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dangerdave

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After a lot of reading on the various methods of making Skeeter Pee, I decided to try a condensed version. Here's what I did...

EASY PEESY (SKEETER PEE)
This is a form of what I call the WineDoc Variation, as most of this comes form a post by WineDoc (thank you, if you are still around).

Ingredients (same as Lon's Original Skeeter Pee Recipe):

2+ bottles of 48 oz 100% Lemon Juice (ReaLemon in the green bottle)
7 lbs sugar (or 16 cups) to ferment
3/4 tsp tannin
6 tsp. yeast nutrient (3 now, 3 later)
2 tsp. yeast energizer (1 now, 1 later)
Approx, 4 1/2 gallons water
Yeast Slurry (or yeast starter)
Potassium metabisulfite (Kmeta)
Potassium sorbate (sorbate)
Sparkolloid
2 1/3 lbs sugar (or 6 cups) to sweeten finished Skeeter Pee. Use more or less for your tastes.

To the primary, I added 1 bottle of Lemon Luice (mine were 48 oz bottles sold in two-packs), 16 cups of sugar, 3/4 tsp tannin, 3 tsp yeast nutrient, 1 tsp yeast energizer, and enough filtered water to make five (5) gallons. I used warm water to try to keep the temp up near 80F. I did not invert the sugar. I stirred the must very well to make sure all of the sugar was disolved. I let this stand, loosely covered, for about twelve hours.

I made a yeast starter with 1/2 cup of warm (100F) filtered water, 1 tbsp sugar, and 2 tbsp of the lemon must, and one packet of EC-1118, waiting 15 minutes before stirring it up good and pouring it into the must. I then gave the must a vigorous stirring. I kept the must at 80F. My SG was right at 1.070. Within five hours (the next time I checked it), I had good active fermentation.

Today, while I was at work, the wife---after checking the fermentation was still active---added the other bottle of Lemon Juice (for a total of 96 oz). I plan to follow Lon's recipe and check the SG when I get home tomorrow. When the SG gets down to ~1.050, I'll add the rest of the nutrient (3 tsp) and the last tsp of energizer.

This was a really quick way to get fermentation going earlier instead of waiting the usual 2-7 day (per Lon's instructions) for the yeast to get going. My guess is that it will reach the specified SG within a few days instead of weeks.

I actually made two five gallon batches. One is Original Recipe. The other, I tossed three pounds of berries (blackberry/raspberry/blueberry mixed) right into the must.

Contrary to Lon's method, I did not use a yeast slurry, and I did not invert the sugar before use. We will see how this all turns out.

Danger...out!
 
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Hey Dave, We'll havta trade a bottle, to see the differences in taste. I'll be in chilli tomorrow, but unfortunately I have no clear or sweetened pee. Probably by next week ( I hope).

I also did a little tweak on the origional today(but not on purpose). My primary came due to rack on some wine way too soon & I didn't have the skeeter pee must ready. So, I mixed it all up (invert sugar & the works) Mixed it - a lot, & dumped it into the wine primary bucket. (within 30 minutes of making it) On top of all the sludge / slurry bag of elderberry bark & raisens & grape skins. I'm gonna leave it all in this time. With in about 4 hrs it was kickin & fizzin. I like it so much I've got 2 batches going now.

EDIT: also used bentonite in the primary this time to see if it helps in clearing time.

Brian
 
Let me get some cleared, Brian, and we'll definately trade some Pee...:pee I'm curious to see how much flavor the fruit in the primary gives the Pee. Like you said, it may be very much like lemon flavored fruit wine (or vise versa).

UPDATE...

Wow! That EC-1118 is some powerhouse yeast! Within three days, both batches have dropped below the 1.050 SG mark, so I racked them, as prescribed, into carboys. The plain lemon Pee was at 1.040, while the one with the triple berries had dropped to 1.025!

(Day 4) In the carboys: the wife says the airlocks are still showing fermentation, so I'm going to check the SG tomorrow when I get home. Should be some potent Pee when all is said and done.

Maybe I'll try a milder yeast next time...:)
 
I also made a "mixed berry" SP, but used Lon's recipe. Made a frozen mixed berry wine [1 gal.] & used the slurry [@ 1.040] to start the Pee. It was one of my best Pee's. Still have that 3L of mixed berry wine & planning on making another new batch of mixed berry SP, & using the wine to flavor-pac the SP. Roy
 
UPDATE...

DAY 9: The Triple Fruit Pee fermented dry on Day 8, so I racked and cleared in a fresh carboy. SG=0.995. The Original Lemon is still bubbling like crazy in the secondary, so I'm leaving it be for now.

I pulled a whole lot of gas out of the fruit pee after racking. A vacuum pump is definately on my wish list. :hug

SkeeterPees.jpg
 
Does anyone have an idea why the Pee with the fruit added to the primary would ferment dry much earlier than the straight lemon. I made the two batches, one at a time, side-by-side, with no variation in proceedure except adding fruit to the one. Four days later, the original lemon is still bubbling away in the carboy...
FermentingPee-1.jpg

...and the triple berry is clearing beside it...
FuitPee-1.jpg
 
From my own observations, I've run what I thought were identical batches (because one batch gets consumed too quickly) and one will sometimes finish faster than the other. Same ingredients, same environment, different ferment rates.
 
I think I'll bottle the triple berry today. I'ts beautiful!!! Remember, this batch had three pounds of mixed Dole berries (blueberry/raspberry/blackberry) added to the primary.
100_0453.jpg

100_0454.jpg
 
Clavus, I checked the table very carefully before setting my wine on it. It made me nervous the whole thirty seconds I let it set there. But I want a picture in the sun!
 
Clavus, I checked the table very carefully before setting my wine on it. It made me nervous the whole thirty seconds I let it set there. But I want a picture in the sun!
Love seeing the picture in the sun too so Im glad that you like to live dangerously. Hopefully it tastes just as good as it looks.
 
We bottled our first Skeeter Pee last Thursday---the Primary Triple Berry (3Pee-Oh). It looks really nice in the bottles! I put the Ball jars in the frige so we could try some cold.

100_0459.jpg


We tasted it at bottling, and I really have to admit---really---that I was quite unimpressed with the taste. While it was indeed very clear, it was also extremely tart (yea, I know, lemon wine, right!). My lovely wife assured me it was delicious, she liked it tart. I didn't get much of the fruit flavor---just a hint in the background. Something I had feared from the beginning. The taste just kept screaming YOUNG! to me. I know, it is young wine. But I had really bought into the Skeeter Pee hype. So many folks here had touted the wonderful drinkability of Lon's awesome recipe. Had I been fooled? Seriously?

Fast forward to last night...

After sitting on the shelf, ignored for a few days, we decided (much to my unexcitement) to open a bottle of the 3Pee-Oh. I splashed a little into my glass. The first thing I noticed was the nose. No doubt, it had improved. The sharp tang of young wine had been replaced with a very pleasant berry aroma. No, I thought. It can't be. Not after just a few days.

I took a small sip, drew some air in across it, and tasted/smelled the layers of lemon and berry. "Wow!" I said. Johnna looked at me in question. I silently poured her a glass and indicated she should drink. She did. All she could say was, "Wow!" For the next several hours, while we finished off the bottle, all we could talk about was how much the wine had improved. It was now both sweet and tart in complete balance, with---much to my utter surprise---a great depth of berry flavor.

I am exceptionally proud of my first attempt at this, only my second batch of finished wine. I appreciate everyone's help and support here, without which, I'm sure I would have had numerous failures before discovering success.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------

As you may recall, I made a plain batch of lemon Pee along side the triple berry. When it came time to back sweeten, I added four 12oz cans of Od Orchard Apple/Cherry frozen concentrate and one cup of sugar (at the end---because it was not quite sweet enough).

In addition, I have a 5 gallon carboy of Strawberry Skeeter Pee clearing at this time. This batch was made like the triple berry, except with four pounds of strawberries added to the primary*. I have sweetened it with sugar (to taste) and added a 2oz bottle of McCormick artificial strawberry flavoring.

I am very interested to see (taste) the difference btw the three different methods I am using to flavor the Pee.
1) Adding fruit to primary fermentation and sweetening with sugar.
2) Back sweetening with fruit juice concentrate.
3) Sweetening with sugar and adding flavoring.

Two weeks to bottling of the Apple/Cherry Pee and the Strawberry Pee. We shall see. :ib

Danger...out!
 
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LOL...

Oh ye of little faith!!

If you think it's good now... age it a year!! Mine had a bad streak in the middle, then I fell in love with it all over again!!

Debbie
 
Dave,
Glad that after all was said and done, you were able to enjoy it. In my opinion, the real beauty of this beverage is the combination of drinkability, economical price, and fast production. I don't serve it as a top shelf wine; I serve it as a utility wine.... the work-horse wine for the thirsty workin' man (or woman).
 

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