Coopers Mexican Cerveza

[Graculus]

OK, I'm preparing to put mine on tomorrow, but I'm still tossing up exactly what to do.

Coopers Cerveza (obviously)
5 grapefruits. Zest of all 5, then peeled and pulped in a blender (Done and in fridge ready)
3 x 1.5 litre bottles of Original Grapefruit Juice
LDME 500grams or 1 kilo? Not sure yet?
Carapils 200g steeped and then boiled?
I was going to brew it to 18 litres, but with all that grapefruit I think I'll do 21 litres.

And the yeast. Should I use kit yeast? 2 kit yeasts? And ferment it at about 18C.
Or should I use the the Saflager S-23 that came from a Pilsner I bottled on Monday. Then ferment at 12-13C?

Thoughts and comments anyone?

[DonPolo]

On 11/8/2018 at 10:33 AM, Graculus said:

Yes, I believe so. Nothing stopping you using half a box though. Put the rest in an airtight container.

Exactly. I was just being sure of the recipe above because it didn't specify.

I've done a double Cerveza before and it goes quite well!

 

 

[Graculus]

Well it's in the FV.

Coopers Cerveza
5 grapefruits. Zest of all 5, then peeled and pulped in a blender put in hop bag
3 x 1.5 litre bottles of Original Grapefruit Juice
LDME 850grams
Carapils 200g steeped and then boiled
Two kit yeasts, as I wasn't really sure how much sugar would be in the Grapefruit.
Made up to 21 litres.
In the brew fridge @18C

[ChristinaS1]

On 10/20/2018 at 11:21 PM, Graculus said:

OK, so now a few of us are stocked up, what are you going to brew?

My first one will be.

Cerveza
Original Juice Grapefruit Juice 1.5L x3
Hopefully find some grapefruits. Use the zest and juice of 4.
LDME 500grams or maybe a kilo
Make up to 15-18 litres, I'm not sure yet. Depends how much malt I put in.

Will the malt be OK in that? I presume so. There must be other beers mixing malt and citrus
I don't really want to put dextrose

Second one I'm thinking something like a blushing blonde recipe.
Maybe add some honey.

The zest of four grapefruits sounds like a lot, but I am not sure. All I know is that I have seen beer recipes that call for lime zest, and they don't use nearly that much.

I would suggest using a very sharp knife and cutting the zest as thinly a possible, in long strips, and enclosing it in a mesh bag. Try tasting the brew every couple of days to see how the flavour is coming; remove the zest when it seems right to you.

Good luck,

Christina.

 

[ChristinaS1]

Oops, see you have already made it. Good luck!

[ChristinaS1]

I think bottled fruit juice is usually standardized to something like 1.050.  It is easy to check, as it has been clarified.

I have seen some sources say natural grapefruit juice is around 10 Brix (1.040), but it is completely fermentable. 

[porschemad911]

10 hours ago, Graculus said:

Well it's in the FV.

Hope it turns out great for you. I did a HopDog Grapefruit pale ale FWK once and it was really nice. That used zest and juice.

Will be brewing my English IPA tomorrow night. 

Cheers, 

John

Edited November 11, 2018 by porschemad911

[Graculus]

Thanks for the replies.

The zest I got by using a grater. I used the smallest holes and very carefully to avoid the pith.
Yes, I could have checked the sugar content of the juice, but didn't think of that. Working six days a week and too many things to think of!
Just checked the empties and it says 9.4g sugar per 100 ml, so I could have worked it out.
The zest went in the hop bag with the pulp.
And really I had no way of knowing how much sugar was in the pulped grapefruit.
It's just that when I've attempted Ciders they don't seem to taste that much.
The fermentation process seems to strip the flavour.

Taking a hydrometer reading I did wonder if there was too much grapefruit. 
Time will tell. This one's any experiment. I should have more of an idea for the next one.

Another thought as I dropped the hop bag full of pulp into the FV was that I think the Blushing Blonde recipe
says to add the fruit after a couple of days fermentation I think. I wonder if that will make a difference?

I've just checked and it's fermenting away nicely now.

[RepSpec]

Is this can a fairly "bland" style of beer...good for using as a base?

Im looking at using one of my previous recipes but with a different base...try something different...

Looking at my session IPA recipe

1 x can

1 x 500g ldm

1 x 150g  dextrose

1 x 25g cascade @15min

1 x 25g centenial @15min

1 x 25g cascade @f/o 10min

1 x 25g centenial @ f/0 for 10 mins

1 x coopers yeast

OG 1030

 dry hop 50g chinook

[RepSpec]

Ok...

So ive figured out the next beer will be the recipe above but want to check a few things.

Going to be called "Tex Mex"...mexican base with american hops and yeast used.

Should i stick with US05 or try BRY-97... although reading the notes of the 97...suggests it can reduce bittering...so may stick with US05.

Anyone care for some input?

[Graculus]

4 hours ago, RepSpec said:

Ok...

So ive figured out the next beer will be the recipe above but want to check a few things.

Going to be called "Tex Mex"...mexican base with american hops and yeast used.

Should i stick with US05 or try BRY-97... although reading the notes of the 97...suggests it can reduce bittering...so may stick with US05.

Anyone care for some input?

Can't really help, sorry.

I would think this is fairly bland. I only picked it up because it was cheap. Previously I've avoided because I thought it would be bland.

I don't generally use US05, but for your American style beer I would have thought it would be OK.

[Otto Von Blotto]

The kit itself is pretty bland but that's what makes it ideal for pimping out more like you've done in your recipe. I don't think that recipe would be bland.

I only used BRY-97 once and didn't really notice a whole lot of difference to the US-05 I usually use in pale ale styles.

[RepSpec]

thanks guys...never used that kit before...ive only really used the pale and a few extracts, but felt like something different.

Im thinking of adding chinook to the boil as well. Would like some piney bite/flavour as well.

Fingers crossed for this one!

[porschemad911]

9 hours ago, RepSpec said:

Should i stick with US05 or try BRY-97... although reading the notes of the 97...suggests it can reduce bittering...so may stick with US05.

I prefer BRY-97 because it is more flocculent and therefore clears up more quickly. US-05 hangs around for a while, but it gets better with repitching.

Cheers,

John

[ChristinaS1]

18 hours ago, RepSpec said:

Is this can a fairly "bland" style of beer...good for using as a base?

Hi RepSpec,

This can is now my favourite base. I used to use the APA kit but have switched to the Mexican and haven't looked back. Since it is a little less bitter, it gives you more scope to boil a few hops without the beer ending up to bitter, especially when making low gravity brews, which mine tend to be.

Not sure you are looking for feedback on your recipe, but I would be tempted to either move your 15 minute addition to 10 minutes, or split the hops up so that you add some at 15, 10, 5. This will make it a shade less bitter, which might be a good thing, given your low OG. I would also be tempted to lengthen your hop stand to 20 minutes; as you will get more flavour and aroma out of them that way.

Good luck with the brew! 

Cheers,

Christina.

 

[RepSpec]

4 hours ago, ChristinaS1 said:

Good luck with the brew!

Thanks christina...

I get what you mean about the APA base...with its already hopped flavour (albiet low) i wanted to find something that was a bit lighter.

always after feedback on the brew. I think i will alter the hop schedules to what you suggested (or round abouts) as it would be nice to have a brew not as bitter.

With the hop stand, should i let the water cool down from boil to (suggested on here) 80c to get less bitterness from that also. In all my previous brews, i have turned the heat off and thrown them straight in...might try the cool down heat if i remember!

[Otto Von Blotto]

Use the boil wort for the hop stand, rather than plain water. Up to you if you cool it before adding those hops or not. If it was me I probably would though. 

[ChristinaS1]

Like Kelsey, I usually do cool it to 80C first. Less bitterness extracted that way.

Cheers,

Christina

[RepSpec]

My technique for hop boiling is to take 5ltrs or so of water and some of the LDM.

Boil the water, then add the malt, then start the process of boiling the hops. Sound right?

For this one i will now cool the boil down until 80c then add the f/o additions.

[Otto Von Blotto]

That's pretty much what I used to do with extract, except I'd add the malt to the water and then bring it all to the boil. Any that wasn't properly dissolved got dissolved by the boiling anyway.

I don't cool my wort down but I'm doing AG and no-chilling it, so it needs to stay above 80C to go into the cube. I do use cube hops though which I have found to improve the hop flavor in my hoppy ales. There's not much else I can do with that no chill process but it works well enough.

[RepSpec]

thanks Otto...just good to hear im doing most things right hahaha

[Graculus]

Well I bottled the grapefruit brew on 2nd December.
At the time I had a taste I thought there was too much grapefruit.
Oh well, I'll leave in the bottle for 3 weeks before trying one.

Anyhow I bottled a dozen or so in clear bottles. 10 Days after bottling there is no sign of it clearing at all.
So if this one tastes OK I might have to adjust the amount of grapefruit next time.

Also I'm wondering if I should have added some pectolase. Maybe that would have helped clear it.
Or even gelatine?

[Smashed Crabs]

Was curious how this turned out. Did the grapefruit flavor turn out dry at all ? You did have a solid chunk of grapefruit In there so I'm not sure if it will clear up due to that. Hope it mellows out for ya.

[grogdog]

11 hours ago, Graculus said:

Well I bottled the grapefruit brew on 2nd December.
At the time I had a taste I thought there was too much grapefruit.
Oh well, I'll leave in the bottle for 3 weeks before trying one.

Anyhow I bottled a dozen or so in clear bottles. 10 Days after bottling there is no sign of it clearing at all.
So if this one tastes OK I might have to adjust the amount of grapefruit next time.

Also I'm wondering if I should have added some pectolase. Maybe that would have helped clear it.
Or even gelatine?

looks mean as it is

[Graculus]

12 hours ago, Smashed Crabs said:

Was curious how this turned out. Did the grapefruit flavor turn out dry at all ? You did have a solid chunk of grapefruit In there so I'm not sure if it will clear up due to that. Hope it mellows out for ya.

I only had a sip. I would say I was surprised at how much it tasted of grapefruit.  Having made a few ciders which I would describe as bland I thought it wouldn't be as tasty.
I usually bulk prime and transfer from FV to bottling bucket tap to tap. This time I bought one of those paint strain bags and put the tube into the bottling bucket like someone on here posted a few weeks ago as I thought there would be a lot of bits. Surprisingly there were very few floaties. None of which made it into the bottle.

I'm beginning to think I should start using ale yeast to make cider. Maybe the flavour would be better.

As for this beer I can live with it not clearing. As long as it tastes OK.
I think I'll leave it another week or so before trying.