Skeeter Pee - Airlock Question

[drewmey]

Making skeeter pee similar to the recipe on the skeeter pee website. However, I didn't have a slurry so I made a strong starter from a gallon of water, two cups sugar, my yeast and a 24 hour wait. Anyway, I read somewhere that if you are doing it this way, you shouldn't use the airlock for a while because it will help provide more oxygen. So after making my starter, I continued the recipe (adding lemon juice, inverted sugar, tannin, yeast nutrient and yeast energizer). I took readings each day as I stirred the mixture and the readings have been as follows each day...

Day 1: SG - 1.052
Day 2: 1.040
Day 3: 1.032
Day 4: 1.030
Day 5: 1.022
Day 6: 1.016

During all this time, I have had the lid on my plastic carboy. However, this morning I put the airlock back on because I figured it had reached low enough to the point where it would continue. I was curious on when the airlock should go back on? Did I time it right? Is it even necessary next time? Thanks for any advice.

 

[oogaboogachiefwalkingdeer]

If it was not coming up in the neck you can put it on the first day

 

[damdaman]

Hmm, if I'm understanding your post correctly you left the airlock off to allow oxygen to enter, but then put the lid on without the airlock, presumably leaving the hole/bung where the airlock would be fitted open to allow air exchange?

If your SG is down to 1.016 then yes, the yeast won't need more oxygen exposure at this point and you would in fact be risking oxidation. If fermentation dies off, the residual sweetness will be fine at this point.

Next time though, I would ferment with the airlock on and open it once a day to whip oxygen into your must.

 

[drewmey]

Thanks. That is exactly what I was doing with the lid. I was also whipping it everyday as well. Is doing both of these excessive and unnecessary?

 

[Arpolis]

I do use a slurry for mg SP so I may not be the best candidate to share experience but I airlock right away; however, I use a wine whip twice a day for the first week or so. So plenty of O2 gets in there and my batches have been perfect.

 

[drewmey]

Last night I checked the gravity and it had reached 1.00. I added both of the preservatives from the skeeter pee recipe that has a website. I also added some sparkoloid.

I want half of my batch to be a raspberry lemonade and am curious if this is a good way of achieving it...Once it has cleared, I plan to rack half into bottles and half into a large pot. Then bring the liquid in the pot up to 175 degrees. Let it cool slightly before racking into a secondary with raspberries. Let it sit for a week before bottling.

Basically I don't want the raspberries to ferment and I'm not sure I trust the preservatives. But the bottles without raspberries will go straight in the fridge so I'm not worried about them. Any thoughts or recommendations? I've never been let down by this site before!

 

[Arpolis]

The preservatives will work fine once the SP is clear. You should use an appropriate amount of crushed Camden tablets or potassium metabisulfate (the same thing) when you rack onto the berries. If you let this bulk age over a month I would also be tempted to add the sorbate again as well.

Yea I would not pasteurize in an open pot with already fermented wine. The alcohol and some of the flavor is too volatile and some may be lost at those temps if the stuff is not bottled.

 

[drewmey]

What would be the appropriate amount? I already put .5 tsp kmeta and 2.5 tsp of sorbate in (~5.75 gallons) when I added the sparkoloid. Do I need to add more when I rack onto the raspberries?

 

[saramc]

What would be the appropriate amount? I already put .5 tsp kmeta and 2.5 tsp of sorbate in (~5.75 gallons) when I added the sparkoloid. Do I need to add more when I rack onto the raspberries?

As long as the must was at its final gravity and no longer fermenting when you added the overdose of k-meta (norm is 1/4 tsp per 5 gallons, or 6 depending on product purchased) and sorbate at 1/2 tsp per gallon...you are good to go. That excess k-meta will eventually go away, but you may want to hold on bottling for a bit longer to give that excess SO2 time to resolve. You would likely smell it upon opening a bottle.

On your airlock inquiry, I always do an aerobic ferment (bucket with lid just covering, stir twice daily) and do not transfer to carboy/airlock for the anaerobic phase until must is at its 2/3 sugar break. If using carboy as primary, I just use a foam bung or cover with coffee filter/napkin, etc. No issues with any ferments either.

 

[drewmey]

As stated above, I did use a little too much k meta. The skeeter pee has cleared, and I moved it to another bucket to get it off all the settled particles. I noticed that it has a slightly sulfur smell and even a little bit of a taste. I am not sure if it is from the k meta or just a smell that the yeast put off if it was struggling a little. Anyway, I heard that too much k meta can do that and the smell should go away with a little aeration. However, I don't know much about oxidation, and I thought it was a bad thing that could happen to your brew if it got too much contact with air after fermentation.

So my question know is, should I be stirring it once or twice a day to get the sulfur smell out? Or should I resort to stirring with a sanitized copper pipe/wire? Or does this sound like something else altogether?

 

[Arpolis]

A quick burst with a clean copper wire will do wonders. Just 30 seconds to a minute on a drill and then leave this covered with a paper towel and rubber band to allow gases to escape and check it after 24 - 48 hours.

 

[drewmey]

Thanks! I'm wondering if this will harm/discolor my copper item? (The only thing I have that is copper is nice pot that I use for a display piece, aka I don't want to mess it up.)

 

[Arpolis]

You can get scrap copper wire from most any lowes/home depot... Like a 8 - 12 AWG copper wire about 1 - 1.5 ft in length is all you need. Should be pretty cheap if not a free scrap piece they have In a scrap bin.