Skeeter Pee Variety Experiment

[dangerdave]

I will also be trying a batch of tropical quad berry pee (using a frozen tropical fruit mix I found at Walmart). When I start those, I will post the recipes.

My Blue Macaw Tropical Port Wine uses the frozen tropical fruit mix from Walmart (strawberry, pineapple, mango, peach). I have made several batches of that one. Always a favorate. I have not tried the tropical fruit with the lemon juice in skeeter pee form. Should be interesting.

 

[tatud4life]

Any ideas on getting the pee an electric blue color?

 

[dangerdave]

Make an original lemon and flavor with raspberry Kool Aid. If I'm not mistaken, that's how Lon does it.

Don't ask me how much. That would be a question for Lon.

 

[kzacherl2000]

I would be interested in how much raspberry kool aid to add per gallon of lemon pee? Also, is anything else required to be added (ex. Sugar). Thanks! Kim

 

[Runningwolf]

Kim, I am not sure how they did it but I would take some wine in a small container and then add the Kool Aid (unsweetend) and stir it up real good. Once all of it is dissolved, stir it back into solution in your main carboy until you achieve the color you're looking for. Keep in mind this will alter or enhance the taste along with the color.

 

[southlake333]

My Blue Macaw Tropical Port Wine uses the frozen tropical fruit mix from Walmart (strawberry, pineapple, mango, peach). I have made several batches of that one. Always a favorate. I have not tried the tropical fruit with the lemon juice in skeeter pee form. Should be interesting.

Yep, that's the tropical fruit mix I'll be using. I'm assuming it will end up being a very refreshing summer drink...just in time for winter.

Of course, you know this means I now need your Blue Macaw Tropical Port Wine recipe.

 

[dangerdave]

Hey, JJ! I essentially just used the Dragon Blood Recipe without lemon juice, and substituted the tropical fruit for the triple berry. The wine came out sweet and smooth. The lemon juice will up the acid level for a more balanced beverage.

 

[southlake333]

Ok, thanks Dave. Well due to a minor mistake on my part (adding water to 6.5 gallons BEFORE sugar), I now have 2 very large batches (7-8 gallons each). Below are the resulting recipes I have started.

Tinkleberry Tea

80 oz 100% lemon juice (e.g ReaLemon in the green plastic bottles or equivalent)
13 lbs sugar - to a starting SG of at least 1.080
1 tsp tannin
4 tsp. yeast nutrient
2 tsp. yeast energizer
3 tsp. pectic enzyme
8 lbs of fruit - I used 8 x 1lb bags of frozen Great Value blueberry/blackberry/raspberry/strawberry (berry medley)
5.5 gallons of water
1 packet Red Star Red Montrachet Yeast
1.080 - Starting SG

Tinkleberry Tropical

80 oz bottle 100% lemon juice (e.g ReaLemon in the green plastic bottles or equivalent)
13 lbs sugar - to a starting SG of at least 1.080
1 tsp tannin
4 tsp. yeast nutrient
2 tsp. yeast energizer
3 tsp. pectic enzyme
8 lbs of fruit - I used 2 x 4lb bags of frozen Great Value strawberry/peach/mango/pineapple (mixed fruit)
5.5 gallons of water
1 packet Red Star Red Montrachet Yeast
1.080 - Starting SG

To both primaries on Wed 8/8, I added lemon juice, 9 lbs of sugar, tannin, yeast nutrient, yeast energizer, pectic enzyme, all fruit in a fruit bag, and 5.5 gallons of water. I stirred the must very well to make sure all of the sugar was disolved then squeezed the bag of fruit repeatedly to get fruit juice out. I let this stand, loosely covered, for about a day.

8/9 - I squeezed the berries, measured the SG, then added sugar till I got an SG of 1.080 (ended up taking 13 lbs). After that I just pitched the yeast directly onto the must and set the lid on top.

One thing to note about these 2 batches. Since I messed up a bit on the water quantity initially, I upped the fruit and sugar but kept the lemon juice the same. The result is basically 30% more wine using the standard Dragon's Blood recipe but 30% less lemon juice that what would be called for (if you used the full 96oz of the original recipe). Since Dave normally uses half the lemon juice and my original Tinkleberry Tea is a bit tart, this should come out just fine. I also did not use bentonite in either of these batches per Dave's comparative study.

These batches will give me an opportunity to compare my full lemon juice version to a reduced amount side by side as well as the difference in using the tropical fruit mix versus the mixed berry.

 

[dangerdave]

How are the tinkleberry batches going, JJ?

 

[southlake333]

Going great. Just about done with secondary fermentation. I'm going to check the SG tomorrow and if ready, I'll stabilize and begin clearing. Here's a pic of the larger carboys. I also have 2 x 1 gallons of each since this batch was so big. I think after racking, topping off, etc I'll end up with 7 finished gallons of each...that's 70 bottles!

I've been busy so I have not sampled or smelled either but they look great.

 

[southlake333]

SG for both batches was .989 today (above the top line of my hydrometer) so I went ahead and racked onto Campden, Sorbate and then mixed in Sparkolloid. The following pic is the end result. Remember, these were very large original batches so at this point I have 7.5 gallons of each.

I just bought those little half gallon jugs since I knew I'd need them for the extra top off pee. I think they're super cute...lol.

 

[oldwhiskers]

That's not a bad idea on the 1/2 gallon jug, I have the 1-gallon jugs.