Culturing yeast/bacteria from pulque

[Mosschief]

I'm interested in making pulque, and was wondering how to go about culturing the yeast and bacteria necessary for making it from an existing batch.

Is this at all dangerous? I know doing this with yeast from beer is common, I'm only worried about the bacteria part.

What are best practices for reducing the chance of infection and ensuring a good batch?

Thanks!!

 

[ColoHox]

Welcome to the forum. Pulque is an interesting drink that you don't usually hear much about.

How is the existing batch stored? Any indication that it was filtered or pasteurized?

Maybe you could approach it in a similar fashion to culturing bottle dregs. eg. Take your existing batch and chill it in the fridge for a few days. Then, pour off (or drink) the liquid but leave the sediment (which should contain the bacteria you need: Zymomonas). Then take the sediment and pour it into a small amount of clean/fresh sap.

The bacteria is anaerobic (ie. no oxygen), which is tricky to deal with at home. Once you pour the sediment into a small amount of sap, grow it using a container with a very small amount of headspace and an airlock. Try to keep it at 27C or about 80F.

Any other questions, just ask. Good luck.

 

[Mosschief]

Thanks for the reply. That is all very useful info.

I'm probably going to try at least two samples. One from a local pulqueria, which likely hasn't been filtered or pastuerized, just made on site and stored in vats. And one from a mass produced can. Not sure whether the can has been filtered and pastuerized.

 

[ColoHox]

Thanks for the reply. That is all very useful info.

I'm probably going to try at least two samples. One from a local pulqueria, which likely hasn't been filtered or pastuerized, just made on site and stored in vats. And one from a mass produced can. Not sure whether the can has been filtered and pastuerized.

If you can get fresh pulque from a pulqueria, you might just be able to throw that into your fresh sap. Pitching some of the fermented batch into the new batch is normally how it is done.