Rogers Tequila recipe

[rager]

just read this,

im looking at 88 oz of " organic blue agave" by honey tree.

this as got me thinking and im going to give this a go . here is my plan

going to get 2 more 44oz so I can make 4, 5-6 gallon ferments. the plan will be to use 1 , 44oz bottle per ferment. add enough sugar to get me around 1.06-1.07

ill make a yeast bomb like I do with my rum.

follow my standard rum procedure and ferment with bakers at 85 or so.

ill strip them all down and I should hopefully have 4 or so gallons of low wines to do something with.

ill probably use my thumper on the spirit run maybe cutting my low wines into 2 different runs. im thinking about loading it with water and some fresh ground black pepper. yes might sound crazy but I like that peppery hint in tequila, although im far from an expert.

there is also talk in this thread about mesquite . got me thinking about adding some mesquite smoked grains to the ferment(only enough to hopefully add a little smoke) , or adding a small amount them to the low wines before the spirit run or even added to the thumper . a lot of variables at this point.

so yea , lets see what I can get. even if I don't end up with "tequila" maybe ill make something different and possibly a decent drop for a sugar wash


gonna start tomorrow and will post where im at

cheers

[Alchemist]

That's exactly what I mean. Why are you adding sugar? Why not go all agave since you are making tequila. Can you please explain that to me? I'm really serious. It seem you are just doing nothing but robbing yourself of flavor.

Seems most of the less than great results here stem right from less than great starting recipes. Like mixing 1 lb malt extract, 1 lb smoked grain (or just liquid smoke) and 7 lbs sugar and being disappoint you don't have a great scotch. Or using corn syrup (and no corn) and sugar for bourbon and being surprised it's not a wonderful sipping bourbon.

If price is at all an issue, check out 21 Missions. I got my gallon (128 oz) for $30.

re the pepper...taste it first. You might be surprised how peppery it is as is.

Cheers and good luck regardless.

[rgreen2002]

I'm wondering...
For anyone who has tried this recipe before - what are you running? Pot/reflux?

I just made 2 x 5 gal batches and they're fermenting now ( 5 gal water, 8 lb sugar, about 22 Oz of blue agave syrup with bakers yeast) and I'm getting close after about 2.5 weeks on ferment.
Some people are stripping then spirit runs, which is what I have been planning... maybe with a little backset to dilute to 40% abv in the spirit.

[rgreen2002]

...anybody?

[Alchemist]

...anybody?

Back at you. Why are you adding sugar?

But to answer, I ran double distilled pot still.

[rgreen2002]

LoL... I think i ran sugar for two reasons. First shot at the recipe and figured I would stay "true" to the original. Second it was a bit cheaper than a couple gallons of agave. I will say I was intrigued by your process Alchemist and if this turns out well...its the next step.

I noted that some folks could not get the FG below 1 with their mix (that's with sugar... ). I fermented this for about 3 weeks and they both ended in the last 24 hours. My two five gals - one stopped at 1.007 the other was one bubble in the airlock every 3 minutes so I stopped it at 1.010 (by stopped I mean I pulled them out of the water bath I use to keep them as close to 75F as possible). Both started around 1.075 and they taste ever so slightly sweet. I don't think that they're stalled and I plan on racking them off and letting them clear a while.

Alchemist..how was your final full agave run? Did the white oak add anything?

[Alchemist]

FYI, mine totally bottomed out in to 0.995 in 6 days. I think that extra sugar is fouling the fermentation up. At least from a lack of nutrient standpoint. In my 40L fermenter, 2/3 full, the ferment was so active it touch the top on day two.

It is still aging on the oak. In the 3 months times many of the rough edges are smoothing away. It is surprisingly colored also. I'm finding it a full success.

[rgreen2002]

FYI, mine totally bottomed out in to 0.995 in 6 days. I think that extra sugar is fouling the fermentation up. At least from a lack of nutrient standpoint. In my 40L fermenter, 2/3 full, the ferment was so active it touch the top on day two.

It is still aging on the oak. In the 3 months times many of the rough edges are smoothing away. It is surprisingly colored also. I'm finding it a full success.

Interesting... and i actually add nutrient frequently. I added a little DAP and a crushed multi B to the barrels. I didn't ph test them but you got me thinking.

Im glad to hear your results are good... I might be needing to get a couple of gallons of agave!

[sltm1]

OK, got my 1st wash ready to add 4 Tbs Red Star Dady yeast. 6 gallons of water, 34 ounces of agave, organic with fiber 9 pounds of sugar, OG is 1.060. I've got both tomato paste and DAP handy incase of a stall. Some of you make this sound like it's right up there with "sliced bread" and others, not so much. I am really curious because tequila used to be a favorite of mine. I'm running a pot still and will be adding 1 pint of cheap vodka and 1.5 quarts of water in my thumper. Trying to keep the finished abv up without flavoring it.

[rgreen2002]

It is still aging on the oak. In the 3 months times many of the rough edges are smoothing away. It is surprisingly colored also. I'm finding it a full success.

Alchemist - if your out there... did you pull this off the oak for a tasting yet? I put mine on oak a little over 2 months ago and it still has quite the bite. Based on the taste I'm guessing its going to be laid up a while in there. Some in the post ran this over charcoal but I think I'm going to wait it out a little longer.

[Stonesryan]

FYI, mine totally bottomed out in to 0.995 in 6 days. I think that extra sugar is fouling the fermentation up. At least from a lack of nutrient standpoint. In my 40L fermenter, 2/3 full, the ferment was so active it touch the top on day two.

It is still aging on the oak. In the 3 months times many of the rough edges are smoothing away. It is surprisingly colored also. I'm finding it a full success.

Alchemist, how did your oaked batch turn out in the end? Have you refined your recipe any more or are you still doing it as you describe above? I am also interested in an all-agave recipe (without adding sugar) but can't seem to find much good info on it in the forums. I've tried twice using 100% organic blue agave syrup, with OG's around 1070, but they both stalled at about 1020 after more than a week, with pH in the low 3's - and they never really took off strongly judging by an imperceptibly slow airlock.

[700G]

Looks like Costco has 72oz of Blue Agave Nectar for $10.49.

https://www.costco.com/.product.100381407.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I think I'll give this a try in a week or so. Only 10 bucks, why not?

[Shine0n]

I would make it a 30$ investment so you can strip run enough to get the low wines for a spirit run, and since they roast agave I would seriously think about some type of wood fired grains to add that bit of complexity or you might be somewhat disappointed by agave alone.

Never tried it myself but just an outside observation.

Shine0n

[Mikey-moo]

From my (admittedly somewhat limited) experience, most tequilas are made with steamed agave and not very smokey at all, whereas non-tequila mezcals tend to be made with roasted agave and are by far the smokier drink. Not that one is better, per se, but I'm not a lover of smokey drinks (yet - I keep trying to just make sure).

[700G]

Looks like Costco has 72oz of Blue Agave Nectar for $10.49.

https://www.costco.com/.product.100381407.html" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;" rel="nofollow

I think I'll give this a try in a week or so. Only 10 bucks, why not?

I picked up 6 bottles at Costco, they were actually only 8 bucks for a pack of 2 32oz bottles. Not bad!

[bluefish_dist]

at $16/gallon, that's cheaper than I can buy it in bulk. Sounds like a good deal.

[jloftin60]

What is the best way to age this Tequila and at what ABV? How long? I have 5 gallons fermenting right now.

[Brian Boru]

If anyone is still viewing this thread, help! How much sugar did you add to the wash? Does the agave syrup not have enough sugar?

[Brian Boru]

I now see Alchemist's post. I think it is the way to go.

[jonnys_spirit]

I’m running through a batch of 5gallons of blue agave syrup. No sugar.
viewtopic.php?f=11&t=70730

I have collected about 7 or 8g low wines @ 30-40abv and another 2g syrup to ferment and add in the infected agave-dunder. I took a short break from working on the agave project and have vacation next week but I’ll be picking it up again after that.

I can recommend the 100% blue agave approach and reusing the infected agave-dunder in the washes and i’ll also use it in the spirit run.

You’ll see in my notes that I am incorporating a very slight and subtle bit of smoked sweet potato to perhaps approximate roasting of the piñas. Well, to incorporate a subtle flavored and roasted complexity in any case....

The syrup is not necessarily inexpensive but you can certainly extract desireable flavours and i feel like this will end up as a premium aged pure blue agave spirit. The low wines smell good as you would hope.

On my spirit run I’ll separate my late heads and early tails fractions with some degree of granularity expecting to use bits of those as my “wide cuts to be aged on minimal amounts of toasted oak” or something....

I expect perhaps about 2-2.5g final take from 5g agave nectar. I think that will be perfect for a 10l barrel instead of glass jugs this batch.

Cheers and good luck!
-js

[Flatlands_Hillbilly]

The legal descriptive name would not be tequila, but mescal. All tequila is mescal, but not all mescal is considered tequila. As you mentioned, has to be made in Mexico to b called tequila. Tomato/tomato, blah, blah blah... But you can call it mescal and be accurate and not piss off the fermented agave juice snobs.

[Mikey-moo]

The legal descriptive name would not be tequila, but mescal. All tequila is mescal, but not all mescal is considered tequila. As you mentioned, has to be made in Mexico to b called tequila. Tomato/tomato, blah, blah blah... But you can call it mescal and be accurate and not piss off the fermented agave juice snobs.

Call it Cactus Whiskey!

[StillNoIdea]

This thread is pretty old. Anyone have any success with the all agave wash? Picked up some organic from Costco. Just over 6 kilo. I'm gonna give it a go. The stuff is pretty reasonable there. $8.99 for a 2 kilo pack.

[8Ball]

This thread is pretty old. Anyone have any success with the all agave wash? Picked up some organic from Costco. Just over 6 kilo. I'm gonna give it a go. The stuff is pretty reasonable there. $8.99 for a 2 kilo pack.

20191223_185117_compress23_resize_2.jpg

I’m sitting on 82oz of agave nectar and I’m planning on making a 2.5G wash with it and will use bakers yeast. Should wind up with a decent bottle of hooch.

[StillNoIdea]

Anyone used the saftec blue tequila yeast made for blue agage wash?

[pope]

Brat has used saftec blue successfully, I use lallemand distilamax TQ successfully. I think it works better than Lalvin 71B but I've changed my parameters since last using that strain. Last batch went from 1.058 to .991 so I'm on the right track. I find agave has a heavy pH crash in the first 12-24 hours (many sugar washes - cane syrup is similar) so at least with my water you need some buffering with calcium and/or potassium products. I'm working with three different agave syrups/products and backset ratios to update a thread on agave at some point when I feel I have concrete info to substantially improve the conversation.

[StillNoIdea]

Brat has used saftec blue successfully, I use lallemand distilamax TQ successfully. I think it works better than Lalvin 71B but I've changed my parameters since last using that strain. Last batch went from 1.058 to .991 so I'm on the right track. I find agave has a heavy pH crash in the first 12-24 hours (many sugar washes - cane syrup is similar) so at least with my water you need some buffering with calcium and/or potassium products. I'm working with three different agave syrups/products and backset ratios to update a thread on agave at some point when I feel I have concrete info to substantially improve the conversation.

Great! Any info you can share is appreciated. I have a pH meter and plan on monitoring/adjusting with calcium chloride. Any advise on how to add the calcium chloride? Dissolve in water? Thanks for the help.

[pope]

Warning, I over complicate things. But yes I'd just dissolve in water. Keep the ferment hot! Specs say 86-95F, I stay around 81-85 because it's just an aquarium heater that has a max temp built in, it fermented dry but slowly. I'm sure it would speed up a lot if I jumped to 90. Specs say it does well in a pH over a 'wide range' but I found that my first started just over 6 and I didn't have time to fuss with lowering it, but it started more slowly than the backset batch that started at 4.3. By buffering I haven't seen it go lower than 3.7 on successful batches but I saw stalling in the mid-to-low 3's. 4-4.5 is the google answer to 'yeast ph range' but the more acidic the more acids you have to potentially esterify into delicious flavors. This is for TQ but I think the saftec probably is a similar yeast.

I am currently using potassium carbonate and calcium carbonate, and have been learning about dissociation of ions and molecular weight, I'm thinking of switching to potassium and calcium hydroxides... KOH at least dissolves more readily in water, the carbonates settle really fast. Plus there's more K by weight than KHCO3 or K2CO3 so you can use less. Just don't get it in your eyes. For now I just mix additions like buffering agents and nutrients in a boiling little pot so that I don't introduce any nasties, but with distillation even tossing a little bacteria in won't spoil the wash if you strip it once it's dry and cleared. Some lactic souring might even be beneficial but I'm not there yet.

[StillNoIdea]

Warning, I over complicate things. But yes I'd just dissolve in water. Keep the ferment hot! Specs say 86-95F, I stay around 81-85 because it's just an aquarium heater that has a max temp built in, it fermented dry but slowly. I'm sure it would speed up a lot if I jumped to 90. Specs say it does well in a pH over a 'wide range' but I found that my first started just over 6 and I didn't have time to fuss with lowering it, but it started more slowly than the backset batch that started at 4.3. By buffering I haven't seen it go lower than 3.7 on successful batches but I saw stalling in the mid-to-low 3's. 4-4.5 is the google answer to 'yeast ph range' but the more acidic the more acids you have to potentially esterify into delicious flavors. This is for TQ but I think the saftec probably is a similar yeast.

I am currently using potassium carbonate and calcium carbonate, and have been learning about dissociation of ions and molecular weight, I'm thinking of switching to potassium and calcium hydroxides... KOH at least dissolves more readily in water, the carbonates settle really fast. Plus there's more K by weight than KHCO3 or K2CO3 so you can use less. Just don't get it in your eyes. For now I just mix additions like buffering agents and nutrients in a boiling little pot so that I don't introduce any nasties, but with distillation even tossing a little bacteria in won't spoil the wash if you strip it once it's dry and cleared. Some lactic souring might even be beneficial but I'm not there yet.

Cool thanks for the info. I'm trying to figure out the best way to heat my fermenter currently. I have quite a few different vessels. I have a 65L Speidel fermenter for doing sizable washes. I have a couple of heating pads and a brew belt. I see you mentioned an aquarium heater. Is that right in the wash?

[pope]

From the bottom is the best recommendation on the site, so stick with what you've got! I do use the submersible aquarium heaters and they do fine but heating from the outside will be more even and sanitary.