Agave Syrup

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danorocks17

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Has anyone ever brewed with Agave Syrup before? I have a specialty grocery store that sells the stuff pretty cheap and it sounds like an interesting ingredient to mess around with. I was thinking about doing a pale ale with the stuff for a summer brew. Any thoughts? :mug:
 
I've used it. I thought it was a waste of money. AHB has only the light variety, and it has no flavor. You'll get a lightened body and that's it.

I did see, at WalMart of all places, some amber colored agave nectar on the aisle with the sugar. That might be worth a try.
 
I think if you want the flavor you need Agave Nectar. Which I don't know where to get. I also think that regular agave syrup has the same effects as honey, drying the beer out and raising the gravity.
 
On that episode of Three Sheets I posted he tastes straight agave and it is flavorless. Its only after they roast the harvested stuff that the sugars/flavors come out.

Is the stuff at the store made from the roasted agave? Or is it clear. Because then I bet it will be flavorless.

Throw in some lime peel and you will have "Tequiza".

Thats a good idea...
 
On that episode of Three Sheets I posted he tastes straight agave and it is flavorless. Its only after they roast the harvested stuff that the sugars/flavors come out.

Is the stuff at the store made from the roasted agave? Or is it clear. Because then I bet it will be flavorless.



Thats a good idea...

I dont think it's from roasted agave, it looks like light honey almost. I actually tried a little bit at the store, it has a mild flavor, really sweet, but I only tired a little.
 
Hello every one this is my first post on this forum.
Ive used agave necter in a ginger lager before, one quart in a 6 gallon batch.
Basicly take a honey pale recipie that looks good to you and substitute. Its pretty good and all my friends that have tried that beer like it. I will be useing it agian.
 
I bought some Organic Blue Agave (product of Mexico) the other day out of curiosity and it has a very noticeable toffee-like flavor. The package states the agave is lightly filtered and processed under 118F (no roasting).

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My girlfriend (big foodie) was sceptacle about my purchase, but quickly changed her opinion after trying it. It's very smooth, caramel colored, and has a nice toffee-like richness to it that I've never tasted in raw honey.

I definitely need to brew a light/amber beer with this stuff now...
 
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I Use Agave Nectar in my El Hefe Weizen, and while it doesn't impart a huge flavor, the subtle undertones mixed with the citrus flavor of a hefeweizen works out pretty good.
 
I Use Agave Nectar in my El Hefe Weizen, and while it doesn't impart a huge flavor, the subtle undertones mixed with the citrus flavor of a hefeweizen works out pretty good.

When do you add it?

If I were to make a light Pilsner, how would it do with some Aguave Nectar and some lime zest?
 
:drunk: ive used the agave nector replacing honey in the boil, as for the lime ive used Roese Sweetened Lime Juice ( :rockin: the bar stuff) at bottling to get the lime flavor:D
 
It needs to be heated to ~170F for one minute to achieve proper pasteurization. Otherwise, you're rolling the dice.
Or you could add some camden dissolved in a little water to the agave syrup 24 hours before you plan on adding it to your secondary. However, if I was using the agave syrup, I would bring it to a boil in a pan, bring it up to 270*F until it turns a nice caramel color. Make sure you don't burn it!
 
I'm drinking the AHS agave wheat (South by SouthWheat to be exact).
It's delicious. Light and refreshing, though the agave flavor is noticeable. The kit uses Sorachi Ace hops to high light the citrus of the entire brew. Don't let the Breckenridge Agave Wheat steer you away, that one is bland.
 
So I added a bottle of Agave syrup to boiling water, stirred it for about 5 minutes, then put it into the secondary with my hefeweizen. Then I looked at the empty bottle and realized I just put 225g of sugar into my beer.



If I am to assume that my beer kit hefeweizen was somewhat balanced before, will I need to dry hop to make up for this massive influx of sugar?



BTW, the airlock was very active 30m after I put it on the secondary. Wow.
 
An agave brew ("Tequiza" type) is coming up in my schedule, probably at the beginning of September.

Probably a light ale, something like:

7lbs 2-row Pale (maybe Pilsner)
2lbs Flaked Rice
1lb Flaked Wheat

1lb Raw Agave Syrup (added at flameout) (calculated based on corn syrup)

US-05

.5oz Magnum @ 60m

Zest of a large lime, soaked in vodka, added at kegging.

Sound OK?

:confused:
 
Yea. think you are supposed to replace some other fermentable with agave, not just add it in like a flavoring. I do partial mash, so I used 4lbs extract and 1lb agave, vs 5lbs extract. I suppose if you do all grain take out 1.5lb of grain and add 1lb of agave.
 
Yea. think you are supposed to replace some other fermentable with agave, not just add it in like a flavoring. I do partial mash, so I used 4lbs extract and 1lb agave, vs 5lbs extract. I suppose if you do all grain take out 1.5lb of grain and add 1lb of agave.

Yeah, I just considered it corn syrup in the calculator. If I come up a tad short in gravity, I will just add a dab of corn sugar, or just live with the lower gravity.
 
I had two agave meads on Friday, one with the syrup added in the fermentables and one to backsweeten after the yeast was killed. They were both great, though I thought the one that had the agave added pre-fermentation had more of a well rounded, complex flavor. I don't know about beer, but it's awesome in mead and I'd love to make one myself someday.
 
Just realized that when I took a gravity reading it was after I put in the agave syrup in the secondary (instead of prior AND after), so I have no idea how much it will raise the alcohol level.


6.6 lbs LME + 225g sugar from agave syrup (added in secondary)

OG: 1.050
G after agave addition: 1.020

Any guesses?


How do comedy of errors?
 
Just realized that when I took a gravity reading it was after I put in the agave syrup in the secondary (instead of prior AND after), so I have no idea how much it will raise the alcohol level.


6.6 lbs LME + 225g sugar from agave syrup (added in secondary)

OG: 1.050
G after agave addition: 1.020

Any guesses?


How do comedy of errors?

Right at 5% ABV.

That is only 8oz of syrup.
 
So the influx of 225g of sugar, which seems like a bit, won't affect the final gravity (and alcohol) significantly?



Sometimes it seems like brewing is very counterintuitive, which is probably why I make mistake after mistake.

Well, you are talking a 8oz of syrup. You already have 6.6lbs of LME.

So, you are increasing your fermentables by what, 8% or so?

8oz of syrup is probably about the same as adding 5oz of priming sugar.
 
Hey Yuri Rage,
I'm down here in McAllen. Just bought a bottle of amber agave syrup from HEB yesterday and plan to brew with it this weekend. I was thinking, before I started reading this post, that I would do a honey Kolsch (blonde ale) recipe and add the agave in place of the honey. Maybe a 1/2 lb to 1 lb should do ok for 5 gal batch. I'll post some results later.
 
I saw some in the store too and wondered the same thing.
Get some and taste it. that'll really help you think about flavor pairings.

For sure it'll ferment. whether it combines well with malt is one of those questions that have to wait till you pop a brew and taste the final product.


You could do a mini boil on the side with the stuff and ferment it separately in a gallon jug.
 
I bought 2 bottles at Costco to play with. Didn't really think of brewing with it, but rather using it in place of sumple syrup oin mixed drinks. Instead of wasting this stuff on a brew where it will have no impact (no diff that sugar) here's what you should do with it:

Make a mojito: use instad of simple sugar or regular sugar. It adds a nice vanilla-like flavor that's more subtle than alternately adding a dark and/r spiced rum... So light rum plus agave = really good mojito.

Put it on pancakes and waffles. Awesome here. All you need is the agave syrup and you can skip the butter.
 
I used it in a sweet stout and it added a subtle level of complexity. I used 3 lb in a 6 gallon batch. It was good enough that I'm going to do it again.
 
I saw some 44oz bottles of agave nectar in my local health food store, and thought "hey, why not? I have an empty carboy, after all."

After dredging through the vast storage heap of useless trivia that is my brain, I recalled a factoid from my 8th-grade geography class.

The ancient Mexicans made a brew from the maguey called pulque (pronounced POOL-kay). It was a milky light-foaming brew, according to wikipedia. The maguey is a variety of agave. It's different from the blue agave, which is the source of tequila.

I plan on a few different experiments with it, since it's pretty inexpensive at $6.99US for a 44oz bottle.

I think a traditional pulque might be pretty easy, since it's just fermenting the agave nectar without adding anything.

The Tequiza option sounds tasty.

And then the full-blown mead/beer options might come into play once I have some idea as to what the stuff produces as a brew.
 
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