Re: Re: sugar question - Agave

[Guest guest]

>This is very interesting to me. I love agave and use it quite often.

> However, I've never brewed KT with it for 2 reasons: 1) The price (I

>prefer the raw agave, which is a bit more expensive);

Hi Steve. Yes I use the organic, don't know if it's raw. I fortunately

belong to a food co-op through which I get a healthy discount. However, it

can be purchased online in 4-gal cases and delivered, for about the same

price as I pay, or even a little less. See

http://www.auntpattys.com/AuntPattys/Products_AgaveSyrup.html

This monthly food co-op buy, I'm getting a 5-gal bucket of organic 100%

barley malt syrup.

> and 2) If I

>understand correctly, agave is predominantly fructose (~85%?) and I

>assumed there wasn't enough glucose in it to feed the culture.

I once was able to find the analysis of the Aunt Patty's syrup, but can't

right now. It was 68% or something like that. Lower than I'd been told

originally. I was told originally, don't use agave it's too high in

fructose, but I was getting really good KT and decided to just forge onward

(I had been brewing KT for a while before I found this list). Then I found

the analysis which showed it had more glucose than originally thought.

> I see

>you're adding barley malt to add more glucose, but what are the

>results like with just agave? I would imagine it would be quite a

>sweet brew.

That's a relative term. I certainly get vinegar and use it for many

things, and the brews in the bottle are often quite dry after sitting for

4-5 days and then refrigerating. I don't like it sweet so I let it brew

out to tart.

>What kind of proportions are you using compared to sugar

>- the generally recommended 75%?

I've been using 1 cup (8 oz) for a gallon-jar batch. Since some people use

as much as 1.5 cups sugar for that size batch, then I guess I might be

considered to be lowering the proportion, but since some only use 1 cup,

maybe I'm not.

>Have you tried an agave/brown rice

>syrup blend?

I have not. Rice syrup is another of the grain sweeteners that originated

in Asia and were no doubt, if not still today, used to brew KT. I would

love to, and it would certainly not have the same intense flavor added by

the barly malt as the rice syrup is very mild. But as with the honey brews

I did, the flavor of the barley malt gets lighter and lighter as the brew

matures in the bottle.

--V

~~~ There is no way to peace; peace is the way ~~~~

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