Tepache!

keesimps said:

I noticed some foam consistent with fermentation when I did mine, but I like to avoid any mold or fuzz on fermentations like this (even though it could be ok)... That's why when I do any pickling, kraut, ginger bug sodas and even this, I always make sure that the items are submerged in the liquid. For me, this works great in a 2 gallon bucket with a small plate on the top and typically a jar or tupperware dish of water to weight it down. Just my 2 cents. By the way, mine is tasting pretty good; I ended up bubbling co2 through it to scrub some of those funky off aromas and may give it one more shot of that, but it's carb'ing up nice.

Click to expand...

I wish I had taken a picture, but after I strained the fruit out of mine (through multiple layers of cheesecloth), the next stage of my fermentation...all liquid...got a layer covering it, too. I racked from under it and ran through cheesecloth again, bottled it and pasteurized it when it carbed. I used peach peels in this one along with the pineapple skins and I thinks it turned out extremely well!

So I have to strain it and let it sit for another couple days? Do I have to top off with water?

You do strain it and then you have to decide when the flavor/alcohol suits your taste. After straining, my recipe calls for either adding a beer plus a cup of water or, no beer, but 4 cups of water. I just decided to top-off to a gallon and it seems to work for me. That last straining step before I bottled wasn't part of any instructions I've seen...it just seemed to make sense. (But probably wasn't really a big deal.)

I wonder if I washed a pineapple thoroughly and then set it on the back porch for a few days if it would have the right yeast or bacteria...........

I just made my first batch last night. I think I was a little too excited and misread some of the posts, as I only used 3 cups of light brown sugar. My SG was roughly 1.038. Idealy I'd like to have a fairly decent ABV (above 5%?). Would I be OK adding more sugar when I get home tonight? approx. 20 hours after covering last night..

Also wondering if having a sealed fermenter would help to carbonate during fermentation?

Great post, can't wait to try it! Might go well with the hefe that I kegged last night.
Thanks!

any reason I shouldn't pour this instead of syphoning it to strain it? Dumb question but I figure I have to ask. I realize I could figure out a way to boil a syphon but I would still worry about using it.

scogan9 said:

I just made my first batch last night. I think I was a little too excited and misread some of the posts, as I only used 3 cups of light brown sugar. My SG was roughly 1.038. Idealy I'd like to have a fairly decent ABV (above 5%?). Would I be OK adding more sugar when I get home tonight? approx. 20 hours after covering last night..

Also wondering if having a sealed fermenter would help to carbonate during fermentation?

Great post, can't wait to try it! Might go well with the hefe that I kegged last night.
Thanks!

Click to expand...

This is like prison hooch and isn't a real picky science thing, IMHP. I am much more relaxed about tepache than beer. That being said, I'm anal about sanitation anyway, so I'm still being pretty careful. Anyway, I don't think adding more fermentable sugar at this point would be a real problem. traditional recipes talk about doing this drink in a large pitcher or bowl and covering it. Personally, I like to use a 2 gallon fermentation bucket with an airlock. It just seems more sanitary to me.

I don't really understand the question about carbonating. Again, traditionally, the tepache isn't carbonated, although it could be mixed with beer or seltzer. I decided to bottle and carb mine and then pasteurize. I assume that kegging would be an option as well, but I don't see carbonation happening in the fermentation stage. That stage, by design, is for yeast to convert sugar to alcohol and the CO2 to be released.

As for going with a hefe, I think that might be a bitter way to go. Tepache is the perfect thing to mix with something light, like a Summer Ale or a domestic, generic beer.

My two cents. And an opinion for Hello: Drain and strain...through a strainer, sieve, cheesecloth or whatever you have...should be fine.

Well, I took a sample and the hydrometer sits at like 1.058. More lacto building and bubbles in the airlock so something has to be happening. Still tastes great so I threw it in the garage and left the fruit in there. Should I take the fruit out and then let it ferment? The garage is 83F right now, hotter than the house. This ****er doesn't want to ferment. I want it down to about 1.040.

scogan9 said:

I just made my first batch last night. I think I was a little too excited and misread some of the posts, as I only used 3 cups of light brown sugar. My SG was roughly 1.038. Idealy I'd like to have a fairly decent ABV (above 5%?). Would I be OK adding more sugar when I get home tonight? approx. 20 hours after covering last night..

Also wondering if having a sealed fermenter would help to carbonate during fermentation?

Great post, can't wait to try it! Might go well with the hefe that I kegged last night.
Thanks!

Click to expand...

Hello said:

Well, I took a sample and the hydrometer sits at like 1.058. More lacto building and bubbles in the airlock so something has to be happening. Still tastes great so I threw it in the garage and left the fruit in there. Should I take the fruit out and then let it ferment? The garage is 83F right now, hotter than the house. This ****er doesn't want to ferment. I want it down to about 1.040.

Click to expand...

I would go ahead and strain it, add any water that you may be planning to add (or not), and let it ferment another day or two. Then it's all about getting the flavor/alcohol where you want it.

Strained my tepache today finally. Seems weird but the hydrometer still shows 1.060 from 1.070. Odd. So I threw it outside in the sunlight. It will probably be ruined.

This is what it looked like today.

Hello said:

Strained my tepache today finally. Seems weird but the hydrometer still shows 1.060 from 1.070. Odd. So I threw it outside in the sunlight. It will probably be ruined.

This is what it looked like today.
View attachment 217624

Click to expand...

Whew! That looks gnarly! How did it smell/taste after straining? I'm willing to bet that it's going to be fine, though. Remember, you started off with 32 oz of sugar! I start with 20 oz and believe my OG runs around 1.111, yours was probably quite a bit higher than you thought originally. From 1.111 to 1.060 is 6.69% ABV...probably higher for yours, but I think getting the fruit out now is a good thing. Your white, bubbly stuff will likely cover the surface again...it did for mine. But like I was told early on in brewing...like...months ago ...keep going, don't toss it...wait and see what happens. You'll probably be surprised how good it is!

Hello said:

Strained my tepache today finally. Seems weird but the hydrometer still shows 1.060 from 1.070. Odd. So I threw it outside in the sunlight. It will probably be ruined.

This is what it looked like today.

Click to expand...

Ooof. Might want to post that in the pellicle sticky in the wild brews forum.

passedpawn said:

Ooof. Might want to post that in the pellicle sticky in the wild brews forum.

Click to expand...

That is one hell of a pellicle shot. I feel like I'm looking at the surface of an alien planet.


Sent from my iPad using Home Brew

hunter_la5 said:

That is one hell of a pellicle shot. I feel like I'm looking at the surface of an alien planet.

Click to expand...

haha, I swear I see some eyeballs developing there.

It tastes good. Just not sure about the fermentation. Is there a reason mine developed such an infection that wasn't like the rest? I used similar sanitation processes that I would with beer.

It looks rad to me.

I guess it al;l depends on what's on the fruit skins...I wish I had taken a pic a couple days after straining. Mine was covered. That's why I ran it through cheesecloth...just for overkill. I opened a bottle last night and I was a little premature on pasteurizing. Just a light carb, but it was tasty! Mixed with a strawberry blonde was strange, but good.

Here's my first batch and I love my fridge container. I'm not carbonating it but the container seems air tight. I'll be cutting it with club soda though it's not super sweet. I'm okay with that. It dropped to 1.046 after I took the fruit out. Also didn't see any more lacto.

My taste and smell is off right now so I can only assume the gravity sample tastes as good as I think it does.

Hello said:

Here's my first batch and I love my fridge container. I'm not carbonating it but the container seems air tight. I'll be cutting it with club soda though it's not super sweet. I'm okay with that. It dropped to 1.046 after I took the fruit out. Also didn't see any more lacto.

My taste and smell is off right now so I can only assume the gravity sample tastes as good as I think it does.

View attachment 219428
View attachment 219429

Click to expand...

Heeeeyyyy! Looks good! Nice fit on the fridge container, too! I'm not an iced tea person, but I'm thinking it would be a good mix for those who do like tea. It would be interesting to figure out the actual ABV to see how far off your OG was. I'm betting you're over 9%.

I have no idea. I waited for the sugar to dissolve and definitely stirred, measured and got like 1.070. I just can't see 32 oz of sugar had an OG of 1.070. It doesn't taste like booze at all.

Hey Mattmmille- I read through most of the thread and i know you went through a couple of batches, but just to summarize, what recipe are you sticking with that came out as your personal fav?

http://www.mmmbrews.wordpress.com My third batch, where I decided not to add the beer after I strained it. It was cleaner, less bitter tasting. If you're interested, you can go to my brewing journal and look through it at the link above
and search "tepache".

http://www.mmmbrews.wordpress.com
My third batch, where I decided not to add the beer after I strained it. It was cleaner, less bitter tasting. If you're interested, you can go to my brewing journal and look through it at the link above
and search "tepache".

I'm trying this, looks delicious and easy!

One thought. I make wines from fruit all the time, and one practice that I make sure I do is called punching down the fruit cap. Basically you make sure that none of the fruit is exposed too long to the air, as that is when molds will take hold. So by making sure you punch the cap once or twice a day, you drastically reduce the odds of mold catching on. Just a thought. I will try and document my upcoming batch when I get around to it!

ox45 said:

I'm trying this, looks delicious and easy!

One thought. I make wines from fruit all the time, and one practice that I make sure I do is called punching down the fruit cap. Basically you make sure that none of the fruit is exposed too long to the air, as that is when molds will take hold. So by making sure you punch the cap once or twice a day, you drastically reduce the odds of mold catching on. Just a thought. I will try and document my upcoming batch when I get around to it!

Click to expand...

Please do let us know how it turns out. I believe that this is the only Tepache thread on this forum, so every data point helps.

ox45 said:

I'm trying this, looks delicious and easy!

One thought. I make wines from fruit all the time, and one practice that I make sure I do is called punching down the fruit cap. Basically you make sure that none of the fruit is exposed too long to the air, as that is when molds will take hold. So by making sure you punch the cap once or twice a day, you drastically reduce the odds of mold catching on. Just a thought. I will try and document my upcoming batch when I get around to it!

Click to expand...

I usually make small batches, so I'm using a 2 gallon fermentation bucket. I think I could (and probably have) picked up and given the bucket a swirl at least once a day. I did get the moldy surface thing on my most recent batch, the peach-pineapple batch...not sure if I consistently swirled that one and how the peach skins affected the critters in the bucket, as opposed to just pineapple.

Good info and recommendation...thanks and keep us up to date on how your batch is doing!

Popped open a peach-pineapple tepache and made a Mateo's Tepache Shandy with a 1/2 and 1/2 mix, using a Matt's Summer Brew...and it's really good!

After stumbling across this thread yesterday, I decided to try my hand at making some tepache. I didn't want to use one of my fermentation buckets or a carboy, so I used a 2 gallon container that I found in my cabinet. I used two small pinaples, 20 ounces of pilloncillo, 6 cinnamon sticks, one mango and one peach. I did a gravity reading of a saison I have fermenting, so I decided to throw in about 4 ounces of that saison (which tasted absolutely amazing). As was suggested earlier in the thread, I only used the core and skin of the pineapple.
I'm excited about this little experiment. If it tastes good, I'll definitely buy a small carboy for making tepache.

Looking forward to progress reports!

mattmmille said:

Looking forward to progress reports!

Click to expand...

I'll update my progress every day or two

Quick update. It's been 24 hours, and stuff is definitely happening. It smells really good (for now). It has a very slight saison funk scent to it. I can see small bubbles coming up through the fruit, but nothing vigorous.

Carllous said:

Quick update. It's been 24 hours, and stuff is definitely happening. It smells really good (for now). It has a very slight saison funk scent to it. I can see small bubbles coming up through the fruit, but nothing vigorous.

Click to expand...

That's good! I often don't see that activity until 48 hours! You are on the right track!

OK so I finally chopped everything up and started my attempt today. Picked up some Panela (Piloncillo) in the International section of Wegmans.


I chopped it up and dissolved it into 1 quart of boiling water.



I cooled this off in an ice bath so it wouldn't scorch any of the yeasties.



While this was cooling I peeled the rind off the pineapple, and threw the pieces and the core into a 3 gallon bucket.



I then put in 3 quarts of cold water, and the dissolved sugar water mixture into the bucket.



I put in a cinnamon stick and a few cloves. One thing I did different is I threw in a 1/4 tsp of pectic enzyme since I have a bottle laying around. This will hopefully help break the fruit down quicker since this is such a fast ferment. Gave it a quick stir, and rubber banded a clean dish towel over the bucket.



My game plan is to give it a few days of fermenting in the bucket. I'm then going to strain it, perhaps sweeten if need be, and bottle. After a few days (or whenever the test bottle proves ready) I will then stove top pasteurize to stop the ferment and hopefully have a nice fizzy sweet drink!

I also plan on giving this a stir twice daily to not only help keep the fruit from molding, but to degas the CO2 as well for yeast health. I will update with any results.

Looks good! Never thought about pectic enzyme...I doubt it could hurt. I doubt you will need to sweeten. Usually, after the first two or three days, you'll want to strain...and then I top off to make sure I have over a gallon (use boiled or distilled water). Then let it ferment more before bottling, if you want to get a decent amount of alcohol. After bottling, watch closely! Mine seemed unready at 24 hours and gushed at 48. If it's warm where the bottles are, 36 hours or less to carb is very possible!

I'm just worried about sweetness since I only used 16oz of Piloncillo in a gallon of water. I used a calculator and that much sugar and a rough estimate of what the pineapple will contribute and I should get an original gravity of about 1.050. Taking that down to about 1.020 (which would be pretty sweet) will only yield just shy of 4%. I'm happy with that as this isn't supposed to be a knock you on your ass drunk drink. But things rarely work out as they are supposed to

Still no activity yet. I tested the SG and it's still right at 1.044. But I'm not worried yet because it got down into the 40's here, and my house was hovering at about 64. So not exactly the hot and sunny Mexican weather that this is normally brewed in. I'm going to give it another day or so and if nothing still I might toss some yeast in so it doesn't just spoil.

I wouldn't give up, but add some warmth, if you can. Temps were in the 90's here when I did my last batch and I took the bucket outside and set it in the sun for hours, a couple of days in a row. Inside was 72-74F. I used a heating pad and a space blanket for a 5 gallon batch of saison in a glass carboy, but I think even the lowest setting was too much for my 2 gallon plastic fermentation bucket.

1.044 sounds really low, though...I think mine have been 1.090 to 1.111 and mine only had 20 oz of piloncillo, I think.

I think I did something wrong with my tepache. I strained out the fruit on Sunday and gave it a taste test. It was extremely tart, not sweet at all! I let it sit for a total of 5 days, which was probably way too long. I'm pretty sure the yeast that was in the saison went to town and ate up all the sugars. Next time I try this, I will NOT use any beer.

Carllous said:

I think I did something wrong with my tepache. I strained out the fruit on Sunday and gave it a taste test. It was extremely tart, not sweet at all! I let it sit for a total of 5 days, which was probably way too long. I'm pretty sure the yeast that was in the saison went to town and ate up all the sugars. Next time I try this, I will NOT use any beer.

Click to expand...

I opted for not adding the beer when I got to my third batch and I felt it was much less bitter...a cleaner sweet/tangy flavor. Time-wise, I think you were okay.

mattmmille said:

1.044 sounds really low, though...I think mine have been 1.090 to 1.111 and mine only had 20 oz of piloncillo, I think.

Click to expand...

I did 16 oz of sugar to one gallon of water. Sugar has 42 gravity points per gallon per pound, so I'm assuming the other .002 came from the sugars of the pineapple. If you were doing 20 oz to 2L (half gallon) then you would be right at about 1.105 or so.

I did finally have some activity today when I came home from work, and had the white mold on top even though I stirred it twice a day. So much for that theory. It dropped down to 1.030 as of this morning, so I filtered into a gallon jug with airlock to help stop the mold.

I also added another half pound of sugar to boost the ABV up. My game plan is to bottle it when the SG hits 1.025. This should allow decent carbonation while keeping the final SG at 1.020, then pasteurize. This should give me a sweet fizzy drink right at about 5.9%.