Coopers Cerveza Review

[oldstout]

I have just ditched 15l of this from a cornie. It didnt lager well (I used a lager yeast @ 12c and lagered for 3 months. Tastes like cats piss, abit of a lager flavour but not really drinkable.

Its a shame because everyone seems to enjoy it otherwise.

D

Hey Darcey, try the BetterBrew Czech Pils :thumb: I won't go back to the Coopers Cerveza either

 

[specialisthomebrew]

Hey guys, considering making the coopers mexican cerveza this weekend. Any tips or advice on what to look out for before and during ferment. Should I go with the brew enhancer kits or make my own combination of spraymalt and dextrose? Cheers

 

[Sandimas]

I'd definately brew it short next time, maybe to 20L, just to get a bit more flavour out of it. Brew enhancer should be fine. Think the Canadian Blonde is a better tasting kit IMHO.

 

[anthonyUK]

The Coopers APA is as close to a lager style as I like.
It has a relatively low IBU and tastes great. I haven't tried it but I think this would lager well.

 

[specialisthomebrew]

Thanks for the advice, pretty much new to brewing lager any tips on how to get it just right?Also how about carbonation other than using a Corni keg?

 

[lagerlout]

I brewed the coopers cerveza for my second kit just before christmas so its now 6 months old and i'm down to my last 2 bottles. I started drinking them after 3 weeks in the bottles and they tasted great, and have kept getting better with time. Everyone who has tried one says its the best homebrew they have tasted and a few people have even said i should sell it!

This was brewed with a kilo of bog standard white sugar and primed with 1.5 carbonation drops per bottle so could probably be improved, which i will do soon. Compared to my first brew, coopers lager, thie cerveza is much more drinkable and even after 4-5 pints it tastes like a proper lager and not a cheap homebrew kit. Recommended :

 

[stonegrey]

just opened a couple of bottles of this, not really a lager person, well, that's putting it politely.

however, this stuff is rather good, 1 used 1kg of coopers enhancer, and 250g of demarera in the FV with a 23 litre brew. then primed with 1tsp of granulated, as i found demarera, doesn't gas as well, but creates a nutty aftertaste.

all in all, i'm quire impressed. this reminds me of Sol, but taste like there is already a slice of lime in the glass.

 

[Brewing Boilerman]

Made this up on the 2nd of sept. 300g brewing sugar and 500g light dry malt, 2 weeks in FV. Bottles on 15 sept. Thought i would pop one in the fridge last night and give it a try. I primed my bottles with sugar in half of them and brewing sugar in the other half. I tried a brewing sugar primed bottle last night and athough it had had very long to catbonate it was a very nice pint. Strangely had a very light bananna aroma.

All in all a very nice beer. Ill try a sugar primed bottle in the next few days to compare. Looking forward to seeing how this progreses.

 

[ScottM]

Made this up on the 2nd of sept. 300g brewing sugar and 500g light dry malt, 2 weeks in FV. Bottles on 15 sept. Thought i would pop one in the fridge last night and give it a try. I primed my bottles with sugar in half of them and brewing sugar in the other half. I tried a brewing sugar primed bottle last night and athough it had had very long to catbonate it was a very nice pint. Strangely had a very light bananna aroma.

All in all a very nice beer. Ill try a sugar primed bottle in the next few days to compare. Looking forward to seeing how this progreses.

Did you brew it short? 800g of additional fermentables is way short of what is required according to the instructions.

Priming with sugar vs brewing sugar won't make any odds. People always recommend sugar due to this.... as it's cheaper

 

[Brewing Boilerman]

Made this up on the 2nd of sept. 300g brewing sugar and 500g light dry malt, 2 weeks in FV. Bottles on 15 sept. Thought i would pop one in the fridge last night and give it a try. I primed my bottles with sugar in half of them and brewing sugar in the other half. I tried a brewing sugar primed bottle last night and athough it had had very long to catbonate it was a very nice pint. Strangely had a very light bananna aroma.

All in all a very nice beer. Ill try a sugar primed bottle in the next few days to compare. Looking forward to seeing how this progreses.

Did you brew it short? 800g of additional fermentables is way short of what is required according to the instructions.

Priming with sugar vs brewing sugar won't make any odds. People always recommend sugar due to this.... as it's cheaper

I brewed it pretty close to the instructions to be honest 23L
In the coopers booklet it says you can use 1kg of brew enhancer 2 Alternatively 500g light dry malt and 250g of suger/dextrose may be used.
So based on their instructions im over on sugers and it tasted great

 

[ScottM]

[quote="Brewing Boilerman":1wkwbalt]Made this up on the 2nd of sept. 300g brewing sugar and 500g light dry malt, 2 weeks in FV. Bottles on 15 sept. Thought i would pop one in the fridge last night and give it a try. I primed my bottles with sugar in half of them and brewing sugar in the other half. I tried a brewing sugar primed bottle last night and athough it had had very long to catbonate it was a very nice pint. Strangely had a very light bananna aroma.

All in all a very nice beer. Ill try a sugar primed bottle in the next few days to compare. Looking forward to seeing how this progreses.

Did you brew it short? 800g of additional fermentables is way short of what is required according to the instructions.

Priming with sugar vs brewing sugar won't make any odds. People always recommend sugar due to this.... as it's cheaper

I brewed it pretty close to the instructions to be honest 23L
In the coopers booklet it says you can use 1kg of brew enhancer 2 Alternatively 500g light dry malt and 250g of suger/dextrose may be used.
So based on their instructions im over on sugers and it tasted great[/quote:1wkwbalt]


1kg of brew enhancer IS 500g of dry malt and 500g of sugar.

The options that you are generally given is to add 1kg of sugar or 500g of DME & 500g of dextrose... also known as brew enhancer. I brewed the mexican cerveza about a year ago and I don't remember anything less than 1kg (total) being stated in the instructions.

Glad that it tastes good but it'll be as weak as pond water

 

[Brewing Boilerman]

Unless im reading it wrong that is what it said


OG was 1040
SG was 1006
So again unless im doing my maths wrong after priming and adding 0.5%abv i worked it out to be 5.05% (not quite weak as pond water :clap: ). As you can tell by my post ocunt i am new at home brewing so i have followed the instructions. Feel free to correct me if i am wrng though.

 

[ScottM]

Unless im reading it wrong that is what it said


OG was 1040
SG was 1006
So again unless im doing my maths wrong after priming and adding 0.5%abv i worked it out to be 5.05% (not quite weak as pond water :clap: ). As you can tell by my post ocunt i am new at home brewing so i have followed the instructions. Feel free to correct me if i am wrng though.

No you're reading it right, those instructions really don't make any sense

You've got some nice figures out of it considering, 5% is about spot on for that beer. Mine came out 4.5% using 1kg of brewing sugar and brewed to 23L so you've done well there getting that

 

[ScottM]

Just checked my notes on the Coopers European Lager kit. I brewed it to 23L with 1kg of brewing sugar and 0.5kg of DME. This gave me an OG of 1.046 and my FG was 1.006 giving me around the 5% mark.

Given that the coopers instructions give you the measurements based on around 4% I'm amazed you're seeing over 5% following them to the letter. Especially when you went with the lesser level of fermentables, ie 750g rather than 1kg.

Definitely something to look into if you brew it again.

 

[Brewing Boilerman]

Did the same with my euro lager and had
1038 OG
1005 SG
with a 4.9% abv

 

[ScottM]

Did the same with my euro lager and had
1038 OG
1005 SG
with a 4.9% abv

Something really strange there then. Have you checked the volume of your bucket? Those sort of levels of alcohol aren't possible with the fermentables in the kit.

I'm adding twice as much additional fermentables to get the same levels as you are.

 

[Brewing Boilerman]

i have been using the coopers FV (the new one) and 2 Youngs 25l fermentaion buckets. only filling to 23L approx

 

[ScottM]

Not sure on the measurements on the buckets but....


1.7kg of LME - Yield 80%
0.5kg of Sugar - Yield 100%
0.25kg of DME - Yield 95%

From the above we can calculate what the OG will be....

1700 * 0.8 + 500 + 250 * 0.95 = 2097.5g sugar comparison.

We know that sugar has a yield value of 36 points so from that we can work out the OG of the wort.

2097.5g of sugar in 23L = 1.033 OG

The FG will remain pretty constant, so based on that the FG will still be around 1.005/1.006.

The alcohol based on the above ingredients, starting gravity and approx FG will be 3.6%.

The only way there will be more alcohol, ie a higher OG, is if the total volume is less or the sugar content is higher.

 

[Brewing Boilerman]

I'll have to take your word for it. like i said im new to homebrewing and to be honest that (right now) doesnt mean all that much to me. All i have done is put my figures up as i recorded them throughout the brewing process.

What ever the ABV is it tasted pretty good after only 10 days in the bottle. After a few more weeks, possibly months of maturing i will have a good session on it and ill soon see how it affects me the morning after :thumb:

 

[ScottM]

I'll have to take your word for it. like i said im new to homebrewing and to be honest that (right now) doesnt mean all that much to me. All i have done is put my figures up as i recorded them throughout the brewing process.

What ever the ABV is it tasted pretty good after only 10 days in the bottle. After a few more weeks, possibly months of maturing i will have a good session on it and ill soon see how it affects me the morning after :thumb:

Well the coopers kits instructions are based on 4%. There may be a few special ones that are different, but for the most part all the ingredients and instructions are made to give you 4%. If you are getting more than that then there is something miscalculated in your process somewhere.

You don't need to take my word for that though, it'll be on the coopers website. Dropping to 750g rather than 1kg will yield less than 4% though.