RECIPE DTB "La Verdad" mexican beer attempt

Fermentables:
6.5 Extra Pale LME
1 lb flaked corn
1 lb Vienna Malt
1 lb Carapils Malt

Hops:
1 oz Cluster
1 oz Amarillo
1 oz Saaz

Yeast:
Wyeast California Lager (2112)

Misc
1 oz irish moss

Partial mash of corn, vienna, and carapils 1 hour @154
add half LME after bringing to boil
second half LME at 30 minutes
Hops:
60 minutes: cluster
45 minutes: amarillo
20 minutes: saaz
Irish moss at 15 minutes.

primary for 10 days.
secondary for 10 days.

any thoughts or suggestions? have this material ready to work with, but could substitute or play around still.

What are you trying for in this beer? It looks like a cream ale recipe with cal common yeast to me. Most (but not corona) Mexican style beers are Vienna lagers. and this is not even close to that. Is the reason you want to use this yeast because you don't have a way to real lagering? No way to keep it at 50 for a week and then at 34 for a couple more weeks. Let us know what your thinking and maybe we could help some more.

i dont have the capability to keep the temperature cool. so yea, that was some of my thought process.
honestly only my second attempt at forming a "recipe", only real reference pieces i have to work with are online findings i come across.

feel like quite the amatuer but trying to learn, hence dropping my game plan (already purchased and on the way).

id like to make something in the realm of a pacifico, tecate, that vibe for summer arriving here in the northeast. is this even close to possible without being able to keep it cool for real lagering?

time and thoughts are much much appreciated.

Here is a Pacifico Clone. Just check "upgrade to DME".

Pacifico Clone

As far as temp control, I bet if you get creative you can maintain 55F.

Good luck.

so what do you say stubbornman, just make what im working with now, and move on to a clone kit?

i get that im unseasoned, but im a great cook and demand to do all from scratch, so the feeling has spread to brewing.

would love to find a clone recipe. thanks though, bookmarked it.

If I were you, I'd drop the Amarillo and Saaz additions and maybe cut back some LME to drop the gravity a tidge, but whatever. Make a swamp cooler and you can have a nice brew IMO... Some will say your extract should be Pilsner extract, but for a mexilager you are bound by no such loyalty.

Here is how it looks as is:

General
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Category: Light Lager
Subcategory: Lite American Lager
Recipe Type: Partial Mash
Batch Size: 5 gal.
Volume Boiled: 6 gal.
Mash Efficiency: 72 %
Total Grain/Extract: 8.50 lbs.
Total Hops: 3.0 oz.
Calories (12 fl. oz.): 221.8
Cost to Brew: $53.00 (USD)
Cost per Bottle (12 fl. oz.): $0.99 (USD)

Ingredients
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1 lbs. American Vienna
1 lbs. Cara-Pils® Malt
6.5 lbs. Extra Pale
1 oz. Cluster (Pellets, 7.00 %AA) boiled 60 minutes.
1 oz. Amarillo (Pellets, 8.50 %AA) boiled 20 minutes.
1 oz. Czech Saaz (Pellets, 5.00 %AA) boiled 10 minutes.
Yeast: WYeast 2112 California Lager

Notes
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Vital Statistics
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Original Gravity: 1.056
Terminal Gravity: 1.005
Color: 4.08 SRM
Bitterness: 54.3 IBU
Alcohol (%volume): 6.7 %

A little too hoppy, no?

:fro:

agree on the hops. program i used kicked back a ABV of 5.5%. ill strongly consider your input.

I also just realized I left out the corn in my calc as well...

how would that missing info affect things?

changed my calculations by dropping amarillo and .5 of the saaz. and took out 1 lb. of LME leaving me with 4.9 ABv and 26.5 IBU. could just be me being a bitter type guy. been afraid to drop below 20 in any of the messing around i have done since starting this perfect hobby.

reading up on swamp coolers, but the operation is at my buddies house, not mine, so its a matter of asking him to tend to my project which is who knows how reliable.

Well the corn will add some gravity, but I think you're good to go either way. I used to use my rectangular igloo cooler mash tun as my swamp cooler back in the day. Very little effort required on your friends part. Fill the cooler half way with water, set your fermenter in there, wrap with a damp towel that hangs into the water and add frozen water bottles.

If you leave the caps on the frozen bottles, when they melt, you pull them and put them in the freezer, rotating in new frozen bottles. Once every day or two at most.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out.

.

reading up on the yeast that im working with on this one and it has the optimum temp at 58-68 stating retaining good lager traits up to 65 degrees. the beer will be fermenting indoors in a basement (below ground level) which at this time of year in NY stays well below standard room temp of 68 degrees. how low can i go with the temp and still retain active yeast? is it possible the ambient temperature will be good enough this time of year?

gotta talk to my buddy and get an exact reading on his basement temperature.

have had this in the swamp cooler in the low to mid 50's for 5 weeks now. Long enough?

bigben24 said:

have had this in the swamp cooler in the low to mid 50's for 5 weeks now. Long enough?

Click to expand...

Have you checked the final gravity?

bja said:

Have you checked the final gravity?

Click to expand...

there my friend in lies the problem. this was the second batch of the day, and our hydrometer was broken in between boils. So im guessing blindly here, wanted to make sure ive given sufficient time to be safe.

Its been 5 weeks at about 55 degrees.

bigben24 said:

there my friend in lies the problem. this was the second batch of the day, and our hydrometer was broken in between boils. So im guessing blindly here, wanted to make sure ive given sufficient time to be safe.

Its been 5 weeks at about 55 degrees.

Click to expand...

You've had 5 weeks to buy another hydrometer. Without it, you and everyone else will be guessing blindly.

bja said:

You've had 5 weeks to buy another hydrometer. Without it, you and everyone else will be guessing blindly.

Click to expand...

prior to reading your smug little comment I hadnt thought to check the gravity weekly becuase I had no intial reading to work with.

Its bottled at this point, so I guess well see how it goes.

ps I did save up my pennies and got a hydrometer the day after it broke. thanks for the help.

bigben24 said:

prior to reading your smug little comment I hadnt thought to check the gravity weekly becuase I had no intial reading to work with.

Click to expand...

It wasn't meant to be smug. My point was you need to check the FG several times to make sure that it's stable. That's the only way you can tell if it's done. The OG has nothing to do with it.

Yea, I gotcha on that. Due to time constraints and schedules of my brewing partner and myself, we can only work on beer every two weeks at most. So prior to this lager attempt, 14 day minimum in the primary had been more than enough time to spend the sugars.

So thats why I have been taking only initail and final gravity measurements to determine the ABV.

Lesson learned.

This beer has worked out wonderfully. 4 weeks in bottles now. taste is super crisp. almost has a tea like finish, which is great ice cold on these hot days in NY.

brewing 10 gallon batch to divide and pitch with2 different yeast strands at the end of the month. after lagering and aging maybe squeeze them in at begining of september.

yodalegomaster said:

Most (but not corona) Mexican style beers are Vienna lagers.

Click to expand...

Actually, the only Vienna Lager from Mexico that I know of is Negra Modelo (I have a maltier clone of it lagering right now, yum!) I think Corona and the like are all straight ****ty 'Merican-style Pilsners.