tequila or mescal

[Toddles]

"Agave has a toxic sap that immediately causes pain and burning upon contact with skin. Typically the skin will also turn red and may begin to develop blisters soon after exposure to agave. Exposed skin may also be sensitive to sunlight. If ingested, the saponin in the agave plant can have serious consequences including kidney and liver damage."
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/agave-poisonous-85296.html

Explains the reaction with your skin! Got to say mate you are a braver man than i trying to distill your own Tequila!

[EziTasting]

"Agave has a toxic sap that immediately causes pain and burning upon contact with skin. Typically the skin will also turn red and may begin to develop blisters soon after exposure to agave. Exposed skin may also be sensitive to sunlight. If ingested, the saponin in the agave plant can have serious consequences including kidney and liver damage."
http://homeguides.sfgate.com/agave-poisonous-85296.html

Explains the reaction with your skin! Got to say mate you are a braver man than i trying to distill your own Tequila!

Hah, you make it sound like Russian Roulette... Where's your sense of adventure? :laughing-rolling:

I guess that means that the soaking/boiling is to detoxify the agave and make it useable for, well, tequila or mescal

[Toddles]

I would guess so. Personally i would want to research the crap out of it to see if any toxins can be distilled out. I mean i just met you but :romance-kisscheek:

You guys would know though, i am ultra noob!

[EziTasting]

I would guess so. Personally i would want to research the crap out of it to see if any toxins can be distilled out. I mean i just met you but :romance-kisscheek:

You guys would know though, i am ultra noob!

:laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: :laughing-rolling: you're awesome! Valid response, I just spent the last hour or so looking and searching (started from your link) and struggled to find anything about neutralizing the effects of the agave poisons.
This article (in its 'Methods' tab) has some discussions about how they treat the Agave (lol) for fuel fermentation... Figured some intense reading would also provide hints towards self protection... While fermenting! :music-deathmetal: after all, that's what we're here for!

[Toddles]

Well i figured as much also then i stumbled upon another hurdle. When i typed in "poisonous agave species" into god i was met with the same and or similar pictures!

And i must say you are pretty awesome yourself. If i ever met you i am sure you would get me plastered kind sir!

[bayshine]

Well I know my agave/mezcal wash shouldn't kill me as Iv already eaten about a kilo and drank about 500ml of wash :)) ,I'd be more scared to eat or drink anything that came in contact with a fuel/turbo yeast :scared-eek:

[EziTasting]

Haha, well may be.

These days I'm more into sipping than guzzling! And it more suited to my constitution...


Bayshine- is it living up to expectation or needs more work?

[Toddles]

Well I know my agave/mezcal wash shouldn't kill me as Iv already eaten about a kilo and drank about 500ml of wash :)) ,I'd be more scared to eat or drink anything that came in contact with a fuel/turbo yeast :scared-eek:

Now that is VERY comforting to hear!

[bayshine]

Haha, well may be.

These days I'm more into sipping than guzzling! And it more suited to my constitution...


Bayshine- is it living up to expectation or needs more work?

Seems to be a slow fermenter, with the yeast going hard at the start but after a few hours it's just chugging along slowly, and in all the you tube videos I've watched with fermenting mashes it looks the same :think:

[scythe]

Maddogpearse:
That does not look like the right type of agave.
Second rule of survival is don't eat a plant unless you 100% know what it is, and even then you need to test and trial small bits over a long period of time.

[bayshine]

Maddogpearse:
That does not look like the right type of agave.
Second rule of survival is don't eat a plant unless you 100% know what it is, and even then you need to test and trial small bits over a long period of time.

On a second look that agave looks to be more of a blue colour than the green that is americana :think:
All agave are poisonous scythe but have been eaten for thousands of years by native Indians and have been making fermented drinks out of some as well with out any cooking process.
My guess would be that if you're not sure,wiki have the agave list so it can be checked,and then Cook it up and if it don't taste like food than it's probably not :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[maddogpearse]

Maddogpearse:
That does not look like the right type of agave.
Second rule of survival is don't eat a plant unless you 100% know what it is, and even then you need to test and trial small bits over a long period of time.

Haha thanks scythe, reckon I might stick with grain. This whole tequila making process seems a bit underdiscovered here in Australia to me. :handgestures-thumbupleft:
However bayshine, following this with great interest.

[bayshine]

Hey dudes, is this what I'm after?

Nut I change my mind look like Americana to me,send it to me if you don't want it :laughing-rolling: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Agave#/ ... icana4.jpg

[wynnum1]

When the agave is harvested is there any difference when its harvested time of day or time of year.

[bayshine]

I think it's when the starch content is high enough :handgestures-thumbupleft:

[EziTasting]

I see agave plants, everywhere...


No seriously, in the 3 suburbs I traverse, they're in all the old houses on the fence line-probably to keep the RiffRaff out!!
There's also a lot of RiffRaff here!

[bayshine]

Ha ha ...me to mate :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Bit of an update, checked the fermenters this morning (as they'd only been crawling along)and it looks like they'd nearly stopped,but still tasted sweat :think:
Checked sg...1040
Checked ph...3.1 :handgestures-thumbdown:
10 teaspoons of calcium carbonate each and now 4.3 and back up bubbling strong :handgestures-thumbupleft:
Guess its gunna be a few more days yet :roll:

[warramungas]

How far back did you cut into the core and how did you? Did you just trim at the base of the leaves or further back to remove all the outer material?
Curious as quite a few are being removed from town at the moment.

[bayshine]

I cut back as far as you can see in the first photo but I would cut more next time
My fuckup was not cooking it good enough I think..
Checked it again this morning an sg seems to have risen.....1052....WTF....and about to stall again
So I strained all solids out of the 60lt fermenters each separately and squeezed it in the grape press.
The fibres are like a sponge...out of 20lts bucket of solids I got 13lts of juice :handgestures-thumbupleft:
This left me with 50lt each fermenter so I topped up to 63 lt with fresh ro water and pitched some more bakers yeast and it took of like a rocket again...but we will see how she's going in the morning :think:
This has all been at a constant temp of 28-31degC
I'm sure the secret is in the cooking..next time I will use a ugly drum smoker for 4days ,that way I will be able to keep it cooking and be able to keep an eye on it .
I've never handled a wash so much but It doesn't seem to have picked up any infections yet or seem like it will :think: even the yeast is stuggling :))

[bayshine]

How far back did you cut into the core and how did you? Did you just trim at the base of the leaves or further back to remove all the outer material?
Curious as quite a few are being removed from town at the moment.

I used a machete to cut the leaves off, gloves and long sleeves are the go for this, then stabbed into the root ball underneath from all sides and kicked it over....would have been easier to tow it out with the ute :handgestures-thumbupleft: