Coopers Mex

[heyyu]

just made coopers mex where i added 15 approx grams of tetnang hops,now being a complete amateur iwonder if i have stuffed it. i read the recipe someware.but it didn"t say how to add hops,so idissolved them in a couple of liters of boiling water in fermenter and tossed in the other ingredience. i now have green frothbubbling away , is this ok. thankyou

 

[Fents]

its more than ok. its great imo. the mex kits are bland and have bugga all flavour/bitterness. 15g's of tett will do it well. dont stress about the hops in the fermenter they will just fall to the bottom anyways. good luck and enjoy.

 

[Swinging Beef]

The blandness of the mex kit is its strength.
Perfect summer faux pilsner.
Adding the tet hops was a stroke of savant genious.

 

[Bribie G]

Don't worry if you end up with a collar of green stuff around the inside of the fermenter, you shouldn't get any in the bottles. Tettnang was a good choice as Mex beers have more in common, historically with German and Austrian breweries rather than the USA ones.

 

[Swinging Beef]

Mex beers have more in common, historically with German and Austrian breweries ...

Too right.. grab yourself a bottle of Red Pig Mexican ale and taste the Munichy goodness.
Completely rething what you thik you know about Mexican beer.

 

[bowie in space]

I did the coopers mex with no hops at the boil, but dry hopped 40g nelson sauvin to the secondary. Turned out lovely with addition of 500g wheat malt/1kg dextrose. Very simple and very enjoyable.

Good luck,
Bowie

 

[seemax]

the mex kit is fairly bland, adding the hops is the best thing you could have done

just let it ferment out and leave it for 2 weeks so it all settles down

for a really clear beer, rack into another bucket with gelatine (see Wiki) for 5 days, this will drop most of the yeast out

enjoy!

 

[heyyu]

thankyou gentlemen appreciate your advise

 

[Bizier]

This is the only kit I buy EXACTLY for this reason... because it is a good bland starting place for easy awesome beer. As the others said, you will be more than fine.

 

[fraser_john]

HoppinMad has one at the moment that he added some DME and Saaz to, had it Monday night and it surprised the hell out of me, lovely! He fermented at 8c, so clean.

Might have to steal the recipe for a summer quencher.

John

 

[crundle]

This is the only kit I buy EXACTLY for this reason... because it is a good bland starting place for easy awesome beer. As the others said, you will be more than fine.

Same here. Such a bland kit, I add Lyle's Golden Syrup to it and you can *just* get a hint of it while drinking. A touch of some nice aromatic hops just caps it off, a very easy summer quaffer in my opinion.

I make everything else AG, but this is such a good kit to work from.

Crundle

 

[DKS]

Hi guys
Im not trying to be a smart arse or bag any posters, dont get me wrong.
Ive tried the coopers cerveza and found it as you say "bland" so why would you use it instead of using unhopped malt if you are going to add hopps anyway? You guys are more experianced than me and are obviously happy with the results from the mex kit They all sound nice but a cerveza kit Im not happy with at some $14.50 verses unhopped tin at $9.50 What is it that makes the kit good? :icon_cheers:
Daz

 

[Bribie G]

One problem I found with unhopped malt extract from the LHBS is that often it's been sitting around for ages and it can really give the HB twang and the wrong colour. I reckon most LHBS such as the Brewers World here on the Northside of Brisbane and certainly my local Bribie store stock the malt tins as a shelf filler whilst the kits and distilling accessories are their core business. When making partials I would use a Coopers Lager, Morgans Canadian or a Cerveza to aim for certain 'profiles' and they never let me down because they move faster off the shelves and are generally fresher, they are consistent and predictable, and they also provide a bit of base hopping so all you need to do is add some late hops without the long bittering boil necessary with extract brewing. I don't use kits or extract any more but would recommend kits as the ideal way into partial brews.

 

[chappo1970]

Hi guys
Im not trying to be a smart arse or bag any posters, dont get me wrong.
Ive tried the coopers cerveza and found it as you say "bland" so why would you use it instead of using unhopped malt if you are going to add hopps anyway? You guys are more experianced than me and are obviously happy with the results from the mex kit They all sound nice but a cerveza kit Im not happy with at some $14.50 verses unhopped tin at $9.50 What is it that makes the kit good? :icon_cheers:
Daz

Perfectly valid question DKS. Sometimes you just don't have 5 hours to smash a full AG together or say 2 1/2 to 3 hours for an extract by the time you do that you may as well have done an AG. So a Kit and Bits which only takes an hour or so is ideal. IMO I would prefer a kits and bits any day over resorting to buy megaswill.The bland-ish cervesa is a great base to tweak with hops alone plus some LDME or LME and is obviously quick and easy. A favourite of mine if I'm time poor and running low is a Coopers Bitter kit with a bit of hop tea with Target and Nuggets. Makes a great XXXX bitter knock off but with flavour.

Cheers

Chappo

 

[Bribie G]

Was round at the Big Burper's place yesterday and he plied me with several Morgans Queensland Bitter plus Cluster out of the keg, and it was a nice cold crystal clear refreshing drop. Fortunately I only live three blocks away and got home before the grain hit the brain

 

[Swinging Beef]

Hi guys
Im not trying to be a smart arse or bag any posters, dont get me wrong.
Ive tried the coopers cerveza and found it as you say "bland" so why would you use it instead of using unhopped malt if you are going to add hopps anyway? You guys are more experianced than me and are obviously happy with the results from the mex kit They all sound nice but a cerveza kit Im not happy with at some $14.50 verses unhopped tin at $9.50 What is it that makes the kit good? :icon_cheers:
Daz

It is pre hopped, so by using the kit can, you can save yourself a whole boil.
Just sling the can in the fermenter with 500g wheat extract and 500g dex or so.
Add some hops now, or to secondary, ferment cool with unobtrusive yeast.
Quick and easy lawnmower beer in 20 minutes.

 

[Dazza_devil]

So we boil off any kit aroma with a 30 min. boil whilst adding extra bitterness?
Then add aroma after the boil?

 

[bum]

I don't think you're adding extra bitterness, just leaving the initial bitterness while removing everything else. And the aroma and flavour you're adding is the one you've chosen not the one in the kit. If the kit is already what you're after then obviously it's good to go and you don't do the boil.

Someone please correct me if I'm wrong, I'm researching this stuff myself as I'm probably going to go down the boiled-kit path for one of my next brews.

 

[KGB]

I think you're pretty much correct bum.

Heyyu: I think you might need to use some finings to help clear the beer, I did pretty much the same as you did with a lager once - just boiled hop pellets tipped straight into the fermenter. I'm not one who is bothered by a bit of cloudiness in my beer but in case you are I'd add some finings ~2 days before the end of fermentation. I would also chill the whole fermenter before bottling, this will help a lot of sediment drop out of suspension before it can even reach the bottles.
As far as the brew goes I think it will turn out fine, as others have said. The cervesa kits are pretty good IMO (for what they are). Many non-homebrewers appreciate the 'blandness', they are a good base for making your own creations and even in standard form they are easy to smash down if you're having a big night.

 

[Dazza_devil]

I'm curious on this thread because I've got a can sitting on the bench that I got on special from Woolies. Hard to resist with a use by of 15/01/2011. That's fresher than I can get any liquid malt locally and was contemplating a toucan with a nice fresh Coopers Pale Ale that I also got from Woolies. But I think I may stick with my previous method and use the liquor from the speciality grains steep and dissolved dried malt to achieve some of my hops in the boil aroma with the Pale Ale, adding the kit and more hops after flameout.
Perhaps with the Cerveza I'll attempt to add some hops with the boil, kit included, to produce an ale. Nottingham yeast at low temps maybe. Still a week till brewday so anything could happen by then.