Accidentally added all the lemon juice at beginning

[Killa J]

I decided to make my first batch of SP, but I added all 3 bottles of lemon juice to the primary without thinking. Think it will still turn out OK? Or should I toss it and start over?

 

[meadmaker1]

Dont toss it. Give it a try.

 

[Killa J]

Thanks. I figured it would be ok, but I don’t want to waste my only yeast slurry.

Slightly related - would the Skeeter Pee turn out OK with the yeast added directly to it instead of the extra steps? Just in case this doesn’t work.

 

[meadmaker1]

Probably would need to do a starter.
Rehydrate yeast
Add to some water with sugar and yeast nutrients to get yeast jumping for several hrs to a day
Jack keller.com has a good yeast pitching section (good reading for information sake)

 

[Killa J]

How visible is fermentation in Skeeter Pee once it starts? Last night made 48 hours since I pitched the yeast slurry, and I’m not seeing anything as of this morning. The Dragon’s Blood I started at the same time is foaming and has obvious bubbling.

 

[Arne]

With the extra lemon you might have a bit of a problem getting it started. Make sure it is warm, probably in the high 70's or low 80's. Stir it up good and keep oxygen in it and it should take off. Make sure to add the extra nutrient as the ferment continues on. Don't want the ferment to stick or stress the yeast. Stressed yeast will give you a bad oder, you will notice it rather fast. Good luck with it, Arne.

 

[Killa J]

I decided to make a yeast starter and add more yeast. I now have a little bit of bubbling this morning, so I guess that it worked.

I do have some “stuff” floating on top that I haven’t had in any of my other wines. It appears to be yeast, or at least it’s the same color. Does Skeeter Pee make krausen? None of my other wines have.

https://imgur.com/u7N4ku7

 

[Killa J]

It’s bubbling like it should be, so all is good.

 

[meadmaker1]

Perfect recipe to learn on. Not that it wont be a wonderful wine, but knowing you can pull it off because you have builds confidence. Three bottles of store bought lemon juice and a couple lbs off sugar compaired to learning on a 100lbs or more of grapes or a spendy juice bucket , is a lot easyer on a persons nerves.
And you dont have to wait all year to try again if it had flopped. Or to do again with a custom twist of your own

 

[Killa J]

Yeah, cheap and quick is why I decided to make it. I have a pinot noir kit and a batch of dragons blood going, and those went off without a hitch. So I was a little nervous when the skeeter pee didn’t seem like it was fermenting. I don’t know if the second yeast starter did anything or not, but it started showing signs of life within a day once I used it.

Are there any negatives to using more yeast than needed? This one has a slurry plus a full packet of yeast.

 

[meadmaker1]

In theory the strongest yeast will dominate. If it's the same yeast I dont see how it will dpo any harm, in a couple weeks three gazillion dead yeast bodies will lie on the bottom of your fermentation vessel either way

 

[Killa J]

I’m really missing the mark on this one! The extra yeast went into overdrive and fermented down to 1.02 before I added the second yeast energizer and nutrient.

It smells great, foams more than anything I’ve made so far. My fermenter has 3 gallons of headspace, and it overflowed when I used a wine whip.

 

[Arne]

LOL, sounds like it won't be long and you will be sneaking tastes. Most likely will have to add a little sugar to your test glasses. I've seen the time when it never makes it to regular bottles. Gets clear, heavy tasting going on, rack to gallon jugs because headspace is too low. Stabalize and sweeten and next thing the gal. jugs have been hit by the wine gremlins. Nuthin left to bottle. Btw a weekend at the lake can pretty well take care of a gallon or more. It goes over pretty good on those hot summer days. Good luck with yours, Arne.

 

[Burton Kent]

I actually did the same thing except with Key Lime (actually Persian Lime) juice. We just increased the batch to be 9 gallons instead of 3. Turned out well, very clear.

 

[Bodenski]

I am bottling my first batch of Skeeter Pee this week. It foamed much more than anything else i've made, and I have about 20 different batches of wines and meads under my belt at this point. I made a 3 gallon batch instead of 5, but scaled everything to it and I really like it. (I've been tipping the carboy much more for this than some others I've made!) I used Walmart brand lemon juice and figured that was why I had the foaming. I had a slurry to start with, so I didn't need to worry about the starter. I'll definitely make again.

 

[Killa J]

It seems like everything came out ok. After I racked it from my primary to a carboy to let it clear, I ended up with almost 2 liters more than the carboy will hold. I drank it cloudy and it was pretty good.