Skeeter Pee

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D_Nyholm said:
So, mine fermented down to .995 and I transferred it to a new carboy. There was a slight sulfur smell at the time that I was hoping would go away. It sat for about a week and I just gave it a little whiff... O MY! Farts +1! I am planning on transferring and stabilizing this week along with degassing. How long should I expect the smell to linger or is it permanent?
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Sulfur/Fart smell is usually hydrogen sulfide contamination. Skeeter Pee is especially susceptible to it because of the high acidity and low nutrition of the lemon juice. I have read that frequent aeration during primary fermentation helps prevent hydrogen sulfide contamination.

I'm afraid that smell might be permanent.
 
Yeah, I guess I didn't aerate enough or far enough into fermentation. Just racked, stabilized, and degassed last night. Giving it a week or so to clear and crossing my fingers the smell goes away. Then I am going to sweeten and let it sit another week or two and keg/bottle.
 
Damn this stuff ferments fast! Mine hit 1.000 before I knew it and I didn't have time to add the last bottle of Lemon Juice. Should I go ahead and do it before or after I add kmeta and sparkloid?
 
mrwilson said:
Damn this stuff ferments fast! Mine hit 1.000 before I knew it and I didn't have time to add the last bottle of Lemon Juice. Should I go ahead and do it before or after I add kmeta and sparkloid?
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Yes.
 
Hello all. I just made my first Skeeter Pee yesterday. I followed the directions to the letter but when I took my OG reading it was 1.080. Pretty damn high. This was yesterday right after I made it. Now it is sitting with a cloth over it. Am I basically ok or is there something I should do?
 
Iceman6409 said:
Hello all. I just made my first Skeeter Pee yesterday. I followed the directions to the letter but when I took my OG reading it was 1.080. Pretty damn high. This was yesterday right after I made it. Now it is sitting with a cloth over it. Am I basically ok or is there something I should do?
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Dis you take a temp reading when you measured OG? Mine came to 1.073 with temp correction.
 
So far I'm doing ok on my first batch. Followed the original recipe on the must. I was afraid with my last batch of merlot that the yeast might not be good after allowing the ferment to complete, so I followed another post. Used a can of frozen grape juice reconstituted in a gallon jug, pinch of yeast nutrient, and a pack of EC-118. It got bubbling quick, started adding must a few cups at a time. By the 3rd day I dumped it in to the must. I've been aerating with a wine whip. It's the second day since adding the slurry and I've gone from 1.070 to 1.060. Hoping to add the last bottle of lemon juice tomorrow. No foul smells. So far so good.

The directions say to transfer to a carboy after a few days but before fermentation is complete. What is the benefit of doing this versus letting it finish out the ferment before racking? Is there less of chance of sulphur production if you quickly get it off the original yeast cake?
 
Well, I've been whipping it up twice a day for over a week. It's down from 1.070 to 1.004, and no sign of any sulfur smell, so it seems to be doing well. I'm just gonna keep it in the primary until it hits in the .998-.996 range, then rack it to a carboy.
 
Update on my sulphur smell. I just racked to another carboy and added the 6 cups of sugar. The sulpher smell is there, just very very faint at this point. I am hoping that by the time I bottle this in 2 weeks it will be completely gone.

Took a sample and tasted it. I thought it was pretty good, nothing spectacular, just good. My wife thought it was too tart. It honestly didn't have that much flavor. Slight lemon taste, and slightly sweet. I think I am going to take off a gallon or so and add some lemonade concentrate to it to see if that helps. It may add too much though, but we will see.
 
Just bottled my skeeter pee and skeeter blood :) Batch two of the Kampo Brewery is in bottles woot :)
P1020149.jpg

WeizenCidre is now cold crashing and my White Ras Rocket fuel just got moved to secondary to stabilize.
 
okay I have read all 26 pages and havent read anywhere, but is anyone using an aqaurium air pump the firsty few days to keep stirred up or is that a no no? Seems it may work as others are stirring it up a couple times a day.

If it were to work how long would you use it for?

Thoughts.
 
I whipped mine twice a day until it reached until fermentation ended at .996. Whipping not only adds oxygen, but removes CO2 also. Never a smell of sulfur. I am not an expert. You know, there are 78 pages.
 
i have a batch i just stabilized. i had no problems at all using lavelin ec-1118 yeast.. i maid a starter from the skeeter pee and some water added to it.. but i think i could have pitched right to the skeeter pee.. the yeast took off right away.. added the starter and it took off. took a lil over 2 weeks to ferment. stirred it once when i added the secound helping of nutrient and energizer. never got any sulfur smell at all. smelt like fermenting lemonade!!
cant wait to drink this stuff.. i tested it of course and man it does go down easy!! mines sitting at about 9%abv but i can't taste the alcohol at all.. i started a 2nd batch already!!!!
 
Greenbasterd said:
i have a batch i just stabilized. i had no problems at all using lavelin ec-1118 yeast.. i maid a starter from the skeeter pee and some water added to it.. but i think i could have pitched right to the skeeter pee.. the yeast took off right away.. added the starter and it took off. took a lil over 2 weeks to ferment. stirred it once when i added the secound helping of nutrient and energizer. never got any sulfur smell at all. smelt like fermenting lemonade!!
cant wait to drink this stuff.. i tested it of course and man it does go down easy!! mines sitting at about 9%abv but i can't taste the alcohol at all.. i started a 2nd batch already!!!!
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Welcome to the wonderful world of skeeter pee!!
 
So my girlfriend and I didn't plan very well and we have to move before we had planned on bottling the skeeter pee. We are through to the point where we have stabilized the pee and cleared using sparkoloid. It's been clearing for almost 1 week and I don't think it's going to get any clearer, it looks great. The recipe calls for 2 weeks of stabilizing and then 2 weeks post adding sugar to check for fermentation. Could those two times be cut down to 1 week or a little less each without much worry or are they meant to be taken seriously?

Also a note for those looking to start their pee, after two false starts trying to use watered down pee must as a starter, we simply pitched a healthy rehydrated ec-1118 starter into the pee and it chugged along happily. Started at ~1.073 and ended at .995-.998 (unsure due to temperature uncertainty). Haven't tasted yet but it looks great!
 
If your going to back sweeten, and dont want to wait the two weeks to see if fermentation starts again, i would get some wine conditioner. its got potassium sorbate in there to prevent refermentation. if its pretty clear (the skeeter pee) then there probably isnt much yeast in there anyway. i use wine conditioner frequently and have not had refermentation yet.
 
Well, I racked yesterday after 2 weeks getting it to clear. It did, but then I moved the better bottle it was in and the movement stirred some of it up again. Oh well. I racked and back sweetened 4 gallons with sugar. Then 1 gallon with raspberry conc and a little sugar and 1 gallon with limeaide conc and sugar. The lime is a bit too tart but if you think margarita when you drink it your good. With all of them you need 3 sips. The first is "Oh, tart and strange, hmmm". The second is "Well this is ok, I'll get through it". The third sip is "hey hey, this is good and dangerous!" This will be a memorial day hit.
 
I'm sorry if this has been covered, but I searched the thread and didn't come up with an answer. What size carboy will this recipe need? I don't have a fermenter bucket, but do have three 6.5 gallon and three 5 gallon carboys. Iam going to be using 1118 yeast, will there be enough head space in a 5 gallon carboy, or would the extra space in the 6.5 do better?

Or can i just use 5 gallon buckets?
 
I got my first 5 gallon batch started. I used all three of the lemons and all the enerziser and nutrtiemt right from the start. I made up some starter with apple juice and sugar primed about four times and it is bubbling real good. Will it matter that I misread and added all at the start instead of waiting for the third bottle of juice and the second yeast helpers. Thanks Mike
 
I think I would add more yeast nutrient and energizer yet at the 1.050 sg mark yet. It won't hurt it at least and you will probably need it to prevent the strained yeast smell (suphur). I would not add any more lemon concentrate.
 
i would really love to make this but am having a really hard time getting the 100% lemon juice where i live. the closest i can get is 40% juice from concentrate. what do you think i should do, increase the quantity until i have the required ratio? i think i should factor in the fact its made from concentrate rather than regular. hmm...
 
Now I know why they call it lawnmower juice. Unlike beer, it doesn't foam up in the cup holder. Tastes good with bits of grass clippings in it.
 
I've made a few batches. I used dry wine yeast (Red Star Montrachet) the first go around, building up the yeast and exposing it to a little lemon, for a few days. I had rhino farts that would kill the most hardened mother in law. I feel the yeast had a big part in it.

Since then I have used EC-118. I start the must and yeast starter at the same time. I used two packs of dry yeast into a an empty growler with a little sugar and water. After it started to ferment well I added in a cup of the must (about 8-12 hours after). And another 2 cups about 8-12 hours later. I then pitched the yeast into the must about 36 hours after I started them. No rhino farts at all.

The first batch I mostly poured out do to the overwhelming sulphur smell. I did save a few bottles and two in four seemed to be okay. The other two still smelled horrible almost a year later.

I don't recommend using Red Star Montrachet. I used it in other batches of various things and it seems very susceptible to producing rhino farts in both Skeeter Pee and Apfelwien to name a few. I am one of many people who used dry yeast and by aerating the must for a few days and building up a starter have been successful at making Skeeter Pee without rhino farts so don't be afraid.
 
I to just use ec-1118, I rehydrate the yeast while making my must and drinking 1 glass of grape juice from a 64oz bottle of welche's White grape juice. The remaining juice gets the rehydrated yeast, the lid sat back on, and we have instant starter. 24 hours later, it just gets poured into a well shaken must. Then just let her rip (adding nutrient and energizer per the recipe as noted) No stink!
 
I should have said I added the nutrient and energizer also. Grape juice is a great idea.
 
Started a batch back on 5/27/12 with an OG of 1.072. Gave it two more rounds of nutrient to make sure it fermented as far as possible. Pulled a sample today since it's more than a few minutes between airlock movements (I know, no indicator of anything) and tested the gravity... Down to 0.998 :rockin: About 9.8-9.9% ABV using Wyeast 1469. I had the yeast on hand, and wasn't planning to use it for a batch of beer... ever... So it went in. :D

I used 5# of dememera sugar (raw cane sugar), 1oz of lemon peel and it's at 3.5 gallons volume. About to start adding the cans of lemonade concentrate (one can tonight, another either tomorrow or over the weekend). I have a total of four cans on hand to add for starts. If I need more, I'll get some from the grocery store.

Oh, and I intend to carbonate this in the brew fridge in keg... So no worries about the yeast being beyond use there. :D
 
Last night my gravity was 1.050 and tonight it was down to 1.020. Mine is moving fast with a warm ferment. Hopefully it finished in a few days and I can rack it and start clearing it.
 
Slight newbie question here, but....

I am looking to make a Skeeter Pee batch tomorrow. I am hoping to have it in bottles by July 1st. Is this reasonable, or am I crazy?

Second question: Is the sorbate going to truly kill all yeast, allowing me to be able to back sweeten with that whopping 6 cups of sugar? I can't afford to have a bunch of bottle bombs going off on the ride to my cabin for the 4th!!

ASSUMING that I can't get this roughly 3-4 week process done in the next two weeks, how well does this plan work out:

Finish fermenting, SKIP Kmeta and Sorbate....then directly bottle, then sweeten (say, with simple syrup) upon drinking? Is it decent if it doesn't clear?

What if I just dumped the whole batch into my brewpot, pasteurized it (to skip the sorbate neutralizing yeast activity) and then added the back sweetening sugar...then bottled it?

LASTLY...what's the best way to degas without any proper tools? I'm a beer guy for the most part and don't want to have to pick up a tool that will rarely get used.


Sincerely, a beer guy with no wine experience who is just excited to drink some pee!
 
Boardndave said:
Slight newbie question here, but....

I am looking to make a Skeeter Pee batch tomorrow. I am hoping to have it in bottles by July 1st. Is this reasonable, or am I crazy?
Yes, you are crazy, my normal pipeline is 5 weeks. It normally takes 2 weeks of fermentation to work thru everything, though it's mostly done in the first week.

Second question: Is the sorbate going to truly kill all yeast, allowing me to be able to back sweeten with that whopping 6 cups of sugar? I can't afford to have a bunch of bottle bombs going off on the ride to my cabin for the 4th!!
It does... just not in the time you require. half of the equation is the clarifying. It gets everything to drop out of solution. I don't wait the extra time after backsweetening. I stabilize+clarify after primary. Then backsweeten when bottling. Never had an issue.

ASSUMING that I can't get this roughly 3-4 week process done in the next two weeks, how well does this plan work out:

Finish fermenting, SKIP Kmeta and Sorbate....then directly bottle, then sweeten (say, with simple syrup) upon drinking? Is it decent if it doesn't clear? IDK never tried

What if I just dumped the whole batch into my brewpot, pasteurized it (to skip the sorbate neutralizing yeast activity) and then added the back sweetening sugar...then bottled it?

Sincerely, a beer guy with no wine experience who is just excited to drink some pee!
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While we appreciate your excitement, just take your time. It's well worth it. Why ruin a batch trying to rush?
 
Reaver said:
While we appreciate your excitement, just take your time. It's well worth it. Why ruin a batch trying to rush?
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Because it's cheap and I would like a batch for the 4th of July. I fully plan on doing a second shortly after this first, if i do indeed try to ram it through.
 
I would just sweeten as it comes out of the bottle. You can also sweeten with sprite and carbonate at the same time. I don't think you are going to taste much difference if it is 2 weeks old or 3 weeks old. The only problem I would think is fermentation may not be done. If I remember correctly, I think mine took 3 weeks to finish.
 
Boardndave said:
Because it's cheap and I would like a batch for the 4th of July. I fully plan on doing a second shortly after this first, if i do indeed try to ram it through.
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I just wish you were closer... I'ld give you a batch to get thru. But that's up to you. and you know what... this would be a great lesson... see if you can do a double batch. Rush the 1st and then finish the 2nd properly. It'll show you the difference.
 
Slight newbie question here, but....

I am looking to make a Skeeter Pee batch tomorrow. I am hoping to have it in bottles by July 1st. Is this reasonable, or am I crazy?
Click to expand...
If time is short and this is for a party, Why bottle? I'd serve from an Igloo cooler.

Second question: Is the sorbate going to truly kill all yeast, allowing me to be able to back sweeten with that whopping 6 cups of sugar? I can't afford to have a bunch of bottle bombs going off on the ride to my cabin for the 4th!!
Click to expand...

I also wouldn't use chemicals that you don't have time to age out.

ASSUMING that I can't get this roughly 3-4 week process done in the next two weeks, how well does this plan work out:

Finish fermenting, SKIP Kmeta and Sorbate....then directly bottle, then sweeten (say, with simple syrup) upon drinking? Is it decent if it doesn't clear?
Click to expand...

Yea...no chemicals...no bottling......sweeten morning of party or at serving. You can use syrup, various sweetened Koolaid, or even seven-up to add sweetness and carbonation.

What if I just dumped the whole batch into my brewpot, pasteurized it (to skip the sorbate neutralizing yeast activity) and then added the back sweetening sugar...then bottled it?
Click to expand...
I'm afraid you would lose a lot of alcohol in an open pasteurization to evaporation.

LASTLY...what's the best way to degas without any proper tools? I'm a beer guy for the most part and don't want to have to pick up a tool that will rarely get used.
Click to expand...
You can make a home made wine whip from a plastic coat hanger. You just need something that you can run in your electric drill that will fit through carboy opening and will create a whirlpool effect.
 

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