Agave nectar

I've just started to experiment in my brews. I recently finished up an imperial porter with vanilla beans soaked in brandy, as well as coffee. For my next batch I want to add agave nectar. I was thinking a light beer like a blonde or a golden ale. Has anyone used agave before? I want to know how much I should use. Also if there are any other styles that would be well suited to the addition of agave.

I would imagine it would ferment out almost entirely leaving behind barely any flavor or aroma, like honey, but that's just speculation because it looks and pours a lot like honey. I've got a pound of the stuff in my fridge I've been meaning to do something with.

I had a mead made with agave that was wonderful and plan on trying to recreate it. I got a suggestion from a member here to keep the percentage of Agave at or below 10% of the frementables for best results.

Also all agave nectar is not created equally so read your labels carefully. Certain types/brands are full of preservatives and some are actually just Agave flavored corn syrup. Use the good stuff and you should be fine.

Raw agave nectar is alleged to be ~70-75% fructose, so it won't ferment out entirely like honey would. It's basically akin to an even more highly concentrated HFCS. The flavor/aroma left after fermentation would certainly be interesting to experiment with.

Thanks for the info, some things to think about. I'm excited to taste it though.

dubicus360 said:

Thanks for the info, some things to think about. I'm excited to taste it though.

Click to expand...

Please post your results when your done; I'm looking forward to hearing how it turns out.

So I just brewed my Mexican blonde about a week ago. I was wondering about the sugar content of agave. Apparently it's pretty high. I created this beer on brewersfriend.com. OG with out agave nectar was 1.042, with an expected abv of 3.7. I talked with the owner of my local Homebrew shop, and he thought I might get about a 1% boost from a pound. Using my 6lb jug of extract I converted to ounces and back to pounds. I used 2, 11.75oz bottles at flame out. What i thought might be a 2% abv increase. My OG was 1.092!! I used wlp 011 European ale yeast. It only has a medium alcohol tolerance. What can I do to aid in fermenting this big beer? If this ferments fully looking at 10.2% beer. Anyway it turns out should be interesting.

Update?