1st batch question

[Charlietuna]

I am making a kit of cab & wondered if I can just make the skeeter pee right on top of what's left after I rack from the primary. I'll be racking at a sg of 1.020 or less in 6-8 days.

I'm just thinking I could leave n the primary, have the pee ready the day before I rack the cab & dump the mix right in on top of what was left n my wine primary?? Thoughts?

Thanks. Brian

 

[Putterrr]

It would be easier to dump the small amount of lees into your 5 gal sugar/lemon mix then the other way around.

Cheers

 

[Julie]

That won't work, you need to let it sit for 24 to 48 hours before adding the slurry. Because of the sulphites in the lemon, I doubt it would start to ferment if the slurry was added at the very beginning.

 

[Arne]

My last batch was made by just throwing all the ingredients on top of the slurry rite after I racked the wine off. You already have your lemonaid mixed up soit has a been sitting for a while. Mine I was lazy or in a hurry and just mixed on top. In a couple of hours it was going gang busters. By the next morning it was trying to jump out of the primary. I won't say It will work for everybody or every time. Just worked for me. Will I do it again? Probably. Will I do it every time? Probably not. Kinda depends on how much time I have on my hands. Good luck with it. Arne.

 

[djrockinsteve]

The lemon makes fermentation difficult so what I have been doing is start out with no lemon until it's going well and add only 1 bottle over time. Adding lemon does not help ferm. at all. When it's thru I ad the other lemon juice then rack.

If you have chlorinated water you may choose to draw that a day early to the starting of the skeeter pee but do not add the inv. sugar until you have the gross lees at hand.

 

[DasK]

For my first batch, I have used Minute Maid lemon juice with no preservatives. I pitched my slurry right after mixing everything together and I had active fermentation within hours.