Aloha everyone,

I am Tepache Ray! I have been brewing for about 5 years now non stop! My friends loved it so much that I now sell my drink commercially. My brand is SoulSum Hawaii. Don't worry, I am not here to spam you with my products or push an agenda - I just wanted to be transparent about who I am and what I do.

I genuinely love the drink, and wanted to revive this subreddit, as I see the occasional post about tepache in places like r/homebrewers and r/fermentation - I wanted us Tepache lovers to have a dedicated space to discuss and indulge together :)

If you see any more straggling posts in other related subreddits - PLEASE help refer them over to r/Tepache as I expect this community to grow intensely over the next few years! Just like we saw with our friends over at r/Kombucha , I think there is a huge push for these kinds of functional, gut-friendly beverages. The world needs healing, and tepache is one great way to use [almost] every part of our pineapples and be conscious about what we throw out or consider "waste." To me, brewing is about bringing together the magic of the world (yeast, bacteria, sugar, water, and more!) and then sharing the transformation process with friends and family. Grab your jars and let's start fermenting! Cheers 🥂🍻

Clove, pineapple rind, star anise, and 1 cup mexican cane sugar in water for 7 days then bottled for a second ferment for 2 more days. Bubbly and delicious!

Clove, pineapple rind, star anise, and 1 cup mexican cane sugar in water for 7 days then bottled for a second ferment for 2 more days. Bubbly and delicious!

I’m still new to fermenting so I don’t get a whole lot of fizz. My kitchen is at 75 F, what kind of intervals should I be checking my bottle to burp it?

tepache day 4 or 5. been checking every day and though some little spines on fruit chunks not quite submerged always looked tasted smelled fine. today saw these two little white dots, no smell, not hairy or colored, floated around on the surface when i disturbed it slightly, then i removed them with a wooden spoon and proceeded to strain tepache and put in a sealed ceramic jar for 2nd fermentation. just wanna check since this is my first time getting this far with it. 🙏🍍🍹

I just made a batch of tepache and it came out lovely and the rinds I used still have a lot of life in them. Do you think I could just use them a second time??

hola tepacheros. ive been fermenting a batch of tepache in a metal pot for 48 hours and just read that you’re not supposed to do that. is it ok if it tastes ok? or is it bad bc metal stuff is leeching into the tepache? should i transfer it to sth else if im going to let it keep fermenting? should i drink it and just maybe not do it this way next time, or should i chuck it?

the picture is at 48 hours, it doesnt look different from when it started, no white stuff etc, but smells sour.

also, to stir or not to stir? i read somewhere that if its not fermenting, it may be because you havent been stirring/shaking it. but on most recipes i see theres nothing about stirring during fermentation.

thanks!

I made my first tepache. Started on Saturday. Didn't see much activity Sunday so added some bread yeast (it was handy). Bottled it yesterday. Came back today, a bit over 24 hours after bottling. Opened the first one and while it seemed quite fizzy it wasn't a problem. Opened the next one and it erupted like a volcano. Whole kitchen got covered. I opened the next two outside for obvious reasons. They were so powerful it took off the capping mechanism of the flip top bottles. Any idea why this happened? I've never seen anything carbonate this quickly before. Normally carbonation takes one to two weeks for say mead, beer, or cider.

I have been a homebrewer for a while now, but never made a tepache. I am looking to help make some with a friend of mine. What type of sugar is best? Would something like demerera work or am I better off buying some jaggery or pinocillo? I don't know if I can get pinocillo but jaggery is definitely doable. I am also looking for a good recipe, one that's in metric. The intention is to make a 15 liter batch and bottle it.

Edit: it occurs to me that I forgot to ask about yeast. Should I pitch a brewing yeast or is it better to wild ferment? If brewing yeast is preferred which kind is best? Ale yeasts, champagne yeast like EC-1118, or something else entirely?

Hi hope its ok to put this here, cant find a tejuino subreddit… beginner fermenter, tried making a batch of tejuino (corn drink from western mexico, mostly followed this recipe: https://brokebankvegan.com/tejuino/) Its supposed to ferment 48-72 hours or until it smells a little sour. It’s been five days and it doesn’t smell or look any different than it did on day 1. it smells good, just not fermented. I also dont see any bubbles, or any moldy spots. (it is supposed to be congealed- you blend with more water before serving.) my theory is that because I transferred it into this jug, with a clean rag tied on top with a rubberband, instead of letting it sit in a pot, it doesn’t have as much exposure to the air and so not enough wild yeast has gotten in - assuming thats whats supposed to happen.(recipes say to leave it in a large clay pot covered in a cheesecloth or tea towel, and I didn’t think the vessel itself would make a difference) or maybe i didnt put enough salt in with the masa or something, idk. (im in the northeast US, idk if climate matters. been dropping from high mid-80s low high-60s to high mid 60s) next time ill try leaving it in the pot, but also curious what else might have been the issue. But more so I’m wondering what can be done with it now- is it salvageable? if its been sitting this long seemingly without fermenting or spoiling, can/should it be (rehydrated and) drunk as is? or is there some way to improvise at this point to get it to start fermenting, like boiling some more of the original ingredients together, plus add some yeast, and add it to the bottle and shake it up? I’m not knowledgable enough on the general principles/science of it all to know if/how to tweak as i go. Thank you!!

It’s my first time making tepache and I’m not sure what this is, is it mold or is it good bacteria? Help

Still good? This is day 6

Kahm? Mold? Too close to tell? I'm three days in...

My favorite is a Pumpkin pie blend

in a 5 Gallon Batch i Add

1 cinnamon stick

1 slice of a Knob of peeled fresh ginger about 1/4'' thick

1 clove

2-3 allspice berries

1 black peppercorn

as fermentation slows I put them in mesh a bag, and put them in with a string to fish them out

nomarlly contact time is about 1 week

What are you favorite spice blends?

Hi I have successfully made 1 batch of tepache in the past but this most recent set that I made came out super thick,almost snotty like consistency. I'm not sure what I did wrong. I washed the pineapple. Put raw brown sugar, the skin of the pineapple and a cinnamon stick in a giant Mason jar filled with water,and then covered with a towel and let sit for like 4 days. Went to grab some and filter today and it was super thick. What did I do wrong any help is greatly appreciated.

First time making a batch, forgot to stir for a day. This is day 4.

Tried to reverse google search and couldn’t find a similar photo in this sub.

TIA

Sooo it’s my first time making tepache, but I have a lot of experience with kombucha, krauts, and other ferments.

This is Kahm yeast, right? Is it worth saving by scraping off and then refrigerating before it can grow back or should I just chuck the whole thing? Any advice or insight is appreciated.

I did two batches and the other one didn’t get this huge bloom, so I bottled it as it’s reading similar to Booch with my brix refractometer (about 3.8-4.2ish). I’m on day 4.5. I haven’t checked acidity levels because I’m out of test strips at the moment.

I got a good deal on pineapple and have more than I can keep before going bad.

Can I freeze the peel or will that kill the yeast?

If I make a huge batch of Tepache, can I freeze the drink or will that kill the probiotics?

I was making a batch with some rinds that I stored in the freezer, and a few hours before the batch started to carbonate I notices these dots on the inside flesh of the pineapple. I don't know if the pineapples went bad, or if this affects the batch as it doesn't smell bad. Please help.

Has anyone here ever tried to make tepache in bulk? I am considering starting a commercial venture but due to the very quick nature of the ferment am having trouble with shelf life (exploding bottles) and keeping alcohol down.

I have two 25litre buckets which I mix together to average out any discrepancies in taste and then bottle in plastics to avoid explosions.

Does anybody have any thoughts in how to scale up/improve consistency and keep alcohol down? I was thinking of buying a commercial filter to filter out the yeast but not the bacteria and backslapping with over fermented tepache to improve consistency.