Coopers Cerveza Review

[Gassman]

I bought 2 of these kits yesterday after reading this topic and having my mouth watering

Just few questions........

I have 2.5 kilos brewing sugar and a 500gm pack of spray malt so is it ok to split this evenly with the 2 kits or would the spray malt then be no good as a smaller quantity

If its no good then I will use a kilo of sugar and a spray malt and in the other a kilo and half of sugar

I will make 20 litres with each maybe 19 as I want to be able to taste it and dont want it like gnats piss

After just doing a quantity of wine I know my cupboard where it will stay is about 21 degrees so maybe 8 days in there and then will rack to carboys but should I add finings or leave to settle naturally

I also though of omitting the yeast that came with it and adding a champagne yeast as it is supposed to be a very light lager, am I thinking right doing this or shall I just use the kit stuff (Forget this one I just read up on it)

I also have yeast nutrient so shall I add or just go with just the kit stuff

I will bulk prime after racking and have a quantity of 500ml coopers bottles but would 2 litre plastic lemonade bottles be ok to use also

 

[ScottM]

If brewing to 23L I would go with 1kg of extra light DME and 500g of brewing sugar per kit. If you plan on holding it back to around 19L I would go with 500g of spraymalt and 500g of brewing sugar per kit.

 

[GJB]

My first pour away.... :cry:

After being bottled for way over the required, and being outside for most of this time, I had 32 bottles of this left which has been kindly donated to the "Sewer Rats May Bank Holiday BBQ Piss-up".

It finally cleared, but it never lost the TCP / medicinal taste. I thought this may "age out", but to be honest, it is still the same after 3 months. Even with lemon / lime wedges it wasn't drinkable.

Shame really, as it is my first failure and I cannot come up with a reason why! Everything has been done the same since and before, yet all the other Cooper's kits (especially the Draught and IPA - lovely) have been stunning.

I hang my head in shame, but then again, the bottles are now full with my 3rd Ambiorix... I will leave them till Xmas, honest!!!

 

[beenyj]

This was my first brew, I thought it would make a good beer for summer ice cold out the fridge. I brewed it with 1kg of brewing sugar.

I've tried one after a couple of weeks in the bottles. It's alright, it definitely gets better as you go through it, might need some more time maturing. I may give it another go next summer but brew with DME.

 

[fbsf]

I found it needed a good 8 weeks in the bottle to lose it's yeasty smell and taste. I opened a few last weekend (10 months on!!) and it was lovely - a really light refreshing pint.

 

[Tyronnster]

I found it needed a good 8 weeks in the bottle to lose it's yeasty smell and taste. I opened a few last weekend (10 months on!!) and it was lovely - a really light refreshing pint.

Mine currently fermenting

 

[BigDDunc]

I realise it's been a long time since I started this kit but I had forgotten I hadn't left more feedback.

I'm very, very disappointed with this kit. There is a huge lack of flavour, it basically tastes like someone has mixed 50ml of beer with 950ml water, it's so diluted despite brewing short.

I felt ashamed of this brew to the point I stopped giving it to friends to drink (I got bored of having to explain/apologise for the lack of taste of anything when giving it out).

In my experience the European Lager was much better and I won't ever consider this kit again, it's a shame as I had high hopes for it.

 

[sometime]

This was a lovely pint ,thing is it when down to well ,but I'm new to brewing so maybe there's better out there ,would have to be a gammy pint to put me off.

 

[Mreddster]

Really enjoy this brew. Done it a few times now, and every time it's been great :

Last one I did took a bit longer to get carbonated, but think that was the weather.

Just a note for people who talked about yeasty taste and it not clearing, I find leaving it a week after it has finished fermenting before bottling it makes all the difference. It is virtually clear by the time you bottle this way, and is perfect within about 4 weeks after :)

Enjoy folks, I will again in the summer

 

[itbrvilla]

This was a lovely pint ,thing is it when down to well ,but I'm new to brewing so maybe there's better out there ,would have to be a gammy pint to put me off.

Can I just ask what fermentable you used?

 

[cyderspace]

I just bottled this yesterday.

I used 500g spraymalt and 500g brewing sugar. mixed it and cooled it quick with shop bought ice.

After checking the instructions I realised i should only have added 250g sugar! But what the hell.
It'll just be 0.5% straonger than it should have been, (boohoo!)

I dry hopped some of my mate's garden hops which i'd frozen, just to see what would happen, but only did it for 24hrs, probably won't do anything.

Tasted bland on syphoning but I am sure it will improve. It had been fermented at 18c for 8 days and i just couldn't leave it any more! So ready for xmas all being well. :

 

[sometime]

Hi ...was only my second brew itbvilla don't laugh I used 500 white cane sugar/500 Brown & up to 20ltrs ,wot I had in the house but I thought it came out nice x

 

[Hugh jaynus]

Im gunna start Just like most people start their post, I'm new to home brewing and this forum seems full of useful info. This is my secound brew the first was fit for the bin. Just bottled my cerveza with 150g of plain sugar. Went clear in a few days , couldn't resist but pop
One open after a week, low fizz and can really taste the sugar and homebrew'y taste. My question is will this go with time?? cheers

 

[IOMMick]

Hi,

I'm just in the middle of primary fermenting my first ever home brew including this Coopers Cerveza kit (got everything as Christmas present).

I'm now trying to figure out what I should do when it has finished primary, in regards to bottling or barrelling. As part of my starter kit I got a pressure barrel with Co2 injection, and I've also collected about 80 or so bottles of all shapes and sizes (and have a capping device and caps). From reading (the entirety of) this thread the general consensus is that this particular Cerveza brew should be bottled, although the size and variety of bottles I have at my disposal makes me worry about being able to prime correctly (I've a pack of Coopers carbonation drops, and I'm thinking I'll have to mutilate the cubes to be appropriate for the differing size bottles) - so the easier solution for me would be to prime in and serve from the barrel, as I'm guessing the Co2 injection will stop any oxidation or it going flat? Does anyone have any strong opinions on this either way?

Thanks

 

[Sone]

Is it worth swapping the yeast for a lager yeast like saflager s-23? I was thinking of brewing this with 250g extra light dme and 750g brewing sugar. What do you think?

 

[Markdon]

From what i understand, lager needs to be bottled. Skip the carbonation drops and use table sugar, boil with some water, cool, rack lager onto it and bottle from there, then sugar is distributed evenly through lager and doesnt matter what size bottles you use.

 

[Diggerg]

+1 for batch priming. Then it doesn't matter on bottle size as priming sugar is evenly distributed

 

[IOMMick]

Ok thanks for the help fellas - for the purposes of keeping this thread on topic I'll post results of the brew when it's done :whistle:

On another slight tangent, there is no tap in my fermentation barrel, but there is in my pressure barrel - am I ok to siphon into my pressure barrel (being careful not to splash for oxidation, etc), add the dissolved priming sugars, then immediately bottle through the tap on that?

 

[mattyhall22]

Ok thanks for the help fellas - for the purposes of keeping this thread on topic I'll post results of the brew when it's done :whistle:

On another slight tangent, there is no tap in my fermentation barrel, but there is in my pressure barrel - am I ok to siphon into my pressure barrel (being careful not to splash for oxidation, etc), add the dissolved priming sugars, then immediately bottle through the tap on that?

Would make it easier if you are using a little bottler on the tap :thumb:

 

[IOMMick]

I kept the FV quite warm in my spare bedroom, probably averaging about 21-22c. I pitched the yeast a bit high at about 26c and it was bubbling within a few hours (I've just started FV on my second ever brew, I pitched the yeast at about 20c and it has took a good 14 hours to start bubbling). Day 4 it stopped bubbling with gravity at 1.004, day 5 it was still stuck at 1.004 (from about 1.035 day 1) so I siphoned into a pressure barrel and left for another 2 days at about 22-24c. I bottled a single bottle on day 5 in a clear bottle and kept in the dark at about 22c. Day 7 (today) I bottled the rest from the pressure barrel, there was a decent bit of yeast residue left over in the barrel after all the bottles were filled so I'm thinking that was probably a good move having a step between bottling.

When bottling today it smelt quite sweet and fruity, maybe because my temps were too high. The bottle I primed and closed two days ago looks completely flat, I'm not sure if it is supposed to look that way and it will fizz when I open the bottle. I'm going off alcohol for January, so I'm thinking of opening that bottle tonight just to get a little taste of what's to come (while understanding it should be much better come February 1st).