Organic Raw Blue Agave Nectar in beer?

Has anyone ever used anything like this to brew with? I bought a bottle at the grocery store and I'd like to brew with it, but I was hoping for a little feedback before I just threw it in something.

It's a low glycemic index sweetener. I don't know if that would have any type of effect on whether it would be good for beer or not.

Questions, comments and concerns are more than welcome.

I found this on another site. I don't know if it will help or not.

Agave is made by harvesting the “pina” which is a “pineapple-like” core from which all the leaves originate. The “pina” is stripped of it’s leaves, washed, chopped finely and then soaked in purified water. After a thorough soaking, the fiber is removed and sent to make cloth and rope.

The water that remains is full of something called “inulin;” a complex carbohydrate that is often used as a “pre-biotic” by the natural foods industry.

A pre-biotic provides the food for healthy pro-biotic bacteria to eat. Healthy bacteria in your stomach is very beneficial to have, which is one of the reasons why yogurt is such a wonderful super food.

With raw agave, this inulin water is allowed to incubate at 103 degrees for 4-5 days; a very slow and expensive process. (Raw agave manufactures can range in how hot they incubate their agave from 103 degrees up to 117 degrees.) Natural enzymes which occur in the plant, break down the complex carbohydrates into two mono-saccharides (simple sugars: fructose and glucose).

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However, I also found this which leads me to believe it doesn't ferment out too well.

The primary sugar in agave nectar is a complex form of fructose

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I'd imagine it would impart some sort of tequila-esque flavors, but as for fermentability, I couldn't say. Be adventurous!

I didn't think about the possibility of it imparting a tequila flavor into my beer. I'm not a fan of tequila at all, but I'm still going to use this for a batch. Hopefully with good results!

Add it to the fermenter after main fermentation has slowed. Putting it in the boil or early in the fermenter will drive off any aromatics it may have.

Well, I just bottled a wheat beer with the blue agave nectar. The sample I had at bottling didn't have a tequila flavor, but it was just kind of "meh". We'll see in a couple of weeks when the beer has had a while to condition.

I am not telling you how/what to do but you should really check "The Google machine" for "Agave Nectar and Triglycerides". The way I understand it is that stuff hits your liver and turns into x3 the quantity of triglycerides, which is REALLY bad for you in almost every instance.

FWIW I hope your beer ages into a great one!

Well, it was a good experiment, but nothing I think I'll try again. The beer is decent, but has a slight tequila taste to it. It will be good if I've had a few tasty brews and just want one more beer, but I'm sure I'll rarely start with this one.

Oh well, part of the fun of brewing is trying new things. I tried, it turned out OK and I probably won't try this again.

I brewed a "Mexican Lager" with 6.5 lbs vienna and a pound of Agave Nectar added at the end of the boil (5 minutes IIRC) - I thought it was quite good, not a tequila flavor but more of a nutty crispness - add agave nectar to green or chamomile tea and not the aftertaste, it was similar

The agave flavor faded with age

Breckenridgebrewery makes a killer agave wheat. If you're in AZ I'd think you might be able to find it. Very highly recommended. An agave wheat just won a local competition here, too.

Pulqueza: 5 gal batch -extract . From Zymurgy a while back.
4#LME
4#agave nectar
1#carapils malt-steeped
2 oz. cascades
30 min boil-
Califonia ale yest
This aztec beer origionally had Ocpactli a bitter plant used like hops

I have only started with extract recipes, and this was my experience with taking a dry extract set for an ESB.
To the kit I added 11.5 oz of "HoneyTree's Organic Agave Nectar (Light) during the last 5 minutes of the boil. After cooling, I added 4 oz. of "Brewcraft Apricot natural fruit flavor". My intent was to make a beer that was a little sweeter than average with a nice fruity finish.
I believe it worked out quite well. In taste, it came out something like a lower alcohol barley wine with fruit notes, and is very drinkable.
We offered it some guests who came over to the house, and after receiving somewhat sceptical looks when they were handed a small taster they asked for a full glass, and I truly believe it was not out of a sense of obligation to be polite!
I plan on using this same base kit for another all agave experiment, so I can hopefully brew something akin to "101 North Brewing Co"s Agave ale.
This time I will be adding 23.5 oz of light agave nectar at the start of the boil, another 11.5 during the last 5 minutes. Then at priming I plan on using raw agave nectar.
Will keep you posted if you're interested.

tgmartin000 said:

Breckenridgebrewery makes a killer agave wheat. If you're in AZ I'd think you might be able to find it. Very highly recommended. An agave wheat just won a local competition here, too.

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This is a great beer and one I'd love to clone.