Unit 4 - Lesson 5 - Agave

Question 1

What are two other agave products not Tequila?

Answer 1

Mezcal and Sotol

Question 2

Large tequila houses use what type of fermenters?

Answer 2

Open topped
Stainless
Up to 50,000L
Used without fibers

Question 3

Why do some agave fermenters use wood?

Answer 3

1. Inexpensive
2. Natural flora in the pores for character
3. Very traditional eg marketing
4. used with fibers

Question 4

Problem with wood fermenters?

Answer 4

Hard to clean & hard to maintain

Porous so bacterial and other microbs get in

Question 5

How big can wood fermenters get?

Answer 5

u pto 30,000L

Question 6

What is checked by a distiller for agave?

Answer 6

1. Sugar content
2. pH
3. Nutrients

Question 7

What is typical Brix, and what range? If low / high what does that mean?

Answer 7

avg 10° Brix (can be 4° - 12° Brix)
Low mean too much water in the milling process
High likely syrup added

Question 8

How do they measure sugar content and what is important to note?

Answer 8

Refractometer
Need to account for temperature
NEVER USE POST FERMENTATION

Question 9

What impact the acid in mosto?

Answer 9

Some add sulphuric acid to fibres to hydrolyse the fructans

Acid should be >4.5 pH

Question 10

What are the sugars of Agave?

Answer 10

Fructans

Question 11

How to check for nutrients?

Answer 11

Small still use enzymatic assay kits

Large use HPLC - high performance liquid Chromatography - accurate but expensive

Question 12

What to do if YAN< 150 mg/L

Answer 12

Add diammonium phosphate

Question 13

Yeast used?

Answer 13

Commercial - mostly

Natural from equipment, vats, agave plants and flies