# First time fermenting anything



## chasemandingo (May 4, 2013)

Hello everyone, 

My name is Chase and my first attempt at fermenting anything is a skeeter pee that I have in my primary fermenter at this very moment. I only have a one gallon capacity as of the moment so I used an altered recipe. Boiled my tap water to facilitate the removal of chlorine, inverted the sugar and added to one gallon of the tap water bringing the volume up to 1 gallon 20 oz. with an s.g. of 1.09. Added 1/4 tsp. pectic enzyme, 1 1/4 tsp. yeast nutrient, 1/2 tsp. yeast energizer and 10 fluid ounces of Kroger brand lemon juice which was whisked frequently over the coarse of an hour until the "funky" smell subsided. I made a starter from red star montrachet yeast and pitched it 24 hours after I made up the must. That was Thursday at 7:30. By 8 AM the next morning there was audible signs of fermentation and I left for work with a smile on my face. When I arrived home from work I checked my fermenter and to my surprise there was no foam on the surface of the must. I was expecting a thick "head" similar to the one that appeared on my yeast starter. So I gave it an oxygenating stir with a whisk and a large amount of CO2 was released. Fast forward to this morning, I opened the fermenter and whisked in a good amount of O2 and took a sample for an s.g. reading. It read 1.04. In less than 41 hours it dropped that much! Is my hydrometer broken or am I just lucky? I then added another dose of yeast energizer and nutrient and whisked them in vigorously. I then sprinkled a fourth of a packet of yeast on the surface of the must just to see if fermentation picks up even more lol. Also temp has been constant at 70 degrees. I want to raise it but lost my heating pad ....... Any advice for a noob is appreciated.


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## olusteebus (May 4, 2013)

If you suspect the hydrometer is bad, put it in some water and see if it reads 1.000

as for heating up your must, some use aquarium heaters right in the must. I put the bucket in a tub of water and put the heater in the water.


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## chasemandingo (May 4, 2013)

Good idea on the aquarium heaters. Good idea on the hydrometer too. I am wondering if it is unheard of for the s.g. to drop that rapidly? Thanks again for any replies!


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## seth8530 (May 4, 2013)

No, it is not unheard of for your SG to drop that rapidly. It just means you have a strong fermentation. I imagine the reason why your fermentation is zooming by so fast is because you most likely skipped much of the lag phase by first building up a strong starter. 

Adding yeast on later will likely have 0 to none effect on your fermentation since your fermentation was already going so strong and you already built up a strong colony in the must. Yeast tends to reach an equilibrium point in a must and does not tend to really grow way past that. At least that is what I have heard.


BTW welcome to the forums and to a very rewarding hobby!


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## Julie (May 4, 2013)

Hi welcome to WineMakingTalk and I really don't anything to add with what Seth has told you


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## chasemandingo (May 4, 2013)

Well thank you all for your quick responses and great input. I really feel that this hobby will bring me great enjoyment over my life but will probably bring enjoyment to a lot of my friends as well!


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## Julie (May 4, 2013)

chasemandingo said:


> Well thank you all for your quick responses and great input. I really feel that this hobby will bring me great enjoyment over my life but will probably bring enjoyment to a lot of my friends as well!



Lo, you have no idea how addictive this is, you are going to be looking at piece of fruit and candy and think "can I ferment that" lol


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## seth8530 (May 4, 2013)

Julie said:


> Lo, you have no idea how addictive this is, you are going to be looking at piece of fruit and candy and think "can I ferment that" lol



Aint that the truth.. One time the local discount store had frozen sliced peaches on sale.... then not much later I was fermenting 12 gallons of peach wine.


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## DoctorCAD (May 4, 2013)

1 pack of yeast is all you need, and don't boil your water.


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## chasemandingo (May 4, 2013)

I feel ya both. I'm not even through my first skeeter pee and I have gallon zip lock bags of dandelions in the freezer. I'm also dead set on making a ginger wine, hibiscus wine, apple wine, pear wine and many more! I might as well start digging a cellar tonight lol. I have a shovel and a bottle of apricot wine made by the Amish so I think i'm set!


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## seth8530 (May 4, 2013)

Woah, Amish made wine? Oxymoron?


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## chasemandingo (May 5, 2013)

Yeah I know right? I checked my s.g. tonight and it has dropped to 1.015 and a strong yeast smell has overpowered the citrus of the lemon juice. I am under the impression that this will subside once the pee is stabilized and clarified. Is this assumption correct?


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## CBell (May 6, 2013)

Yeah. Mine was really yeasty at that point. Has gone back to smelling lemon-y halfway through clearing


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