Mexican cerveza

[uavwmn]

Does this kit require more time in the bottle before opening? I tried one at the 3 week mark and it does not taste good to me. It had a good head on top, nice color, and clear. Should I wait longer?

 

[Dean]

I've never tried beer that young. Can you describe what you tasted?

 

[smurfe]

First let's ask, are you expecting it to taste like a Corona or a Dos Equis? You are not going to get that if you made the kit per stock directions. To get that taste you will need to use a Cerveza lager yeast, ferment the yeast at lager yeast temps and then lager the beer for at least a month to get that crisp, dry Cerveza flavor. If you don't have lagering capabilities try to use an American Ale yeast or a California/San Francisco lager yeast which can ferment at the lower end of ale temps.


Try to give us a rundown of the brew process. Things such as yeast used, fermentation temps, original and finished gravity, what you are tasting, etc. It could be numerous things. It could be just one bad bottle. It could be that it hasn't reached the desired volumes of carbonation. It could be it is still a little "green" as beer will develop with age, just a lot faster than wine. Let us know what you are tasting and we can go from there.

 

[uavwmn]

smurfe, I want to taste like a good beer. It doesn't have to taste like a Corona or Dos. I used a White Labs liquid yeast "East Coast Ale" as suggested in one of these threads.
Fermentation temp was around 74, sg was 1.040 and when racked to carboy it was 1.012.
I have tried a couple of bottles. First one was not ready as it had little tonone head of foam.
Second bottle had a nice head of foam, but just didn't have that alcohol beer taste.
It was bottled on 25 May


The only thing that happened different in the directions was I forgot to put the dissolved dextrose in the bottom of the primary BEFORE adding the beer.
So the dextrose was added and gently stirred after the beer was in the primary for bottling.

 

[Dean]

I calculate between 3.7 and 4% ABV, which might be throwing your taste off a little bit, due to most beers, at least in Canada, starting at 5%. At any rate, I'd try a bottle a week to see if you see improvement. When I was bottle conditioning, I'd keep it in bottles about 3 to 4 weeks before even checking carbonation.

 

[uavwmn]

Dean, I have let this beer sit for a couple of months. It definitely needs time for it to be quite pleasant.

 

[smurfe]

Dean, I have let this beer sit for a couple of months. It definitely needs time for it to be quite pleasant.

So it sounds like it was just a bit "green" still? Sounds like you are enjoying it now.

 

[Laurie C]

So did you ferment this in a standard 7+ gallon primary or a 12 gallon primary like the instructions say? I had this discussion on the web earlier...we settled on a standard primary as OK.

 

[Wade E]

I didnt say its ok, I said it can be ok or be dangerous as beer krausen can climb pretty high. Is this a 5 or 6 gallon kit? If its 5 Id be inclined to say it should work, if 6 Id be a little weary and feel safer with a 1' blow by hose instead of an airlock!

 

[Alpha492]

If you went "buy the book" on it the reality is it probably won't taste all that great. The recipe the kit gives you isn't the best.

 

[Dean]

??? Alpha492, I'm confused. The Mexican Cerveza from Brewhouse is a very nice kit, even when you do follow the instructions. If you change the yeast up, like they mention on the website, it also makes a very nice beer that is 95% true to form for Corona, which is what this beer was modeled after.

 

[Alpha492]

When you follow the instructions the beer is OK in my opinion, but nothing special. In my opinion the recipe that comes with their cerveza isn't as great as the recipe's that come with the other kits. Thats not to say that you can't easily improve the recipe by changing other small details I was just telling the guy if he did exactly as the direction on the kit dictated his beer may not end up as good as he is expecting.

Cerveza was one of the first kits I played with; the first time I went "buy the book" and was not all that impressed. The second time I tried changing the yeast I used and was amazed by how drastic the change in the taste was.

 

[Laurie C]

Yep, the Brewhouse kit of Cerveze was good but when I changed the yeast ...based on something smurf wrote. Second batch with the change of yeast was definitely better. I am shocked the beers are ready to drink so fast. I still am not fond of the dust in the bottles. I may go to forced carbonation just to get away from the guck in the bottle.

 

[Wade E]

The dust in the bottles is 1 thing but ot having to clean and cap all those bottles is the reason I like. After cleaning all those wine bottles the last thing I needed was a whole other bunchof bottles to clean.

 

[Laurie C]

yep. I hear ya.

 

[libertytn]

Some one gave me The Brew House (Mexican Cerveza). The only thing in the box is the bag of wort. Am I missing anything? Guessing at least should have yeast and sugar for bottling.

 

[Brew and Wine Supply]

There should be a whole packet of stuff with it, yeast, priming sugar, instructions etc. along with the bag of wort.
Sometimes thats the problem with getting something for free. If you need to pick up stuff on your own, you will need 5oz of priming sugar (dextrose) and a packet of yeast. The kit comes with Coopers, but you can use another subsutute yeast.

 

[cpfan]

Some one gave me The Brew House (Mexican Cerveza). The only thing in the box is the bag of wort. Am I missing anything? Guessing at least should have yeast and sugar for bottling.

Did you pick up the bag of wort and look under it to see if the pack of extras was there?

Steve