I racked my skeeter pee yesterday, added the sorbate, metabisulfite, and sparkaloid. Today, it looks like it is already clear. I am going to let it keep sitting, but I am thinking that I might go ahead and backsweeten and bottle on Friday. Has anyone else ever had theirs clear this fast? I used EC-1118 and let it ferment all the way to dry in my primary bucket.
Clearing extremely fast
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I would let it sit a week or two and then rack off the sediment before back sweetening.
Normally I would agree with you, but I do not think it is possible to get any clearer. I would normally let it sit anyways, but my fiancee's parents are coming to town this weekend and I have home brew for her dad, but it would be nice if I could give her mom some of this.
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What I mean is if you have any sediment at all on the bottom of your vessal you'll want to rack off of it so it doesn't get stirred back up into the wine when sweetening.
Oh! Yeah, I was going to backsweeten the same way that home brewers bottle condition beer... I was going to boil the sugar and put it in a bucket, then rack the skeeter pee into the bucket and bottle from that bucket.
djrockinsteve
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Don't do your sugar that way. Take some of your skeeter pee, add the apropriate amount of sugar (no more than 1 part wine to 2 parts sugar) and warm in a pot for 6-7 minutes. Not even a simmer. It will clear as the fructose and glucose convert to sucrose.
Allow to cool and add to the remaining skeeter pee. Take a gravity reading and repeat if it's not sweet far enough. Many sweeten to 1.010 but some like it sweeter.
Allow to cool and add to the remaining skeeter pee. Take a gravity reading and repeat if it's not sweet far enough. Many sweeten to 1.010 but some like it sweeter.
I have never heard of this before (I usually just brew beer and force carbonate). What is the advantage to doing it this way instead of boiling the sugar?
Minnesotamaker
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About the clarity: I find that Sparkolloid often drops 90% of sediment rapidly. The real fine stuff normally takes a week or even sometimes two. I usually don't get too anal about it with Skeeter Pee because it is really a casual summer beverage. If you are bottling in clear bottles, and you rush the Sparkolloid, I've noticed that you can somethimes get a real fine dust at the bottom after it sits for a month or so. If you have a pressing deadline, I'd let it go as long as you can and then bottle up.
Thanks Lon, this is great stuff!
I agree with Rob. I believe there is still a lot of sediment in suspension. Like he says, hold a flashlight up to it. You can see a slight haze. If you have a smaller vessel, take a couple of bottles for the weekend and put the remainder in the smaller carboy. If you don't care, bottle it all and enjoy. Good Luck!
Same here. Mine cleared really fast, but with the flashlight you could still see tiny bits and a slight haze. I waited 10 days and mine was as clear as water with a slight yellow tinge. I bottled in clear bottles and if you didn't look really close it actually could be mistaken for water. It's been bottled 6 days and it still doesn't have any sediment in the bottom.
The waiting is the hardest part.
