Skeeter Pee

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Interested in trying this but finding certain ingredients in Israel is a bit hard.
Can I use a Campden tablet instead of the Add 1/2 tsp Kmeta, 2 1/2 tsp sorbate, and Sparkolliod


You can use campden instead of kmeta yes. You don't have to use sparkolliod it will clear on its own with time. As far as sorbate goes you wouldn't be able to back sweeten if you don't use it. The sugar will renew fermentation. You will have bottle bombs for sure.
 
+1

An alternative would be to pasteurize the bottles before sweetening (maybe fill each wine bottle a measured amount, pasteurize uncorked, cool, backsweeten, and cork) but that presents some more issues
 
+1

An alternative would be to pasteurize the bottles before sweetening (maybe fill each wine bottle a measured amount, pasteurize uncorked, cool, backsweeten, and cork) but that presents some more issues
A great idea of you want to skip the sorbate. It might be easier, though, if you pasteurized the entire batch, then backsweetened and bottled. I've been toying with the idea of using a wort chiller to flash pasteurize, putting the chiller in boiling water and then running the beverage through the chiller.
 
By pasteurize you mean reheat after fermentation? Will this not kill the yeast? Is the back sweetening just for sweetness? So this is an unsweetened drink? I thought it was fizzy.
 
Pasteurizing would kill the yeast (if done correctly). If you do it after fermentation you would be safe to add sugar to your batch to backsweeten, but you wouldn't be able to carbonate because everything is dead.

If you want to have it sweet and fizzy, you can follow the advice on the Caramel Apple Cider thread. The idea there is to ferment your batch to completion, backsweeten, bottle, and cap (note: use beer bottles instead of wine bottles because they're designed to hold pressure. Wine bottles aren't). Be sure to use at least one plastic PET bottle.

Since you've added sugar to an environment with yeast, they will continue fermenting in the bottle. If left unchecked, they'll create bottle bombs. But, after a few days (depending on your environment) you should achieve the carbonation level you want. When your plastic test bottle is hard, you're usually ready but its ok to take a sample from a beer bottle...for testing purposes :D

From here you can pasteurize as normal in the beer bottles.
 
A great idea of you want to skip the sorbate. It might be easier, though, if you pasteurized the entire batch, then backsweetened and bottled. I've been toying with the idea of using a wort chiller to flash pasteurize, putting the chiller in boiling water and then running the beverage through the chiller.

That sounds like a fantastic idea. As long as the liquid coming out is over 170F (I think) you ought to be good right?
 
That sounds like a fantastic idea. As long as the liquid coming out is over 170F (I think) you ought to be good right?

That sounds about right, but it depends on how long it's held at a specific temperature. I don't have the numbers in front of me, but the longer it's at certain temp, the lower the temp can be. So it you went through a double heat exchanger, one heating and one chilling, the temperature would need to be higher than if you went from heating into a vessel and then cooled it.
 
The batch I started in February still hasn't cleared yet, even tho' I added the Sparkolloid 2 weeks ago. I think I'll bottle it this weekend anyway. Maybe it will clear in the bottles.
 
The batch I started in February still hasn't cleared yet, even tho' I added the Sparkolloid 2 weeks ago. I think I'll bottle it this weekend anyway. Maybe it will clear in the bottles.


Generally the rule is to not bottle until clear. It won't really clear much more in the bottle. Even if the sediment falls to the bottom of bottle just moving it around will rouse it up. Do you have the ability to cold crash? I'm surprised because when I use sparkolliod my wine is perfectly clear in no time.
 
The first batch I made cleared within 3 days of adding sparkolloid. I don't know what's wrong with this one. It's kind of clear-ish. I didn't degas it (don't have a degassing wand) maybe that's it. I think I shook the previous batch before I clarified it.
 
My batch is 2 months old and has been in the keg for a month and still comes out looking exactly like lemonade. Might this be the yeast I used? Or lack of temperature control during ferment?

My next batch is on its second week. I will try a more aggressive degas this time.

Tom
 
I've got a batch of cranberry wine I'm hoping to get off of the fruit tomorrow and I'll get a batch of skeeter pee going on the cranberry cake, just because it sounds delicious.

As an added bonus, I might throw several lime rinds into the sugar water when its hot to see if that imparts some flavor. For some reason cranberry lemon and lime sound like it would be a pretty good combo.

I'll report back with how it goes.
 
Working on my second batch of SP. Started with 1/2 gal of organic (supposedly) non preservative white grape juice and some EC1118 yeast just to get it started. I am about to rack off the crap wine and use the slurry to start things. Temp has been a steady 65F.

The juice definitely started fermenting (its been down 1.5 weeks). a yeast cake formed and all. I just poured 1 glass of the 'wine' from my starter just to see how it tastes. It has alcohol, and a yeasty smell, but is largely sweet. There was no added sugar to this, so I would have thought it would be dry by now. Strange.

Still have a good slurry to work with, so I am going to proceed and see what happens.

When I get to back sweetening, I plan on adding a different juice. Maybe raspberry, but does anyone have any suggestions?
 
Has anyone made SP in a bucket rather than glass carboy? I've had lemon juice etch my plastic measuring cups from the acidity and would hate to ruin my wine-making bucket.
 
I am brewing in a plastic carboy now, no issues. Last year used plastic too for either primary or secondary, but I cannot remember the order.
 
Any advice for a skeeter pee with an acetone smell? Will it go away on its own in secondary? Thanks,
 
Any advice for a skeeter pee with an acetone smell? Will it go away on its own in secondary? Thanks,

The only safe way to neutralise it is with baking soda, but you have to be careful and not add too much or you might cause a gusher!
 
So question here. I'm on my second 5 gallon batch of edwort's apfelwein and I want to try SkeeterPee. I'm going to order some yeast nutrient and energizer and for the tannin I'm just going to use a tea bag( because I'm a cheap bastard) but do I really need the Potassium metabisulfite and the Potassium sorbate...from what I gather these are strictly agents to cut down on off smells that following the recipe to a T and degassing should take care of? I'm not even going to mess with sparkaloid....could care less if it's murky.
 
So question here. I'm on my second 5 gallon batch of edwort's apfelwein and I want to try SkeeterPee. I'm going to order some yeast nutrient and energizer and for the tannin I'm just going to use a tea bag( because I'm a cheap bastard) but do I really need the Potassium metabisulfite and the Potassium sorbate...from what I gather these are strictly agents to cut down on off smells that following the recipe to a T and degassing should take care of? I'm not even going to mess with sparkaloid....could care less if it's murky.

No. K-meta and k-sorbate prevent fermentation from restarting when you back sweeten. Otherwise you'd end up with bottle bombs.
 
No. K-meta and k-sorbate prevent fermentation from restarting when you back sweeten. Otherwise you'd end up with bottle bombs.

Thanks! I probably shouldve searched harder prior to posting(and come back to edit the post) because I answered my own question a little later in the day. I'd imagine backsweetening with splenda to skip those ingredients would have deplorable results. Just gonna not be a cheapo and order some.
 
I have 6 gallons of pee ready for sweetening tomorrow and, if all goes well, bottling in a few days. I'm sweetening with blueberry preserves and 100% blueberry juice. Oh, and I was going to infuse this all with 4 1-ounce packets of fresh mint leaves. This will go over well with everyone I'm sure!

Everyone likes drinking my pee! 😉
 
I have my first batch kegged right now. Good stuff. I've been trying to find something my lady would appreciate since she's doesn't like beer. It's quite not sweet enough for her as is but has been adding raspberry lemonade drink packets and loves it like that.

I have a 2nd batch fermenting right now. I would like it to be a little sweeter and raspberry flavored for her. Any recommendations for back sweeting with raspberry?
 
I just finished bottling a 3-gallon batch. (I use a lot less sugar for backsweetening than the recipe calls for) Starting another 4-gallon batch on the lees from the apple cider that I also bottled today.
All my previous batches of SP have been made with some kind or another of champagne yeast. The cider was fermented with 71B; no idea if it will make a difference.
 
I made this and followed the recipe to the letter. While it has an intense lemon flavor it tastes what I can only describe as flat and watery. No mouth feel or bite. I think it would be better carbonated, but I really cant tell for sure. What did I do wrong?
 
I made this and followed the recipe to the letter. While it has an intense lemon flavor it tastes what I can only describe as flat and watery. No mouth feel or bite. I think it would be better carbonated, but I really cant tell for sure. What did I do wrong?

I've noticed that if I don't get the back sweetening to a high enough level, it can taste thin and watery. Try making some simple syrup and add a little at a time to a single glass. See if that fixes it.
 
I've noticed that if I don't get the back sweetening to a high enough level, it can taste thin and watery. Try making some simple syrup and add a little at a time to a single glass. See if that fixes it.

Ah thats it, then. I guess I didn't actually follow the recipe to the letter because I didn't back sweeten at all. Thanks,
 
Ah thats it, then. I guess I didn't actually follow the recipe to the letter because I didn't back sweeten at all. Thanks,

Oh my, that would taste awful. :(

Add about half (maybe less than half) of the backsweetening sugar, stir it up, and taste it. Add more sugar until it tastes right. In my 3-gallon batches, it has taken about 1 3/4 cups of sugar. I don't know that 2 cups would be too much, but it might be for my taste.
 
Sweetening is very important with Skeeter Pee. It doesn't taste good dry! After Ii enjoy the nice weather this afternoon, I'll be doing what I alluded to in a previous post and sweeten my pee with a simple syrup I'm going to make using blueberry preserves ( no seeds or solids), 100% blueberry juice, and mint.
 
I don't know if I'll use preserves again. I should've read the labels more thoroughly than I did. The pectin in it will probably keep my wine hazy.

I also assumed (falsely) that the preserves combined with the juice was enough sugar to sweeten it where I wanted it. It bumped the gravity up from .990 to 1.002. I had to make more simple syrup with leftover blueberry juice and table sugar to bump it up to 1.016. That made all the difference in the world. A sweet blueberry/lemon flavor with a mint undertone. This is gonna be a popular one.

Next time I do a blueberry pee, I'll use just the juice and sugar to make my simple syrup instead of preserves. This will get the gravity where I want it without adding too much additional liquid that might have diluted my current batch, even if it was a little bit.
 
I have kegged two batches of SP and neither time did I backsweeten.

I made a big batch of simple syrup and just let people sweeten it to taste. It's not too bad dry, I used 71b yeast maybe that's why. It's almost like Sauvigon Blanc when it isn't backsweetened

It's nice to have on hand dry so you can sweeten it/mix it with whatever you want
 
So I've got all my SP ingredients and have been doing a lot of reading and video watching of people's various techniques while I've been waiting on my apfelwein to hit the three week mark. It's ec1118 so should still be active enough as a slurry. Here's my thought though...instead of mixing the invert sugar with the lemon juice, degassing and waiting 24-48 hours and risking getting buggies attracted to the sugar water...couldn't I just pour all the lemon juice into a container(say a tea jug, one gallon carboy or whatever) whisk the heck out of it and then cover with one of mesh bags for biab to keep most nasties out? Seems doing it that way would work...plus getting the sulfites out of the 3rd addition of the lemon juice. I tend to overthink new ferments and brews before I jump into them.
 
Here's what I've done on my last two batches, and I didn't notice any difference from when I made the invert syrup:
I just use plain white sugar and dump it into the fermenter with the yeast energizer, half of the yeast nutrient, tannin, etc, and just one bottle of lemon juice. I add the water (either bottled water, or tap water dechlorinated with vitamin C) and pitch the yeast. A week later I add the second bottle of lemon juice, and a week after that I add the rest of the lemon juice and the rest of the yeast nutrient.
By adding the lemon juice a little at a time, the yeast doesn't have to deal with so much sorbate or benzoate preservatives while it's ramping up.
 
Here's what I've done on my last two batches, and I didn't notice any difference from when I made the invert syrup:
I just use plain white sugar and dump it into the fermenter with the yeast energizer, half of the yeast nutrient, tannin, etc, and just one bottle of lemon juice. I add the water (either bottled water, or tap water dechlorinated with vitamin C) and pitch the yeast. A week later I add the second bottle of lemon juice, and a week after that I add the rest of the lemon juice and the rest of the yeast nutrient.
By adding the lemon juice a little at a time, the yeast doesn't have to deal with so much sorbate or benzoate preservatives while it's ramping up.

Pitching a yeast starter, re-hydrated or just dry? I like the idea of spacing out the lemon juice...seems like less likelihood of getting nasties in the mix.

Honestly I'd kind like to let my apfelwein sit another week or so and not mixup the lemon flavors with the apple-ness.
 
Anybody ever try this with less lemon juice? I'm on my 2nd batch and thought the first one was just a bit to tart. I haven't added the third bottle yet.
 
Pitching a yeast starter, re-hydrated or just dry? I like the idea of spacing out the lemon juice...seems like less likelihood of getting nasties in the mix.

I've used champagne yeasts (EC-1118, Premier Cuvee, etc) by just rehydrating them and pitching. I started a new batch a week ago using the 71B slurry from a carboy of hard cider that I bottled.
 
Pitching a yeast starter, re-hydrated or just dry? I like the idea of spacing out the lemon juice...seems like less likelihood of getting nasties in the mix.

Honestly I'd kind like to let my apfelwein sit another week or so and not mixup the lemon flavors with the apple-ness.

Both batches I made I just pitched 2 packets of yeast. Both fermented without any issues. As far as nasties I don't see it being a big concern with the acidic environment. I just don't see any bugs grabbing hold very easily. Yeast have a hard enough time.
 
I have kegged two batches of SP and neither time did I backsweeten.

I made a big batch of simple syrup and just let people sweeten it to taste. It's not too bad dry, I used 71b yeast maybe that's why. It's almost like Sauvigon Blanc when it isn't backsweetened

It's nice to have on hand dry so you can sweeten it/mix it with whatever you want

:rockin: That's what I do with my apple cider... well not simple syrup, but backsweeten with unfermeted juice at the time of consumption... simpler and less waste! Of course, I typically drink it dry.
 
:rockin: That's what I do with my apple cider... well not simple syrup, but backsweeten with unfermeted juice at the time of consumption... simpler and less waste! Of course, I typically drink it dry.

Hm, man I'd never thought about mixing up a sweetner for folks to add into cider...I usually split a 5 gallon carboy between sweetened, carbonated bottles and dry, still liters. :mug:
 
Started my batch of SP last night. Going the gradual additions of lemon juice route. Had an SG of 1.07. I whipped the heck out of it with a drill whip and pitched a rehydrated 1118 packet. Eight hours overnite and there's no visible airlock activity but I cracked the bucket lid and there's obvious movement with slight fizzing and bubbling. There seems to be quite a bit of yeast hanging out on top, but it all appears to be moving about. Curious if anyone has seen delayed airlock activity with this or if anyone has any thoughts.
 
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