I want to state with this recipe that I had some problems with right out of the gate. The official Skeeter Pee website says that 7 lbs of sugar equals 16 cups. Now we all know that granular solids have problems when converting volume to weight. I have to thank the wine making forum here for that insight. Anyway, in my kitchen, 16 cups of sugar equaled 8 lbs. I figured I had ruined the recipe right from the start. I know more sugar would just mean more alcohol. That's fine with me any day, but this time I really wanted to follow a given recipe and directions. There's more to the story about that, but I must touch another bit of inexperience first.
The recipe calls for "yeast slurry" I had no idea what that meant until reading the FAQ provided by SkeeterPee. I just happened to have a batch of White Grape/Raspberry wine from concentrate ready to go into secondary.
Now I had to go to my brew shop for other miscellaneous items for other things I have going, and nutrient/energizer for this endeavor, but my brew shop was closed for good!
I did not want my yeast to be poisoned by the high gravity of the fruit wine must. I racked my fruit wine and had no idea what to do with my slurry or how to store it for another day or so. What I did was measure a gallon of fresh water and rinse my primary and return it to my gallon jug along with a 1/2 tsp nutrient and 1/2 tsp sugar. I realize now there was no need for all this.
As luck would have it, another brew shop had opened about a month ago and it is about 20 miles closer than the first! After the trip on Saturday I was ready to begin the "process." This is where things got a little messy. I had no stock pot worthy of 8 lbs of sugar and enough water for the cook. I was stuck with two smaller cook pots and divided the sugar water evenly.
Don't get me started on electric stoves and temperature control. At least it was a glass-top. Stirring two pots side by side for 30 minutes left the stove a sticky mess between the burners. I highly recommend not getting in a rush to try something new, especially if you don't have the proper equipment! I need a stockpot.
The recipe calls for the sugar water and lemon juice and chems and then water to 5 1/2 gallons. So after I had done all this I realized my slurry was sitting in guess what? Another gallon of water. My saving grace was the fact that even after reducing the total volume of water to 5 gallons, 8 lbs of sugar only brought specific gravity to 1.065. Just below the stated 1.070. I poured the slurry water into my Ale Pale and that brought it right to the brim and really reduced gravity.No room for the added sugar! I gave it all a gentle stir to mix in the yeast slurry and siphoned about 7/8ths of a gallon back into my jug. I just started pouring an un-measured amount granular sugar into the must and stirred till dissolved and took readings until I hit the 1.070 mark, and did the same with the jug. Now it was time to "stir in" some oxygen. I still had not much room to do this without making more mess to clean up. I used my auto siphon like a fish tank pump and got plenty of air into the mix. I think this is a good thing to use the siphon as a pump because you can get oxygen deplete must from the bottom of the pale and freshen it up on top, verses simply stirring a bit of air in at the top. It was easy and didn't drown the kitchen with brown water and lemon juice.
In spite of my inexperience, lack of equipment, and misunderstanding (for a moment) of the recipe, I have 6 gallons of Pee in primary instead of 5!
Well, let's just say this was a raving success even without back
sweetening a drop! I took it all to our annual canoe trip. I got some
cold brew tea and tossed a few bags in a gallon or two, then served on
ice and sugar to taste. I think I left the bags in too long (I just left
them in there) and after stuffing the overly large bags into the gallon
jugs, a small bit of tea escaped the bags. I'm not a HUGE fan of tea
anyway but it was good. I think I would prefer some synthetic powdered
stuff that has sweeteners in it already.
The recipe calls for "yeast slurry" I had no idea what that meant until reading the FAQ provided by SkeeterPee. I just happened to have a batch of White Grape/Raspberry wine from concentrate ready to go into secondary.
Now I had to go to my brew shop for other miscellaneous items for other things I have going, and nutrient/energizer for this endeavor, but my brew shop was closed for good!
I did not want my yeast to be poisoned by the high gravity of the fruit wine must. I racked my fruit wine and had no idea what to do with my slurry or how to store it for another day or so. What I did was measure a gallon of fresh water and rinse my primary and return it to my gallon jug along with a 1/2 tsp nutrient and 1/2 tsp sugar. I realize now there was no need for all this.
As luck would have it, another brew shop had opened about a month ago and it is about 20 miles closer than the first! After the trip on Saturday I was ready to begin the "process." This is where things got a little messy. I had no stock pot worthy of 8 lbs of sugar and enough water for the cook. I was stuck with two smaller cook pots and divided the sugar water evenly.
Don't get me started on electric stoves and temperature control. At least it was a glass-top. Stirring two pots side by side for 30 minutes left the stove a sticky mess between the burners. I highly recommend not getting in a rush to try something new, especially if you don't have the proper equipment! I need a stockpot.
The recipe calls for the sugar water and lemon juice and chems and then water to 5 1/2 gallons. So after I had done all this I realized my slurry was sitting in guess what? Another gallon of water. My saving grace was the fact that even after reducing the total volume of water to 5 gallons, 8 lbs of sugar only brought specific gravity to 1.065. Just below the stated 1.070. I poured the slurry water into my Ale Pale and that brought it right to the brim and really reduced gravity.No room for the added sugar! I gave it all a gentle stir to mix in the yeast slurry and siphoned about 7/8ths of a gallon back into my jug. I just started pouring an un-measured amount granular sugar into the must and stirred till dissolved and took readings until I hit the 1.070 mark, and did the same with the jug. Now it was time to "stir in" some oxygen. I still had not much room to do this without making more mess to clean up. I used my auto siphon like a fish tank pump and got plenty of air into the mix. I think this is a good thing to use the siphon as a pump because you can get oxygen deplete must from the bottom of the pale and freshen it up on top, verses simply stirring a bit of air in at the top. It was easy and didn't drown the kitchen with brown water and lemon juice.
In spite of my inexperience, lack of equipment, and misunderstanding (for a moment) of the recipe, I have 6 gallons of Pee in primary instead of 5!
Well, let's just say this was a raving success even without back
sweetening a drop! I took it all to our annual canoe trip. I got some
cold brew tea and tossed a few bags in a gallon or two, then served on
ice and sugar to taste. I think I left the bags in too long (I just left
them in there) and after stuffing the overly large bags into the gallon
jugs, a small bit of tea escaped the bags. I'm not a HUGE fan of tea
anyway but it was good. I think I would prefer some synthetic powdered
stuff that has sweeteners in it already.
I love this stuff!
