Does anybody know if Agave is a Super Fermentor?

Sat Jul 02, 2011 9:48 am

Last week I brewed a medium gravity Witbier. Nothing unusual in it except I put about 2 liquid oz's of agave late in the boil.
1 week later I want to transfer to a secondary, and my beer is still fermenting vigorously!?
Anybody familiar with this? Not even my high gravity beers have fermented this much , this long!!

Lorax
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Re: Does anybody know if Agave is a Super Fermentor?

Mon Jul 04, 2011 2:37 pm

I've used agave several times and have found it to ferment very similarly to honey and other simple sugars. I also have used the wit yeast (wlp400) and have found that yeast to behave similar to many saison yeasts. It will go strong for a bit then peter out, then get active again. Maybe this is what you're seeing with your beer.
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Re: Does anybody know if Agave is a Super Fermentor?

Mon Jul 04, 2011 7:46 pm

1 week is certainly not out of the ordinary, and could be a temperature or yeast related phenomenon more easily than 2 oz affecting your fermentation profile.
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Re: Does anybody know if Agave is a Super Fermentor?

Tue Jul 05, 2011 8:35 am

Thanks guys. I'll try to just be patient. It's just seemed odd to me that my black IPA brewed on the same day stopped fermenting after a more typical 5 days (w/an OG of 1.065).
The Wit, now at 10 days is still showing a fair amount of activity @ 1 bubble/3-4 sec's!!?
I've never had any problems with infection or contamination thus far (knock on wood), how much more activity would one expect from that?
lorax
 
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Re: Does anybody know if Agave is a Super Fermentor?

Tue Jul 05, 2011 6:12 pm

Did they both start up at the same time and same rate?
Spiderwrangler
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Re: Does anybody know if Agave is a Super Fermentor?

Tue Jul 05, 2011 8:18 pm

Finally got the refractometer back and took a SG (1.014 converted from Bricks) which gives me a %ABV of 5.1%. A little higher than I was expecting for this beer, but not by too much.
I guess I'm going to chalk the activity to the WLP400 yeast.
I'll take another reading tomorrow and see if it continues to drop.
Then it'll be time for the lemongrass.
Thanks all.
lorax
 
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