Skeeter Pee Revisited

[vvolf34]

If you are talking about the stuff in the back corner?

It is cran-apple, used Wyest 3068, started it on 11-27-09 and well it is clearing very nicely and has a nice nice flavor to it already. This one I have a feeling will be gooooodddddd

1 gallon of cranberry
5 gallons of apple juice
2 lb dextrose
Wyeast 3068, it's an ale yeast (step out of the box)

Someone mentioned trying different yeast for apfelwein and said Wyeast 3068 was the best, in their opinion, left a more fruity taste. So I decided to try it out but added the cranberry too.


Mike:
This is my first batch, but I think it would probably be good!

 

[Atribune]

SP is in the secondary down to 1.010 now

Strawberry Zinf is clearing now Good couple days hehe

 

[vvolf34]

Glad everything is going good. I would have to say mine is done fermenting and starting to clear. It is looking real nice now!!

Let me know how the Zin comes out, was thinking about doing one of those!

 

[Mike]

Is this Skeeter Pee OK to drink early or do I have to wait a long time like normal wine?

 

[DesertDance]

Is this Skeeter Pee OK to drink early or do I have to wait a long time like normal wine?

It's an early drinker. Nothing complex about it. You will need to sweeten it because nobody drinks straight sour lemon, which this is, except it's got alcohol now.

 

[vvolf34]

Any updates?

Mine is ready to be stabilized, but I am waiting until friday because I am getting my new, fizz X mixer to come in. So friday I will rack it and stabilize.

How are yours doing?

Troy,
Have you started a raspberry one?

 

[whine4wine]

Well I finally got my primaries emptied out and will try a batch of skeeter pee next.
I think I will be using Jasons reverse method.
Do you put any juice of any kind in the primary to start out, or are you just starting the yeast in sugar water?

I will be doing a 5 gal batch.

Also you mention DME, What is DME?

 

[Atribune]

Degassing is taking longer than anything else I've done but its tasting ok

 

[vvolf34]

I just started the yeast in my primary with all ingrediants except lemon juice.

6 Gal batch
Tannin
Nutrient
energizer
10 lbs dextrose
4.75 gallons of water

After about 2 days I had a very good ferment going, I added half a bottle of lemon juice and stirred my must. An hour later I checked it and it was still going strong, so I added the rest of the first bottle. An hour later I checked on it and well it was still very active so I dumped the entire second bottle in. No problem at all. I then waited per the instructions until it was below 1.050 added the last bottle, rest of the nutrient and energizer.

Mine has been ready to degass and stabilize for about a week now, but I am waiting for my new degassing tool to come in. It is already starting to clear on it's own.

DME is dried malt extract. I would not do it on my first batch as I do not know how it will come out. It is going to be more of an experiment. Mike's Hard Lemonade contains malt. I want to try one with malt to compare and see which one I like better. It really is an easy brew to make and from what people say, very tasty.

Dave,
Have you added the 6 cups of sugar yet?

 

[Atribune]

No not yet

 

[arcticsid]

Gonna start a new batch this weekend. Was short on supplies, but am ready to go again. I think I am going to go with the original recipe I used on the first batch, and then backsweeten with a reduced raspberry juice.

I am real happy the way it turned out. No doubt pretty tart, but quite good.

I't cheap to make too! I reduced the original recipe to make 3 1/2 gallons. 2 bottles of juice=$6.60, approx 8# sugar=$5.

 

[matty2dope]

When to Rack

I have a batch that has been in the primary for 10 days. It is fermenting, but not very aggressively. When should I rack into the secondary? The SG is hasn't come down much (started about 1.085 now down to 1.06). Can the batch be damaged by allowing to stay in the primary for too long? This is my first non-kit batch, so I'm still learning.
Thanks!

 

[vvolf34]

I don't think it will hurt it, there are not a lot of lees with this stuff.

Did you add nutrient and energizer in the begining? What temp is it at? Did you only start with the 2 bottles or put all 3 in?

I just added the last 6 cups of sugar after it had been stabilized. Going to wait and see if it starts to ferment again. If not I will be bottling this at the end of the month.

 

[matty2dope]

I added 10#'s sugar, nutrient and energizer to the original 4.75 gal of water. I used the 71B yeast and let that get going for 2 days. Then I added the juice in 16 oz increments over 5 days. While the fermentation was never visibly aggressive, there was always a foam covering about 75% of the top of the must. Adding the juice didn't seem to alter the rate. I gave it a good stir or whip each time I added the juice.

The temp is holding steady at 68-70 degrees - on the cool side, but well within the limits listed on the yeast packet.

I forgot to mention that i did notice a very faint sulfur smell this morning when i checked the temp - I had not noticed this before.

Thanks for your help - its much appreciated.

 

[arcticsid]

The recipe calls for you to add some of the juice, some of the nutrient, and some of the energizer in the begining, and then add the remaining, juice, nutrient and energizer at 1.050. Did you do this? There is a reason for doing this. Did you follow the original recipe or did you do some tweaking? What did you do exactly.

I just transfered my second batch last night at 1.020. I started Thursday at 1.105. I pitched it with a Cuvee starter and it fermented like mad. I added the remaining additions at 1.050, and it was working excellent, and is bubbling happily away in the secondary under airlock.

I did give it a good whipping once a day, it likes that while it is fermenting.

The sulfur could be from insufficient nutrient. Lemon juice has little of this thats why it is added. to the must.
Troy

 

[vvolf34]

Yep, I agree with Troy, lack of nutrient. Mine started smelling like that towards the end.

 

[arcticsid]

I've got a feeling Matty you didn't follow the recipe. The hardest thing about this wine is getting it to ferment and then to keep it fermenting, thats why it is done in steps. Nothing is ruined, so don't freak out, but we need to know what and when you did it and it'll be fine. We'll help you get her back bubbling, try to get it warmer for one thing.

 

[matty2dope]

Well, I didn't really follow the original recipe. I compiled all of Jason's (vvolf34) posts and tried to follow his reverse method as it seemed a bit easier. I basically mixed 10 Lbs Corn Sugar, 4.75 gals water, 1 Tsp energizer, 3 Tsp Nutrient, ¾ Tsp Tannin and waited for it to start fermenting, then I slowly added the juice over a couple of days. When I added the final 16 oz of juice on day 6 I added a bit more nutrient and energizer. It has always been bubbling, but not very aggressively and the SG is still pretty high.

However, when I got home from work last night, it was really bubbling away....
I'm going to try check the SG tonight and see where its at.

 

[vvolf34]

Hey sounds good, but I didn't add the last bottle until it was at the SG 1.050 mark. My temp is about 76 degress though. Sounds like things are taking a turn for the better, just give it some time, stir it up once a day. I used distilled water and ended up added an extra tsp of nutrient because I found out distilled water is lacking some nutrients that tap water has. I think by adding all three bottles maybe a bit to soon stalled it a little. But it seems like it might have recovered now. Keep us posted.

In other News, I added the 6 cups of sugar, I had to remove about half a bottle from my carboy to get all the sugar in, this sample only contained 4 cups of sugar, I added 1 tsp of sugar to it. I am on the fence right now... I am not 100% sure if I like it or not. It could be the cheap generic lemon juice to. I think next time I am going to get the good juice and still try my DME experiment.

 

[Mike]

Can someone carb a bottle of this and tell me how it is!?!? If you put this on tap, will it ruin your draft lines?