...and same just plain of course...

thanks again.

 

[A50SNAKE]

hey Daze or anyone else who can help, can I bug you for some more input on back sweetening my SP. since I have it in a few different containers right now, I just did some quick math and this is what I have kind of figured out, based on the original recipe.

6 cups of sugar = 5 gallons
3.6 cups of sugar = 3 gallons
1.188 cups of sugar = 1 gallons (3785ml)
0.2376 cups of sugar = 750ml

so i'm thinking 3 1/2 cups of sugar for my 3G
1 1/8 cups for my 1G
1/4 cups for each bottle (doesn't that seem like alot? or is it just me?)


TIA

 

[Daze]

It takes a lot, in fact I think the recipe doesn't call for enough sugar. I added 2.5 cups to my 1 gallon batch, of course I used more lemon than the recipe called for as well(most of a 32 oz bottle) So I needed the extra sugar to balance out the extra tartness. If you are concerned about the amount... and really any time you are adding flavor components, do it to taste. Add some taste it and then adjust as needed. In fact if it is not lemony enough for you and you are already back sweetening you could use lemonade concentrate instead of sugar.

 

[A50SNAKE]

hmmmm, lemonade concentrate you say? :rockin:...how much of that would I use?...

I might do that with the 1G, just to see...thanks again...

 

[Daze]

you will need to look at the sugar content on the back. 200g is about equal to 1 cup of sugar. you will probably also need to add some sugar as the concentrate will also add acid.

 

[A50SNAKE]

sounds excellent...maybe i'll do some the recipe way...some the concentrate way...then i can compare...hmmm, likely I'll do the 3G with concentrate, and then the 1G carboy with what the recipe calls for, scaled down of course...and then with the bottles the same way as the recipe, except with the crystal light/koolaid to flavor em up I can't wait...apparently 300+ bottles is enough the wife says, so I gotta start drinkin some of them up before I'm "allowed" to make more SP or apfelwein...

 

[A50SNAKE]

ok, I've got some lemonade concentrate, frozen (but thawed now) that says its 26G sugar per 50ml, and the can is 295ml. so that should be 153.4G of sugar per can.

I think I'm going to add one can, to my 1G carboy and see how she tastes. and see if it takes off again, hopefully it doesn't.

also, my 3G of SP is still lifting the cup on my 3 piece airlock...AFTER I added the 1/2 tsp Kmeta, 2 1/2 tsp sorbate, and Sparkolliod and it looks fairly clear...but why would it still be causing the cup to lift off? I think that means its still kicking out CO2, right? but its almost clear and its down well below 1.000 as well...

thanks for any help and tips.

 

[A50SNAKE]

update, I added one can of concentrate to my 1G carboy (removed about 400ml first to make room) and then I added 1/16 cup of regular white table sugar to my 450ml Grolsch bottle, was about 3/4's full of SP and I added 1/8 cup of same sugar to a 750ml wine bottle of SP, to test sweetness and taste...we'll see how she turns out.

thanks,

 

[A50SNAKE]

I haven't tried the concentrate one yet, but the sugar ones we finished off friday night, still quite a bit tart, made the ladies make the pucker face...which isn't all bad, LOL...

so, I think I'll add some more sugar to the next two 750ml bottles then I used previously and compare to the prior bottles.

I love experimenting like this!!!

 

[A50SNAKE]

the 1G I added the concentrate to, the concentrate is just sitting on the bottom...is that normal?...I've stirred it up a few times, but it still ends up having quite a bit of settling.

thanks for any help.

 

[A50SNAKE]

can anyone comment on my question above? is it normal to have the concentrate settle on the bottom? I was expecting it to just "blend" with the SP.

TIA

 

[D_Nyholm]

Wish I could help, but I've only added sugar to mine. I did add cranberry juice concentrate to a cider and had to mix it a few times. The last few pints from the keg were very cranberry also, so I guess when I poured the last ones, the concentrate that was spread out along the bottom got sucked up.
Give it a couple of shakes every once in a while, but I think some is going to settle out regardless of what you do.

 

[microbusbrewery]

I don't mean to hijack the thread but you guys seem to know a lot about making SP. I've never made SP before but I think my wife and her friends would probably dig it. I have a Saison going right now using Wyeast 3711 French Saison. Looks like it has an ABV tolernce of up to 12% and it's really tearing through my Saison. Do you think 3711 would work for SP or would the highly acidic environment cause problems?

 

[A50SNAKE]

Wish I could help, but I've only added sugar to mine. I did add cranberry juice concentrate to a cider and had to mix it a few times. The last few pints from the keg were very cranberry also, so I guess when I poured the last ones, the concentrate that was spread out along the bottom got sucked up.
Give it a couple of shakes every once in a while, but I think some is going to settle out regardless of what you do.

ok thanks, I'll give it a few shakes and see what it does. its only in my 1G carboy right now, so shakin' is easy in that one, and I've used sugar in my 3G as well...we'll see how it tastes soon...

thanks again for your reply.

 

[turtlescales]

You're my hero. I have had a bochet that has been stuck for ever despite repeated efforts to get it going again. I tried this with my bochet must, and 24 hours later it is finally chugging away again. I just started two batches of skeeter pee this afternoon, and am using the same technique to get the ferment going. Thanks for sharing this!:rockin: