sailing brewer Posted January 16, 2012 Share Posted January 16, 2012 I picked up my DIY kit at kmart today and am excited about getting into home brewing. I live on my sailboat and am currently in Sydney but plan to sail to Tasmania in a week or two. I learned about the Cooper's DIY kit from some other sailing cruisers. On a trip to Parramatta last weekend I was the only one in the group who was not making my own beer. How embarrassing was that? The beer I am most interested in copying is Pacifico from Mazatlan Mexico. It's been a favorite in California and Mexico for many years. Unlike Corona it has flavor and Mexicans drink it. I am going to make my first batch of beer using the Cervesa kit and the Beer Enhancer 2. The advice I got from Coopers Customer Service is that it should make something like Corona. I figure that is a good starting place but I am going to want to move on as soon as I am convinced that my initial efforts are successful. I was wondering if anyone on here has ever tried to reproduce Pacifico and could suggest a recipe I might try. John s/y Active Transport, Rozelle Bay, Sydney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Welcome John! Interesting life there, living on the seas. Parramatta would be one of the last places I would expect a life-changing experience (excluding a knife wound in Church Street Mall) but you will be thankful for it [biggrin] Sorry, I can't help you with Pacifica. I've never heard of it until now. A beer with more flavour than Corona would be good. Normally if Corona is on offer I drink water, it tends to have more flavour [biggrin] Good luck with your search and brewing/sailing adventure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Welcome John Something I always wanted to do is to just live on a boat and go anywhere I want. However, if you brew onboard it maybe interesting keeping it steedy crossing the Strait. Like Hairy, unfortunately I have never heard of Pacifica so am unable to provide any help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PB2 Posted January 17, 2012 Share Posted January 17, 2012 Great to see you on the Brewers Guild, John!![biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeB Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 John, I had Pacifica several years ago. In all honesty it reminded me of Corona - a light Mexican lager. I'd give the Cooper's Cervesa try, see how you like it and go from there. By the way, need a deck hand?? [lol] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TonyW Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Hi John and welcome to the forum [biggrin] Pac\xedfico is a Mexican pilsner beer so if i were going to have a go at it i would start there, maybe a can of Coopers Mexican Cerveza and 1.5kg of Briess Pilsen Light liquid malt extract (LME). I recently did one using a kit and 1kg of rice malt and some lime zest and honey this tasted very nice and will be a summer fav from now on. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndrewF111 Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 I was told by an american pack packer that carona is like fosters to australia, no one drinks it here but exports it. They drink Sol and Pacifico (now I know). Thats why they serve caronas with fruit isnt it, cause its crap. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Thats why they serve caronas with fruit isnt it, cause its crap. I was reading somewhere the other day they serve Coronas with fruit because originally citrus fruit in the neck of the bottle was there to keep the flies out. I don't know how true that is, just passing on something I read. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hairy Posted January 18, 2012 Share Posted January 18, 2012 Surely flies have better taste than to drink Corona. I mean, they may hang around manure but they would draw the line at Corona [biggrin] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sailing brewer Posted January 21, 2012 Author Share Posted January 21, 2012 Thanks for all the responses. I would have to say that the list of applicants for crew positions on the boat is second only to the list for the volunteers who want to help me test my brew. Australians are such friendly and generous people. Always wanting to help. I certainly agree that corona is one of those beers that is like making love in a canoe. But I figured it was close enough to Pacifico that it would give me a place to start. The story I heard about the lime that mexicans like with all their beers is that it was originally used to sanitize the lip of the bottle before drinking from it. Lime is used for a lot of sanitizing applications in mexico so there is probably something to the story. In the baja and west coast of mexico limes are wonderful and abundant. I think the quality of limes is directly proportional to how hard a life the lime tree has. Mexican limes are dark green, not too big and have a wonderful flavor that makes a great lemonada on a hot afternoon. They dont have lemons in the baja. Pacifico is all made in Mexico so Im not surprised that it has not made its way here. Its a wonderful hot weather beer and, in mexico, the price is right. The deposit on the bottles was more than the cost of the beer the last time I bought it. It has more flavor than Corona (not hard to do, I know) and is very consistent. It really grew on me over the years. I first had it in Mexico and then it started selling in California at a premium price. ITs not the same in cans. Mexicans make a lot of good beers. The only undrinkable one I have ever tried was called Chihuahua which I think they make by squeezing the piss out of small dogs. You need a corona chaser to get rid of the taste. My first batch of Cervesa is developing as the instructions suggest it should. Its sitting on the seat in the shower on the boat and smells like I think it should. Today is day 5 and the SG measured 1010. I put a garbage bag over the fermenter to so we can use the shower without getting the fermenter wet. It will have to be bottled before we take off for Tasmania. I guess if I want to brew on passages Ill have to get a big carboy and used a closed system. I think Ill just brew ahead and spend the passages generating empty bottles to use in the next port. Some friends and fellow brewers took off from Sydney to Tassie a week ago and they sent me a picture of a store shelf at a Shop and Go in Eden that had every homebrew kit I have seen on the internet. They even had the IPA kit which I have not found in Kmarts. We were planning on calling at Eden on our way down and now its an even firmer part of our plan. John s/v Active Transport Rozelle Bay, Sydney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChrisK Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 There's a hop called Pacifico or similar isn't there? Any chance that plays a part in this beer? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Trusty1 Posted January 23, 2012 Share Posted January 23, 2012 Welcome John Something I always wanted to do is to just live on a boat and go anywhere I want. You'd be in trouble if you wanted to go to Broken Hill![roll] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GeorgeB Posted January 26, 2012 Share Posted January 26, 2012 "Mexicans make a lot of good beers. The only undrinkable one I have ever tried was called Chihuahua which I think they make by squeezing the piss out of small dogs. You need a corona chaser to get rid of the taste." That's funny!!! [lol] Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NewtownClown Posted January 27, 2012 Share Posted January 27, 2012 If "Pacifico" is the one with the yellow label, the only thing I remember is thinking how much better than Corona it is. My fave Mexican is Negra Modelo (all 3 are made by the same brewery). Mexican beers are predominately Vienna Lagers or German Pilsners (because the majority of breweries were set up by German & Austrian immigrants) so are moderately hopped with little to no hop flavour/aroma. The malts are the star. They also use a lot of adjuncts (rice, maize) resulting in a drier/thinner beer. Not a style I really like, hence the preference for Negra Modelo a wonderfully dark, malty lager that really goes well after a BBQ'd steak and caramalised onions. Some call it a Dunkel, I believe it it more of an old style Vienna Lager. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sailing brewer Posted January 27, 2012 Author Share Posted January 27, 2012 That sounds like a fair description of the Pacifico I know and like. Sometimes is hard to separate the quality of the beer from the memories of the good times associated with it. Also, the lighter nature of Pacifico makes it good for those hot summer days in the Baja when you need more than a couple of beers to stay hydrated. Negro Modelo is a little heavy for that purpose in my opinion. It is a yellow label with a life saver encircling a picture of the lighthouse at Mazatlan. The last time I was in Mexico they had started selling it in cans but its not as good. Actually the difference between the canned and bottled versions is the greatest I have ever experienced in what is supposed to be the same beer. We prefer cans on the boat for safety but one case of canned Pacifico was all it took to convince me that bottled is the way to go. Wikipedia says Pacifico brewery was started by three Germans in 1900, sold to Grupo Modelo and that GM is 50% owned by Anheuser Busch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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