# Skeeter Pee right of passage



## BigDaveK (Mar 15, 2022)

Back sweetened my FIRST batch of SP this morning!!! Wow, that stuff is crazy good!!!

I'm not getting anything done today and I have a smile on my face.


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## Vlabruz (Mar 16, 2022)

BigDaveK said:


> Back sweetened my FIRST batch of SP this morning!!! Wow, that stuff is crazy good!!!
> 
> I'm not getting anything done today and I have a smile on my face.


I'm excited l. Just racked mine the other day. Did you add the full 6 cups? Did you add it dry or make a syrup?


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## BigDaveK (Mar 17, 2022)

Vlabruz said:


> I'm excited l. Just racked mine the other day. Did you add the full 6 cups? Did you add it dry or make a syrup?


Straight sugar, drill paddle. I suggest adding less and see how you like it. I added 3/4 cup per gallon and it tastes like really good lemonade! Really good lemonade!! When I decide to bottle I plan to rack a gallon and add another 1/4 cup sugar to that to see if I like it even more. I'd rather have 1 gallon too sweet than 5. The 3/4 cup put the SG around 1.02 which is about where I like my sweet wines.

Because of logistics I had a 5 gallon and 1 gallon batch. The 1 gallon immediately went into grolsch bottles....and some immediately went OUT of the grolsch bottles!!  When I bottle some will be corked, some grolsch'd.

Interestingly, there's a slight almost metallic hint on the back end. I used Realemon because Costco was out of Italian Volcano. I stocked up on the Italian this past weekend and did a side by side taste test. Big difference! (The Italian isn't from concentrate.) I'll use the Italian Volcano in my next batch for sure.


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## Vlabruz (Mar 17, 2022)

BigDaveK said:


> Straight sugar, drill paddle. I suggest adding less and see how you like it. I added 3/4 cup per gallon and it tastes like really good lemonade! Really good lemonade!! When I decide to bottle I plan to rack a gallon and add another 1/4 cup sugar to that to see if I like it even more. I'd rather have 1 gallon too sweet than 5. The 3/4 cup put the SG around 1.02 which is about where I like my sweet wines.
> 
> Because of logistics I had a 5 gallon and 1 gallon batch. The 1 gallon immediately went into grolsch bottles....and some immediately went OUT of the grolsch bottles!!  When I bottle some will be corked, some grolsch'd.
> 
> Interestingly, there's a slight almost metallic hint on the back end. I used Realemon because Costco was out of Italian Volcano. I stocked up on the Italian this past weekend and did a side by side taste test. Big difference! (The Italian isn't from concentrate.) I'll use the Italian Volcano in my next batch for sure.


Interesting, never heard of that brand


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## BigDaveK (Mar 18, 2022)

Vlabruz said:


> Interesting, never heard of that brand


Costco usually sells a 2-pack (33.8 oz each) for under 8 bucks so it's economical. And it's organic. Bottle says it has the juice of about 40 lemons. When I first tasted it about 6 years ago I immediately stopped buying Realemon.

Other places sell it for more that $10 for a single bottle. Yikes.


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## barryjo (Mar 27, 2022)

BigDaveK said:


> Straight sugar, drill paddle. I suggest adding less and see how you like it. I added 3/4 cup per gallon and it tastes like really good lemonade! Really good lemonade!! When I decide to bottle I plan to rack a gallon and add another 1/4 cup sugar to that to see if I like it even more. I'd rather have 1 gallon too sweet than 5. The 3/4 cup put the SG around 1.02 which is about where I like my sweet wines.
> 
> Because of logistics I had a 5 gallon and 1 gallon batch. The 1 gallon immediately went into grolsch bottles....and some immediately went OUT of the grolsch bottles!!  When I bottle some will be corked, some grolsch'd.
> 
> Interestingly, there's a slight almost metallic hint on the back end. I used Realemon because Costco was out of Italian Volcano. I stocked up on the Italian this past weekend and did a side by side taste test. Big difference! (The Italian isn't from concentrate.) I'll use the Italian Volcano in my next batch for sure.


Did you change the amount of lemon juice in the recipe? I usually do 64 oz/5 gallon batch.


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## BigDaveK (Mar 28, 2022)

barryjo said:


> Did you change the amount of lemon juice in the recipe? I usually do 64 oz/5 gallon batch.


If you go through old threads many people have tweaked their skeeter pee over the years. Some thought the lemon flavor was weak in the finished product. The one tip I used on my first batch is very simple. The original recipe calls for 2 32oz bottles at the beginning and 1 when the SG hits 1.050ish. I used 1 bottle at the beginning, 1 at 1.050ish, and 1 at the end just before racking. The late addition of juice helps with the flavor. I was VERY happy. There's a product I think called True Lemon which is essentially powdered lemon juice. I might try that with my next batch in addition to what the recipe calls for.


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## David Violante (Mar 28, 2022)

I just finished my first batch of skeeter pee, and followed a recipe by @Jovimaple that calls for 64oz at the start and 128oz at the end. I also followed your advice Dave and used a different brand than RealLemon, but it wasn’t the Italian Volcano, I couldn’t find that one. I found it in the “international” isle…. It took a couple of days to kick off, even using GoFerm, but when it did, it did… went from 1.090 to 0.990 and I backsweetened with 4 cups of sugar to 1.010.

It‘s Very amazing. Thank you both for you input…


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