Coopers Mexican Cerveza

[brettprevans]

Just bought this kit.

What do you recommend for getting a subtle lemon flavour through the beer? Fresh lemons? How many and what's the procedure?

Also, I've a got four 6g packs of Morgan's Lager yeast in the fridge. What these work with this beer if I fermented at 10C?

Thanks,

M

true lager yeast is meant to work at cold temps and 10C is warm enough. some yeasts will work while they are at 4C. Just make a starter or use 12g of yeast.

glacier hops gives a lemony taste, hence I used it in my brew. Dry hopping may an idea with say 10g.


:icon_offtopic: Not a cervesa recipe but if you like kaffir lime leaves in your beers heres another receipe
Summer Wheat
Morgans Whispering Wheat
40g Coriander in stocking bag.
2 or 3 limes and or lemons - rind & juice.
Kaffir lime leaves.
200g honey.
1kg wheat beer blend from HBS (or similar - dried wheat malt and dex?)
Rind in boil at 15. Honey and juice and coriander and kaffir lime leaves in at 10. Sieve into fermenter. Add kit etc, as usual. Coriander added in stocking bag to fermenter.

 

[ironxmortlock]

true lager yeast is meant to work at cold temps and 10C is warm enough. some yeasts will work while they are at 4C. Just make a starter or use 12g of yeast.

Yeah, I've used true lager yeasts like S23 before. These Morgan's "lager" yeast packets are from the tins I've used different yeast with. I was really wondering if the Morgan's yeast (blue packet) is a true lager yeast that will ferment at low temperatures?

Summer Wheat
Morgans Whispering Wheat
40g Coriander in stocking bag.
2 or 3 limes and or lemons - rind & juice.
Kaffir lime leaves.
200g honey.
1kg wheat beer blend from HBS (or similar - dried wheat malt and dex?)
Rind in boil at 15. Honey and juice and coriander and kaffir lime leaves in at 10. Sieve into fermenter. Add kit etc, as usual. Coriander added in stocking bag to fermenter.

Yeah, that sounds like a good one. Might have to give it a go sometime. :icon_cheers:

 

[brettprevans]

ahh I see ehat you mean re morgans. cant say whetehr its a true lager yeast or not. theres have been threads that discuss which kit yeasts are the realy deal. try searching under 'real lager yeast'. yeasts have coding on them that distinguish whether they are real lager yeast or not, I cant remember what it is though. I would tjhink that because morgans yeast is reliable that it probably is a lager yeast. but best to check.

 

[Katherine]

Katie, how well do you cut the leaves up? Sounds interesting.

Very roughy not to small just enough to break the leaves. Just beware on first tasting extremely perfumey.... but eventually a summer quaffer! If you get the chilli right you can actually sit on this beer for awhile!

 

[Katherine]

Summer Wheat
Morgans Whispering Wheat
40g Coriander in stocking bag.
2 or 3 limes and or lemons - rind & juice.
Kaffir lime leaves.
200g honey.
1kg wheat beer blend from HBS (or similar - dried wheat malt and dex?)
Rind in boil at 15. Honey and juice and coriander and kaffir lime leaves in at 10. Sieve into fermenter. Add kit etc, as usual. Coriander added in stocking bag to fermenter.

I have not had much luck with wheat beers...

 

[bconnery]

With this recipe, you dont' want to use a wheat yeast, or at least I didn't. The original yeast for the recipe is k97.
It isn't really a hefe type wheat beer at all.
This is a fantastic summer drinking beer. It really didn't last long at all...

Summer Wheat
Morgans Whispering Wheat
40g Coriander in stocking bag.
2 or 3 limes and or lemons - rind & juice.
Kaffir lime leaves.
200g honey.
1kg wheat beer blend from HBS (or similar - dried wheat malt and dex?)
Rind in boil at 15. Honey and juice and coriander and kaffir lime leaves in at 10. Sieve into fermenter. Add kit etc, as usual. Coriander added in stocking bag to fermenter.

 

[3GumsBrewing]

Picked up a tin of this on Monday at woollies for $8.
Made it to 19L with 1kg of LDME and about 30g of NZ Hallertau Aroma dry hopped, flicked the kit yeast and used s-23 instead.

No idea how this will turn out but hopefully it should satisfy the hordes at xmas, cause they are damn sure not getting their paws on my Belgians!

DK

 

[hsv_069]

Decided to give this one a go also. After reading this thread i added 1 red chilli and the juice of 1 lemon and 3 small limes. Not sure how it will turn out but the sample from the OG (1046) didnt taste too bad but I guess the chilli hasnt had a chance to give off its flavours yet. I will let you know how it ends up.

 

[Katherine]

Decided to give this one a go also. After reading this thread i added 1 red chilli and the juice of 1 lemon and 3 small limes. Not sure how it will turn out but the sample from the OG (1046) didnt taste too bad but I guess the chilli hasnt had a chance to give off its flavours yet. I will let you know how it ends up.

You will probably find the chilli wont come through that much even after time. Unless that one chillis was some super freak! I usually put around 4 to 5 hot chillis in my mexican. Takes about 3 weeks in the bottle just to get the right ting not super hot but just right.

 

[railgun_livewire]

Hey all,
I'm just enjoying my first bottle of this now.

It was the first brew I've ever done and I'm fairly happy with the result.
My only concern is that the beer does have a strong yeast flavour, not something I'd associate with Corona.

When I say strong, I don't mean like a baker's armpit - its quite blended with the whole taste of the beer, but it is striking.

Has anyone had a similar experience - or can someone tell me what may have caused this?

Cheers!

 

[crundle]

Hey all,
I'm just enjoying my first bottle of this now.

It was the first brew I've ever done and I'm fairly happy with the result.
My only concern is that the beer does have a strong yeast flavour, not something I'd associate with Corona.

When I say strong, I don't mean like a baker's armpit - its quite blended with the whole taste of the beer, but it is striking.

Has anyone had a similar experience - or can someone tell me what may have caused this?

Cheers!

What recipe did you use railgun, the standard tin and kilo of sugar, or something different? And what yeast did you use, then we might be able to help you track down the culprit for that taste you are getting.

cheers,

Crundle

 

[railgun_livewire]

My brew was 100% standard.

I used the tin, provided yeast and 1kg of Dextrose.

Fermented for 6-7 days at 25-27deg, bottled for 10 at around 15deg.

 

[brendo]

My brew was 100% standard.

I used the tin, provided yeast and 1kg of Dextrose.

Fermented for 6-7 days at 25-27deg, bottled for 10 at around 15deg.

Hey Railgun,

Glad to hear this has gone well. Under 2 weeks is still pretty green, I think you will find that the taste will clean up a bit with some more time to condition.

Also, a careful decant of the beer into a jug (so you can do a single pour) while taking care not to swirl up the yeast and holding back a bit of the beer at the bottom will avoid some of the yeast taste.

Cheers,

Brendo

 

[railgun_livewire]

Thanks Brendo - its been great!

you've found an error in my details too - it should read 15 days! (not 10)...sorry.


The glass I poured was from a 375ml Stubbie - so I didn't seem to get any sedement in the glass.


From what I've read, even 20days is a little green - so I'm still hoping it improves with a few more weeks.

 

[loikar]

My brew was 100% standard.

I used the tin, provided yeast and 1kg of Dextrose.

Fermented for 6-7 days at 25-27deg, bottled for 10 at around 15deg.

:blink: Shhhhheeeeeeezzzuuuuuusssss!!
I'm not surprised you can taste yeast, there's not much else in it.

Put a six pack of that aside and make it again:
1x Tin Coopers Cerveza
500g Light Dry Malt Extract
250g Wheat malt extract
250g Dex
15g of Saaz boiled for 15min in 2L of water with 200g of the LDME
Safale-U05 yeast

Cook at 16-18deg until yeast drops (approx 14 days).
(I would also throw in a handfull...say about 30g of Saaz hops after 6-8 days in the fernenter to give it some aroma)

Bottle and set aside for 3-4 weeks.

Then open a bottle of the one you originally put aside, and one of the bottles from the new batch.
I'll be intrested to see if the six-pack you put aside is finished before the entire new batch.

Edit: if you want a recipie for a really nice Cerveza based brew, PM me and I'll type it all out for you step by step.

Fingers,

 

[brendo]

Thanks Brendo - its been great!

you've found an error in my details too - it should read 15 days! (not 10)...sorry.


The glass I poured was from a 375ml Stubbie - so I didn't seem to get any sedement in the glass.


From what I've read, even 20days is a little green - so I'm still hoping it improves with a few more weeks.

I routinely left mine for 4-6 weeks... drop nice and bright.

To be honest, given this type of brew doesn't have much of a flavour profile, ANY other flavour is going to poentially be dominant.

Give it a few more weeks and nice long chill and you should find things improve.

That or you could brew something with flavour

Good luck mate,

Brendo

 

[chappo1970]

...That or you could brew something with flavour ...Brendo

Tehehehe :lol:
Just had to slip that one in MrB didn't ya?


+1 I would go Mr BeeryFingers recipe (that's if wanted to have a lemon with me beer :huh: )

 

[Bribie G]

The thing about Mexican beers like Corona is that they use a lot of rice in the formulation, giving a very clean beer. What hop and malt flavour there is actually comes through as definite flavour / aroma in the beer and any trace of yeastiness would stomp right over it. If you are making it again, I would suggest throwing out the kit yeast and using a much cleaner fermenting yeast such as US-05, and bump up the hops a bit. You can actually get the same hop they use in Corona from CraftBrewer and other sponsors. The hop is called Galena. I have just bottled an all grain Cerveza based on malt, rice and hops but used the USA hop 'Chinook' as I had some on hand already, and the Chinook worked ok as well.

A cleaner yeast and a touch more hop should get you pretty close to a commercial Cerveza as there's not much to go wrong with them.

 

[flattop]

Bribie is right, the kit yeast for Cerveza is not much chop... I mean THROW IT OUT
In fact i made quite a few Cerveza kits last year. The best one i made was with US-05 yeast.... oh and the best ingredient i used was TIME...
Because Cerveza is a very light flavored beer it needs maturity (i'm talking months).
US-05 will give a clean finish but even that wont kill the brewers tang. I recently cracked a Cerveza (last one) from a batch i made with US-05 in November... and thought
"wow for a Cerveza kit brew it's not bad"... but i assure you that the other 29 bottles drunk in January weren't as mellow(not bad just not the same).
A bit of hops would help hide the yeast as well.

Reculture the US-05 if you intend to do a few Cerveza's (see yeast washing etc for how to do it) you can re use the US-05 yeast a number of time and get a number of brews from each $6 sachet so the costs of a decent yeast come down to almost nothing (and the taste is worth the investment).

 

[crundle]

My brew was 100% standard.

I used the tin, provided yeast and 1kg of Dextrose.

Fermented for 6-7 days at 25-27deg, bottled for 10 at around 15deg.

I have made this kit with Lyle's Golden Syrup instead of using dextrose, and have made it with the yeast provided and some yeast from a bottle of Cooper's Pale Ale also. It has such a light flavour that the yeast will make some fairly noticible flavours if it ferments at moderate to high temperatures. I try to keep mine below 20 degrees while it is brewing, you can do the same by putting it in a fridge during the day and taking it out at night if you don't have another way to keep the temps down.

This beer is nice once left for a month or two, and with no hop addition is a very easy to drink beer, that mates and family will happily drink even if they turn their noses at home brew normally.

Not to say the other advice given is wrong at all, but if you are just beginning, the easiest thing you can do to improve it is yeast change, temperature of fermentation, and time to mature in the bottle.

This one will still be drinkable, but your next one will be much better I bet, and it just keeps getting better from there on in.

Enjoy,

Crundle