Coopers Cerveza Review

[Brewing Boilerman]

Well we live and learn. Still tasted cracking to me and i am a lager drinker mainly. like i said i'll know how strong it is when i have a session on it : Maybe sometime in the future ill make it again with 500g DME and 500g brewing sugar and see how much my figures differ by. Or possibly 1kg of DME.

 

[lovelldr]

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.

isn't the 1kg based on their brew enhancer? The cerveza recommends be2 afaik, which is apparently 50% dextrose, 25% dme and 25% maltodextrin. Therefore, adding 1kg of brew enhancer is more than they're adding with be2, as the maltodextrin is not fermentable I don't think...

 

[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.

isn't the 1kg based on their brew enhancer? The cerveza recommends be2 afaik, which is apparently 50% dextrose, 25% dme and 25% maltodextrin. Therefore, adding 1kg of brew enhancer is more than they're adding with be2, as the maltodextrin is not fermentable I don't think...

Yeah that'll be right. It'll be the 25% maltodextrin that covers the reason for the lower sugars. It still won't crack 4% if brewed to the instructions though.

When I brewed the Mexican Cerveza it really lacked body, I guess that was because I used brewing sugar rather than the BE2. If doing it again I would just brew it short to 19L or add loads of DME

 

[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

So was I short of fermentables then or not? Seeing as a post above stated that maltodextrin does not ferment. I had the same weight of fermentables as the recommended BE.

 

[ScottM]

[quote="Brewing Boilerman":3hg6lcgy]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

So was I short of fermentables then or not? Seeing as a post above stated that maltodextrin does not ferment. I had the same weight of fermentables as the recommended BE.[/quote:3hg6lcgy]

Yup, exactly the same amount of fermentables as the BE2. The instructions are to brew 4-4.5% though. Doing the maths it'll be 4% maximum..... so over 5% is impossible without brewing short.

 

[banterchicken]

I'm just about to start a mexican beer brew, I'm a noob this is my second brew I'm just using coopers gear.

I've done a successful coopers lager brew, but would of preferred the alcohol content to be a bit higher.

this adding fermentables that you've mention.... would you recommend me doing this? I will be using the coopers brew enhancer two, standard yeast and the cerveza, would adding say 200g of regular sugar have an affect on what I wan't to achieve?

 

[Brewing Boilerman]

I had a bottle of San Miguel last night and I think that is the closest flavour comparrison. I have not tried corona for a flavour comparrison though.

 

[ScottM]

I'm just about to start a mexican beer brew, I'm a noob this is my second brew I'm just using coopers gear.

I've done a successful coopers lager brew, but would of preferred the alcohol content to be a bit higher.

this adding fermentables that you've mention.... would you recommend me doing this? I will be using the coopers brew enhancer two, standard yeast and the cerveza, would adding say 200g of regular sugar have an affect on what I wan't to achieve?

I would expect another 500 to be required to be honest.

Next time I'm doing it I'll be brewing with 1kg of brewing sugar and 500g of extra light DME.

 

[banterchicken]

I'm just about to start a mexican beer brew, I'm a noob this is my second brew I'm just using coopers gear.

I've done a successful coopers lager brew, but would of preferred the alcohol content to be a bit higher.

this adding fermentables that you've mention.... would you recommend me doing this? I will be using the coopers brew enhancer two, standard yeast and the cerveza, would adding say 200g of regular sugar have an affect on what I wan't to achieve?

I would expect another 500 to be required to be honest.

Next time I'm doing it I'll be brewing with 1kg of brewing sugar and 500g of extra light DME.

thanks, I'll keep that in mind for my next one.

I'm doing a cerveza and just used the recommended ingredients as per instructions.

doesn't seem to have gone as scummy as my euro lager so I'm not sure if it's fermenting properly. time will tell

 

[Muddydisco]

Just Kegged and bottled my batch, did as per instructions. 1.040 to 1.010 from tasting the left over from bottling should be a nice pint, will make a change from my stouts and bitters :thumb: :thumb:

 

[ScottM]

Just Kegged and bottled my batch, did as per instructions. 1.040 to 1.010 from tasting the left over from bottling should be a nice pint, will make a change from my stouts and bitters :thumb: :thumb:

1.010 is a bit high if it was brewed to the instructions. It goes fairly low, even with a DME addition. I hit around 1.004 when I brewed to 23L without anything added. I think my OG was 1.038 though, rather than 1.040.

 

[Muddydisco]

It had sat at that for 10 days. It weren't going to go any lower. I used packet yeast supplied which I've never really been able to get a kit below 1.010.

 

[mak]

Tis a good brew this just so long as its served chilled. Found it was better bottled than kegged.

Doing it again soon but with tequila essense added and less water to try and get something simliar to Desperados :)

However, as much as I like this kit, I would choose Hambleton Bards Lager Supreme over it any day. It's a hell of a job to clean off the hop extract after its finished fermenting, but it's worth it!

 

[fbsf]

Just tried my first one last night - has been in the bottle for just over a month now.

It's definitely not overwhelming on flavour, but is a refreshing pint, especially with a small dash of lime cordial. A little yeasty on the nose too - probably the most "homebrewy" tasting of the kits that I've done, but still drinkable.

If I were to do this again, I'd probably dry hop with some saaz or hallertau to give it a bit more flavour and mask the yeasty nose.

Saying that, as I have a tin of APA and a tin of Cervesa, I might just bung both in together with no additional sugars, and then dry hop that...

 

[ScottM]

It had sat at that for 10 days. It weren't going to go any lower. I used packet yeast supplied which I've never really been able to get a kit below 1.010.

Not even lager kits? Every lager kit I have done has been around 1.004-1.006. I always find them far lighter than ales etc.... as I would expect.

 

[BigDDunc]

I got me one of these yesterday (along with Coopers European lager), I'll set them both off shortly and the aim is to leave them until the first few days of real warm weather we get which should be 5-12 months knowing England :mrgreen:

I'll post back my thoughts then, and will be able to compare them both side by side.

I do plan on going through some of the other Coopers beer kits too, the Canadian Blonde, Australian lager and Pilsner - but that'll have to wait for a few more months yet (and if I can get enough bottles) :twisted:

 

[Antrog65]

Having drunk Sol in the 90's trying to be trendy with me little bit of lime stuck in the top I thought I'd give this a try.

Brewed to 23L using brew enhancer.

Started at 1038
Ended at 1006

I was expecting a very light 'straw coloured' drink, but was surprised to see quite a usual lager colour, more Corona than Sol from memory. . ?

Taste - quite a crisp slightly dry aftertaste which may be due to it being a bit young, but a definite hint of lemon afterwards. A nice drink but to be honest I don't think this is at it's best indoors with the wind and rain hitting the window.
A sunshine drink i think.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/27708437@N ... otostream/

 

[fbsf]

Just reporting back another 5 or so weeks from my last post, and it's maturing nicely.

The slight homebrew taste that I'd previously noted has all but disappeared and been replaced by a light citrussy note. I brought a couple of 1L bottles into work lunchtime and everyone liked it, and some mentioned that it reminded them of Corona.

So there you go - not one to be brewed and drunk quickly it seems, but in the end worth doing. I might get another batch on the go in February ready for the summer as I still have a tin of it sat in the garage.

 

[mattrickl06]

Had this conditioning for around 3 weeks now in the garage which has changed it dramatically.

The eggy smell has all but disappeared.

The head is fantastic - its like Carling Premier and stays all the way down the glass.

Tastes lovely - quite light (glad i added some extra Saaz) but very refreshing and easy to drink.

A definate winner for the price

 

[Kinleycat]

I'm going to try this kit for my second brew, so I will be scouring this thread for tips.
A couple of questions:
Is there a limit to the sugar you can add and is normal granulated sugar any better or worse than all the other fermentables(?) mentioned?
Can you over do it in the bucket time wise, and what are the benefits if any of extra time after fermentation has subsided?
How long can I keep bottled afterwards?

I've just done my first kit, Coopers Draught and it all seems to have gone ok(ish) OG 1040 FG 1014, I assume it won't be massively strong.
It foamed up for a couple of days then subsided and was in the bucket for a total of seven days.
I added the supplied yeast at 23c and stored in the bucket at about 20c.
I used (was recommended) a kilo tin of golden syrup as the sugar & I've added a teaspoon of granulated sugar to prime my pet bottles.
Where could I have made improvements?
Cheers,
KC