1st homebrew results and questions!

[talljetsfan]

My 1st homebrew was a Summer Wheat kit from Brooklyn Brew......Instead of using honey for priming as the recipe called for I wanted to experiment and used agave nectar instead. After a 2 week rest from bottling, I popped my first brew yesterday!
Upon cracking cap I heard a nice "whoosh". After pouring, the beer had a nice head but it wasn't very dense, very light and airy, could almost see thru it and the glass had many bubbles rising. The color was typical of a summer wheat.
The smell was beer, nothing spectacular but when I tasted it, the 1st impression I got was cream soda! Now, I did have several ipa's before tasting so therefore my tastebuds might have been compromised! I will taste next time on a clean palate and report back.
Any comments, suggestions or opinions are very welcomed!
Thanks in advance.

 

[temptnmonkey]

Drinking "several" IPAs before tasting a lighter wheat beer will definitely influence the taste (in a not so good way).

The Agave is a different taste than honey (I think it is sweeter in a candylike way). Have you ever tried the Agave Wheat from Breckenridge?

 

[talljetsfan]

yes, i love that beer!

 

[bottlebomber]

The head will improve with age. I know a wheat beer is supposed to be consumed quickly, but I've found that it does improve up to about 2 months in the bottle, and the head will definitely improve.

 

[talljetsfan]

Here is a pic of brew

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Agave nectar has sort of a honey taste to it with a hint of, well agave flavor. The more refined it is the less agave flavor you get. If you go into health food stores you should find a lesser refined nectar. I'm not sure which you used.

Like honey, it ferments down to almost nothing since it is straight sugar, so you don't get a lot of flavor out of it. Also like honey, it will thin out the beer.

I bet Breckenridge uses the same quality of nectar used to make tequila.

 

[natehofer]

I also have this Brooklyn Brew Kit with this same recipe. However it actually calls for agave syrup. Is there a difference between agave syrup and agave nectar in brewing?

Attached is the agave nectar available at my local grocer. Usage?

 

[bottlebomber]

Agave syrup is like high fructose corn syrup; it has been chemically modified. Agave nectar is more like maple syrup, its just the sap runnings, boiled down to a specific darkness. I can't tell you which to use though, I would imagine the syrup to be significantly less expensive.

 

[ReverseApacheMaster]

Agave syrup is refined down to basically just the sugar so they have taken out almost all the flavor components.

Agave nectar is less refined, so you will get more flavor out of it. Some is more refined than others. The more refined, the less flavor.