First pee

[jojoscoot]

Well go hard or go home as my old man used to say. The wife and i started a batch of pee for our very first attempt at wine making. I copied Danger Daves easy peesy recipe except i used 4lbs of mixed berrys. Just mixed everything together and the must is sitting in the kitchen now. Wish me luck

 

[jojoscoot]

Just pitched the yeast *red star montrachet* from a starter of 100 degree sugar water and a little of the pee. we will see what the morning brings

 

[jojoscoot]

Sadly no activity this morning. But the house was down to 65 degrees when i woke up. cranked the heat up and we'll see what happens.

 

[docanddeb]

Keep whipping it ..... this last batch I made was REAL strong on sulfite smell when I whipped it for the 2 days prior to starting...never smelled so strong before. No way it would have started without all the whipping!

Debbie

 

[jojoscoot]

Well still no noticeable activity. Gonna head up and take another SG reading. At what point do i start to worry about a stuck fermentation?

 

[gird123]

I thought djrockinsteve had a tutorial on starters, but i could not find one. I would get the must up to 75 and whip it.

I had one that was hard to start I did another starter in another primary then slowly add the must to the starter a gallon ish at a time over the course of a day.

 

[djrockinsteve]

Tutorials are on the home page under tutorials. Is this the one you were referring too?

http://www.winemakingtalk.com/forum/showthread.php?t=10353

I have to head out now. I'll check in later today.

 

[jojoscoot]

Woke up this morning to a little activity. Must bag needed to be punched back down and I had a little bit of bubbling goin on so maybe I am just starting slow? Should I wait it out and let the fermentation take place at its own pace or should I be helping it along some? Any advice would be welcome

 

[Julie]

Woke up this morning to a little activity. Must bag needed to be punched back down and I had a little bit of bubbling goin on so maybe I am just starting slow? Should I wait it out and let the fermentation take place at its own pace or should I be helping it along some? Any advice would be welcome

I had the same problem this past week with a catabaw that I bought. Make sure your must is up to at least 70 degrees. If it has started it is going to kick in real fast I would say by tomorrow at the latest, keep stirring here and there.

 

[dangerdave]

Hope the recipe works good for you, jojo. I noticed that if you mix the fruit in the must instead of using a bag, the fermentation takes right off. You did have it a bit cool to start with, though. Keep at it---with the stirring---and keep it warm. My first batch of Pee (the Triple Berry), IMO, has been my best so far.

 

[jojoscoot]

Snap crackle pop we're fermenting away now SG fell from 1.060 down to 1.050 during the day ....... gonna wait till 1.035 and toss the rest of the nutrient/energizer and the other bottle of lemon juice. Very excited.

 

[dangerdave]

I've made four batches using the Easy Peesy Recipe, and they have been loved by all. You are on your way. Let 'er fizz!

 

[jojoscoot]

SG was down to 1.030 this mornin so I added the rest of the lemon juice along with my energizer and nutrient and stirred it all up real good. I'll take another reading when I get home and get the carbot ready!

 

[jojoscoot]

Just checked the sg as the bubbles have almost stopped and i was worried something had gone wrong ...... but it appears that the pee has fermented dry. today is wednesday is it safe to leave this carboy as is till saturday and then rack it for the second time? there is a lot of sediment in the bottom.

 

[Flem]

You really don't know if it has fermented to dry without checking it with your hydrometer.

 

[jojoscoot]

I pulled a sample from the carboy and put it in a tube and checked the hydrometer and it read dry (bottom of the scale). I still get a bubble every minute or two and i was worried that the ferment had gotten to cool and stopped working so i took the reading b4 moving to a warmer location because i didnt want to shake the carboy up. Does this sound right? Again this is my first batch so any help is welcome.

 

[docanddeb]

What do you mean by "bottom of the scale"?? It would actually be the TOP of the hydrometer. What were the actual numbers?

Debbie

 

[jojoscoot]

Sorry Deb by bottom i meant the lowest numerically . I just took another reading to double check and got 0.992 approx. any advice on how soon it has to come out of this bottle? Can i wait till saturday?

 

[Flem]

Saturday should be fine. Just keep the airlock on it 'til then.

 

[jojoscoot]

Racked my first pee into a second Carboy tonight and i think i have a problem. The sediment was extremely high so i lost about 1/2 gal in the racking process. Is this to much headspace in the new carboy? Please advise