My First Cerveza

[fletcher]

cheers Paul. yeah I'm thinking more and more, it's sitting there now, shame to waste it I suppose. might attempt it and see how she turns out, I just really don't want that twang. fingers crossed it should be okay

 

[paulmclaren11]

I have done the Coopers Cerveza a few times now and I have never experienced kit twang.

I think as long as the kit is fresh and you use a good lager yeast (not the one under the lid which is a mix of ale and lager I think...) at appropriate temps it comes out a pretty good Corona/Sol style beer.

Give it a crack I am sure it will be fine.

 

[yum beer]

Hey fletcher, if you wanna go AG on a cerveza it can be very difficult to reproduce because there are a lot of adjuncts in them, ie flaked maize, dex, corn sugar.
I have my first AG attempt at a cerveza style cold conditioning ATM, probably bottling this weekend, grain bill...pilsener 65%, maize(polenta) 20%, munich 10% and carapils 5%.
Ive hopped with supar alpha to 19 IBU with a flameout addition of galaxy just for a fruity twist....it tastes pretty good from samples and colour wise its bang on the mark.
Fermented at 10c with White LAbe Mexican Yeast(seasonal) got it out of date and built it up. w34/70 or s189 lager yeast at 9-10c or us05 at 15c.

 

[fletcher]

nice yum!

i'll keep that in mind. i might as well use the crap i've got for teh moment and hope for the best now i've got the temperatures sorted and a proper ferment fridge and all. then i'm gonna go mental with biab. thanks for the heads up...let me know how she turns out? i'd be keen to try it.

 

[Helles]

The last lot of Czech Saaz i used was way over the with pepper flavour
And i put them in at 40 and 30 min boil
Not sure what year there from but pretty sure they are fairly fresh
i used for 80lt AG
As well as Perle for bittering
30g @ 40 min Saaz
16g @ 30 min Saaz
In a pretty light Lager a Munich Helles
It is to much flavour for me in a light lager
Be a little carefull with Saaz
You might have the same crop as me

 

[fletcher]

cheers helles,

i'm still pretty new to the whole brewing (and especially BIAB) game, so i'll keep mine nice and simple to start. i'll probably only use that small saaz pack for flavouring at this stage. thank you for the help! i'll make sure i don't boil it any longer!

 

[fletcher]

Does your fridge have an inbuilt freezer, if so you
can try taking the door off to drag colder air into the fridge. [\quote]

yum! this worked perfectly and it now gets down to 1 easily! (actually, it overshot 1 degrees and went lower).

did some tests last night and this morning it was at 0.4...hopefully it can stabilise while my beer's in there. does it matter if it gets this low while it's fermenting? i'm just concerned it will freeze while it chugs along trying to get to 1.0.

my STC doesn't have a heat component, only cooling. so i'm guessing it overshoots the mark and then slowly allows the fridge to warm to it's proper temp.

 

[yum beer]

Initially you may find the fridge wants to drop a little below your set temp while the fermenter gets down to temp.
0.4 want do any damage, in fact will be great for conditioning. Your brew wont freeze at those temps, just make sure the fermenter is not touching or too close to any cooling coils.

Once your fermenter is down to temp the swings in the fridge will be smaller.

Good luck with it, Fletch

 

[fletcher]

thanks so much mate, you've been a wealth of knowledge and reassurance for me. very much appreciated

 

[fletcher]

last question! (hopefully haha)

yum you wrote up, on the last page, about the lagering process including D-rest and then the lagering which is great. i just wanted to know at any of those stages, might it be an idea to take the beer off the yeast cake? or just leave it on there?

i have a larger fv i could pour the beer into, then clean my lager FV quickly, and put it back into it and back into the fridge...or is it just more work for little gain? i've heard of a bunch of people taking it off the yeast cake to improve flavour, is the reason i asked.

 

[bignath]

last question! (hopefully haha)

yum you wrote up, on the last page, about the lagering process including D-rest and then the lagering which is great. i just wanted to know at any of those stages, might it be an idea to take the beer off the yeast cake? or just leave it on there?

i have a larger fv i could pour the beer into, then clean my lager FV quickly, and put it back into it and back into the fridge...or is it just more work for little gain? i've heard of a bunch of people taking it off the yeast cake to improve flavour, is the reason i asked.

Fletcher, i know your question was aimed at yum beer, but i think it's safe to say everyone with an opinion would agree that your proposal of transferring to another vessel, cleaning the original and then transferring back to the clean vessel is risky business, particularly for so little alleged gain.

You run the risk of picking up infections at so many process points, as well as oxidising your beer along the way.

I used to rack to secondary and then cold condition etc....Nowadays, i literally just cold condition the primary and then package. I have not noticed a difference in the final product.

Not saying there are no advantages to transferring off the yeast cake, but transferring twice is asking for trouble, and the gain needs to outweigh the risk for it to be considered a good idea.

 

[fletcher]

Fletcher, i know your question was aimed at yum beer, but i think it's safe to say everyone with an opinion would agree that your proposal of transferring to another vessel, cleaning the original and then transferring back to the clean vessel is risky business, particularly for so little alleged gain.

You run the risk of picking up infections at so many process points, as well as oxidising your beer along the way.

I used to rack to secondary and then cold condition etc....Nowadays, i literally just cold condition the primary and then package. I have not noticed a difference in the final product.

Not saying there are no advantages to transferring off the yeast cake, but transferring twice is asking for trouble, and the gain needs to outweigh the risk for it to be considered a good idea.

thanks Big Nath, yeah it was asked of yum but i'm more than happy that you've answered. thank you.

the only reason i can't use that secondary FVs is cos it's one of those big coopers ones that doesn't fit in my fridge :angry:

to be honest, i'm kinda glad there's no real advantage at all in placing in a secondary FV cos it's less to worry about. i'll cold condition in primary and bottle straight from there. sexy.

thanks again for clearing that up!!

 

[yum beer]

Well answered Big Nath, sorry Fletch on a late night at work,
follow above, too much risk to bother transferring unless you plan on lagering for several weeks or longer.
a week or so wont make any difference flavour wise.

 

[yum beer]

Single biggest improvement I have notice in my process is to place your carbed beer in the fridge for at least a week before you drink them.
Longer if you can, they age so much better and drink much smoother than just jamming some bottles in the fridge for a few hours before cracking.

 

[fletcher]

so, what is the best process after they've been bottled...temperature-wise?

do you keep them at 12c forever? or what is the best process to age them temperature-wise? 12c for 3 weeks or lower at 1-3c for 3 weeks, then just keep em in fridge til cracked?

and please don't apologise for not answering right away mate, you don't even have to answer at all...i appreciate everything you've done...it's been a big help!

 

[yum beer]

after you bottle let them carb up at room temp, closer to 20c works niceley,normally about 2 weeks, if its cooler they will take longer.
Once they are carbed, testing is a neccessary part of brewing, keep them as cool as you can. Fridge space is not always available for a lot
of bottles but keep some in the fridge for as long as you can. I normally have 4 or 5 different beers in the fridge on a constant rotation-FIFO-, of course it will depend how
much you drink, I dont drink a lot (SWMBO doesn't agree).

EDIT: spelling and lack of forethought

 

[fletcher]

Hey fletcher, if you wanna go AG on a cerveza it can be very difficult to reproduce because there are a lot of adjuncts in them, ie flaked maize, dex, corn sugar.
I have my first AG attempt at a cerveza style cold conditioning ATM, probably bottling this weekend, grain bill...pilsener 65%, maize(polenta) 20%, munich 10% and carapils 5%.
Ive hopped with supar alpha to 19 IBU with a flameout addition of galaxy just for a fruity twist....it tastes pretty good from samples and colour wise its bang on the mark.
Fermented at 10c with White LAbe Mexican Yeast(seasonal) got it out of date and built it up. w34/70 or s189 lager yeast at 9-10c or us05 at 15c.

hey yum, how's this one at the moment? any recent tests? and where did you source the mexican yeast hombre? i'm using s23 in mine and am finally getting to do it this week.

 

[yum beer]

hey yum, how's this one at the moment? any recent tests? and where did you source the mexican yeast hombre? i'm using s23 in mine and am finally getting to do it this week.

I cracked a bottle of this Friday night with my cousin I hadnt seen for a while, it was only 11 days from bottling and been in the fridge a bit over a day.
It was pretty well carbed, it poured a nice head and very clear and bright, it was quite nice though a little 'green' still, there was a slight grainy taste and the hops
were a liitle slick on the finish. I think another 2 weeks and it will be good. My cousin thought it was sensational and threw another bottle in the freezer, it was not quite carbed
or settled as the first.
Definetely a winner, will report again in 2 weeks when I have another go at it.



The yeast is White Labs,WLP 940, its a seasonal I think comes out in March--check there website for sure-I bought it from ESB(sponsor) about 8 months out of date and grew it on a stir plate.

S-23 should work fine. Good luck with it.

 

[fletcher]

Hey Fletcher,
for best utilization of you hops,
mix 2 litres of water with 200 grams of LDM, bring to the boil, add your hops for 10 mins.
Strain this liquid into your fermenter and use in place of your initial hot water..do not add the hops to your fermenter ( in my opinion. IMO , you will get too much flavour
for a cerveza by adding the hops in, it works in stronger flavoured beers but leave it for now.)

Brew at low temps till steady, then raise for D-rest leave 3 days then drop temp to 1-2 degrees for a week or 3. Then bottle.

I have found the Cerveza is best drank after about 3-4 weeks in the bottle or left for 4 months plus. It starts out fresh and clean then seems to pick up a twang in the bottle that takes a while to smooth back out, try them regularly and when good get into them. Ole'

Hey Yum,
Me here with another question haha.
The cerveza is in the FV now and all seems good hopefully, apart from waiting a bit long to get the temp down to pitch the s23, but had a quick question.
If I crash chill to 1c for a week or three THEN bottle, how will I carb it, by bringing it up to room temp again? Seems like a lot of temperature changes is all, would that affect it? I'm happy to bottle it, let it sit at room temp to carb for maybe 2 weeks, then cold store at 1c again for x weeks/months, but just a bit concerned about temps.
It's been up and down in temps like a seesaw

 

[yum beer]

Missed this last response Fletch but here goes.

Let your bottled brew sit at room temps, as said around 20c if you can, normally good carb after 2 weeks,
then get them cool if you can. Whatever you do get em in the fridge for a while before drinking it does make a huge differnece.
My brews sit in my garage/bar/pool room which is cool in winter and can get a little warm in summer, up to about 30c on a hot day..not ideal but still working
on SWMBO allowing boxes of beer into the house...getting there.


Update on my Cerveza batch, had a bottle this arvo and quite pleased with it, nice malt sweetness and enough bitter bite to be fresh, the galaxy hasnt really worked for the style,
its got an almost Aussie pale ale finish with a brilliant dry crisp lager body. Probably along the lines of Knappstein Reserve, not exactly my favourite beer but thats were it finished.

I think with more appropriate hops..Galena and maybe some Glacier instead it would be great, even as is just dropping the galaxy and only using super alpha for bittering
might have been a better option. I will certainly enjoy these over the hot days ahead.