Skeeter Pee

Williams 728
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Hi all,

I've been more-or-less following the standard recipe for this on the website but with actual squeezed lemons, not bottled "Realemon" (which isn't a thing in this country afaik). The fermentation went very well but it has been clearing for around a month now and it's a long way from "crystal clear". Should I just sit on my hands and wait until it's clear before adding the final sugar or should I just chuck it in now and leave it to clear afterwards?
 
JuneHawk said:
I really want to make Skeeter Pee but I only have a 7 gallon fermenting bucket and a 6 gallon carboy. Can I make a half batch (2.5) gallons in a 6 gallon carboy without worrying about oxidation? To preempt the make-the-5-gallons comments, I don't need that much as I don't drink that much nor do I have friends who drink much either.
Thanks!
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That is all you need. Just start it in the bucket and rack off into the carboy.
 
One more time. To start the stuff the easiest and fastest way is to dissolve sugar in hot water an add to about three and a half gallons of water in the carboy. Chunk in a pack of 1116or 1118 don't even need any nutrients or energizer. Wait a couple hrs and it should be bubbling like a gyser in a bottle. Throw in all three jugs of juice and top up with water right out of the tap. If you are in no hurry just mix all ingredients the same day and forget it. Believe me it will start in a couple days. Yeast loves sugar and will get around to eating it when they are ready.
 
Just started a batch of Skeeter Pee. I made a starter with a couple cups of sugar in a half quart of warm water with two packets of 1118 and some nutrient. I let that sit for maybe 15 minutes until it had a decent head to it and pitched it. Skeeter Pee started to ferment well in less than a half hour.
 
Man this was so tasty I had to comment. I pored a glass of skeeter pee tonight and I have some Bacardi red peach rum I picked up on vacation a few weeks ago so I added a shot to a glass of skeeter pee and oh man this is nice. I am down to like 6 bottles of skeeter pee now from my last batch. But I do have 5 gallons of skeeter mead bulk aging now. Ill bottle that soon to replenish my brew stock.

Oh and the other day I took a few wines/mead to a party. I brought a couple bottles of skeeter pee, a bottle of corn cob wine and a strawberry jelly mead. The skeeter pee was totally a hit. The others all had great reviews but the skeeter pee took the cake. Surprise surprise.
 
Recipe was for the equivalent of the juice of 35 lemons.....purchased frozen minute maide with no preservatives and enough sugar to get SG up to 1.100. Lemon juice was added in small doses over the first three weeks of fermentation. Yeast was Star champagne. I also added an ounce or so of yeast nutrient.

Currently sitting at 1.056 at about 66F. There has been little significant change in SG in over a week. I have been rousing the yeast daily.

Alan
 
You may need to raise the PH a bit with potassium bicarbonate and once fermentation end add a little acid blend to taste.
 
Gilbey said:
Recipe was for the equivalent of the juice of 35 lemons.....purchased frozen minute maide with no preservatives and enough sugar to get SG up to 1.100. Lemon juice was added in small doses over the first three weeks of fermentation. Yeast was Star champagne. I also added an ounce or so of yeast nutrient.

Currently sitting at 1.056 at about 66F. There has been little significant change in SG in over a week. I have been rousing the yeast daily.

Alan
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did u use energizer?
 
Thanks Cliff. I am headed to my HBS store this weekend for grain, so I will pick some up!
 
I made a batch back in April.... kinda interesting that it's almost an exact 50/50 split of people who love it and think it tastes awful. Yeast used was ec-1118 and backsweetned with cane sugar.

Not sure if I'll make it again.
 
Just started my first batch of skeeter pee thia year (second ever) and decided to keep it the lemon flavor and not add any fruit to it. I finished up my starter using 4 cupa water, 2 cups simply Limeade, 1/4 cup lemon juice, 1/2 cup sugar, yeast nutrient and energizer, and 2 packets of Lalvin EC-1118. In just ten minutes I'm already seeing a lot of activity.

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Well I screwed up a bit here. I added too much water and there's barely any headspace left in the carboy. I fashioned a blowoff tube because it sure as hell looks like I'm going to need it!

While following the recipe, I added the water and lemon juice mixture to the carboy to get 6 gallons BEFORE I added my sugar water solution. I'm pretty sure it put me over 7 gallons, especially after adding my starter. I adjusted the quantities of the other ingredients accordingly to compensate for having too much water.

The first gravity reading before my adjustments was only at 1.045. It's up to 1.068 now which I'm content with. It's only beem 30 minutes since I stirred in my starter and I'm seeing the krausen forming already. I really don't want to deal with a carboy bomb! Might it be better to just cover the top with a piece of cheese cloth or a loose fitting lid to avoid a clogged tube?
 
Apple_Jacker said:
Well I screwed up a bit here. I added too much water and there's barely any headspace left in the carboy. I fashioned a blowoff tube because it sure as hell looks like I'm going to need it!

While following the recipe, I added the water and lemon juice mixture to the carboy to get 6 gallons BEFORE I added my sugar water solution. I'm pretty sure it put me over 7 gallons, especially after adding my starter. I adjusted the quantities of the other ingredients accordingly to compensate for having too much water.

The first gravity reading before my adjustments was only at 1.045. It's up to 1.068 now which I'm content with. It's only beem 30 minutes since I stirred in my starter and I'm seeing the krausen forming already. I really don't want to deal with a carboy bomb! Might it be better to just cover the top with a piece of cheese cloth or a loose fitting lid to avoid a clogged tube?
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With my skeeter pee I've never had krausen, you'll probably be fine. What yeast did you use? You could probably let it open ferment if you wanted to, just until you are sure that no krausen will form
 
gcdowd said:
With my skeeter pee I've never had krausen, you'll probably be fine. What yeast did you use? You could probably let it open ferment if you wanted to, just until you are sure that no krausen will form
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I dont know about open ferment, I personally wouldnt do that but I do agree you wont need to worry about a crazy ferment. Ive done lots of batches of this and it doesnt do much besides a couple inches of krausen if even that.
 
I made my starter using 2 packets of Lalvin EC-1118. The krausen was about an inch and a half tall but has already subsided. I've had close calls using this yeast before clogging my airlocks before so I did the blowoff tube as a precaution. I'll leave it like this overnight. If it stays like this I'll put the airlock on instead.
 
I've always had good luck with the Lavlin EC-1118 in Skeeter Pee. I'm starting my third batch tonight. For the second batch that I bottled about a week ago I bottled 2-1/2 gallons before I added some Raspberry Extract to the last 2-1/2 gallons. I wanted to try it out but not on a whole batch. It was delicious! The next batch is going to all be Raspberry flavored.
This is the #1 brew that my friends/neighbors/and co-workers request I make (and share...lol). Everyone loves it. :)
 
What did you use for your extract, something like the LD Carlson Raspberry extract, Mc Cormics, or something else. How many oz. per gallon?
 
The blowoff tube ended up being necessary... when I added the nutrient after it reached about 1.050 it foamed up and of out the carboy almost immediately. It's been several days now since that. It's sitting at .992 now. Ill check again tomorrow to be sure it stays there, then transfer to secondary. I couldn't help but notice how clear my pee is already. When I tasted it, there was hardly any lemon flavor. I re-checked my recipe and compared it to the original... I used 15 ounce bottles and not the 32 ounce bottles! Ill just add the extra lemon juice to the secondary and siphon the pee onto it to help mix it in. I need to pay better attention to the recipe!
 
LOL on the lemon amounts. Yea the extra juice will help. Also before adding that nutrient we should always slowly degas the SP first. I just use my home made wine whip on a drill. The effect you saw is the same principle as Mentos in diet cola. The nutrients just added nucleation points for CO2 to escape with.
 
This is my forth batch and I've not had this issue before. I just back sweetened and I'm getting a small amount of airlock activity. Should I add more sorbate and Kmeta?
 
If fermentation re-started then you probably need to let the yeast do their thing because sorbate and k-meta/Camden will not stop an active fermentation. If it is clear then you can bottle now and stove top pasteurize. If you did that you could set a couple bottles back and check them every 12 hours and let it carbonate. Once at desired carbonation the pasteurize.
 
That sucks!!! I wanted to back sweeten, carb in the keg and then bottle from the keg. I was hoping to keep it around 10%.
 
Arpolis said:
If fermentation re-started then you probably need to let the yeast do their thing because sorbate and k-meta/Camden will not stop an active fermentation. If it is clear then you can bottle now and stove top pasteurize. If you did that you could set a couple bottles back and check them every 12 hours and let it carbonate. Once at desired carbonation the pasteurize.
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can you cold crash to stop the activity,then add the chems to keep from restarting?
 
So today I had planned to start the skeeter pee, but I needed a few things from my brew shop. When I got there, they closed down! :( My white grape raspberry's primary fermentation was really petering out as well, so time was of the essence. I racked the WG/rasp and measured a gallon of cool water and rinsed the slurry from the bottom of the primary and then poured the gallon back into it's jug and added 1/2 tsp of nutrient and 1/2 tsp sugar....hopefully to keep the yeast alive and active for another day or so...till I get the stuff I need for the piss. The measured gallon and slurry will be one of the gallons for the piss. I can't think of any reason why it shouldn't work, but if any of you can, please post your objections for my edification and information.
BTW I used premer cuvee which is similar to EC 1118.
 
T_Baggins said:
can you cold crash to stop the activity,then add the chems to keep from restarting?
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Some times that works and others it doesn't. I tried that a couple times in a traditional and in a pumpkin cyser and it either did not work or it did but a month later or so fermentation picked up again anyways. It just delayed the fermentation.
 
T_Baggins said:
So today I had planned to start the skeeter pee, but I needed a few things from my brew shop. When I got there, they closed down! :( My white grape raspberry's primary fermentation was really petering out as well, so time was of the essence. I racked the WG/rasp and measured a gallon of cool water and rinsed the slurry from the bottom of the primary and then poured the gallon back into it's jug and added 1/2 tsp of nutrient and 1/2 tsp sugar....hopefully to keep the yeast alive and active for another day or so...till I get the stuff I need for the piss. The measured gallon and slurry will be one of the gallons for the piss. I can't think of any reason why it shouldn't work, but if any of you can, please post your objections for my edification and information.
BTW I used premer cuvee which is similar to EC 1118.
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What all do you need from the HBS? The ingredients are mainly grocery store stuff lack the nutrients and yeast. If you need the k-meta/Camden you can order that because that is not needed for a while and finnings are only needed if you don't want to wait an extra 30 days for it to clear on it's own. But again can be ordered and shipped while you start the pee.
 
Arpolis said:
What all do you need from the HBS? The ingredients are mainly grocery store stuff lack the nutrients and yeast. If you need the k-meta/Camden you can order that because that is not needed for a while and finnings are only needed if you don't want to wait an extra 30 days for it to clear on it's own. But again can be ordered and shipped while you start the pee.
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Oh, I grabbed some nutrient and energizer for this, and for other things I got going on already I got some tannin and stabilizer and two bags of oak chips, one White and one French. The other things I have going are Apple/Cherry and White grape/Raspberry ... any ideas on which chips to use with which batch? The French chips are medium roast, the white are now toasted at all.
 
T_Baggins said:
Oh, I grabbed some nutrient and energizer for this, and for other things I got going on already I got some tannin and stabilizer and two bags of oak chips, one White and one French. The other things I have going are Apple/Cherry and White grape/Raspberry ... any ideas on which chips to use with which batch? The French chips are medium roast, the white are now toasted at all.
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Ok cool, i was just checking because if it was going to be difficult or a while to get what you needed, I just wanted to say there is more than one way to skin a cat. Like using black tea for tannin or boiled bread yeast and crushed B6 tablet for energizer... But sounds like you are fine off.

I do not use oak often so take my words with a grain of salt but I would use the toasted French in reds in general and the white to go in white wines in general. If I had to choose one to go with the other probably the white to go with the white grape raspberry.
 
Arpolis said:
Ok cool, i was just checking because if it was going to be difficult or a while to get what you needed, I just wanted to say there is more than one way to skin a cat. Like using black tea for tannin or boiled bread yeast and crushed B6 tablet for energizer... But sounds like you are fine off.

I do not use oak often so take my words with a grain of salt but I would use the toasted French in reds in general and the white to go in white wines in general. If I had to choose one to go with the other probably the white to go with the white grape raspberry.
Click to expand...

Thanks for the input on the oak, I think I'll try the French in my apple/cherry. Having experience with what apple/cherry taste like on it's own, I should be able to distinguish any oak flavor. From what I've read the French can impart a "sweet" flavor which I like. On the other hand I've read the White oak can give off a coconut aroma. I absolutely DETEST coconut. I believe I will leave the white grape/raspberry well enough alone. I may just pitch the white oak in the trash or fire! Not really though. I may use it in something I intend to share/give away etc.
 

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