Agave nectar/syrup..Anybody use?

Sugar, and all about sugar washes. Where the primary ingredient is sugar, and other things are just used as nutrients.

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cellsitegod
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Agave nectar/syrup..Anybody use?

Post by cellsitegod »

I'd really like to make some tequila. Has anybody made a mash from Agave nectar or syrup?
It looks like it is a sugar substitute. Maybe make a mash the same as sugar?
Thanks
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Tater
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Post by Tater »

Try a search on this sight or maybe on the wiki sight
I use a pot still.Sometimes with a thumper
jbrew9999

Post by jbrew9999 »

I'm interested in it too. There isn't much information to be found.

Threre don't seem to be many sources for bulk blue agave nectar. There was a source around here somewhere for $200 5gal buckets. If you use the amber agave nectar from the grocery store, I don't think it will have enough flavor, plus it would be mescal anyway.

Have you read this site: http://www.ianchadwick.com/tequila/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
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Post by cellsitegod »

If I'm not mistaken;
Mescal is from the Mescal plant.
Tequila is from the Agave plant
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Post by cellsitegod »

Hey JBREW,
Your right,
I read your link.
Mezcal is from Agave, Just different varieties.
You learn somthing new everyday!
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Post by cyphert23 »

I have had some great results with using agave nectar.

I first ran into it at a local savage grocery store. They had cases and cases of 1 gallon jugs and seemed to not know what the hell it was. I ended up getting 2 cases for $1 per gallon.

It is used in mexico to make a mildly psychoactive and mildly alchololic beer calle Pulque and is the providence of a Mayan god named 99 rabbits. In it's early stages (the drink is usually consumed while still fermenting) it is often known as agua miel (or honey water.)


It is most often ffound in mexican grocery stores under the name "miel de avage'" (mee-el de ah-vah-he') but is about $7 per gallon.

I added 1 and 2/3 gallons of nectar to 6 gallons of water and brought it to a boil and skimmed off some residue on the top. after cooling I fermented for about 10 days using 72 hour turbo yeast and clarified using Turboklar. I ran the mash twice through a 2" X 24" reflux column still with 2/3 of the copper scrub packing removed. I ran the resulting distilate through a 3' column packed with activated cahrcoal and sharp sand.

When still young and green (about 14 days past distilation) it had a kind of peppery sharpness to it and a hint of herbal aftertaste. However; after aging for 2 months in the cellar in mason jars, this sharpness had all but disappeared. There remained, however, a very pleasent hint of acidity

I am looking for a good deal on some, and when I find more I am surely going to use it. It is as easy as sugar, but much more drinkable. Everyone who had it thought it was the best batch yet. I have been sharing it with the boys down at the local taqueria, they call it aguadiente.
jbrew9999

Post by jbrew9999 »

Thanks for the info.

What would you consider a "good" price?

I'm looking at having to pay almost $200 for 5 gallons of raw, dark 100% blue agave. That price includes $50 shipping.
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Post by cyphert23 »

I don't really know what a good price is, but i have bought it locally in mexican groceries for 9-15 dollars/G (which is too pricey for production). Also try hippie type health food co-ops. If you are living in the US, you can't be too far away from one of these.
jbrew9999

Post by jbrew9999 »

Wow $15 per gallon sounds really cheap. Even on mexican websites it goes for much more than that.

It seems that all of the nectar that is for sale at health food stores is filtered to make it "light". It is used as a sweetener and I think they are trying to get rid of the taste.

How dark was the agave you used?
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Post by pothead »

I am interested too.
If I could find some for $15.00 a gallon, I would probably buy a couple buckets worth.



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Post by canadianmoonshiner »

Someday soon I will try making mock-tequilla using sweet potatoes or yams with a potatoe-vodka recipe. Touring a small Puerto Vallarta distillery I found the smell of cooking blue agave to be very similar to that of sweet potatoes. "Raicilla Mismaloya" is certainly not like Jose Cuervo. I bought 1 bottle & am hanging onto it like gold. I may ventually consume all the alcohol simply by opening it periodically to smell it lol. The proprietor (Antonio) who gave the tour is a real character. If you go to PV you MUST go for a look see!
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Post by Don Ventura »

I was looking up some info on the subject at hand I came across some decent reading: http://www.fromsadtoraw.com/Misc/AgaveNectar.htm

Lot of technical babble but its good to know the main factors of RAW and regular nectar for fermentaion. Sorry if this has been posted already.

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Agave source-- organic

Post by welska »

They have organic agave syrup...may sell as small as a 5 gallon pail....prices fluctuate like a commodity.

http://www.maltproducts.com/mltprodlst.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow
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Post by corntornado »

Hi, its been a while since i have been here at the forum,its good to be back. I have sucessfully made some outstanding agave tequila using nectar. Around 1 gallon of nectar to five gallons of water. I dont recommend using turbo yeasts although they may work just fine. I prefer using a regular distillers yeast or even something like a Fliecshmans active dry bakers yeast. Take your time and let the ferment take its time. Then run through a pot still setup, and age w/ oak chips or in a barrel. The longer the aging the smoother and better the product. Absolutely delicous over ice. You can get 5 gallons from http://www.agavenectar.com onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow shipped to you for $144, I use the dark, although you have the choice of 3 grades. hope this helps.
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Agave nectar for fermenting

Post by Sutherlandia »

We produce agave nectar from agave americana plants. I am concerned at the ease with which everybody seems to be able to ferment agave nectar. The main property of agave is the very high ratio of fructose to dextrose/glucose. In pure agave nectar (without corn syrup) the yeast normally consumes the 25% glucose and an equal amount of fructose before stalling. Half the sugar (in this case all fructose) still remains after fermentation stops, at least when we do it. In the Mexican distilleries a lot of fermentation is done by the natural yeast inside the plant for making pulque.
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Post by theholymackerel »

My understandin' is that the simple sugar fructose is the easiest sugar for our yeast to work on... so why would it be harder to ferment than the glucose which you say the yeast ferments?

Either there is a miscommunication goin' on here, or yer givin' out bad info.
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Re: Agave nectar/syrup..Anybody use?

Post by SmokyMtnWhiskey »

So, it might be easy enough to use, but the real question is are the results good enough to justify the cost?

Based on the posts, it sounds like you need something more raw (straight from the plant), else the strong (tequila-like) taste won't be present. I got some of the nectar at Walmart, but the taste is so light that I'm afraid I would spend all that money and not get something unique.

I wonder if I could get a source in Jalisco, Mexico to send me like a 50 gal barrel of it, squeezed direct from the plant.
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Post by WalkingWolf »

theholymackerel wrote: Either there is a miscommunication goin' on here, or yer givin' out bad info.
Someone gave me a bottle of the agave nectar to try. I mix with water to get a SG of 1.07 and pitched EC1118. Very, very slow fermentor. I tried adding B vit, epsom salt, DAP and none of it seemed to make a difference. Gave it a week and had very little in the way of progress so ended up feeding it to a DWWG that I had going. I think I'll just buy my tequilla.
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Re: Agave nectar/syrup..Anybody use?

Post by Horse_Shoe »

Hey Walking Wolf:

Search the site for "Agave Nectar Tequila Trial" forum posts. I did this one a few weeks ago and it came out pretty good. Kind of expensive though. I shared the recipe and process notes.

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Re: Agave nectar/syrup..Anybody use?

Post by midnightmaraude »

I know this is an old thread but I wanted to share my experience fwiw. I got my agave from 21missionsagave.com 55lbs for $144 shipped. Guy said they use a special process to extract the syrup raw and unrefined. Said it has loads of bacteria in it and not to use tap water because the chlorine will kill it (also don't boil it). He said that's what gives tequila its unique flavors.
He said down in Mexico they add 1lb syrup for every gallon of water. Comes to be like 1.03/035
He said they use a bit of the pulp/dunder from the pina that has natural occuring yeast. He couldn't give me that so I purchased this yeast called safteq blue. Supposedly made for tequila to help break down some difficult compounds.
He said not to add nutrients...but after two weeks bubbling was done and the sg didn't move (noticeably anyway). I saw maybe 1 burp a minute when it was first started.
I'm thinking the pulp or dunder they add into their ferment IS the nutrients. So I just added a handful of raisins and I'm getting 5 burps a minute now.
The yeast I bought states it likes a ph level of 4.5
I don't have a tester so I don't know what it's at but I did put a ph 5 stabilizer in. Yeast also says it likes 90 degree ferment temp but no way I'm getting or maintaining that.
So the wait goes on.
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Re: Agave nectar/syrup..Anybody use?

Post by bluefish_dist »

The syrup I buy says mix 3:1 with water by volume for a 1.09 og. I think that is too high. Add nutrients and split them 2/3 at pitch and do an additional add of 1/3 24 hr after pitch. Using safteq blue I was able to go from 1.09 to 1.03. Made some nice spirits, but going to try 1.06-1.07 start next time based on talking to a tequila master distiller who said 6-8% is a good range of alcohol.
I found once it stops there is no restarting it.
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Re: Agave nectar/syrup..Anybody use?

Post by brat »

I got a quick question. What does the actual spirit taste like? Is it more like a rum or is it similar to a tequila? I want to give it a try but I like to hear some reviews.
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Re: Agave nectar/syrup..Anybody use?

Post by Shine0n »

I have no idea but I just ran into a good deal on organic blue agave at a salvage store. I'm going to buy a case next Thursday.

I'm only doing a 10 gal wash but I'll report back here with some findings once completed.
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Re: Agave nectar/syrup..Anybody use?

Post by OldSipper »

21 missions out in CA has quite a variety of blue agave. I like to use the amber and if I need a little more flavor after distillation I use organic blue agave terpenes and I add very little to wash as I load my still. You will have to be very patient when fermenting and you really need to get up to every bit of 89 degrees. I’ve gone into the mid 90’s and that was best for fermentation..happy brewing
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Re: Agave nectar/syrup..Anybody use?

Post by Codgerness »

Yes I have and with success. It comes out smelling and tasting like Tequila because it is. I believe it was 2018 when I bought some cases of the Agave Nectar at Walmart. I treated it like any sugar wash and had very good results.
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Re: Agave nectar/syrup..Anybody use?

Post by jonnys_spirit »

https://www.21missionsagave.com/

Give these guys a call. They love to chat and sell larger quantities like 5g syrup buckets. They have a good selection of various raw agave. Several good threads on here about it too.

Cheers and good luck!
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Re: Agave nectar/syrup..Anybody use?

Post by rubberduck71 »

FWIW last year I made a tequila-ish drink using Costco Agave (pic below) & sugar. There's a recipe easy to find in search bar. Buddies of mine have all liked it (including a few whiskey snobs in my poker group).

My 2nd go at it just got done spirit running this past weekend. This time I used Demerera (or was it Turbinado? I forget & my notes are too far away...) instead of white sugar. Very curious how the cuts will turn out. Unfortunately I have a sinus infection right now, so don't want to do the cuts yet.
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Re: Agave nectar/syrup..Anybody use?

Post by bcook608 »

Here is the ingredients I used for mine:
Unrefined Black Nectar
Organic Inulin
Terpenes

Mixed the nectars half and half, then added water to bring the SG to around 1.08 (probably higher than I should have) and topped it off with a dose of the terpenes (as directed by the site) to boost the flavor profile. I was very satisfied with the result.
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Re: Agave nectar/syrup..Anybody use?

Post by bcook608 »

I'd also like to note that I didn't add any extra sugar and after spirit run I was still pulling in the 160s off my pot.
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