For my third beer, a mexican cerveza

[passive]

After much happiness with the red I made last time, I'm going to switch things up a bit.

I picked a mexican cerveza, primarily because it was on sale, but also because I wanted to try something a bit lighter.
So far, I'm brewing from kits where you just add water and yeast (which comes with the kit).

I've decided to forego racking to secondary, thanks to the various opinions I have read here about it. My understanding is that potentially cloudier beer will be the consequence. Do I have the right?

The kit I have comes with a package of dextrose that is supposed to be stirred into the secondary just before bottling. However, because I suspect there will be quite a bit of sediment (trub cake?) on the bottom of the primary, I would rather not stir it.

So here's my plan:
- Wait until the bubbles have stopped, and then start testing the SG every other day.
- Once the SG stays the same on two consecutive testings, prepare for bottling.
- Mix the dextrose with water, and measure a small amount into each bottle. I've got 1 liter swingtop bottles, and the batch I'm making is supposed to be good for 23 liters, so I figure if I mix the dextrose with a bit less then a cup of water, I can put 10 ml of the solution into each bottle, and I should be good. I've got a 10 ml syringe that should work perfectly.
- Bottle the beer.
- Wait as patiently as possible.

Any particular flaws in my plan? How cautious do I have to be with using the syringe to put the sugar in the bottles, in terms of contamination?

Finally, any tips on the cerveza style in general?

Thanks!

 

[Yooper]

The Mexican cerveza kits I've seen are lagers. Are you using lager yeast? Or is this going to be an ale?

I wouldn't bottle just a day or two after the SG is stable. I'd wait about three weeks (if it's an ale) and until the beer is completely clear before bottling. It'll clear up in the bottle, too, but you'd end up with more crud in the bottles. I'd rather bottle clear beer and not have so much gunk in the bottles.

Do you have a bottling bucket? That's the easiest way to bottle. You dissolve the dextrose in 2 cups boiling water, pour that into the bottling bucket, then rack (siphon) the beer out of the fermenter into the bottling bucket, with the tubing at the bottom so it "swirls" into the priming solution. Then, you just bottle from the bottling bucket leaving all of the trub in the fermenter.

 

[DeafSmith]

Be sure to put it in clear bottles, then let it sit out in the sun for a while.

 

[devilishprune]

Do you know if you have lager or ale yeast? A quick google search of (what I think is) your kit didn't reveal anything about it. I was assuming that you were using the festa brew mexican cerveza kit, correct?

 

[40watt]

Be sure to put it in clear bottles, then let it sit out in the sun for a while.

Lmao. Otherwise, it ain't a Cerveza.

 

[boo boo]

Do you know if you have lager or ale yeast? A quick google search of (what I think is) your kit didn't reveal anything about it. I was assuming that you were using the festa brew mexican cerveza kit, correct?

Festa don't come with a priming sugar pack, and their Cerveza comes with S-23 yeast, so I suspect he has the brewhouse kit where you add a little water to the kit to top up to 23 liters, and it comes with corn sugar for priming. Brewhouse comes ith crappy coopers yeast for all the kits. I would much prefer Festa over Brewhouse.

Regarding the syringe method, if you don't have a bottling bucket, your method should work.

 

[passive]

Festa don't come with a priming sugar pack, and their Cerveza comes with S-23 yeast, so I suspect he has the brewhouse kit where you add a little water to the kit to top up to 23 liters, and it comes with corn sugar for priming. Brewhouse comes ith crappy coopers yeast for all the kits. I would much prefer Festa over Brewhouse.

Regarding the syringe method, if you don't have a bottling bucket, your method should work.

Good guess, it is indeed brew house (http://www.thebrewhouse.com)! Are you saying my beer will get better if I use different yeast? That would be an interesting experiment, though too late for this batch.

I don't have a bottling bucket. I had been racking into a glass carboy as a secondary, and then using my primary for the bottling bucket, with the dextrose dissolved in the bucket first.

Be sure to put it in clear bottles, then let it sit out in the sun for a while.

Unfortunately, all my bottles are brown, does that still work?

I wouldn't bottle just a day or two after the SG is stable. I'd wait about three weeks (if it's an ale) and until the beer is completely clear before bottling. It'll clear up in the bottle, too, but you'd end up with more crud in the bottles. I'd rather bottle clear beer and not have so much gunk in the bottles.

Excellent, thanks for the advice. I will wait.

 

[lou2row]

You know deafsmith was joking, don't you? Don't let your beer be exposed to light any more than is possible.

He was just giving his opinion that he obviously doesn't care for cerveza.

 

[VoodooManX]

If you have the means to transfer to a bottling bucket I can't imagine not taking the 2mins to do so. Bottling from the fermenter will result in trub laden bottles or wasted beer in the bottom of the barrel. It seems like trying something new for no good reason.

Sent from my iPhone using HB Talk

 

[Veinman]

The Brewhouse kits are great especially for beginner's although their are a few things you can do to make them come out even better.
1. Ditch the Cooper's yeast, using S-04, S-05 or Nottingham dry yeast will vastly improve your beer or you can choose a liquid strain that matches the style you're making. The Cerveza kit with s-04 fermented at 60F comes out really good although it's not a true lager, if you have lagering capabilities you could use lager yeast to get a truer lager taste.
2. Don't secondary, mix your batch and leave it for a month in primary fermentation. I won't start the whole debate over but a long primary will not lead to a cloudier beer.
3. To bottle you'll be better off racking the beer to another vessel and bottling from there, racking into each bottle will lead to more sediment in the last few bottles. Rack your beer into another vesselt (You can get a 5 gallon pale from Home Depot for $7) or you can use your carboy if you're good at getting a siphon going out of the carboy.
4. Brown bottles are better, the comments about clear were jokes about disliking the skunking taste that Corona has.

 

[DeafSmith]

You know deafsmith was joking, don't you? Don't let your beer be exposed to light any more than is possible.

He was just giving his opinion that he obviously doesn't care for cerveza.

Yeah, I was just kidding about how Corona comes in clear bottles. I actually do drink an occasional Dos Equis, but only with Mexican food (old habits...)

 

[40watt]

Negra Modelo.

 

[passive]

Yeah, I was just kidding about how Corona comes in clear bottles. I actually do drink an occasional Dos Equis, but only with Mexican food (old habits...)

Yep, I've read the warnings about any exposure to sunlight.

 

[passive]

Ok, so a bottling bucket it is, or if I don't find find one, the carboy.

Then next time, perhaps some new yeast!

 

[passive]

So I kept the cerveza in the primary for four weeks, then racked it into a bottling bucket (which is exactly the same as my primary), on top of the sugars, then I bottled it.

It was still pretty clear, perhaps a teensy bit cloudier than my first two attempts where I used a secondary, but not really noticeable.

I found it to be ok, much better with lime, but everyone I gave some to raved about it.

Thanks for the advice, I've got a Pilsner that I will be bottling this weekend. It's from a Festa Brew kit, so I had to make a yeast "slurry" instead of sprinkling it on top. That was an interesting change, and I have high hopes that the different type of yeast will impart a different flavour to the beer.

 

[johnnyspade]

Thanks for the advice, I've got a Pilsner that I will be bottling this weekend. It's from a Festa Brew kit, so I had to make a yeast "slurry" instead of sprinkling it on top. That was an interesting change, and I have high hopes that the different type of yeast will impart a different flavour to the beer.

I've been curious about that Festa Brew Pilsner. Post back when it's done, or open a new thread to let us know how it turned out.