Skeeter pee turning to vinegar

[meadman77]

Am currently on to my second attempt at skeeter pee. Bot using freshly squeezed lemon juice.

During the first batch, I found 2 fruit flies dead in my air lock. I took it out, washed it and sterilised it. I didn't think much more about it other than it seemed like it was taking quite a while to ferment. I was getting ready to stabilise it and took off the lid whne it literally hit me - the aroma of acetic acid that is. It had turned to vinegar.

I put a second batch down, and all was going well until one morning again I found a dead fruit fly in the airlock. Are you f#@%ing kidding me. I have things fermenting all over the place and the only 2 times i've ever found a fruit fly in an airlock. They must really love this stuff. Anyway, now the second patch is showing SG of 1.000. The airlock is still ticking away slowly and now I don't know if it is starting to taste like vinegar again or if it is in my head and just the dryness. I could stabilise it and proceed to backsweeten, or I could wait and see if the airlock stops or whether an ever growing infection is present. This hobby is so frustrating sometimes but I love it all the same.

 

[cmason1957]

I doubt that two dead fruit flies in your airlock could turn your wine to vinegar. I bet you are just tasting young dry wine.

 

[wineforfun]

Agree with cmason, it is probably the dryness you are tasting. If it hasn't been backsweetened yet, it is not going to taste very good. Keep moving forward.

Are you sure they are fruit flies and not "skeeters"? Sorry, I just had to.

 

[meadman77]

Thanks for the replies. I hope you are right about the taste. Whether it was the fruit flies or not, the first batch most certainly turned to vinegar. The ferment went on for ages and the smell and taste was unmistakenly acetic acid. I even gave a blind taste to my wife (who likes dry white wines) without telling her and straight away she said it tastes like vinegar. I'm wondering whether in future I should hit the freshly squeezed juice with Kmeta for a day or 2 before putting it down...

 

[jamesjr]

Here in fl literally with nothing around but citrus groves fruit flies are plentiful and ive had a few in airlocks at times and it all turned out fine could be young wine dont jump the gun just yet. A buddy of mine made a batch of wine that DID indeed turn to vinegar and theres no mistaking it.

 

[Julie]

Like others have said, I doubt it that the fruit flies in the airlock caused your wine to turn to vinegar. Are you sealing your primary and adding an airlock for fermentation? This will cause you more issues than a couple of fruit flies.

 

[meadman77]

Thanks everyone - seems the fruit flies were most likely a coincidence then..

Julie, for most of my wines and meads so far I have had a primary with the lid loose and stirred for the first few days. I didn't for the skeeter pee - just sealed it and fitted airlock until I added the second dose of juice. Are you saying that this will cause the poorer quality wine due to the lack of oxygen during the initial stages of fermentation?

What do you think about hitting the juice with Kmeta prior to fermentation - necessary?

 

[cintipam]

meadman77, while I haven't make skeeter pee I did notice that you use freshly squeezed lemons as juice. The recipe calls for Processed real lemon type stuff, and that commercial product allready contains kmeta as a preservative. So indeed if you are not using any kmeta on your freshly squeezed lemons it might be part of your problem. Anytime you use fresh fruit that has not been purchase as a commercial product it is important to use kmeta to kill off little nasties that could ruin the product in the long run. I've read that using frozen commercial fruit and also juice concentrates it is not necessary as it has already been made safe thru the commercial process, but I tend to use kmeta anyway as a just in case.

I agree that most folks might mistake young unsweetened wine as vinegar I believe that your taste testing it with your wife was wise. Still not a definite, but at least she likes dry wine. Try sweetening a cup and test it.

Anyway, suggest either using kmeta immediately on squeezed juice, wait 24 hrs, add pectin if in recipe, wait at least 12 hrs, then toss in the yeast. The pectin needs time to work after the full strength kmeta dies back some. I know they say snap the lid down on pee and db, but it can stress out your yeast from lack of oxygen. I'd never use that method with anything else than the workhorse 1118 yeast.

Pam in cinti

 

[Julie]

Thanks everyone - seems the fruit flies were most likely a coincidence then..

Julie, for most of my wines and meads so far I have had a primary with the lid loose and stirred for the first few days. I didn't for the skeeter pee - just sealed it and fitted airlock until I added the second dose of juice. Are you saying that this will cause the poorer quality wine due to the lack of oxygen during the initial stages of fermentation?

What do you think about hitting the juice with Kmeta prior to fermentation - necessary?

It really needs the oxygen to maintain a good fermentation. I can't say that caused your vinegar issue but I would wonder. Lemon is hard to ferment, next time make a batch leave the lid loose until sg is around 1.000, then snap the lid down and let it ferment to dry. Let me know how this works for you.

 

[meadman77]

Will definitely try not sealing it next time until ferment is close to completion, thanks for the advice.