agave mead?!

[Yuri_Rage]

So, if you were to find some bulk amber agave syrup on sale, what yeast would you use to ferment it? Montrachet and Côte des Blancs are readily available.

 

[MikeFlynn74]

Id try sweet mead yeast....

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Since I don't want to deal with liquid yeast for a single gallon batch, I went with Côte des Blancs. The recipe is:

3 lbs Amber Agave Syrup
1/2 tsp Yeast Energizer (AHS supplied - DAP, yeast hulls, magnesium sulfate, vitamin B)
1 pkg Côte des Blancs, rehydrated

Est OG is 1.100. I'm without a hydrometer at the moment, so I estimated the OG by substituting honey in BeerSmith. I probably should have started with two pounds, then added the last pound after a couple of weeks.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

After several months, the wine has cleared to a brilliant light gold. Measured FG is 1.010, but OG is very roughly estimated at 1.100 (above post), making the ABV ~12%. The aroma is a bit strong - a very fruity white wine nose with some sulfur compounds still present. The flavor is very mild - sweet and fruity, most comparable to Gewürztraminer (very fortunate, since it's a SWMBO favorite). If I didn't know better, I'd guess this is a white grape wine. I'm detecting little to no tequila undertones. This could easily be a table or dessert wine, and I'm very happy with the results, despite the lack of apparent agave flavor. It's quite drinkable at the moment. I'm going to degas, stabilize, and bottle this week. I'll post pictures at a later date.

 

[BigKahuna]

Funny how things work out. I was just wondering how this turned out....if at all. I'll be building a batch of my own.
Thanks

 

[dj250r]

hey guys I made a 5 gallon batch about 11 months ago
my bro got the agave extract for me and I had no idea what I was doing
so I just brewed it like a beer and used hopps and pitched ale yeast
it was knarly taseting beer 3 weeks in the bottle so I thought it was infected I took the whole batch and left it in the closet and forgot about it
my wife found it while cleaning and so aI chilled one down
it was good
now question should I leave it be to age longer? or just suck it down and injoy it
im not that experanced at this stuff and I mainly just brew extract kits most of them turn out really good
D

 

[Thor the Mighty]

Since I don't want to deal with liquid yeast for a single gallon batch, I went with Côte des Blancs. The recipe is:

3 lbs Amber Agave Syrup
1/2 tsp Yeast Energizer (AHS supplied - DAP, yeast hulls, magnesium sulfate, vitamin B)
1 pkg Côte des Blancs, rehydrated

Est OG is 1.100. I'm without a hydrometer at the moment, so I estimated the OG by substituting honey in BeerSmith. I probably should have started with two pounds, then added the last pound after a couple of weeks.

is Madhava Amber Organic Agave Nectar 1gal (176oz net wt.) that what you got? it equils out to 11 pounds of agave (i want to make 5 gallons, not one so id have to get that and another 4 pounds to make what you made) just making sure that its the same product

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Thor - that's the stuff.

dj - that sounds gross. Why'd you add hops and ale yeast?

 

[digdan]

Can I get updates on those who brewed an agave wine? I'm looking into making one myself and was wondering what experience others had

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I still have a little bit left. It ages well, and the flavor is much like a sweet white wine. People are surprised when I divulge the recipe.

 

[digdan]

Safe to say that agave has the same flavor profile as grapes for white wines?

Like riesling grapes?

 

[Yuri_Rage]

I'm not enough of a wine expert to give you the grape variety, but it's certainly similar to a sweet German wine.

 

[Mayhew]

i actually tried what you were mentioning only i erred on measurements. i did a 50/50 water agave blend and that dang thing never stopped bubbling. it also ended up dying when i tried to stop the fermentation chemically. i also remembered that mead tasted funny to me. so, good luck and know your parts per gallon

 

[phished880]

Here is what i made back in June. Last night we sampled a bottle from the 1st half gallon(unoaked). I had an alcoholic nose to is but has a very sweet (muscat style) taste. I was amazed how much the aroma resembled tequila.
Maple-Agave Wine
0.50 tsp Yeast Nutrient
2.00 oz Oak Cubes, Hungarian (Med Toast)
1 lbs 7.5 oz Agave Nectar, Light
11.5 oz Agave Nectar, Amber (added to secondary)
8.0 oz Maple Agave Nectar (from trader joes)
2.0 oz Honey
1 Pkgs Lalvin - K1V-1116 (Lallemand - Lalvin #K1V-1116) Yeast-Wine
1 Pkgs Montrachet (Red Star) Yeast-Wine
approx ABV 10%
the second half gallon is sitting on oak for 25 days.

 

[Thor the Mighty]

ok, so a delayed update on this; I made the agave mead about 4 months ago, and my floating thermometer broke in the freakin batch so i had to dump the whole thing. so pissed off. STILL!

 

[MonB4V]

I started a batch not too long ago, it is mostly done fermenting now. I tried some and its really good, its very light, but I used light necter. I'm going to start another batch with a darker necter. and then I'll probablle even give this darker stuff a try after that Sunfood Nutrition Agave Nectar

I put all the info from the first batch on here: Making Agave Wine