skeeter pee bottle conditioning

[Mjcodd]

Can I do this?

I tried it with a preliminary bottle. it wasn't entirely done fermenting but i did it and bottle conditioned it. it turned out really well, and perfectly carbed after about a week, but it was yeasty. very yeasty. even after settling after pasteurizing.

any ideas why?

 

[CGish]

The two thing that come to mind from the recipe are:

1. Allow the Pee to ferment dry and for fermentation to stop (SG between 0.998 and 0.995). Rack into a clean, sanitized carboy. Give the batch a quick degas (use agitation and vacuum if you have the equipment). Add 1/2 tsp Kmeta, 2 1/2 tsp sorbate, and Sparkolliod (follow directions on the package).

2. If you aren’t in a hurry, Skeeter Pee will often fall clear without the Sparkolloid (as long as you’ve done a good job of degassing). My batches often clear in 30 to 45 days without fining.

By adding gas and not fining, you are keeping yeast in suspension. I think it would eventually clear (beers like barleywine do), but it might need a long aging period that the original skeeter pee does not require.

Cody

 

[Mjcodd]

so, that all makes perfect sense. but say I didnt want to use any chemicals. I just wanted to make it sparkle purely by bottling and letting it naturally carb inside. would the gas itself taste poorly in the lemonade?
Has anyone done this before?

 

[static]

I'm interested in this. I'm going to keg a batch after it clears and serve like i do Apfelwein. I'll be using a slurry from an Apfelwein batch to start it. So i'm hoping that it turns out well. I'll post up results when its done. Just waiting on the Apfelwein to finish so i can get started.

 

[CGish]

so, that all makes perfect sense. but say I didnt want to use any chemicals. I just wanted to make it sparkle purely by bottling and letting it naturally carb inside. would the gas itself taste poorly in the lemonade?
Has anyone done this before?

I have not done this, but if I were going to try:

1. Make the Skeeter Pee according to Lon's recipe, minus the chemicals, and let it sit in the secondaries, racking as necessary, until it is completely clear. This might take 3-6 months and multiple rackings without chemicals.

2. Add sugar to backsweeten to taste, plus a little extra for carbonation, and bottle.

3. Carefully monitor carbonation process and pasteurize at the appropriate time.

4. Age bottles until completely clear (unknown amount of time), refrigerate and drink.

Good luck and report back with timetables if you do this, please.

Cody

 

[DoctorWho]

I have bottle conditioned skeeter pee and it's just as CGish suggests.

It takes me about 2 months from start to finish without chemicals. 2 weeks for primary, 2 weeks secondary, and a little more than a month for the yeast to drop out of suspension.

At this point I rack to a bottling bucket, add simple syrup to backsweeten to 1.02 and bottle.

Watching the carbonation levels is the MOST IMPORTANT PART -because as we all know- glass and active yeast = bottle bombs. So be very careful about this and test frequently.

When the level of carbonation is good, I stove top pasteurize based on the sticky thread by pappers. This can be time consuming depending on how many bottles you can do at once in the pot. I can do about 8 at a time.

At this point you don't really need to age the bottles anymore, just let the come to room temperature, then refrigerate and drink (there will be some slight yeast in suspension, but their dead after pasteurization.) I have read some people notice a flavor change from this process, but I have not experienced it with skeeter pee.

All that said, I now have a kegging system and it has made carbing skeeterpee a much simpler process. Just dose with chemicals and force carb and go. I still bottle some with the beer gun for on the go pee time.