total newbie needing some guidance

[Axel D]

Hi,

I am pretty much completely new to brewing with the exception of one brew about 25 years ago that turned out absolute crap.

I have just bought a second hand brewing set up with pretty much all the gear that I need (picture attached).

It has quite a few cans of different brews and malt extract which sadly are all past their best before date.

Are these still ok to use or should I throw them out and get some fresh stuff.

I am mainly interested in making a Mexican Cerveza similar to Corona but with lower alcohol content

so I can drink more without getting too wasted.

just wondering what the best way would be to control how much alcohol is in the beer.

[Anzacpaul]

Hi and welcome to the forums.

 

Unfortunately your picture doesn't seem to have linked properly.

 

However, in regards to brewing a lower alcohol beer, the most simple way is to use less sugar or malt. If you were to do a Mex Cerv with 500g of light dry malt (or 500g Dextrose), I could imagine the alcohol would be quite low. You'll find plenty of great advice and help here on the forums that will get you brewing much better beer real quickly, just be careful, i've only just started and it's an easy thing to get addicted to.

 

 

As for your cans, the yeast has likely had it, the cans might be ok, but for $12 (the price of the can), it's hardly worth risking it for the possible result of chucking 2 1/2 cartons. Depending how far out of date they are (6 months probably ok, 2 years likely not)

 

 

Here's a recipe straight from coopers with a 3.8% ABV

http://store.coopers.com.au/recipes/index/view/id/6/

[Anzacpaul]

Double post sorry.

[Axel D]

Thanks Anzacpaul

I will give the Aztec gold a try with a new can of Mexican Cerveza.

[Otto Von Blotto]

Controlling the amount of alcohol in the beer is as simple as controlling the amount of fermentables that are in the recipe. Less fermentables = less alcohol. A kit with 500g dry malt usually comes out around the 3.5% mark if brewed to 23 litres (and will taste better than using 500g dextrose ).