Cooper's Mexican Cerveza Beer Kit

[veggiess]

Anyone try this? I really love mexican beer in the summer, and thought I might give one a try. Any suggestions or opinions about this particular kit? Thanks!

 

[apparatus]

I am not familiar with this kit, but I have used the Dos Equis Amber clone kit from Austin homebrew. It turned out very well. It does use a lager yeast. If you are not able to do lagering they give instructions for fermenting at ale temps.
Here is a link to the kit if you want to check it out.

http://www.austinhomebrew.com/produ...=1111&osCsid=e4f9d36065002b07204de8982567f9bc

 

[gonzoflick]

How do you think fermenting in higher temps would affect this beer. I am desperatly looking for a good modelo product clone (either corona or modelo especial) that I can make in my 74 degree home.

Thanks

 

[Mikey]

If you're trying to make a beer that closely copies a commercial equivalent to the point that it tastes 'Mexican' instead of 'American' or 'Canadian' or 'European', I'm afraid you'll be disappointed. Most kit beers barely resemble the general style on the label, never mind a particular sub-style.

Light lagers are the most difficult to brew from a kit. They make good beer, don't get me wrong- they just don't hit the bullseye.

 

[gonzoflick]

Im talking about partial mash extract brewing here. You cant get close to mexican with extracts?

 

[Lounge Lizard]

Found on a tear-out recipe card in the latest issue of BYO:

Coopers Mexican Cerveza

Description: This beer is light in style, with a clean taste, ideally served ice cold with a wedge of lime or lemon. Recipe by the brewers at Coopers Brewery.


1 can Coopers Mexican Cerveza Beer Kit
1/2 lb. Coopers light dry malt extract
1 lb. Coopers Brewing Sugar
1/2 lb Maltodextrine Powder
1 pkg. Coopers Mexican Cerveza Yeast

Coopers Carbonation Drops

Procedures:

1. Heat 2 liters of water to hot, but not boiling (I would heat to boiling)
2. Mix in Coopers Mexican Cerveza Kit, DME, brewing sugar and maltodextrine
3. Cool wort in pot to room temperature. Transfer into fermenter. Aerate well and then top up to five gallons.
4. Pitch yeast when temperature is < 80 degrees F. Ferment 65-70 degrees F.


For what it's worth...

.

 

[Spyk'd]

Let's see here, it uses a funky combination of ingredients, questionable brewing techniques, and sub par fermentation practices...



...yeah, looks like a good Mexican beer. Make sure you use alot of lime when serving so that you'll have a one on flavor and perhaps sanitize the thing a bit...




Sorry if this seems harsh, but it just seems so wrong to me!

Bleah! (the first 'bleah' I can remember seeing in awhile!)

 

[veggiess]

Actually, it's not as bad as it sounds. That recipe coming from BYO isn't right, at least not what Cooper's is saying now. If you buy the package, it says to use the can of Cooper's Mexican Cerveza mix, beer enhancer 2 (which contains dextrose, maltodextrin and Light Dry Malt) and the yeast that comes with it. Doesn't sound weird to me. It also does not get boiled, as none of the Cooper's cans get/need to be boiled because they are the non-boil kind (already all set in the can). Don't see anything weird here, either. I've tried 3 of the Cooper's kits and they are quite good. Finally found someone on another beer forum who has tried this cerveza kit, and made it just as it directed, and he said it was quite tasty-kinda similiar to Pacifico. Sounds good to me, so I think I'll order it!

 

[Mikey]

Let us know how close it came to th 'real thing'

 

[Shambolic]

The ingredients and procedure sound fine to me too.

 

[NEPABREWER]

why should these beers be so hard to replicate? low on malt - a bit o rice - use a cali lager yeast (warmer ferment temps) or a Kolsch yeast (I am currently pitching batch after batch on a Kolsch cake and they are relatively clean tasting) ferment as you will and expose to sun light for a short time for that "corona tang" and it should be close served with a lime I am serious

 

[Mikey]

The goal was to make an accurate replica of a distinct sub-style of beer - 'Mexican lager'.

Somebody make this beer please, and do a blind taste test with experienced drinkers or judges. Ask them what style of beer they are drinking, and then ask them if they can further identify the sub-style.

Tell them the choices for sub-style are:

American lager
Canadian lager
Mexican lager
Australian lager
German lager
German Koelsch
Dutch lager
Japanese lager

If they cannot identify it consistantly as a Mexican lager style, then the efforts to make it were not successful. It might still be an excellent beer, but that wasn't the point.

I look forward to the results.

 

[NEPABREWER]

Would using ingredients native to the respective country especially yeast be a good place to start?

 

[Mikey]

Not really meaningful, the commercial examples import lots of their ingredients too.

 

[homebrewer_99]

How do you think fermenting in higher temps would affect this beer. I am desperatly looking for a good modelo product clone (either corona or modelo especial) that I can make in my 74 degree home.

Thanks

Higher fermenting temps usually result in fruity brews. Not good for a lager.

 

[veggiess]

So I bottled this stuff last night (made it just as I had discussed earlier, as recommended by Cooper's). Wow-it was fantastic! Definately tastes like a really good Mexican beer, and it's not even bottle conditioned yet. I liked it so much I had a glass straight from the primary...even lime-less! I guess I can say it's most like something like Pacifico, but it also tastes like another one that I had awhile back (and I can't recall what it was). However, it was better than any Mexican Cervesa I've had in a long time!

 

[Mishkin]

Higher fermenting temps usually result in fruity brews. Not good for a lager.

Yep, that's what happened to me when I tried brewing the coopers mexican cerveza. I did it in the summer with the fermenter in the garage. Temperatures got to about 100 degrees fahrenheit. The whole brew ended up tasting like apples.
Fortunately this time i'm going to make a german pilsner and ferment it in an old fridge in the garage where I can get a constant temperature around 30 degrees fahrenheit. Perfect for lagering. Sweeeeeet

 

[AACJ]

My first post here, but I just bottled my Coopers Mexican Cerveza last week and when I tried it this evening, it was wonderful. Not at all like a true Mexican Cerveza, it had a bunch of flavor to it.

I originally got this kit to make a few cases for a trip to the beach. I didn't want one too heavy to drink in the sun and wanted something both my wife and the other couple we are going with would drink. Looks like I might have found what I was looking for.

 

[kinison_fan]

Raising an old thread, but I brewed this last night, with some variations:
the 1 can kit,
1 lb of extra light DME
1/2 1b sugar.
I also did a 1/2 hour boil.

It is much darker than I expected (color is dos equis dark vs corona). I'm guessing from the boil-carmelization? The instructions did include boiling.

I also noticed their intsructions are for 5 imperial gallons, or 6 US gallons, I only made 5 gallons, so that is where the some of the darkness came from.

Anyway, it was just starting to show yeast activity this morning, so I'll see how it turns out in several weeks...

 

[grasshopper1917]

I ahve always had good experiences with Coopers kits. I have not tried a Mexican Cerveza yet though but from what people are saying it may be next on my list. Im not sure how hight you can ferment it though. I know a guy earlier fermented at 100f - but that is pretty high. In the summer I brewed a batch of Pale Ale and we got hit with a heat wave - it fermented at 78f - luckilly there were no offtastes - but I have to tell you drink a dozen of them and you wil have a good hangover the next morning. I can even imagine the hangovers at 100f!

 

[kinison_fan]

Found this article on byo: http://byo.com/feature/634.html.

Basically it says NOT to boil the kits, just follow the directions (they are designed to be no boil) for good beer.

Since I boiled this one, I think I'm going to get another kit, and not boil it and compare both batches.

 

[grasshopper1917]

Yea I never boil my canned kits and the beer turns out great.

 

[ThomasRau]

It actually turns out very good, I did substitute Saflager S23 dry lager yeast for the included packet then fermented at 55F followed by a couple of weeks at 45F, then bottle conditioned at room temperature.

 

[Fatgodzilla]

assuming the northern countries get the same yeast as us here in the colonies, the yeast for a Coopers Mexican Cervesa kit is a mixture of ale and lager yeasts, so brew this beer cool but not necessarily as a lager. Did some reading on Mexican beer - it is essentially a lighter German style lager. The Coopers Cervesa isn't too bad a brew and is being talked up on local Aussie threads as a good toucan - combine two cans, nothing else and see what happens ! As far as extract recipes, the Aussie threads are talking up using Cascade hops and Glacier hops as they seem to add citrus type flavours. I suggest you research this in your own time for confirmation. You would also want to find a suitable American yeast to lager this brew (I don't know enough about them to offer a suggestion). Finally the only reason I boil a can of hopped extract is to boil off the hop oils in the extract so I can add my own (easier to use a can of unhopped LME which I do more often). No need to boil the Coopers kits.

 

[AZWyatt]

I've heard a lot of people highly recommending dry yeast strains for beer styles that ferment very clean. Has anybody tried a dry yeast for a Cooper's or any other brand of Mexican lager? The reason I ask is that my house is quite on the warm side and I have no beer fridge to lager it in.

 

[Mutilated1]

I made this kit a few weeks ago. Instead of 2 kg package of Cooper's Brewing Sugar thats recommended to add, I used 2 kg of Rice Syrup solids and about 1/2 kg of leftover light DME.

To answer your question about the dry yeast... It just happens that the package of Cooper's yeast I got didn't work for some reason so I tossed in a pack of Nottingham's Ale Yeast to get it going.

It turned out pretty good, but there are other Cooper's kits that I like better so I don't imagine I'll make it again till next summer.

 

[melihbozkurt84]

I'm still trying this kit. I made my worth on saturday. &#304;t started to fermentation on sunday. It was bubbling. But after 24-30 hours it stoped bubling. But &#304;t is still fermenting because there is some steams and drops on the top of the fermenter. My house is generaly 19 - 20*C degrees or more. &#304;t says in booklet " 1 week for primary fermentation" but I m not sure to open this saturday or wait one more week. Please give me an advice?

 

[Patton191]

From everything I have read, wait as many weeks as you can. Check the hydrometer and if it doesn't read the same SG for 3 days straight, then leave it for another week and try again.

What I personally do( I have only brewed ales), is I leave it for a month and then check the SG. From everything I have read, the yeast cleans up after itself and it can be beneficial to the beer to leave it longer.

 

[ScottyT]

Take a couple hydrometer readings a day or two apart to determine if fermentation has stopped.

 

[Chip]

I made this with great results....much better with a bit of fresh lime too.