# first time skeeter pee SG questions



## donaltman3 (Mar 6, 2012)

First time I decided to make skeeter pee... I've made grape wines before.

I made 5 gallons of blueberry pomegrante wine and racked it into the secondary and left about a half inch of slurry in the bottom of the primary fermenter. I used this slurry to start annother 5 gallons of wine. 

I did this immediatly upon racking my blueberry wine. The initial SG reading was 1.1 Was this too high? It's been in the low 70's

Everything seemed to bubble great right off the bat. Its been in the pirmary for around 4 days. I had a really thick foam cap on it.. purple becuase of the blueberry. I punched it down a few times and have stirred it. 
Last night upon looking at it the bubble have almost completely stopped.
I took a measurement of 1.06 I was getting nervouse about it so I used an extra bit of lemon juice and water... I added some new yeast to make a starter and pitched it before I went to bed... no real activity this morning.

Not sure what I need to do. I am using Redstar Montrachet yeast, as it is what I used for my blueberry wine.
The skeeter pee tastes pretty good... a bit acidic.. as expected.

Should I just rack into a secondary with air lock tonight.. or give it some more time being super slow to drop to 1.05 if it will before racking.. and.. what do I do if it doesn't drop further ???


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## donaltman3 (Mar 6, 2012)

I went home to check on it today at lunch. The hydrometer is showing 
1.059 now so it is still ferminting... but very slow.

It was 1.06 last night (mid evening) before I paniced and added more yeast. 


Not sure what to do if anything but wait.. any advice?


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## djrockinsteve (Mar 6, 2012)

Don't add anymore lemon juice until it's through fermenting. Stir it often and work air into it. The high acidity is why it's slow. You can add another teaspoon of yeast nutrient to it. You should have 5-6 in there total. When it reaches 1.000 you could add 1 teaspoon of energizer but not a necessity.

Don't rack to a carboy until it's done. Keeping it stirred and oxygenated is the key now.


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## donaltman3 (Mar 6, 2012)

*thanks*

Great.. thanks much.. I've never experienced one this sluggish. "Done" as in no movement for 3 straight days... or 1.0 becuase your fairly confident it will get that low?

I make muscadine and scuppernog grape wines fairly often with grapes that I grow. I also make a blueberry and pomagrante wine from fresh fruit I pick.
This is the first time I've tried making something from a juice and also first time using citrus.


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## djrockinsteve (Mar 6, 2012)

Normally you should use a strong yeast for skeeter pee due to the high acidity like Lalvin EC-1118 When I make skeeter pee I omit the lemon juice until the end (finished fermenting .990) since lemon juice has little or no nutritional value for yeast.

I let the s.p. must ferment to 1.000 then add 1 teaspoon of yeast energizer, stir the daylights out of it and snap on a lid with an airlock on it. The CO2 that I just agitated out of the must will push O2 out and help to blanket the must. Two to three days later I remove the lid and rack. It's always been at .990 or lower by a bit.

Keep stirring and keep it warm, you'll be fine. Next time don't add so much sugar. 1.080 is a good place to start. Keep us posted.


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## Arne (Mar 7, 2012)

I would get a spoon of nutrient in there, stir the oxygen into it and make sure it is warm. If the montrechet gets stressed it has the nasty habit of giving you the rotten egg smell. It is a lot easier to keep it going than it is to get rid of the bad smell. Arne.


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## donaltman3 (Mar 7, 2012)

This morning I took another reading.. it was at 1.053 or 4 

I have a heat wrap for my primary and used it some to keep the temp warm..
I did put another teaspoon of nutrient.. and I used my slurry from a previous wine.. I've never used that particular yeast so I didn't have any on hand.

I thought the sugar was high when I started..but I this way if it doesn't get to 1.0 I have less to backsweeten.. but that will be a compromise on alcohol content? Is this correct? 

At the rate its going it is not going to make it to 1.0 and if it does it will be 2 weeks from now.


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## donaltman3 (Mar 8, 2012)

*another update*

1.051 last night or so and it appeared to br 1.048 or so this morning.. Wow this is sloooooooooow. I'm getting almost NO bubbles upon heavily stirring and churning to oxygenate.


I feel like I should be racking into a secondary, but I'm just not sure.

On a positive note.. my blueberry wine is doing GREAT !!!


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## djrockinsteve (Mar 8, 2012)

Just keep it warm and whip it good daily. Stir often.


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## DSimpson (Mar 8, 2012)

My first batch story sounds similar to yours - redstar yeast from another batch of wine added to the recipe that kind of started and died. I whipped in a lot of air, put a belt on the bucket and started a raspberry slurry with 1118 yeast. After a couple days added nutrients, pitched in the slurry, and stood back. Within 24 hrs the SG went from 1.075 to 1.03! The wife asked me what was going on in the basement cause the yeasty smell was very strong...


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## donaltman3 (Mar 12, 2012)

I ended up breaking down and racking it from the primary on Friday evening..

My wife couldn't take the primary in the kitchen any longer we had some company over Saturday. Well I can't explain it but it actually seems to be doing better and dropping faster inside the carboy instead of in the primary.. ..
maybe it was transfering it and whipping all that oxygen into it that did the trick.. I made sure to let the siphon just barely touch the mouth of the carb and I shook it while it was pouring out.. this made it really foamy and really agitated the wine up. I guess more than I could do with it in the primary.
its been bubbleing very well under the airlock.. infact is was bubbling better than the blueberry wine from the batch wracked a week before this.


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## djrockinsteve (Mar 12, 2012)

It was the influx of air that helped your yeast. Plus you also degassed it a bit. Your yeast need oxygen and moved about until fermentation is complete.

You wife wouldn't like it here, we have carboys everywhere at various times. However the end result is well worth it.


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## Minnesotamaker (Mar 12, 2012)

Keep an eye on it if the SG is still somewhat high. The racking could get it started really going and all of a sudden you'll have an overflow.


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## Arne (Mar 13, 2012)

Minnesotamaker said:


> Keep an eye on it if the SG is still somewhat high. The racking could get it started really going and all of a sudden you'll have an overflow.



LOL, Lon. Sounds like experience talking. I've been there too. Arne.


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## donaltman3 (Mar 14, 2012)

Everything looks to be going well still.... I haven't checked SG .. might do it tonight and give you guys a report.

I use a better bottle so I'm not sure of the color and I did use the blueberry starter for this.. so it was light purple pink color transfering it into the secondary. It looks really pink and hazy now through the blue better bottle corboy.


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## donaltman3 (Apr 17, 2012)

Lon and gang, 


The good :

I just racked my skeeter pee again... there was about an inch or so of sediment in the carboy and the wine itself was super transparent even without a light close behind it.. I did not use sparkeloid .

I was tickled to see how good the wine looked.. it had a slight pink hue due to the blueberry starter I used.. The wine smells of yeast.. not overbearing but it is there. My SG has dropped to .997 or .996 

The bad:

This stuff tastes sour as can be with no real "flavor." I think all total I actually used more lemon juice than the standard recipes called for. (maybe half a "regular" bottle more because I used different sized bottles.) I'd like to back sweeten and give it some more lemon flavor without adding to the acidity or sourness. How on earth would I do this? 

After racking off the lees I am short in my other 2ndary and need to refill with something.. I am thinking the lemon flavor is what I am wanting... rather than adding more blue berry or some other flavor. Any ideas? What should my final ammended SG be for a slightly sweeter Skeeter Pee.


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## Minnesotamaker (Apr 17, 2012)

donaltman3 said:


> Lon and gang,
> 
> 
> The good :
> ...


Don't judge your lemon flavor until you've added some sweetening. The lemon without sugar can taste really acidy and sour and the fruit elements of lemon have a hard time coming through. After adding some sugar, I think you'll be surprised on how the flavor transforms. I find this rule works for other country wines too.


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## dangerdave (Apr 18, 2012)

I keep some natural lemon extract on hand, for just such an occasion. But listen to Lon. Don't judge the flavor until, 1) you have backsweetened, 2) it has sat for a week or more after backsweetening. Don't over-sweeten, either! Wine is dynamic---as you know. The sweetness will blend in over time, and the lemon flavor will come forward. Remember, you can't take flavoring or sweetening back out! Start low and work toward your preference.


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## Arne (Apr 18, 2012)

Make sure you stabalize it before you backsweeten. Then you can add some sugar to it. If you only want to try it in a sample, draw a glass and add a little sugar. It will still be somewhat yeasty, but that will leave witha little time. Now you can let it sit and clear. When ready to sweeten, draw some out, sweeten the sample til you like the taste, put it in your hydrometer test tube and get a specific gravity. Now you can bring the rest of the batch to that gravity and it will all taste the same. Ask if this is clear as mud and will try and explain better. Arne.


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## donaltman3 (Apr 18, 2012)

Makes perfect sense Arne and gang.. thanks a bunch. 

It tasted more like a sour candy than lemon.... I thought about using some lemon extract that cake maker use becuase it has a very lemony taste without much if any sourness... but instead after figureing out the sweetness I wanted and deciding that maybe another flavor would be good.. I decided strawberry lemonade.. aka lemonberry pee

DON'T SHOOT ME.. I may have ruined my wine... (but it smells and taste better already and think my crazy arse might have found another "tweak" that might just work). I used nestles strawberry syrup.. the kind you usually mix with milk for the kids...


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## donaltman3 (Apr 23, 2012)

I didn't use sorbate.. just some campden.. seems stable smells great and looks good... slightly pinkish...

I used about 1/4 cup of syrup..


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## Minnesotamaker (Apr 24, 2012)

Without sorbate, you run the risk of a new ferment. If you have it sealed in bottles, it could build pressure and create bottle bombs. If you don't want to open the bottles and treat it, I'd put them all in the fridge and keep them there until you drink. The cold temps will prevent fermentation.


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