... to my Brewing Pulque page.

Making Pulque ("pool-kay"), is really like making wine using beer yeast and is sometimes called Maguey or Agave Wine.  Pulque, often called "the origional drink of Mexico", is a milky, slightly foamy and somewhat gelatinous beverage made by fermenting (not distilling) the fresh sap of certain Maguey. Any other beverage made from distilling the fermented Maguey is Mezcal, and if it is manufactured in the Tequila region from a licensed distillery, it is Tequila (hope that’s clear). 

You will need some sap from a maguey. I do not know of any commercial source for the sap, so you might try getting some from someone in Mexico.  DO NOT attempt to harvest the sap of the aloe -- although an agave, it is unsuitable for this purpose.

• Sterilize all equipment with a chlorine bleach solution and rinse with cold water. Ensure that no smell of chlorine can be detected.  Add campden and additives (yeast nutrient, acid blend, pectic enzyme, and grape tannin) to your maguey sap in the primary fermentor..

• Make a yeast starter.

• Wait 24 hours.

• Add the yeast starter and sugar to the must, stir well and attach an airlock.

• When the specific gravity (SG) is around 1.090, rack into a clean sterilized fermentor and attach an airlock.

• Ferment for a few weeks in a warm, dark place. When the specific gravity has dropped to 1.000 - 1.010 and no signs of fermentation are visible, siphon (rack off) the pulque without disturbing the sediment.

• Pulque is not known for being carbonated, so bottle and drink to your hearts content.

If you notice any problems, or have any suggestion on how I can further improve this site, please feel free to send me an e-mail [12 November 2006].