Brew No.6 - Mexican Cerveza

[ceejam]

I brewed this up a few weeks ago (13/04/2011) but didn't have a chance to post on here.

I used the Cooper's kit, 1kG of Munton's BKE & 400g white sugar to get a starting gravity of 1045.
I used the kits yeast, which is a mix of lager & ale yeast, and used my new aquarium heater to control fermentatin to a steady 20 degrees. I put the fermenter in the garage with the heater inside it - glad I did as it was quite sulphury during the ferment.

I left it a good two weeks and it finished at 1006, so around 5.3%

Thanks to Wills & Kate's wedding I had a day off so got it bottled while the wife was watching the wedding!

I batch primed in a pressure barrel with 300g of priming sugar to get it nicely fizzy, before syphoning into bottles / mini kegs and left it two weeks in the warm, and now it's had a few days in the garage / fridge, it;sdrinking really nicely!

Tried a wee drop lime cordial in one last night, but not convinced!

 

[mikecfc]

I have been brewing this too, i used coopers beer enhancer 2. Bottled it today using one of those filling sticks, made it so much easier :thumb: My brew has come out at 4.7% , now just a waiting game until its ready to drink. How does it compare to the standard coopers aussie lager , anyone?

 

[ceejam]

One thing I did different with this was using an aquarium heater set to 20 degrees, and the fermentor in my garage in the dark, and ambient around 10-14 degrees.

Doesn't seem to have any of the "twang" that my previous brews have had!

 

[rickthebrew]

I`ve brewed this a few times and after six weeks its really good - if you can leave it that long , i never could I start sampling about 24hours after a brew is bottled :party:

 

[ceejam]

I expect that most of it will get drunk this weekend, as I'm away with some mates and they are keen to sample it!

 

[ceejam]

Well, the beer went down well at the weekend!

I finished a 5 gallon minikeg on Friday night, another one between Saturday & Sunday, along with a few bottles of my Hopped Sparkling ale, some Irish Stout and some Cheeky Vimto....

Was feeling a wee bit :sick: on Saturday & Sunday mornings, but that due to lack of sleep - "Drinking doesn't cause Hangovers, waking up does!" as my T shirt said!

A Weekend's drinking without touching anything commercial! :thumb: :

Just having another wee bottle of Mexican tonight, and amazed at how good it is for the lack of effort and conditioning time! :drunk:

 

[mikecfc]

Sounds like you had a right good weekend on the home brew :drunk: Good stuff!! My mexican has been in bottles now for two weeks now, itching to taste it, cant wait.. how long did you let yours condition before sampling??

 

[ceejam]

'Twas about 3 weeks, bottled on Friday 29th April, drank lots of it on Friday 20th May.

 

[mikecfc]

Tried mine last night, its really good , very suprised. Should get even better after for weeks, think i will be sampling some more tonight :

 

[dermy]

I'm watching the footie tonight with my freshly made batch.

Tastes great...quite light and very smooth....a lot smoother than the aussie lager.

 

[SE10PAT]

hi lads,

Myself and a mate have recently brewed the Coopers Mexican and both had similar results, ie thats it as flat as a board. We both used the beer enhancer instead of sugar, one was temperature controlled whilst the other was left in a warmish room. I know that mine had an SG of 1044 and ended at 1012 and is drinkable so happy enough there, it's just the non-carbonation has left me feeling a little bit disapointed.

All the brew is in 500ml bottles, with half a teaspoon of granulated sugar, and has only been a few days since bottling took place, could I expect the carbonation to take off the longer I leave it?

cheers
Pat

 

[Mike1981]

has only been a few days since bottling took place, could I expect the carbonation to take off the longer I leave it?

Yes, i leave it Minimum 7 days in warm then put them somewhere cool for around 2 weeks
Michael

 

[Essex_Lad]

Looks like more sitting on our hands Pat :

 

[Mike1981]

Resist the temptation....... :twisted:

 

[Essex_Lad]

Resist the temptation....... :twisted:

Its such a hard thing to do..............you try one bottle and then that leads to another and so on :drink:

 

[rickthebrew]

the answer is get some stocks brewed up :thumb: It will carbonate soon though

 

[bomberns127]

i brewed this a while ago, before its was reasonable i had to leave it for at least 3 months, and dont forget to use a lager glass, not a beer pint glass, reason is they have nucleation marks in the glass which help to keep the lager gassed while drinking, these marks are normally to do with the markings on the glass, fosters glass has an F etched in the bottom, magners has an apple etched and so on, beer glasses have no nucleation marks at all, this makes a huge difference when drinking homebrew

 

[jinxy72]

hi lads,

Myself and a mate have recently brewed the Coopers Mexican and both had similar results, ie thats it as flat as a board. We both used the beer enhancer instead of sugar, one was temperature controlled whilst the other was left in a warmish room. I know that mine had an SG of 1044 and ended at 1012 and is drinkable so happy enough there, it's just the non-carbonation has left me feeling a little bit disapointed.

All the brew is in 500ml bottles, with half a teaspoon of granulated sugar, and has only been a few days since bottling took place, could I expect the carbonation to take off the longer I leave it?

cheers
Pat

as said pat dont touch anything bottled for at least 2 weeks .. at that is minimum .. better leaving for 4 if u can :thumb:

 

[Essex_Lad]

Time to brew another batch - This time I will sit on my hands and leave well alone till christmas :whistle: :whistle: :whistle:

 

[afur130173]

i have a coopers euro lager to brew at the weekend after that its time for the mexican cerveza. hardest part is definitely sitting on my hands and not necking it all.