[ryang]

Just mixed up my first batch.  Giving credit where credit is do, I copied quite a bit of what was done by this guy: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/tepache-200053/

Made a fermenter like his too: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f51/2-1-2-gallon-montana-jar-fermenter-200328/#post2332670

My recipe (2.5gal):
2 pineapples chunked (with outer rind)
2lbs raw cane sugar
3 cinnamon sticks
6 cloves
enough water to fill up (shy of 2 gal)

I'm pretty excited to try this.  Just sounds incredibly refreshing.

I might post a picture if it does anything cool.

[euge]

I've heard of it. But with the addition of oranges. It was fermented at hot temps while traveling in a van through Mexico so no wonder the author wasn't particularly complementary of it. I think at ale temps it ought to be pretty good.

[ryang]

Yeah I'm just hoping I don't get any "vomit" flavors...  smells good.  was really cloudy this morning.  not really sure what that means.

[ryang]

Well there's finally some nice and steady fermentation going on.  Odd "occurrence" happening... the top layer of pineapple(that's not submerged in the liquid) has slowly turned a bright red color and looks to be growing some fuzzies (not sure if it's mold or what?)  It smells great, really.  I'm wondering if I should skim that top layer off and pitch it?

[euge]

Yeah... That'd make me nervous. Got to be some way to submerge everything so that doesn't happen.

[ryang]

Well, I bottled the tepache tonight.  Got about 2 gallons liquid out.  Bottled with 2.25oz table sugar.  The leftovers in the bottling bucket... wow.
Sour
Acid (like uber concentrated pineapple juice - go figure right?)
Cinnamon? maybe it's perception
clove? none

We'll see what this does.  Maybe grow up some of the yeast for an experimental beer?  Nice yeast layer on bottom.

[ryang]

This stuff is anything but good.  Opened a bottle at thanksgiving (good thing I had 8 other varieties of beer available)  I'd have to say the red mold took hold.  
It tastes like I took a bunch of pineapples, tossed them in a black trashbag, and put them out on the curb in the summertime and then drank the nasty juices seeping onto the sidewalk a week later.  Out of love? (curiousity?, pain?), I will try another bottle at some point, but wow, I can't see this stuff improving much.  Some clove did come through.  No cinnamon, just a lot of nasty rotten pineapple.

Ok, onto some kvass (while I think about how to suspend all the pineapple in the sugar liquid next time).

[euge]

Uggg. Sounds nasty. I think the stuff is for immediate consumption after it's made. More like a jail-house hooch.

[capozzoli]

So do you think something went wrong? It got mold and shouldnt have.

My Mexican friends make this kinda punch served warm around the holidays.It has pineapple in it and cinnamon. Maybe some other fruit and stuff. Vanilla?. I dont know they are always protective of their recipes.

It seems like it could be this stuff you made. Not sure if they add alcohol or they ferment it. It is only mildly alcoholic. I think they call it Punche, they pronounce it Ponch-Aye.

[corkybstewart]

This stuff is anything but good.  Opened a bottle at thanksgiving (good thing I had 8 other varieties of beer available)  I'd have to say the red mold took hold.  
It tastes like I took a bunch of pineapples, tossed them in a black trashbag, and put them out on the curb in the summertime and then drank the nasty juices seeping onto the sidewalk a week later.  Out of love? (curiousity?, pain?), I will try another bottle at some point, but wow, I can't see this stuff improving much.  

I just read this to my wife and she spit wine onto the wall she was laughing so hard.  Thanks for giving another great idea of a fermented beverage I don't need to make.

[ryang]

So do you think something went wrong? It got mold and shouldnt have.

My Mexican friends make this kinda punch served warm around the holidays.It has pineapple in it and cinnamon. Maybe some other fruit and stuff. Vanilla?. I dont know they are always protective of their recipes.

It seems like it could be this stuff you made. Not sure if they add alcohol or they ferment it. It is only mildly alcoholic. I think they call it Punche, they pronounce it Ponch-Aye.

I think the biggest problem was the fact that it didn't really start fermenting for about 4 or 5 days.  Until that time, it was just sitting out just waiting for a little bit of mold to take hold.  Perhaps next time, add some sort of yeast along with all the ingredients to get fermentation going quicker(some lacto or even sourdough starter?).  Also, I'm not sure how big of an impact it is, but the lid does not seal very well.  The airlock never bubbled once, even when it was fermenting like crazy.  I'll look into what I can do on that.

Another idea I had was to ferment it cold next time.  If it's in the fridge, mold won't have as good conditions as it did sitting on the counter.

I still like the idea of this stuff, and will give it another go at some point after coming up with a better game plan.

[capozzoli]

With the lid on do you think that perhaps this impeded fermentation? Many of these wild fermentation's need lots of O2 to get going. Maybe try just tying a towel on top next time.

Another thing you could introduce to the mix is tibicos. Im having a lot of success making different kinds of mildly alcholic carbonated beverages with it.  

May not be authentic but Im sure it would work. Once those healthy bacteria are in there no mold will be able to grow.

also another way to get the fruit to sink would be to boil your water, then tturn it off and drop in the fruit. It will steep but not necessarily cook. After it cools the fruit will drop to the bottom, then you can introduce something to help the ferment along. Obviously if you heat the fruit dont expect wild fermentation to happen.

[ryang]

Interesting points there.
That tibicos looks intriguing, I might need to give that a shot.  You may have mentioned this in the milk thread or wherever else you have been talking about kefir, water kefir, etc, but are the grains pretty easily harvested after fermentation?  I'll look deeper into obtaining some of these.

Interesting point about the fruit.  I didn't know that blanching would drop the fruit to the bottom like that. 

May not be authentic but Im sure it would work. Once those healthy bacteria are in there no mold will be able to grow.

I think getting any kind of healthy fermentation going will prevent the mold growth.  The stuff on the pineapples was just not enough/strong enough/healthy/etc.

[capozzoli]

The grains are very easily harvested. If it is just liquid they are in they can just be strained out through a sieve. If there is going to be pieces of fruit in there you can put the grains wrapped in a cheese cloth like a bouqet garni so that you dont have to pick them out of a pile of wilted fruit when you want to change them over to the next fermentation.

With tibicos you certainly wont get enough alcohol to lower your cell mates inhibitions, but you will get enough to make a nice flavor. Plus there are the added benefits of it being healthy.

Its not like you would drink enough of this for the purpose of getting buzzed anyway, though a few pints and you may. Depending on your tolerance.

Im sure if you make this with tibicos you will get a nice semi sweet fruit beverage with a wine flavor that would make a great accompaniment to a Mexican dinner.

[1vertical]

For use with my dehydrator, I see some plastic round tray sheets that make the
mesh of the trays effectively smaller...like a plastic screen. You could cut
some of that material to fit the inside diameter of your fermenter and just weight
it down with a nicely clean sanitized heavy non porous type rock...stone...yep
You sure could....http://dehydratortrayliners.com/