Frozen Concentrate in Pee

[kat50496]

Will be starting a batch of WE Island Mist White Cranberry Pinot Gris in the next week or so, and really want to make my first skeeter pee from the slurry. I have read many of the posts here and think I would like to use a frozen concentrate (probably cranberry, or mix of cranberry and another fruit) instead of the third bottle of lemon juice. I feel pretty good about the process, but not so sure of the concentrate type to add.

Is this just any frozen concentrate or do I need to look for something special, without certain preservatives or additives? I can always follow the recipe exactly as Lon has written it, but really think that adding an additional fruit profile may make my first attempt even better.

BTW, any suggestions for fruit concentrate flavor would also be appreciated. Thanks!

 

[Minnesotamaker]

Keith, Cranberry seems to be pretty popular, but I think you can do whatever works for you. Yes, frozen cans of concentrate is what you're looking for. One thing to remember is that there is only a little sugar in a bottle of lemon juice, but in a frozen can of concentrate, there is much more sugar. Keep this in mind when you start your batch knowing that you'll be adding more sugar with the concentrate.

 

[kat50496]

Thanks Lon, but just to be sure I understand: I still need to add the appropriate amount of suger to get my initial SG to about 1.070 right? The extra sugar would come from the addition of concentrate and therefore I need to add sugar to taste after stabilizing and clearing rather than just dump in the 6 cups in the recipe. Am I thinking correctly on this? Thanks a ton.

 

[Minnesotamaker]

Thanks Lon, but just to be sure I understand: I still need to add the appropriate amount of suger to get my initial SG to about 1.070 right? The extra sugar would come from the addition of concentrate and therefore I need to add sugar to taste after stabilizing and clearing rather than just dump in the 6 cups in the recipe. Am I thinking correctly on this? Thanks a ton.

The way I read your initial question, I assume you are planning to add the concentrate to your batch while it is still fermenting. You mentioned something about using the concentrate in place of the third bottle of juice. The third bottle of juice goes in the batch before it finishes fermenting. So.... if this is what you are planning, I would start your batch at a slightly lower S.G., maybe 1.065 as your starting SG. Then add the concentrate when your batch gets down to 1.050. The yeast will consume the sugar in the concentrate and the whole thing should finish fermenting with no sugar left in the batch. You'll then stabilize with K-meta and sorbate and then sweeten with sugar to taste.

Another option is to start your batch at 1.070 and use all three bottles of juice as normal. When it finishes, you can then add the cranberry concentrate after stabilizing it. At that point, the sugar in the concentrate won't ferment due to the sorbate. You'll probably still want to add some sugar in addition to the concentrate, just go by taste.

 

[TimTheWiner]

Rather than start a new thread this one is reason enough to add to. I am starting my first ever SP next week too. I'll be using the slurry from a CC Blush Zin kit. I too would like to backsweeten, although I do want to try the original as well. So thinking of splitting into two 3 gallon carboys after secondary fermentation (or maybe should be after it is degassed and added stabilizers/clarifiers) and keeping one strictly lemon and backsweetening the other with a juice concentrate. Getting back to the OPs question, is there a specific brand or type of concentrate this is recommended or need to be without additives, etc.?? I am assuming that most people that make flavored SP's go this route over starting with the concentrate and fermenting dry right, then sweetening with sugar right?

 

[djrockinsteve]

Shockwave either way.

Any frozen concentrate will work. Most popular is Old Orchard from the bigger grocery store. Since they vary in sugar content you will have to do some experimenting. The blueberry pomegranate reads 1.040 out of the can. The cran lime is near there too if I recall. The Apple kiwi strawberry is low in sugar.

Whether you add these up front or after fermentation is irrelevant since sugar is sugar. Just be sure there is NO sorbate in the concentrate. Very few do as far as I've seen.

I add my lemon juice at the end of fermentation since it actually hinders the fermentation and provides no/little fermentation assistance.

My favorite skeeter pee is the cranberry lime. I use 2 btls. of lemon juice (30 oz. each) and 1 bottle (30 ounces) lime juice. Then at the end 4-5 cans of cran. concentrate. Sweeten to 1.010 +/- Serve well chilled. It's even better carbonated.

 

[hobbyiswine]

Djrockinsteve, funny you posted your favorite is cranberry lime because this is the latest recipe I made and the 3 gallon batch is all but gone! Gave a lot away but did mange to save some.

Question is, how do you carbonate the pee? Then, what type of bottle does it go in? I have some other flavored wine is was thinking about putting in beer bottles with crown caps. Would this work for the pee? I hear horror stories of beer bottle grenades and would rather avoid that if possible.

 

[djrockinsteve]

I carbonated a few by pouring wine into the soda pop containers and carbonating them. It has to be real cold or it will volcano all over you. It was an experiment to see if people liked it.

I also bottled some Brianna skeeter pee that still had yeast in it. It wasn't enough for a gallon to age so I bottled it and 2 weeks later one popped. It was just like champagne. I immediately refered the others and wow it was awesome.

I have one bottle left I need to take readings on when I open it to see the difference from when it was bottled (gravity) and now (gravity). This way I will know how much sugar to add to get that exact effect.

You need to use champagne bottles for any pressurized beverages like these. I'll have to check this last bottle out and start a thread to let all know how much sugar to add.

I also make champagne so I know the max sugar to add but I don't want that much of a fizz.

 

[TimTheWiner]

My buddy has some corny kegs and CO2. Shouldn't I be able to use that equipment to carbonate my pee?