Mezcal

junkyard dawg · Post by **junkyard dawg** » Tue May 22, 2007 5:24 am

I found someone on craigslist who wanted an agave removed from the backyard. I've been wanting an agave for tequila or mezcal making, so I went to see what she had. Long story short, I have the biggest agave I have ever seen on a trailer. It is about 10 feet in diameter and the top of the leaves were about 12 feet tall when it was in the ground. We got it out intact with a trencher, lots of digging and a skid steer loader to pick it up. It weighs over 1500 lbs. heavy enough to tip the bobcat forward unless its balanced just right. So, I'm gonna put it in the sand out here and admire it for a while... its a spectacular plant.

so, its called agave americana.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Image ... icana4.jpg" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I have seen a couple of references that say this type of agave is used to make mezcal. Anyone have any experience or links to share?

http://gomexico.about.com/od/fooddrink/ ... rocess.htm" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I'll try to post some pics later today.

rezaxis · Post by **rezaxis** » Tue May 22, 2007 9:13 am

You got your work cut out for you.

rezaxis · Post by **rezaxis** » Tue May 22, 2007 1:11 pm

By the way, I saw this thing on TV about a thing called pulque (sp?)

I know it's not the same thing, but this just might serve you.

The old timer was showing the TV crew how it was done. he went up to a live agave plant. A big one, like you got. He had previously altered the plant somewhat. He had taken several of the big "leaves" off. He only removed the ones close to the ground. He also removed the very center of plant where the newest "leaves" would come from. At this point he bored a cylindrical hole that was quite large. I would say it would easily have held a gallon or more of liquid. This hole would naturally fill with liquid as the plant removed water from the ground. The old timer then would collect it in a ingenoius manner. He took a two liter soda bottle and attached a piece of hose about 2 feet long to the opening. He then poked a small hole at the bottom of the bottle. He placed the hose in the juice filled hole of the agave and would then suck on the small hole in the bottom of the soda bottle. He was able to collect 2 liters of agave juice in just a couple of seconds. he was able to go back to this plant over and over and collect more juice.

The point of all this is that you appear to have a very large and very alive agave plant. If you can modifiy it as I've described above and keep it alive you can have agave juice to work with ay time you want. It might not be exactly the same as roasting the big a$$ core of this thing, but it sure seems easier to me and might produce a quality product of a tequilla type that might please you anyways.

If it doesn't work you can always follow your original plan.

Post by **theholymackerel** » Tue May 22, 2007 4:35 pm

Howdy J D.

I'm a bit ripped right now. I have made mescal thrice. Done it two different ways. One was super traditional with help. Did that twice. The other time I winged it... had a huge specimen that was tryin' to flower. I topped it and carved a basin. Collected about two litres a day of the sap which I continously fermented and distilled whenever I had enough. Got alot more from that experiment, but like the mescal better from the two times I just plain harvested the hearts and roasted 'em like ya would a goat in a pit.

After breakfast tomorrow I'll write up how I did it. Time to drink more now.

junkyard dawg · Post by **junkyard dawg** » Tue May 22, 2007 6:07 pm

Yes, pulque...

That juice is called aquamiel. The trouble is that the plant only does this when its flowering and sending up the center stalk. This also signals the end of the plants life, as well as the prime time to harvest. I got this agave put into a big hole and mostly filled in. It only made me bleed a few times... no major stab wounds...

Looks great out near the garden.

I think its gonna grow till the flowering phase begins and then my mescal adventure will begin. Some of the mexican men that work at the landscapers said that it was just the thing for making pulque or mescal. They helped pot up almost 50 pups from this big mother plant. gonna owe those guys a bottle or two...

Post by **theholymackerel** » Tue May 22, 2007 6:57 pm

Cool.

Sounds like ya got a plan.

Saves me some work.

You know how us west of the line are.

rangaz · Post by **rangaz** » Wed May 23, 2007 12:00 am

this has always been a confusing point for me. Does the sap from the heart always contain sugar, or does it just start producing it as it is flowering?

junkyard dawg · Post by **junkyard dawg** » Wed May 23, 2007 6:32 am

The sap that is sweet and collected for fermenting into pulque is only produced when the agave is flowering. The sap in the leaves is caustic, it will cause contact dermatitis. My landscaper friends told me that once, they tried to put some agave leaves into a big wood chipper/shredder. It spit out a basketball sized dripping wad of fiber out the other end. One man had some severe reaction to the juice, like a bad case of poison ivy on top of a bad burn.

rangaz · Post by **rangaz** » Wed May 23, 2007 7:31 pm

well then, can the sap produced from rezaxis' message be mashed to form sugar. In one of the links it says that the hearts are roasted to give it that more smokey flavour than tequila and to convert the starches. I assume in this case that the sap has enzymes to convert itself, if the article was not lying

Post by **blanikdog** » Sat Jul 14, 2007 9:56 pm

This forum is bloody amazing!!!!!! There are some smart buggers out there who are more than willing to share their knowledge.

I found this thread fascinating and always learn something new, I even learned that distress aging without wood doesn't add a bloody thing to the product.

Thanks guys.