Blue Agave Nectar (Syrup) Spirit

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GDGeorge
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Blue Agave Nectar (Syrup) Spirit

Post by GDGeorge »

Ingredients
  • 44 OZ Blue Agave Syrup (BJs)
  • 32 OZ Table Sugar
  • 3.5 to 4 gallons tap water, aerated by pouring back and forth between two buckets half a dozen times.
  • 3 TBSP DADY
  • 1/2 TSP Wyeast Nutrient
Procedure
  1. Heat 2qts water to boil
  2. Place in brewpot
  3. Add 44 oz bottle agave syrup in two or three parts, stirring each to dissolve.
  4. Fill the empty bottle to 1/3 with water and shake to clean sides and bottom.
  5. Add 3 TBSP DADY to bottle, cover, shake well, loosen cover and let sit (i.e. start DADY in a higher fructose environment).
  6. Add 32 oz sugar in two or three parts, stirring each to dissolve.
  7. Add 1/2 TSP Wyeast Nutrient Blend.
  8. Clean / Sterilize fermentor plus extra bucket.
  9. Take 4 gallons tap water and pour back and forth half a dozen time to aerate and clear the city additives.
  10. Place wash in fermenter, rinse pot into fermenter with brew water.
  11. Top fermenter to 4 gallons
  12. Pitch yeast.
Numbers
OG 1.053 (corrected) on the hydrometer and 12.5 brix on the refractometer.
PH 4.5

Notes:
  • I made two batches for a total of 8 gallons of wash.
  • My target OG was 1.05. The profiled potential of 1.033 for the Agave is from a Beersmith user and not verified.
  • I have an aquarium heater in one, and a heat mat taped with insulation to the other. I will keep them between 80 and 85.
  • Yeast and nutrient may be slightly overpitched. I'm used to making 5 gallon batches of stuff, and didn't correct.
  • The "starters" went nuts within moments of pitching the DADY. By the time I pitched them, there was about 1.5" of beautiful, foamy kreusen on each.
T-500 boiler and column
Home-made insulation blanket
StillDragon tri-clamp adaptor (useful as hell.)
Copper Pot column
"Custom" Copper Alembic Dome (I cut up a copper mixing bowl. A work in process..)
Home built SCR voltage controller
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rubberduck71
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Re: Blue Agave Nectar (Syrup) Spirit

Post by rubberduck71 »

You may want to throw a hop sock full of crushed oyster shells in there to prevent pH crash, which is typical for sugar washes.
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GDGeorge
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Re: Blue Agave Nectar (Syrup) Spirit

Post by GDGeorge »

Progress Report: Day ten in the fermenters.
  • No stalls yet. I had a batch of TPW that did, though, so oyster shells are on the list for next time.
  • One batch has been steadily ahead of the other. Both still working though.
  • Today's readings: 1.006 and 1.014. So we're winding down. Both at around 80F
T-500 boiler and column
Home-made insulation blanket
StillDragon tri-clamp adaptor (useful as hell.)
Copper Pot column
"Custom" Copper Alembic Dome (I cut up a copper mixing bowl. A work in process..)
Home built SCR voltage controller
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IMALOSERSCUMBAG
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Re: Blue Agave Nectar (Syrup) Spirit

Post by IMALOSERSCUMBAG »

I came here today looking for a "Tequila/Mezcal" recipe. And look what I found. Few thoughts I have:
Shouldn't be a reason this couldn't be scaled up by 5x to make a 20 gallon wash?
I usually don't "start" my yeast. To me it's just to get things moving quicker. Any reason, other than speed we would need to "start" the yeast?
Didn't look like you heat anything other than the water before adding ingredients?
Looks like a slow ferment. That means I need patience.....
When you run, what are you using for a still? Thinking this will be like a whiskey or rum and not run like a neutral.
Off to order some Agave Nectar.
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jonnys_spirit
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Re: Blue Agave Nectar (Syrup) Spirit

Post by jonnys_spirit »

Here's 8Balls Gringo Slide Pure Agave too for reference. There's at least another Agave thread around with tons of notes.

viewtopic.php?f=11&t=84673

I'd recommend following a typical nutrient schedule and a yeast starter similar to a sugar wash or mead just because it's good practice to follow and a pure syrup or syrup + sugar will be nutrient deficient and subject to pH crash which will stress the yeasties.

Cheers!
-j
————
i prefer my mash shaken, not stirred
————
GDGeorge
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Re: Blue Agave Nectar (Syrup) Spirit

Post by GDGeorge »

Thanks, Jonny. Agreed. That's what the Wyeast nutrient was for. I've never followed a formal schedule with nutrients as fermentation time is pretty quick.

Jerry

---Just realized that you were replying to the post above...
Last edited by GDGeorge on Fri Feb 04, 2022 5:09 am, edited 1 time in total.
T-500 boiler and column
Home-made insulation blanket
StillDragon tri-clamp adaptor (useful as hell.)
Copper Pot column
"Custom" Copper Alembic Dome (I cut up a copper mixing bowl. A work in process..)
Home built SCR voltage controller
GDGeorge
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Joined: Sat Jan 16, 2016 7:29 pm

Re: Blue Agave Nectar (Syrup) Spirit

Post by GDGeorge »

I ran the first four gallons of this through the pot still and got about 1/2 gallon of low wines. I had just started the second batch and before we reached temperature, the thermal disconnect on my T-500 | Grainfather boiler popped. I reset it (fun when the thing is full!) without scalding myself and about two minutes later it popped again.

The only time I've had an issue like this in the past, I had beer wort that had burned and stuck to the bottom of the boiler. I shut down, pulled the jacket off, and let things cool down. Then I transferred the wash to a couple of empty four gallon buckets. The bottom was clean. So... The wash is sitting, covered loosely, in the garage and I am waiting for a replacement for the thermal disconnect. According to the tracking it should have been here yesterday... And so we wait.
T-500 boiler and column
Home-made insulation blanket
StillDragon tri-clamp adaptor (useful as hell.)
Copper Pot column
"Custom" Copper Alembic Dome (I cut up a copper mixing bowl. A work in process..)
Home built SCR voltage controller
GDGeorge
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Joined: Sat Jan 16, 2016 7:29 pm

Re: Blue Agave Nectar (Syrup) Spirit

Post by GDGeorge »

IMALOSERSCUMBAG wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 11:23 am I came here today looking for a "Tequila/Mezcal" recipe. And look what I found. Few thoughts I have:
Shouldn't be a reason this couldn't be scaled up by 5x to make a 20 gallon wash?
Probably no reason. I used this because it was going into smaller (5 gallon) buckets. Additionally, after wondering through the other threads on Agave, I wanted more concentration of the syrup than most seem to using.
IMALOSERSCUMBAG wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 11:23 am I usually don't "start" my yeast. To me it's just to get things moving quicker. Any reason, other than speed we would need to "start" the yeast?
I don't usually use a starter for sugar washes either. DADY doesn't seem to mind. The Blue Agave syrup is high in fructose, though, and, while DADY will process that, I wanted it to be "trained." Otherwise, from my reading, it would go nuts over the sucrose, and perhaps stall.
IMALOSERSCUMBAG wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 11:23 am Didn't look like you heat anything other than the water before adding ingredients?
The only reason that I heated this was to make sure things dissolved easily.
IMALOSERSCUMBAG wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 11:23 am Looks like a slow ferment. That means I need patience.....
:-)
IMALOSERSCUMBAG wrote: Tue Jan 25, 2022 11:23 am When you run, what are you using for a still? Thinking this will be like a whiskey or rum and not run like a neutral.
Agreed. I'll strip this hot and fast using my pot still head, and then hook up the controller (SCR) and make a very slow spirit run again using the pot still. Here's a link to my gear. It's not fancy but it works OK. viewtopic.php?f=32&t=85700

Best,
Jerry
T-500 boiler and column
Home-made insulation blanket
StillDragon tri-clamp adaptor (useful as hell.)
Copper Pot column
"Custom" Copper Alembic Dome (I cut up a copper mixing bowl. A work in process..)
Home built SCR voltage controller
GDGeorge
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Joined: Sat Jan 16, 2016 7:29 pm

Re: Blue Agave Nectar (Syrup) Spirit

Post by GDGeorge »

Finally got the switch replaced in my boiler. Ran the rest of the wash this afternoon. Final yield of low wines was about 1.5 gallons @20%. I'll do a spirit run tomorrow and then put the result on some oak for a week or so.
T-500 boiler and column
Home-made insulation blanket
StillDragon tri-clamp adaptor (useful as hell.)
Copper Pot column
"Custom" Copper Alembic Dome (I cut up a copper mixing bowl. A work in process..)
Home built SCR voltage controller
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bcook608
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Re: Blue Agave Nectar (Syrup) Spirit

Post by bcook608 »

How did it turn out? I have a friend looking for tequila so I thought I'd try this recipe.
GDGeorge
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Re: Blue Agave Nectar (Syrup) Spirit

Post by GDGeorge »

Hope to run it later this morning. Will follow up later today.
T-500 boiler and column
Home-made insulation blanket
StillDragon tri-clamp adaptor (useful as hell.)
Copper Pot column
"Custom" Copper Alembic Dome (I cut up a copper mixing bowl. A work in process..)
Home built SCR voltage controller
Metalking00
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Re: Blue Agave Nectar (Syrup) Spirit

Post by Metalking00 »

I recently did one from 100% raw agave syrup, interested to see how yours turns out.
GDGeorge
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Re: Blue Agave Nectar (Syrup) Spirit

Post by GDGeorge »

Finally doing the spirit run this morning. Set up with T-500 boiler, blanket, pot still head, and controller. Started the still, heated to about 185 and held it there to run heads. The first heads were running at about 130 proof but it dropped to 40 within an hour. The same thing happened on my stripping runs. I had a lot of lower proof that I remember coming off. So I stopped the still, let it cool for a bit and then pulled the head off. My copper mesh packing has about six runs on it, and and I really hadn't thought about it in terms of being expendable, but I guess it is. So I repacked the column and restarted the run. I had pitched the foreshots and at this point withheld about four ounces of heads from the aborted run. Right now, it's just starting from the parrot into the jar at 120 proof and we'll see how long it maintains. Assuming the still profile is a bit closer to expectations, I'll let it run for a bit and then grab a sample from the deep hearts.
T-500 boiler and column
Home-made insulation blanket
StillDragon tri-clamp adaptor (useful as hell.)
Copper Pot column
"Custom" Copper Alembic Dome (I cut up a copper mixing bowl. A work in process..)
Home built SCR voltage controller
GDGeorge
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Posts: 32
Joined: Sat Jan 16, 2016 7:29 pm

Re: Blue Agave Nectar (Syrup) Spirit

Post by GDGeorge »

OK, wasted morning. Wasted batch. Not the end of the world, but down below 90 proof with about a pint of heads and hearts. I cranked the controller all the way open and will run tails to about 20%. I anticipate another pint. Next time: oyster shells in sugar washes. At least one of my four gallon batches stalled, and the ABV was lower than anticipated. I think it was low PH causing the stall. I'll check my notes to make sure. From four gallons of wash, I had about a gallon of low wines at about 20% which strikes me about half what it than it should be. Likewise, with a gallon of low wines, a pint of hearts would be about right, and I only got about half that, maybe a bit more. Taste-wise, I don't know. My taster is pretty much broken and there are no Tequila drinkers here. I think the whole mess is going into a spirit run of TPW that's next on the list.

Cheers!
Jerry.
GDGeorge
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Re: Blue Agave Nectar (Syrup) Spirit

Post by GDGeorge »

Following up. I let this sit loosely covered, for a couple of days and it has mellowed considerably. There doesn't seem to be a lot of difference in smell and taste between jars. I need to get a taster but first I'm going to drop a piece of charred oak in and put it in the garage (cold, warm, cool, cold, hot, etc) for a week.
T-500 boiler and column
Home-made insulation blanket
StillDragon tri-clamp adaptor (useful as hell.)
Copper Pot column
"Custom" Copper Alembic Dome (I cut up a copper mixing bowl. A work in process..)
Home built SCR voltage controller
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