Coopers Mexican Cerveza

tropicalpalmtree · Feb 21, 2019

hi everyone, i did do a post about the coopers lagers but i went ahead and bought coopers mexican cerveza as part of the BIY kit (sorry

) i got this one pictured

https://www.the-home-brew-shop.co.uk/cgi-bin/sh000001.pl?WD=coopers kit beer&PN=COOPERS_40_pint_5_gallons_Lager_Starter_kit.html#SID=21

Do we have any previous brewers of this beer that could possibly offer me any advice on getting the most out of the process, and possibly improve the beer in any way? i have read a few things but still getting used to all the different lingo (never brewed before). Really looking forward to doing this!

The kit i have bought comes with enhancer 1 as standard, but the mexican cerveza kit (and the lager kits aunsure....) says 'coopers reccomend enhancer 2', does this matter? and anything else i should buy on top of what i have bought already? (i dont know if they'll just send the enhancer 2 or its something i'm going to have to purchase seperately?)

thank you!

Nicks90 · Feb 21, 2019

Personally I'd add a dry hop. On there own they are insipid **** coloured water. Done a few cerveza kits over the past few years and everyone was pimped.
My favourite was done with CML west coast ale yeast and a big saaz dry hop. Tasted very funky and peppery and was ace!
But any lager style hop will work along with any of the big C US hops like citra. All will add some depth that the kit sadly lacks.
To make it really simple, lots of the usual retailers sell the dry hops prepackaged as a tea bag to drop straight in after the main fermentation has finished - circa 5 days. Then leave it 5 days more and bottle

tropicalpalmtree · Feb 21, 2019

thank you!

any links to any resources where this tweak was done, just so i understand how to incorporate it properly?

got it! will look further into it

terrym · Feb 21, 2019

My advice to you is to keep it simple to start with i.e. get your technique right first.. So I would use the Brew Enhancer as suggested and that's it, particularly since this style of beer is on the 'thin' side anyway.
Dry hopping is fine when you get to know what you are doing, but can lead to unwanted problems if you don't.
If you get hooked on this hobby you have a lifetime to explore new things athumb..

tropicalpalmtree · Feb 21, 2019

yeah that's fair enough, i probably will, give myself some time to learn it all, have spent a few hours so far getting the basics down (-ish) lol

GhostShip · Feb 21, 2019

I don't know if this is what you've already found, but here are a couple of Cooper's recipes using their Cerveza.

https://uk.diybeer.com/recipes/index/view/id/6/

https://uk.diybeer.com/recipes/index/view/id/56/

Banbeer · Feb 21, 2019

terrym said:
My advice to you is to keep it simple to start with i.e. get your technique right first.

Big +1 on that, great advise @terrym

Banbeer · Feb 21, 2019

Coopers beer enhancer 2 is in place of using sugar to ferment with and will give the brew a more malty taste, enhancer 1 does the same job but is meant more for lagers so you will be fine with that.

Good luck on your home-brew voyage, take your time, patience is the home-brewers friend for sure acheers.

tropicalpalmtree · Feb 21, 2019

will the equipment need sanitising out of the box? if so what do kit brewers usually use to do it? thanks

Alastair70 · Feb 21, 2019

This was my first kit, chosen because it was very straight forward. Fermentation took a few days longer than expected, but overall went well.
Sanisation is essential, I used VWP at first but a no rinse option like Starsan is much easier.

terrym · Feb 21, 2019

tropicalpalmtree said:
will the equipment need sanitising out of the box? if so what do kit brewers usually use to do it? thanks

Read through the link I posted earlier if you haven't already.
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/...de-to-brewing-your-own-beer-from-a-kit.57526/
Anything that comes into contact with your beer or wort must be clean and sanitised. If it isn't you run the risk of having spoiled beer due to an 'infection'. This covers all equipment whether its new or used. Its a fundamental rule of brewing.
There are products out there that will do this for you, including bleaches, Starsan and VWP.

Banbeer · Feb 21, 2019

Only sanitise it on the day you intend to brew i.e. no longer than a couple of hours before, as @Alastair70 said you can use a cleaning and sanitising solution like VWP but you will need to rinse everything with water and make sure the smell of the bleach has gone before using or you can use a no rinse solution like Videne or Starsan that you can mix with water at the correct consistency to save you rinsing the stuff out (this doesn't CLEAN tho), check the forum (search engine) for these, plenty of discussions.

Also make sure you sanitise everything i.e. FV, stir paddle, scissors(for opening the yeast), can opener, thermometer even the blibber everything, even your hands.

tropicalpalmtree · Feb 21, 2019

terrym said:
Read through the link I posted earlier if you haven't already.
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/...de-to-brewing-your-own-beer-from-a-kit.57526/
Anything that comes into contact with your beer or wort must be clean and sanitised. If it isn't you run the risk of having spoiled beer due to an 'infection'. This covers all equipment whether its new or used. Its a fundamental rule of brewing.
There are products out there that will do this for you, including bleaches, Starsan and VWP.

is it possible to buy those products in the shops? or is it an ebay job?

tropicalpalmtree · Feb 21, 2019

will do banbeer, need to get some ordered now! get some off ebay/amazon i think

Banbeer · Feb 21, 2019

VWP is widely available at Home Brew Shops, Starsan is available online but Videne is only available through chemists, you can order it at Tesco and you will need the sterilising and not the Surgical solution.

terrym · Feb 21, 2019

Some people on here use thin unscented bleach to sanitise (as from Tesco etc) . Provided you rinse really well afterwards with mains water straight from the tap that's OK.

tropicalpalmtree · Feb 21, 2019

would milton cold water steralizer do the job? got loads of that

terrym · Feb 21, 2019

Milton? Others on here use it from what Ive read (but not me). But you will need to rinse well

Banbeer · Feb 21, 2019

terrym said:
Milton? Others on here use it from what Ive read (but not me). But you will need to rinse well

+1 for that.

tropicalpalmtree · Feb 21, 2019

i know i shouldnt run before i can walk, but following the recipe above, could i make a calypso hop tea to add to my kit? looks fairly simple to do from videos i've seen aunsure....

Coopers Mexican Cerveza

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