# Best yeast for Skeeter Pee?



## 4score (May 11, 2014)

Hi.....I'm getting ready to try SP. What yeast do people recommend after trials and tribulations?

Thanks!


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## otistechdir (May 11, 2014)

I use EC-1118, turned out great.


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## calvin (May 11, 2014)

I second 1118. It did ferment slower than I expected but turned out great


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## 4score (May 11, 2014)

Thanks. So, if I'm starting from scratch, have no other wine slurry, how much yeast for a 5-gallon batch?

Thanks!


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## calvin (May 11, 2014)

1 packet..


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## Vertumnus (May 12, 2014)

I'm currently only in the middle of my first batch of SP, so take my advice with a grain of salt, but I used EC-1118. In order to replicate the yeast 'slurry' I made a starter with some warm water, sugar, and some yeast nutrient (plus a pinch of energizer, methinks) in a jar, slowly adding a wine thief-ful of must every few hours after putting the yeast in there. That seemed to work well in getting things started.

Best of luck!


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## 4score (May 15, 2014)

Thanks all.

Planning to start some this weekend!

Just to confirm...that's 3 32-oz bottles of ReaLemon?


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## 4score (May 15, 2014)

Sam's and Costco have a 2-bottle-pak with each bottle 48 OZ so this should work.


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## BernardSmith (May 15, 2014)

There is no necessity to dilute and use all 96 oz of lemon immediately. You can use half the lemon juice diluted in the full quantity of water and sugar and then pitch the yeast and then add more lemon juice in steps so that the yeast is not shocked with the full intensity of the acid in one fell swoop. I say this because although I am not a chemist I understand that high levels of acidity on dry yeast is likely to kill a huge percentage of the colony before they can leave their dormant stage. If you introduce higher levels of acidity once the yeast has had a chance to allow the must to enter and leave its cells then the cell walls become strong enough to deal with the lower pH. My sense is that this is the reason why the recipe for SP calls for yeast slurry and not dormant yeast.


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## 4score (May 19, 2014)

Update:

One screw-up so far. When making my starter, I got the right temp (yeast directions call for 104 to 109 degrees) and added the yeast. Problem was not waiting the 15 minutes to add it to my small (quart size) starter jar. I added it after only a few minutes. Duh! Despite my mistake, pitched the yeast starter yesterday morning and it seems to be flourishing in there after a slow start. Tonight I'll get another measure.

My son was making a separate batch. He added the 16 cups of sugar per directions (on stove just below boil for 30 minutes). He estimated 5.5 gallons of water, sugar water and ReaLemon. 1st SG was low - something like 1.06x. He added sugar a cup at a time by quickly boiling it in a little water and adding it to the primary bucket. The SG readings were going up slowly. All told he added about 5 cups of additional sugar this way. Finally, he reached the desired 1.07. After pitching his yeast, a measurement about 10 to 12 hours later showed SG had RISEN to 1.074! Thinking about this, could this be due to the fact that when he was adding dissolved sugar, he was quickly boiling it and adding it and not simmering it for 30 minutes like we did in the beginning? It will be interesting to see the reading tonight.


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## 4score (May 21, 2014)

My son's went down from 1.074 to. 1.068 tonight



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