Agave syrup

[bronzdragon]

Hey guys, I was just wondering if anyone had used Agave nectar before? I ordered a gallon of it and I'm making the wash currently. It was a relatively expensive purchase, compared to the rest of the materials we usually use to make washes and mashes. But my brother loves the drink made with this, so we figured we'd split the cost and try a batch. Currently I have the gallon of it dissolved in cooling, brought up to 4 gal mark on the fermenter. I'm going to take the gravity when it cools and if it's not at least 9%, I'm going to boil a bit of white sugar and add and then use pot distillers yeast.

I was just wondering if anyone had experience with this product, and if so, any comments.

cheers
~bd~

[bronzdragon]

Just for more information, in case anyone is interested.

I used a 5.5kg jug (just over 1.1 US gal) of light agave nectar, boiled a gal of water and mixed in the bucket. Then topped off to 5 gal. The gravity came out to be right at 1.090, which will get about 12% alc if it all ferments out.

I don't expect to get a full fermentation, but 11% should be reachable. And this is without the addition of any white sugar.

cheers
~bd~

[Tater]

Theres info on it .Try the search feature.

[bronzdragon]

Oh, I understand the search feature. It turns up a lot of things about cooking down the cactus and such, and a few mentions of using the syrup, but then the threads string into discussions of pot stills and such ... and not any hard facts on the use of the syrup (or opinions.)

~bd~

[violentblue]

is there any nutritional information on the package?
as far as what % of the product is sugars

[bronzdragon]

Not really, other then the listing noting that it has 15g of sugars per tablespoon.

It will be interesting to see how much of that is fermentable.

~bd~

[Tater]

Did ya see the info when searching of chap 15 on harrys sight?Its a good read http://distillers.tastylime.net/library/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

[bronzdragon]

Yep. I've read more then half the books on that list, and several of them more then once. All helpful material for various projects.

Chap. 15 was a good read, basically information I had gathered by other sources too. Very detailed information on the procedure from the cutting of the plant to the end. I've got the rest of the procedure pretty much down, I was just looking for an opinion on the various agave "nectar" available on the net.

It seemed rather bland but less viscous then honey and with a much milder flavor. We'll see how it goes.

~bd~

[bronzdragon]

The syrup made a slow-starting wash. The yeast didn't really show signs of life for about 24 hours. At 48 hours, it's chugging along nicely, but not a fast ferment. I was worried at the outset that maybe it had some preservatives in it, that weren't on the label.

~bd~

[bronzdragon]

Well, after the ferment was done, and I allowed a week in the secondary to clear, I did a single run through a full column on my PS2. I didn't pack it though.

My first note is about the actual wash. This came out as the cleanest ferment I've ever had...virtually no residual sugars, it was at 1.002 when I ran it.

I will say that this wash yielded a product that was truly unique. It had a smell unlike anything else I'd ever run. The distillate smelled like permanent solution. I don't know if most guys know what that smells like, but that's what it smells like.

I'm now aging half of it on sticks of charred white oak, and half of it on toasted white oak. I plan to blend the two when complete.

I hope that it smells better after it has aged for awhile.

~bd~

[JohnnyFox]

I've had some recent experience with agave nectar. I'm got my third batch fermenting now. I've been very pleased with my first two batches.
I used nectar and cane sugar for the wash. I added a little (1/2 tsp) citric acid to the second batch and it seemed to speed up the fermentation.
In both of the first two batches, I let it ferment down to dryness ( ~.990), and it took about a month for both. They never cleared very well. My best results were with baker's yeast. I'm developing the opinion it is the best; the flavor is just better to me than distller's yeast...
Now.... I've been VERY pleased with the quality of the silver tequila product. I've found that going deep into the tails gives the good tequila flavor... the tails never do get a bad taste. The hearts were coming through on the first run at 75%, and clean tasting.
It hasn't been long enough for me to have a solid opinion about aging. I have some resting with oak chips, and so far there hasn't been a remarkable change in smoothness. My jury will probably be out for another 6 months on the reposado issue....

[bronzdragon]

Well, I thought I'd update this topic.

I aged it on charred oak sticks for roughly 3 months. It came out a nice golden color, the weird smell had went away and it tasted good. However, for some reason, it didn't taste quite like tequila.

Either way, it is good sipping or mixing. But, I think that I got either 1) a mix of blue agave and something else or 2) it wasn't blue agave.

Anyway, cheers to the new year.

[junkyard dawg]

The syrup is the extracted and purified sugars of the plant. You are missing all the fiber and carbohydrate and starch and protein and dirt and smoke and worms and sweat that is on the whole heart of the agave plant that gets cooked and fermented for a real tequila.

Agave syrup is not much more than an expensive sugar wash. Roast and ferment el corazon entero and then you will be making something...

Thanks for this info tho. I have this on my list and have 5 gallons of syrup collected for experimenting too... Agave hearts are not easy to come by....

edited for spelling... I still may have it wrong....

[trimpy]

I have been fermenting a 6 gallon batch of agave mead since mid December. My gravity is 1.015 (down from 1.102) and is fermenting nice and slow given an ambient temp in the mid 60's. The taste is very enjoyable, even this early in the aging process. I originally bought a 5 gallon pail with intent of making tequila, but wanted to feel out they syrup with a process I am more familiar with.

I am quite excited about my preliminary results and will be using the remaining 40 some odd pounds of amber agave syrup to make some tequila wash once things start to warm up a little.