My First Pee!

[bizkit]

So I started my first batch of pee this week. I have 6 gallons in the primary with a belt heater with a initial reading of 1.072. I am trying to follow the original recipie as much as possible however i didnt have the slurry. Instead i made a starter from from EC1118 and added it to the primary last nite. it was fizing away this AM. and I intend to mix it every day twice a day until reaching 1.05 (as the original recipe states). Now at this point I have a couple questions.
Should I have an airlock on this right now?
At what gravity should I transfer to the carboy?
At what point and how should I back sweeten?

 

[bizkit]

Ok so it reached 1.05 last night added another bottle of lemon juice... and mixed it up violently (not happy about the mess) .... the fermentation didn't skip a beat measured it again this am and itwas down to 1.04.
My main question is still about the back sweetening.
should i add the sugar dry or make a simple syrup?
Or should i use a concentrate?
Any help is apreciated.
If this works out i may try to make this as a mead (BEE PEE)
Has anyone had any luck substituting the sugar with honey?

 

[JohnT]

Ok so it reached 1.05 last night added another bottle of lemon juice... and mixed it up violently (not happy about the mess) .... the fermentation didn't skip a beat measured it again this am and itwas down to 1.04.
My main question is still about the back sweetening.
should i add the sugar dry or make a simple syrup?
Or should i use a concentrate?
Any help is apreciated.
If this works out i may try to make this as a mead (BEE PEE)
Has anyone had any luck substituting the sugar with honey?

Good Question!

I am in the same boat as you. I am also making my first pee.

I am assuming that the sugar goes in dry. My thinking is that you do not want to add any water at this point (thins out the mix).

 

[Arne]

Last batch I made, just made up a simple syrup. Only used 1/2 cup sugar per gal. Liked the way it came out. If you do 6 gal. you are only going to add 1 1/2 cups of water so will not dilute it very much. Others like it sweeter, but add some sugar and try it. You can always add more, but it is quite hard to remove it. Arne.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

Hey bizkit and JohnT. When your SP finishes fermenting, you'll want to rack it to get it off the sediment. Then you will need to stabilize it by adding the Potassium Metabisulfite and the Potassium Sorbate. These two additives will keep the batch from starting a new ferment when sugar is added. You can then add the Sparkolloid (or KC Superkleer if you choose) to clear the SP. If you want a cloudy SP, you can skip the clearing step. Degas the SP as best you can to help clear it. I add my sugar dry. I just pour it in using a funnel and stir to dissolve. Make sure you've gotten almost all of the gas out of the SP before adding sugar or else you could end up with a volcano as the gasses are provided with nucleation points on the sugar crystals.

 

[bizkit]

Lon,
Do you do these steps all at once or are they broken up with any intervals?

 

[Minnesotamaker]

I rack, degas, stabilize and add fining agent in one step. When clear, you can rack again and sweeten. After sweetening, I like to give it another week or so just to make sure fermentation does not start up again. Then bottle.