Tepache!

[passedpawn]

There was a 70's movie about a demonic infant called It's Alive. Scared the bejeesus out of me back then. FF to the 2000's, and I tracked it down and played it for a group of people at my house. Le'ts just say it didn't age well. Ugh.

 

[MarkKF]

Anyone still making Tepache?

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

I haven't made a batch since my first one last summer but it was so good I am going to have to start making batches again once the weather turns around.

 

[MarkKF]

Me too. Gotta find the recipe I used again.

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

I've been thinking about different variants of it. I really liked it as is and found that blending it with other beers/liquor tasted really good but I'm trying to conceive some way to make it into a 3-4% sessionable beer-like drink. Maybe blending is really the best way, make a gallon batch of tepache and strain into a batch of beer before packaging. Residual sugars in the tepache can act as the primer. Maybe.

 

[MarkKF]

So at its base Tepache is pineapple, water & sugar. What is the base ratio between these three ingredients?

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

For one gallon I did the below:
1 entire pineapple + skin of another pineapple.
2 cinnamon sticks
1 jalapeño
2 cups brown sugar
Fill container with H2O.

 

[SirHC_]

Everytime we have a fresh pineapple in the house!
I use the skin and core, chopped across the 'grain' 1 c brown sugar a dash of cinnamon. I used some garam masala once instead of cinnamon and it was great.
I always have to test mine along the way and put it in the fridge before it gets to tart.

 

[MarkKF]

Found the recipe I used before. Makes 1/2 gal.
https://www.mexicoinmykitchen.com/homemade-pineapple-brew/
The packages of sugar are good for two batches and pineapples are often on sale $/2. Perfect for a gallon.

 

[MarkKF]

48 hrs at 70 deg. F.
Nothing happening yet.

But the fruit was good!

 

[MarkKF]

4 days - nothing
Somebody washed my pineapple!

 

[passedpawn]

4 days - nothing
Somebody washed my pineapple!

Patience. I guarantee something will happen, eventually.

 

[MarkKF]

Too late. I pitched some 71b-1122 instead of dumping it.

 

[MarkKF]

3 days down to 1.020 so I racked it off the fruit into a jug.

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

I am making up my first batch of Tepache' of the season this weekend. Last year I used it to mix with liquor/beer etc. This year I will make a simple batch then maybe the next one I will experiment with some different things.

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

Got a gallon started yesterday.

1 gallon H20
2 cups brown sugar
1 jalapeno (scored)
1/4 tsp Superfood
1 pineapple (sliced with skin)

Will take a look when I get home and if it isn't bubbling I will put in a pinch of bread yeast to move her along. Usually won't let this sit for longer then 3-4 days.

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

I put a few grains of bread yeast in and the jug blew up pretty quick, not too bad. Will be bottling the Tepache tonight. Also while tasting a pineapple sour I recently made I am thinking that maybe tepache as priming sugar would have kicked up the pineapple flavor in that beer, food for thought.

 

[cpreston]

hi all, I normally lurk around this form getting wine making tips. I was watching too much "it's alive" with Brad and decided to try my hand at Tepache, however when doing some research and then talking to the guy at Keystone Home Brew, decided that wild yeast was too scary for me, so I got 2 pineapples (washed) and a small hand of ginger, 2 cinnamon sticks and two serranos (pierced) along with 2 1lb cakes of piloncillo and just shy of 3 gal of water (in a 3 Gallon Fermonster) I added potassium metabisulfite in the morning and then around 6pm added one packet of Lalvin EC-1118 yeast.
that was sunday... as of this morning I have a very active fermentation as you can see.
I bought a case of clear grolsch style bottles
I did NOT measure the sugar before I started, (wine making supplies at my Dad's) so I don't know what the abv will be when I'm done
last night I gave it a bit of a taste and the piloncillo gives it an almost non-alcohol rum flavor, cinnamon and fresh ginger maybe don't play well together though. Hoping that one will take over the flavor of the other enough that they're not competing.
so... question...suggestion... do I wait till the fermentation is a little less active before straining and bottling?
or should I do that after 3 days as I have seen with other recipes?
is it safe to do a second ferment in the grolsch bottles?
thanks for any input

 

[Blacksmith1]

Any active fermentation will produce CO2. This will generate pressure in a sealed container. If it gets to high, it goes boom.

 

[Woodknack]

I've been making tepache weekly for a couple months. I add the rinds + cup of sugar to a 1/2G Ball jar, sometimes ginger or cinnamon too. I've done 2 days, 3 days, and 5 days; used wild yeast, bread yeast, and champagne yeast, A couple of times I've fermented the rinds again by adding more water and another cup of sugar. I bottle, add a bit of sugar and set on the counter for a couple of days to carbonate. What I've learned so far ... I prefer plain or plain with a little ginger. Ferment 2-3 days and it tastes like overripe pineapple, 5 days and it tastes like something else but I'm not sure how to describe it. Second fermentation of the rinds is a bit sour and bitter with little to no pineapple flavor, not really worth it unless you add a bunch of ginger and basically make ginger beer.

I'm not keen on tepache by itself but mixed with cheap beer and it's delicious. I tried mixing with a variety of good beers and it doesn't work, the flavors combat one another but about 2 shots to a glass of PBR is pretty damn good.

 

[Andrew Hodgson]

So I just carbed and bottled up my latest Tepache and I haven't tasted it yet but the consistency is gnarly. It has a musuc-like viscosity, not extreme but when you tilt the bottle you can see the consistency is off. Question, anybody had anything like this with a wild yeast Tepache? Maybe it's pedio?

 

[Woodknack]

Doing a little experiment with smoked pineapple.

 

[Woodknack]

The smoked pineapple was too smoky for drinking but I'm experimenting with using it for cooking.

I was ready to quit making tepache but got some ale yeast and like the result much more than champagne yeast. Also switched to using the whole pineapple and not just the rind. Drank two 4oz glasses yesterday and caught a buzz so it must be making more alcohol than the 0.5% often reported. I have a hydrometer but I don't think there is a way to use it for tepache since it won't measure sugars in the fruit.

Last batch was 1 whole pineapple mashed, 1/2 cup raw sugar, 1/2 lime already squeezed, some ginger, ale yeast, in a 1/2G jar. Ferment 4 days, strain, add 6oz pineapple juice, juice of 1/2 lime, 1/4 cup raw sugar, bottle, on the counter for a day then couple days in the fridge. Makes a little over 32oz of tepache.

 

[Woodknack]

Okay, the last batch was delicious so doing another.

 

[Blacksmith1]

My first attempt at this. Since I'm not sure what it's supposed to taste like I went simple for the first one. Skin and core from one pineapple, one lb turbinado sugar. I did add pectic enzyme to help extract the juice.

So now we wait to see what critters were on it....

 

[Blacksmith1]

Mine did not take off. My pineapples may have been washed. Made a second batch with 2 pineapples ( skins and core) in 2.5 gallons. Pulled the pineapple after the small batch started to sour and blended both batches.
pitched US-05 in all of it.

 

[Woodknack]

I wash my pineapples and use a little ale yeast. Who knows what pesticides or rat piss is on the outside of those things. My last 2 batches weren't very good though, I switched to a large plastic pitcher because my wife was using my glass jars and for some reason the tepache made in it isn't good. I'm going to toss my last batch and go back to glass.

 

[Blacksmith1]

My first batch needed help. I think I pulled the fruit too soon. I added a can of pineapple bits which helped, and some sliced jalapeno's which were great...according to me, swmbo did not like the peppers.
Got 3L on fresh pineapple now, another 3L waiting, and another 2 gallons getting ready to start.
At least I can use the guts from the new batch to fix the first one.

 

[SanPancho]

Anybody ever have a tepache batch that never took off? Have had it in closed kettle at 85f for about 4 days now. Few checks have been touch of funk in aroma, but taste is normal.

yesterday after still seeing no activity or gravity drop i added some plantarum caps to at least get some sour going. Today there was some bubbly action, but must have been the plantarum as no change in gravity. Haven’t had chance to check ph.

for the batch-
rinsed the pina but didnt wash/soap. Fortified with store juice from concentrate- vitamin c was only additive. Two panochas, white sugar, spices, etc. Water to about 1.045 or so. Cant figure why im not getting any yeasty type action. Good city water, low chloramines that never affected beer yeasts.

im stumped.

 

[Woodknack]

Maybe the rind was treated with antifungals.