Brain Explosion

[achy02]

Merry Xmas all!

I think I may have done something irrational and stupid. I am brewing a blackrock mexican cerveza with US05 yeast. The OG was 1039 (1.6kg with 0.9g of dex) and after 10 days was still sitting at 1014 and tasting sugary and shite. So I had a brain explosion and added an extra satchet of yeast to chew up any additional sugars. I regrreted doing it straight away and now I wondering what damage ti might cause. Regardless it was tasting so bad I couldn't make it any worse.
Any ideas?

aches

 

[quantocks]

I'm not sure if you know it achy, but cerveza tastes like piss either way!

same thing happened with my Coopers Cerveza, I pitched another yeast, had a sample, still shite 2 weeks later and tipped it down the drain.

 

[Adamt]

What temperature has your fermenter been at? Adding more yeast isn't necessarily a bad thing... the problems come if you don't add it in a hygenic manner.

 

[achy02]

The mex is not for me. Its for some mates who like drinking camel piss. Never again i tell ya, never again.....

 

[Cube]

Only thing to do is to harvest the yeast mate. Each NEW sachet brew of US05 I do I get just over a cup of yeast cake.
I store just over 1/2 cup of the yeast cake in two separate bottles in the fridge for about 5-6 brews each. So - 6 brews x two bottles = 12 + original brew = 13 brews of US05 from the original ONE packet.

Each brew is off to a flyer within 6-8 hours of pitching the 1/2 cup cake out of the bottle.

Use all 'batches' for similar beer however

Some biff the yeast, or 'next generation' yeast after four brews. Which still comes out to 9 brews from one packet using the 1/2 cup method above

 

[Bribie G]

Adding extra yeast won't do any harm. If you are going to add anything some extra hops wouldn't go astray, boil up some hop pellets or a hop teabag and chuck into fermenter.

 

[brettprevans]

adding extra yeast wont do any harm.

but you do have a few issues:
1. temp. what temp you been brewing at. Im assuming ~20C as you used us05.
- cervesa is a lager style beer that needs a lager style yeast and lager temps (ie ~10C)
2. a tin of goo and 900g of dex? thats going to be watery and rather bland as there's no additonal grain, malt or hop flavours.
2. combination of 1&2 - lots of dex making alc and no flavour and a higher temp will probably throw some funny flavours.
4. 1.014 is probably as low as its going to go if its been stable for 3 days. I would have expected it to go a little lower because of the dex but it may not.

you can make some good beers with the mex cerveza kit. do a search for Mexican Cerveza and you'll find a heap of threads incl one thats got about a bizzilion pages (ok an exagguration) but its got piles of recipes and info.

 

[Bribie G]

you can make some good beers with the mex cerveza kit. do a search for Mexican Cerveza and you'll find a heap of threads incl one thats got about a bizzilion pages (ok an exagguration) but its got piles of recipes and info.

+1. The lighter kits like cerveza or canadian (coopers or morgans) make a really good base goo for a recipe because they are light in flavour and can be overlaid by specialty grains, hops, a better yeast and later on if you want to try your hand at mashing, a light kit plus a mini mash makes a great introduction to mashing.

Although I now have all grain equipment, my favourite lager style beer is still a partial mash plus extra hops plus a can (Coopers Lager is a good one) plus a good yeast. A few of the forum members have tried the brew and said "nothing wrong with that one" and I still make it every second brew to alternate with my English Ales.

 

[boingk]

Adding extra yeast won't do any harm. If you are going to add anything some extra hops wouldn't go astray, boil up some hop pellets or a hop teabag and chuck into fermenter.

Nuts to boiling the pellets. Just do a dry hop by throwing the hops dry into the fermentor. Wait at least 7 days for them to settle out and do their work. Also, dont do it in the first four days of fermentation or a lot of their alpha acids will be scrubbed out by all the CO2.

Of course, nothing is stopping you from doing both methods - that'll give you the full profile of hop flavour and aroma.

Cheers - boingk

EDIT: Right on with the partial plus kit plus hops - thats pretty much what I do for my brews now. I still use extract, but grains are becoming a more integral part of my recipes now. Now I just need to get a hold of some nice liquid yeasts...

 

[flattop]

I have had Cerveza's with similar amounts of dex drop to well below 1010, the extra yeast won't give any problems but probably wasn't needed, a bit of agitation will often set off a stalled brew. For the record Cerveza tastes ok if it ferments out and needs a month in the bottle, it is very light in flavor and will benefit from hops, but on it's own it can be clear and crisp. If drunk before one month in the bottle it tends to be yeasty, with your extra yeast i suggest longer bottle life. For future brews increase the DME and reduce the dex and consider some dry hopping to add body and character.

 

[achy02]

Thanks for your replies.

I need to point out that I am doing this brew for a couple of mates who like watery, average tasting beer. I would be wasting my hops or grains on them. My main concern was that the FG of 1014 was too high and truth be told my temps prob fluctuated too much regardless of my efforts to keep it cool. I am amazed at just how bad the cerveza tastes out of the primary and it certainly doesn't hold a candle to the Coopers Sparkling Ale that was brewed next to it. Thanks for your help on this one, there is a good chance my mates will think it tastes good anyway. :icon_vomit:

 

[boingk]

I remember making a brew early in the year with a Coopers Cerveza kit and Brew Enhancer 2 pack. I only remember now because of you talking about your mates liking watery, average tasting beer. They all thought it was the best thing ever! I had the odd longneck but gave out a lot to mates, who had no problems devouring it to 'help me out'. Meanwhile, I was into stuff with flavour

Anyway, I'm sure they won't mind it at all - thats my point. Have a good one - boingk