Brew Enhancer 2

[Spanish_brewer]

Hi

I am about to brew a Mexican cerveza (coopers) and on the instructions it says "we recommend the use or 1kg Brew enhancer 2, I have looked at this online and it seem quite expensive. Can I use just sugar or something else a bit cheaper, or on the other hand using a brew enhancer is the best thing to do?

Thanks
Luis

 

[pittsy]

it is 50% sugar and 50% dried malt extract , i would just use extra light malt extract instead .

 

[ScottM]

Hi

I am about to brew a Mexican cerveza (coopers) and on the instructions it says "we recommend the use or 1kg Brew enhancer 2, I have looked at this online and it seem quite expensive. Can I use just sugar or something else a bit cheaper, or on the other hand using a brew enhancer is the best thing to do?

Thanks
Luis

It's a pretty good recommendation. I would also add another 500g of brewing sugar into the mix. It would be cheaper to buy the 3 ingredients individually and mix your own, but then you would be left with excess amounts of the ingredients... so it's generally easier to just buy the BE2 and a bag of brewing sugar. Tip in the BE2 and tip in 500g of the brewing sugar, store the rest away for your next brew :)

 

[ScottM]

it is 50% sugar and 50% dried malt extract , i would just use extra light malt extract instead .

I believe that's BE1, I could be wrong though. BE2 is recommended here to increase the body of the Cerveza as it's really lacking.

 

[pittsy]

i still wouldn't add sugar , body will be thin as you say and sugar will make it thinner still. both enhancers have brewing sugar in them , extract recipes don't have sugar in them (mostly) nor do all grain and using sugar / old kits(liquid extract needs to be fresh) /crap yeast are the 3 main reasons why some kits aren't too good.

 

[mmaguy41]

I would also use 1kg of light or extra light spraymalt, you could also get a muntons or other brew enhancer which is usually slightly cheaper

 

[ScottM]

i still wouldn't add sugar , body will be thin as you say and sugar will make it thinner still. both enhancers have brewing sugar in them , extract recipes don't have sugar in them (mostly) nor do all grain and using sugar / old kits(liquid extract needs to be fresh) /crap yeast are the 3 main reasons why some kits aren't too good.

When I made the kit the last time I used 1KG of sugar, it didn't have enough body so the next time I do it I'll be using 500g of DME to bulk it up a little.

BE2 has, from memory, 500g of brewing sugar, 250g of malt and 250g of an unfermentable malt (maltodextrin or something like that). This means that it's going to have 250g of unfermentables in there. This will be PLENTY to cover what's required IMO and it'll also be more unfermentables than found in 1kg of straight up DME.

With all this in mind, and given the fact that this will produce a brew less than 4% I would always recommend adding the additional 500g of brewing sugar to even out the body a little and to bump up the ABV to an acceptable (for me) level. If DME was used instead of brewing sugar I think this would be TOO much body for the style of lager that is being made.

All IMO and based on my preference of course :)

 

[StrangeBrew]

Hi

I am about to brew a Mexican cerveza (coopers) and on the instructions it says "we recommend the use or 1kg Brew enhancer 2, I have looked at this online and it seem quite expensive. Can I use just sugar or something else a bit cheaper, or on the other hand using a brew enhancer is the best thing to do?

Thanks
Luis

Coopers
BKE1 - Recomended for lager, pale ale etc
60% Sugar (Dextrose)
40% Maltodextrin

BKE2 - Recomended for ales, darker beers etc.
50% Sugar (Dextrose)
25% Dry Malt Extract
25% Maltodextrin

Most UK and Brew Shop BKE Varies between...
66.6% Sugar (Dextrose)
33.3% Dry Malt Extract
To
50% Sugar (Dextrose)
50% Dry Malt Extract

:

 

[ScottM]

Hi

I am about to brew a Mexican cerveza (coopers) and on the instructions it says "we recommend the use or 1kg Brew enhancer 2, I have looked at this online and it seem quite expensive. Can I use just sugar or something else a bit cheaper, or on the other hand using a brew enhancer is the best thing to do?

Thanks
Luis

Coopers
BKE1 - Recomended for lager, pale ale etc
60% Sugar (Dextrose)
40% Maltodextrin

BKE2 - Recomended for ales, darker beers etc.
50% Sugar (Dextrose)
25% Dry Malt Extract
25% Maltodextrin

Most UK and Brew Shop BKE Varies between...
66.6% Sugar (Dextrose)
33.3% Dry Malt Extract
To
50% Sugar (Dextrose)
50% Dry Malt Extract

:

BE2 is recommended because the cerveza comes out REALLY thin. I couldn't believe it when I made it, it was like water lol.

 

[ChrisRedWills]

hi brewers

when I did mine I used 1kg of bke and 500g of light spray malt turned out great :party:

 

[bottler]

I started my cerveza last weekend, and used brew enhancer 2 a saflager yeast and letting it brew at low temperature [using no heat belt etc] . Temp varies between 12c and 17c or so, depending on weather outside and how often i heat my brewing /computer room.Seems to be doing fine.

 

[Spanish_brewer]

I started my cerveza last weekend, and used brew enhancer 2 a saflager yeast and letting it brew at low temperature [using no heat belt etc] . Temp varies between 12c and 17c or so, depending on weather outside and how often i heat my brewing /computer room.Seems to be doing fine.

the coopers instructions for this type of beer recommends a temperature of 21 - 27 c. But if it works at lower temp, better. Let me know how it turns out.

 

[ScottM]

I started my cerveza last weekend, and used brew enhancer 2 a saflager yeast and letting it brew at low temperature [using no heat belt etc] . Temp varies between 12c and 17c or so, depending on weather outside and how often i heat my brewing /computer room.Seems to be doing fine.

the coopers instructions for this type of beer recommends a temperature of 21 - 27 c. But if it works at lower temp, better. Let me know how it turns out.

I can't remember if the cerveza comes with lager yeast, but bottler is using lager yeast which can be fermented, happily, way down below 12 degrees.

For a lager it's all in the temp and the yeast from what I understand. That along with loads of time of course

 

[bottler]

I used the yeast that came with my cerveza on another brew, so i had to buy another one to replace it. I bought a saflager yeast to try it out. I started the brew last weekend and OG was 1042 and tonight [friday] its down to 1012. The average temperature of the brew over that time was 14c-16c. So happy with progress and i'll bottle in another weeks time i think.

 

[bottler]

I started my cerveza last weekend, and used brew enhancer 2 a saflager yeast and letting it brew at low temperature [using no heat belt etc] . Temp varies between 12c and 17c or so, depending on weather outside and how often i heat my brewing /computer room.Seems to be doing fine.

the coopers instructions for this type of beer recommends a temperature of 21 - 27 c. But if it works at lower temp, better. Let me know how it turns out.

Dont let it go above 22c mate. 27C would ruin the beer, by giving it off tastes. :thumb:

 

[Will12283]

I did my last Coopers cerveza with the brew enhancer and will be moving it to the cold this weekend. It should be ready to drink in 3-4 weeks so not tried it yet

 

[Spanish_brewer]

I did my last Coopers cerveza with the brew enhancer and will be moving it to the cold this weekend. It should be ready to drink in 3-4 weeks so not tried it yet

Let me know how it taste I will star mine next week when I get the enhancer. I am also thinking about getting the Coopers Carbonation Drops, they are very expensive though. have anyone tried this?

 

[Will12283]

I use the drops mostly due to the fact I had them cheap or for Christmas. I find them good and it saves a lot of mess (very important when you have a 1 year old wandering around).

 

[ScottM]

IMO the drops are hopeless. I used them with my first attempt at mexican cerveza. It was REALLY under-gassed by the time it came to drink. The trouble is that coopers sell them being for the coopers bottles, ie 1 per 375ml or 2 per 750ml. This means that us folks with 500ml bottles need to use 1.5 coopers drops, halfing them is an absolute PITA. I didnt realise this at the time so I bottled all of mine with 1 per bottle, and ended up with a fairly flat lager. I was gutted

Never again, batch priming for me all the way, no hassle and no fuss :)

 

[RobertP]

IMO the drops are hopeless. I used them with my first attempt at mexican cerveza. It was REALLY under-gassed by the time it came to drink. The trouble is that coopers sell them being for the coopers bottles, ie 1 per 375ml or 2 per 750ml. This means that us folks with 500ml bottles need to use 1.5 coopers drops, halfing them is an absolute PITA. I didnt realise this at the time so I bottled all of mine with 1 per bottle, and ended up with a fairly flat lager. I was gutted

Never again, batch priming for me all the way, no hassle and no fuss :)

That was my experience with the carbonation drops too.

I used 2l bottles and multiplied up how many drops to use. Beer is pretty near flat after 3 weeks in the bottles.

A week ago I opened 2/3rds of the bottles and put in priming sugar quick and put the lid on immediately as the sugar released what tiny bit of gas was there. Those bottles are now getting some pressure in them. The 1/3rd left to see if more time would fix it are still nearly flat.

Anyway, no more carbonation drops for me. Took ages to dissolve in the bottles too.

On the plus side, it tastes pretty good. I used BE2 but only 750g as I'm one of those strange people that prefer a lower alcohol beer...