Yet Another Skeeter-Pee Journey.....

[WhineMaker]

So as you may know I decided to embark down the Skeeter Pee path.. Recipe in hand, I headed to the LHBS to get the supplies I needed. I left there with the yeast nutrient, yeast energizer, sorbate, tannin, and my pockets were only $7.50 lighter with enough to do at least 2 batches.. Then I headed to the local grocery store for the rest of the ingredients.. 3 bottles of real lemon and 10 lbs of sugar, $11.50... Yes!! Under $20.00!! I already have the clearing agents I want to use (kleisol chitosan combo) so that would normally be added to the total.. On to the recipe. Started by making the yeast dinner with 16 cups sugar, 8 cups water and 1/2 cup (14 tsp) of real lemon..

With the help of my son, I added about 3 gallons of water to my bottling bucket. (more on that later)..

We then added the rest of the ingredients (energizer,nutrient,tannins) to the bucket and stirred..

As you can see, this is a family affair, but to my son this is called Skeeter Juice. (I will also make him a NA version so he doesn't feel left out.) We then topped it off with water to the 5.5 gallon mark on the bucket.. We ended up at Lons' 1.07 SG target.. Temp of the must was 75F..

We continued to stir it for a few mintues and made sure it was mixed well..

Now the 24-48 hours wait..

Next step will be to add this to the slurry of my ice wine. I plan on racking the ice wine to a secondary tomorrow night, and then emptying my bottling bucket contents into the slurry through the spigot.. Anyone see any issues with that? Figured it would get plenty of oxygen that way and mix into the slurry nicely. Should I also add some EC1118 at this point or let the slurry take over?

Looking forward to the outcome!! Sorry for the long post, but I figured that I could at least look back to this in the future and learn from any mistakes..

 

[Torch404]

Looks like you are off to an excellent start. Leave the yeast out and just use the slurry. The slurry is already a bigger happy colony of yeast. I used the same method for my skeeter juice except it was a blueberry wine and it worked great. I took the slurry and added everything but the lemon juice. Then I let it go for a few hours till I could see that things were still fermenting and added the lemon juice.

I believe you would only have to be wary of a slurry, if you are taking it from something that was driven to a super high alcohol % or sitting on the lees for very long time as that can stress out the yeast.

 

[WhineMaker]

All went well! Friday night I decided to use my Muscato slurry instead of the ice wine.. 2 reasons, the ice wine wasn't quite ready to rack, and I was a little worried about the yeast because they were already working overtime on the high starting SG ice wine.

Within 18 hours I had a vigorous ferment going. I also noted a starting SG of 1.08 after I emptied the juice onto the muscato slurry. I should be ready to add last of the juice, energizer and nutrient tomorrow. Just checked and I'm at 1.06. I did not add any extra yeast.. Thank you torch for that advise, it definately didn't need any extra.

Has anyone used there Skeeter Pee slurry to start another batch?? This thing is going so strong right now I would love to let it ride.

 

[arcticsid]

Whine, don't forget homemade soda for junior. Most wine catalogs and home brew supplies will have root beer, ginger, and other extracts just for soda. Check out www.midwestsupplies.com I know for a fact they have several types. He'd probably get a kick out of that too.

 

[WhineMaker]

We made him a jug of lemonade and he helped with that also.. Old standby real lemon & sugar recipe.. No yeast of course..

 

[Minnesotamaker]

........Has anyone used there Skeeter Pee slurry to start another batch?? This thing is going so strong right now I would love to let it ride.

I tried it once, but I don't do it any longer. A lemon must has all the necessary ingredients to create sulfur-dioxide (rotten egg smell) if the yeast is over stressed. That's the main reason I have you add your nutrient and energizer in stages of the ferment; to keep the yeast as nourished as possible. Whipping some oxygen into the must at the start also helps reduce the chances of SO2. The one time I tried using a Skeeter Pee slurry to start another batch, I ended up with SO2 problems.

 

[NSwiner]

Lon nice to see you here I've been following the posts on the other site .

 

[WhineMaker]

I tried it once, but I don't do it any longer. A lemon must has all the necessary ingredients to create sulfur-dioxide (rotten egg smell) if the yeast is over stressed. That's the main reason I have you add your nutrient and energizer in stages of the ferment; to keep the yeast as nourished as possible. Whipping some oxygen into the must at the start also helps reduce the chances of SO2. The one time I tried using a Skeeter Pee slurry to start another batch, I ended up with SO2 problems.

Thank you Lon! I actually have a second batch of Skeeter Pee started, and this one is going stronger than my first. Used the slurry from a my batch of IM GA Riesling.. We were away over the weekend and my second batch(started thursday) was down to 1.040, so added the second shot of juice etc last night..

My first batch has been going for about a month, still getting a bubble every 10 seconds.. SG is 0.996.. Think I will rack and stabilize tonight.. This batch started out real strong, but slowed towards the end.

 

[WhineMaker]

I stabilized my first batch of skeeter pee last night.. It finished at 0.994. I did this stage different than the directions. I made 8 cups of sugar into simple syrup, let it cool and added it to my empty 5 gal carboy.. Transferred pee on top of it, added k-meta and sorbate, then degassed. Ended up with an extra 1/2 gallon from my secondary fermentor to which I am going to experiment with somehow.. Probably going to use it to try with some Stevia sweetener. For now I just added 1/4 tsp sorbate and a pinch of k-meta to it.

Anyways, my final SG is at 1.020 after mixing with the simple syrup.. Used keisol, chitosan combo for clearing, and this morning it is substantially clearer with lots of sediment on bottom. Of course I had to take a sample and it tastes as good as I expected from all the comments on it! This batch fermented for almost 1 month!! I am going to bottle this in 1 gal jugs when it is clear.

 

[Rickochet]

What is the latest on your batch of Pee?

 

[jdammer]

I just started mine yesterday with the slurry from my merlot. Pretty excited. I'm going to add the other bottle of lemon juice tomorrow.

I think I'll do the same and just keep it in gallon growlers. Sounds like it goes fast and bottling it wouldn't be worth the PITA factor considering how fast it will go.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

I just started mine yesterday with the slurry from my merlot. Pretty excited. I'm going to add the other bottle of lemon juice tomorrow.

I think I'll do the same and just keep it in gallon growlers. Sounds like it goes fast and bottling it wouldn't be worth the PITA factor considering how fast it will go.

Make sure you have help drinking that growler. I put mine in 12oz bottles, and drink it on hot days. A 12 ounce bottle is gone pretty quickly, but I seldom crack open a second. If I were in a party environment, then I would, but if I've got things to do, somehow a second one just gets in the way of accomplishing anything productive. A gallon growler in one sitting will refresh 10 people, or make 5 people tipsy, or 3 people dangerous, or 2 people sick.

 

[IQwine]

yep... It's just a numbers game. Have fun....

 

[jdammer]

Make sure you have help drinking that growler. I put mine in 12oz bottles, and drink it on hot days. A 12 ounce bottle is gone pretty quickly, but I seldom crack open a second. If I were in a party environment, then I would, but if I've got things to do, somehow a second one just gets in the way of accomplishing anything productive. A gallon growler in one sitting will refresh 10 people, or make 5 people tipsy, or 3 people dangerous, or 2 people sick.

Haha. Yep. Well I turn 25 next month. A couple of buddies and I are having a party on the 26th of June. My SG ended up at 1.062 so it shouldn't be as lethal as your recipe.

 

[WhineMaker]

What is the latest on your batch of Pee?

Only 1 gal left of this original batch.. Turned out more flavorful than my second batch.. This is potent stuff, and its very hard to not drink it fast.. I keep telling people that, but they tend not to listen! LOL

My wife has been brewing Lipton Cold Brew Tea and mixing it 50/50.. Makes for an awesome combo.. An Arnold Palmer with a kick!!

 

[WhineMaker]

I just started mine yesterday with the slurry from my merlot. Pretty excited. I'm going to add the other bottle of lemon juice tomorrow.

I think I'll do the same and just keep it in gallon growlers. Sounds like it goes fast and bottling it wouldn't be worth the PITA factor considering how fast it will go.

I use 1 gal glass and plastic jugs for mine.. Makes it easier to serve in plastic cups full of ice, and for mixing with other beverages.. IE tea, pink lemonade, peach crystal light.. If I'm going somewhere where portability is an issue, I use 16.9 oz plastic water bottles..

 

[Rickochet]

Make sure you have help drinking that growler. I put mine in 12oz bottles, and drink it on hot days. A 12 ounce bottle is gone pretty quickly, but I seldom crack open a second. If I were in a party environment, then I would, but if I've got things to do, somehow a second one just gets in the way of accomplishing anything productive. A gallon growler in one sitting will refresh 10 people, or make 5 people tipsy, or 3 people dangerous, or 2 people sick.

Sounds like this could be fun!!!! What if a slurry is not available? What do you recommend as a recipe?

 

[arcticsid]

Rick. I have made several batches of pee and only once used a slurry. Make a big starter, like a half of a gallon and add it. I like to use a splash of weak orange juice. Get it up to around 90F, add the yeast, let it rehydrate about 20 minutes, then add about a cup of your pee must and let it get used to it. Then every hour add about a half a cup more of pee, do this till you have a half of a gallon. Others will recommend differnt time frames and amounts but that is the basic principle.

Be sure to whip the snot out of your pee before adding your yeast starter. It likes air.

And also yeast nutrient is real important for the pee.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

Sounds like Troy has already given you good advice. Some people will make a small batch of wine with grape juice or other easily fermentable juice, let it go for 3-4 days, and then use this whole thing in place of a slurry. Others have just sprinkled the yeast on top of the must and then kept it warm and whipped air into it for a few days; a bit more work and risk, but it can be done.