# Making Skeeter Pee more Lemony?



## derunner (Jul 5, 2013)

I've made one batch of skeeter pee per the standard recipe. I like it, and there is a light lemon flavor, but I think I would like the next batch to be more lemony and bit sweeter.

How do you suggest doing this?

I think it is hard enough getting a strong lemon/sugar mix to ferment, so is adding more lemon up front an option?

How about when back sweetening? I took several cups of the skeeter pee and warmed it up to dissolve the sugar. I did not boil it when back sweetening. But since I did not add water when back sweetening, it should not have weakened the flavor. Could you mix the sugar for back sweetening with pure realemon and add that to sweeten? but that would lower the ABV unless I add more sugar up front when fermenting to offset the dilution.

making the skeeter pee sweeter should just be adding a bit more sugar when backsweetening, but I am not sure how to make it more lemony.

Any recommendations?


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## pjd (Jul 5, 2013)

I understand what you are looking for. My solution is to serve the skeeter pee over ice with half a lemon squeezed then dropped into the glass. Excellent that way!


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## petey (Jul 6, 2013)

derunner said:


> I've made one batch of skeeter pee per the standard recipe. I like it, and there is a light lemon flavor, but I think I would like the next batch to be more lemony and  bit sweeter.
> 
> How do you suggest doing this?
> 
> ...



Try back sweeten with lemonade concentrate. 1 can should increase SG about .008


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## Boatboy24 (Jul 6, 2013)

Have you thought about adding zest?


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## cedarswamp (Jul 6, 2013)

I add the 3rd bottle of ReaLemon post fermentation


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## dangerdave (Jul 8, 2013)

I'm a zester with my basic lemon SP. For six gallons: take a dozen lemons and grind the zest off the rinds (avoid getting any white stuff); place the zest into a Ball or Mason jar (or similar conatiner); pour 12 oz of Everclear (vodka will also work); screw on the lid and let it sit for about a month (shaking occasionally). When the liquid has settled to clear, carefully syphon off the resulting lemon liqueur---you'll get about 10 oz---and add all of it to your lemon Skeeter Pee. Sweeten to taste.

This really works well! I recieved a silver medal for this version of SP at the Cellarmaster's Wine Competition last year (would have been gold but the Russian judge hated me!). I have also made lime the same way (with limes, that is). Both are very good!


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## xopher425 (Jul 9, 2013)

I've made a bunch of Skeeter Pee (strawberry, mega strawberry, grapefruit, and extra lemon). For the extra lemon, I added a fourth bottle of juice after fermentation.

I found it made it really rather strong. Now I'll mix it half and half with some beer for a KILLER summer shandy, better than any commercially available ones.

Trying to create a recipe for a carbonated shandy; just need to try some of the non-fermentable sweeteners to see which tastes best.


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## francois_du_nord (Jun 1, 2019)

dangerdave said:


> I'm a zester with my basic lemon SP. For six gallons: take a dozen lemons and grind the zest off the rinds (avoid getting any white stuff); place the zest into a Ball or Mason jar (or similar conatiner); pour 12 oz of Everclear (vodka will also work); screw on the lid and let it sit for about a month (shaking occasionally). When the liquid has settled to clear, carefully syphon off the resulting lemon liqueur---you'll get about 10 oz---and add all of it to your lemon Skeeter Pee. Sweeten to taste.
> 
> This really works well! I recieved a silver medal for this version of SP at the Cellarmaster's Wine Competition last year (would have been gold but the Russian judge hated me!). I have also made lime the same way (with limes, that is). Both are very good!



First batch of SP clearing right now. 

What a _fantastic_ idea. I made some Limoncello over the holidays, and just happen to have a number of bottles sitting around, waiting to be drunk. 375 mls here we come!


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## crooked cork (Jun 13, 2019)

I had the same Question. I was thinking a can of frozen concentrate, i have a batch clearing now and i will try 1 can concentrate with 4 cups sugar should come out lemony and a little tart.


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## NorCal (Jun 14, 2019)

I’m in a similar situation and planning on back-sweetening with country time lemonade powder.


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## Arne (Jun 14, 2019)

If your wine is already clear, I would put money on when you add concentrate it will probably get cloudy again and you will have to wait for it to clear again. Cranberry was the only concentrate I used that didn't make the wine cloudy. Don't know about the powder though. It may or may not cloud you back up. Arne.


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## Kraffty (Jun 14, 2019)

@NorCal I've used the countrytime and it absolutely gives it a great lemon flavor but as Arne said it does make it cloudy. I've also discovered Lemon Extract in the grocery store. Just a table spoon really makes a difference to a few gallons of pee without the clouding. (the extract seems exactly the same as unsweetened limoncello)
Mike


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## cmason1957 (Jun 14, 2019)

I wonder if you could add a bit of lemon zest for a couple of weeks and get a nice pop to the lemony taste?? Might be something to try next time I make. Ah who am I kidding, I make that stuff for the wife's family that doesn't really like wine, they want something sweet and fruity. It costs me about 50 cents a bottle to make and they try to see how fast they can drink it.


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## NorCal (Jun 14, 2019)

Kraffty said:


> @NorCal I've used the countrytime and it absolutely gives it a great lemon flavor but as Arne said it does make it cloudy. I've also discovered Lemon Extract in the grocery store. Just a table spoon really makes a difference to a few gallons of pee without the clouding. (the extract seems exactly the same as unsweetened limoncello)
> Mike


Thanks for the tip. The Skeeter is still fermenting, last time I checked. Since I messed upon the volume, I’m expecting being a little light on the flavor. I’ll look into the extract, I like my Skeeter clear.


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## Val-the-Brew-Gal (Jul 1, 2019)

So, can you add the Countrytime or concentrate before Super Kleer so that it clears at the same time as the wine?


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## NorCal (Jul 3, 2019)

To close the loop on this, I added 4 cups of sugar per carboy and did taste tests with my drinking audience. They loved it and I was good with it, so in the bottle and bags it went. I didn’t want to risk an imitation lemon taste or not having the wine clear, so I chose to leave well enough alone.


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## crooked cork (Jul 29, 2019)

crooked cork said:


> I had the same Question. I was thinking a can of frozen concentrate, i have a batch clearing now and i will try 1 can concentrate with 4 cups sugar should come out lemony and a little tart.


Well i added 1 can of lemonade concetrate and 1 cup lemon juice and 5 cups sugar and it turned out great, so good its almost gone i have one bottle left. I entered it in a town festival wine contest and took a 3rd place ribbon for it.
my Black cherry sp has won 3 1st place ribbons and 1 best of show.


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## crabjoe (Sep 16, 2019)

crooked cork said:


> Well i added 1 can of lemonade concetrate and 1 cup lemon juice and 5 cups sugar and it turned out great, so good its almost gone i have one bottle left. I entered it in a town festival wine contest and took a 3rd place ribbon for it.
> my Black cherry sp has won 3 1st place ribbons and 1 best of show.



Congratulations!

As for the total amount, was this added to a 5 gal batch or a 6 gallon batch?

Thanks!


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## crooked cork (Sep 16, 2019)

5 gallon batch


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## mhopkins (Sep 17, 2019)

dangerdave said:


> I'm a zester with my basic lemon SP. For six gallons: take a dozen lemons and grind the zest off the rinds (avoid getting any white stuff); place the zest into a Ball or Mason jar (or similar conatiner); pour 12 oz of Everclear (vodka will also work); screw on the lid and let it sit for about a month (shaking occasionally). When the liquid has settled to clear, carefully syphon off the resulting lemon liqueur---you'll get about 10 oz---and add all of it to your lemon Skeeter Pee. Sweeten to taste.
> 
> This really works well! I recieved a silver medal for this version of SP at the Cellarmaster's Wine Competition last year (would have been gold but the Russian judge hated me!). I have also made lime the same way (with limes, that is). Both are very good!



@dangerdave. Will the Everclear sanitize any bacteria that hitched a ride on the lemon rhind/zest? Or, would I need to add K-Meta when I add the lemon liqueur to the batch to take care of any "bugs"? BTW, I am fairly new to making Dragon Blood (9 batches of a few varieties so far) ... really enjoying both the process and the wine. So, thanks for the recipe! Mark


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