Coopers Mexican Cerveza

[Bort]

After bottling my Black Rock Oatmeal Stout this afternoon I cleaned all my kit and got on the next kit in my homebrew store... the renowned Coopers Mexican Cerveza.

I used a single can with 1kg of brewing sugar, brewed short to 22 litres. I pitched the yeast at 24degC and took an OG reading of 1.038 (exactly what the instructions stated). I have a target FG of 1.008 which should make this beer 4.8% ABV so fingers crossed it goes well.

Has anyone else had experience of this popular kit? Just wondering what I can expect come a fortnight or so when I plan to keg the lager as I cannot see it lasting long after the success I've had with my first few homebrews!

 

[Drunkula]

I feel like something has been sent to test me. Lager kit, kilo of sugar, TWENTY FOUR CEEEEEEEEEEEEE??!?!?!!!!

Did you rehydrate your yeast.... demon?

 

[Bort]

I sprinkled it over the very deep froth on the top of the fermentation bucket pal...

 

[Bort]

All is going well following four days of really active fermentation. This has now stopped so I’ll check FG and look to keg this brew this week for secondary fermentation and clearing. Quite pleased with things so far with this one...

 

[Smatt]

I’m interested in trying this one myself please keep us updated

 

[Clint]

I done it a couple of times,as per kit then with a saaz dry hop. Not bad at all.

 

[Smatt]

How would you rate it to say corona?

 

[Bort]

So after five days in the FV fermentation has stopped and I have hit the target final gravity on 1.008.

I shall transfer the beer to my pressure barrel tomorrow and bottle about 10 litres with the remainder being primed for secondary fermentation for a fortnight and then I’ll be able to tell you just how good this kit is but a taste of the sample tonight was very pleasing so I am hoping things continue to work out with this one.

The taste was, even at this stage, akin to Corona... all that was missing was the lime!

 

[Smatt]

That’s good then it’s my favourite drink might have to do this next then

 

[terrym]

So after five days in the FV fermentation has stopped and I have hit the target final gravity on 1.008.

I shall transfer the beer to my pressure barrel tomorrow and bottle about 10 litres with the remainder being primed for secondary fermentation for a fortnight and then I’ll be able to tell you just how good this kit is but a taste of the sample tonight was very pleasing so I am hoping things continue to work out with this one.

The taste was, even at this stage, akin to Corona... all that was missing was the lime!

Whats the rush? Its better to leave your beer in the FV for at least a week preferably even longer so that it clears and the yeast can clean up its own byproducts. You clearly havent heard of the 2+2+2 'rule' for new brewers which is 2 weeks in the FV, 2 weeks carbing, followed by 2 weeks conditioning, when it may be drinkable but at least you can find out.

Otherwise when you finally get to packaging your beer into your PB use no more than 90g table sugar to prime otherwise you will be dispensing mostly foam. And fizzy lagery beers like Cerveza are best packaged into bottles since bottles are designed to handle the higher carbing pressures required for these beers whereas PBs are not. Plus its generaly easier to keep a few bottles cool for serving rather than a lumpy PB.

 

[dwhite60]

2+2+2 minimum.

2+3+3 I find is better.

2+2+8 has become about my standard, if I can keep the pipeline full.

Don't rush it. That high pitching temp bothers me too but it's the end product that counts.

 

[Bort]

Thanks for the above comments... I have heard of the 2+2+2 rule and guess I just got a bit excited when I saw fermentation apparently had finished but I’ll give it another week in the FV and will now look to bottle it all based on the views shared on this type of lager. Thanks guys, really appreciated.

 

[Bort]

Final gravity remained at 1.008 and I had some time today so I’ve bottled about half of the beer in 500ml brown PET bottles with 3g of priming sugar and put the remaining 14 litres in my pressure barrel with 50g priming sugar. Not going to touch the keg for at least a fortnight and the bottles (hopefully) even longer.

A small taste of the beer revealed a pleasant flavour very much akin to Corona but somewhat ‘thin’ although secondary fermentation should improve this a lot i believe. I shall keep you all posted!

 

[Scottyburto]

I may be wrong but u might want to revise your sugar for your PB if it's only got 14l in it it's gonna have a lot of empty space that u might want to fill with CO2.

 

[Bort]

I may be wrong but u might want to revise your sugar for your PB if it's only got 14l in it it's gonna have a lot of empty space that u might want to fill with CO2.

Cool... I have an S30 canister to top-up but what would be the advice to up it to?

 

[Drunkula]

u might want to revise your sugar for your PB if it's only got 14l in it

Scotty's right.

When you prime a vessel you prime to the size of the vessel, not just the size of what you're putting in it. I'm simplifying but basically put in the same amount as you were doing if it was full, so 90g.

 

[terrym]

If you only have a PB just over half full but an S30 cylinder my suggestion is to give it slow injection of CO2 to pressurise it somewhat. Then immdeiatley vent it down to purge out some of the oxygen which is currently in the headspace and has the potential to spoil your beer. If you feel generous you could do this twice. Then add another 15-20g of sugar and leave it at that. Assuming your PB is leaktight (check it after a day or two to see if it is pressurising as it should) that 70g sugar you have added in total should be enough to adequately carb your beer initially, and yet sensibly keep within the pressure limits of the PB. If you feel it a bit down on pressure when you get to start drinking you can then add a little CO2 to get you going.
Finally PBs are not really suitable for fizzy lagery type beers, but are only really suitable for low carb beers like ales, because the PBs are not designed for the high pressures lagery beers require (unless you like semi flat lager). And if you pressurise them too much you end up dispensing foam, before you just finally vent CO2 through the PRV (alias rubber band) .

 

[terrym]

Scotty's right.

When you prime a vessel you prime to the size of the vessel, not just the size of what you're putting in it. I'm simplifying but basically put in the same amount as you were doing if it was full, so 90g.

You actually need a little bit more so a 23 litre barrel carbed to 1.9 vols would need 95g. If you put in only 14 litres it would need 125g.

I don't think it works like that. I used to reprime half empty PBs when they ran out of puff in winter (because I had no other means of adding CO2) and found that about 65/70g sugar was then enough to fully repressurise and get me down to the bottom of the PB. If you add lots of sugar you end up generating lots of CO2 but it's got less liquid to get absorbed into so you end up with increasing pressure in the headspace so as to maintain the equilibrium

 

[Drunkula]

The initial carbonation will have upped the co2 dissolved in the beer from 0.86 vols to 1.9 vols, some of that will still be left when you re-carb unless you'd been letting the beer stand, opening the top to let it equalise to where it would have been. And you'd have co2 in the headspace at 1 vol in the headspace. That's why you need less to get the parial pressure of the headspace back to where you'd want it.

With 23 litre keg filled to 14 litres with the beer already having 0.86 vols of co2 if it were brewed at 20c you need this many litres of co2:

1.9 x 9 for the headspace
14 x (1.9 - 0.86) extra for the beer

= 31.7 litres of co2. 3.81g of sugar ferments to make a litre of co2 = 120.6g needed, actually more than 95g that would give you 1.9 vols in a full keg because that already has some co2 in it.

 

[Darenn]

Final gravity remained at 1.008 and I had some time today so I’ve bottled about half of the beer in 500ml brown PET bottles with 3g of priming sugar and put the remaining 14 litres in my pressure barrel with 50g priming sugar. Not going to touch the keg for at least a fortnight and the bottles (hopefully) even longer.

A small taste of the beer revealed a pleasant flavour very much akin to Corona but somewhat ‘thin’ although secondary fermentation should improve this a lot i believe. I shall keep you all posted!

I've done a few of these. Tasted more like Sol if only using sugar, but using 25% of light spray malt made it more like Corona