Agave Nectar Tequila Trial

[Horse_Shoe]

hahaha! retlaw! I have to laugh! No one's ever turned my call sign into "Horse_Shit." Touche. I think you know how we all feel. ugh, yeah ten tons might be a little difficult for me to conceal. I can always dream.

[retlaw]

glad you enjoyed my sense of humor,
i thought it was funny to,

nothing can beat a good tequila,
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VkZ-ZUNm ... re=related" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[Horse_Shoe]

Just wondering if anyone had ventured into this territory and tried this recipe for themselves since I posted it.

[stillcyco]

it is my understanding that tequila can only be called tequila if it comes from Jalisco, Jaliso is one of the 31 Mexican states,
just like champagne cames from champagne france, champagne is a province in the northeast of France,
if its not made there, then it can't be called it,
mescal is made the same way as tequila but does not come from jalisco, it is made in one of the other states of mexico so they can't call it tequila,

Just FYI... Mezcal is made from maguey (Agave Americana), not Blue Agave (Agave tequilana). Real tequila must be made from Blue Agave, in Jalisco (and certain areas of Guanajuato, Michoacán, Nayarit, and Tamaulipas.) But, "tequila" made elsewhere is not necessarily mezcal. Mezcal has a much different flavor, more smokey than tequila, heavier and more robust. I love the stuff, its a shame premium mezcal cannot be found easily in the states. They are different liquors, much like bourbon versus whiskey or scotch. Similar, but varied ingredients make something different. Mezcal is also only distilled once, and can contain various other herbs and whatnot. The single distillation is what gives it such a heavy character. It also can be had in blanco, reposado and anejo, similar to tequila.

I am keen to try my hand at both varieties, but the only line I have on agave pinas is for Blue Agave. A buddy of mine's boss just bought a ranch not too far away that has hundreds of mature agave's. He owns a brewery, so the subject has been raised but no agave's yet. Hopefully by summer time I'll get my hands on a few. Making real "tequila" at home will be a major project, so it'll just be to say I did it. A mature pina can weigh 50 pounds and be huge. I'm thinking roasted agave pina supplemented by agave nectar should do the trick. If agave nectar alone can get close to real tequila, then adding the roasted agave heart to the mix may finish it up to produce a close facsimile to the real thing.

[mar03]

About to try your recipe Horseshoe, also am going to try the scorched agave method.

Recently toured the Herradura plant in Tequila Mexico, took the tequila train, much fun. Anyway to make tequila, they use the pina's or hearts of the blue agave from this region and steam them in these huge ovens. The smell is wonderful by the way. They then mash and ferment. Note, that they use the freerun from this chopping/mashing of the steamed pinas to make the premuim stuff.

Mescal on the other hand, is made from the maguey plant, which are agave, just not the blue agave from the Tequila region. But in Mescal, the pina's are cooked in a pit, instead of steamed. This is why Mescal has the smokey flavor. Wiki has some info on this if anyone is interested.

Picts from the Herradura tour showing some of the tequila making process: https://picasaweb.google.com/robles03/H ... directlink" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[bluestar]

Hope to be starting a ferment of blue agave soon. I found a good price on Amazon.com:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00311T4EI" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
This is 5 lbs from Wholesome Sweeteners, it is pure, raw, and organic. The price is about what I pay for 5 lbs of raw honey. Right now it will ship for free with Super Saver Shipping, which makes it a good deal IMHO. I plan to run 4 fermentations in carboys with different conditions, suitable for running each through a strip in a copper alembic.

[Horse_Shoe]

Mario,

Thank you very much for sharing your Mexican Tequila Tour photos with us. They are spectacular. I didn't know that there was such a tour available and now I'm really interested in doing something like that. I hope you get to experiment with some of your own concoctions now that you've seen how the real thing is done.

[Horse_Shoe]

Blue Star,

that's a good find. When my friends learn about my tequila trial they all want some. I'm going to be hard pressed not to produce more soon. Follow my recipe and you shouldn't have any problems. It really was a success, albeit I only made a small amount. Please share with us your results, so we can learn.

[bluestar]

The 5 gallons of Agave arrived from Amazon.com today. Just as advertised, and it came in a very nice 20L industrial-grade square HDPE carboy, to boot! The carboy alone would have cost $20 new retail. OK, will mix up a fermentation this weekend.

[Horse_Shoe]

We are all anxious to hear the results

[retlaw]

The 5 gallons of Agave arrived from Amazon.com today. Just as advertised, and it came in a very nice 20L industrial-grade square HDPE carboy, to boot! The carboy alone would have cost $20 new retail. OK, will mix up a fermentation this weekend.

its been 5 months, what happened?
did it turn out yummy?

[Klaxxon]

maybe the ATF tracked his shipment and confiscated all his stuff, including his PC

[astronomical]

I just thought I'd clarify something here.

"...only two categories of tequila are permitted: "100% tequila de agave" and tequila. The second category allows the addition of 49% of other fermentable sugars..."

from Fermented Beverage Production by Lea and Piggot

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Fermen ... 0306477065" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

its an awesome book

Tequila doesnt need to be 100% agave and anything that doesn't state it on the bottle most likely isnt (unless its from a hacienda)

[brewbob]

I have a few things that might help some of ya'll out.

This is from multiple books and various web sources. Nothing is copyed, its in my own words.

Astro is right, there are two kinds, 100% Agave and Mixed (Mixto). Mixtos use cane sugar a lot to mix with the agave but not always. 100% agave will always be on the bottle, if it doesn't say 100% agave its a mixto.

Traditionally tequila and mezcal were made with pot stills run at 55%ABV. They added a significant amount of congeners. Some light colored tequilas are now being distilled in column stills to produce a cleaner but blander product.

Color in tequila and mezcal is from adding caramel mostly but some high-quality brands barrel age. Some also add small amounts of sherry, prune concentrate, and coconut to add to flavor. These flavors don't stand out, they help smooth the harshness.

Silver/Blanco
Clear with very little to no aging. Around 2 months tops in SS tanks. Can be 100% or mixto.

Gold
Unaged silver, caramel added for color and flavor. Normally a mixto but doesn't have to be.

Reposado/Rested
Rested is aged in wood barrels for a min of 2 months. Better quality, 3-9 months. Can be 100% or mixto.

Anejo/Aged
Usually aged in old bourbon barrels for at least 12 months. Better quality, 18-36 months for mixtos. Up to 4 years for 100%

Hope this helps some of you.

[Chsjae]

I bought a bunch of organic agave from Costco on sale. I'm not expecting tequila but I thought it would be interesting to try. After fermenting for 3 days I started to get really large bubbles. I've never seen anything like this before. Although I've never used organic sugar before. I assume it nothing I should worry about? It smells great.

[steveh]

Oh man very very new to all of this I just made my first batch of mash with agave nectar, I chose this one because it seemed like it would be pretty easy, I used just about 4.5 gal of water 6 bottles of agave nectar and some turbo yeast it has been sitting for about 24hours now and i dont see much action in my car boy I checked the temp earlier today and it was around 85 or so I think. it is starting to look like I may have needed to add some sort of food for the yeast to munch on my other worry is that i pitched the yeast when it was too hot still and killed it off, on the yeast i was using it said 107. I thought that was a little high so I let it cool a little before I added it. I am only about 24 hours in right now is there anything I can do to save this? any help would be great as I said this is my first time.

[Prvt_fader_pusher]

I noticed alot of you include bread crumbs...why and how much?

[TDick]

Ran a batch of tequila (blue agave spirit) about 5 months ago. .....But it's expensive...

I was thinking about tequila, but wondering about the cost of blue agave. Might be better to buy cheap stuff and play with distilling/aging.
Maybe even putting some in the thumper for sugar wash then aging.
But I digress.

If anyone is interested I was looking on Ebay.
There is a 5 gallon jug being auctioned with 1 day left, no bids. Shipping is $57 so at $60 you're in at about $12 per gallon.
I've got no dog in the hunt, just sharing the info.

Here's info (I think)
Check out Blue Green Agave Organic Nectar, Light Blue, 57.3 Pound #BlueGreenAgave http://www.ebay.com/itm/Blue-Green-Agav ... tkn=Zhnk1V" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

BB