LME kit brewing question...

[9am53]

I have read and read every how to for beginners and am still at a loss.

I am buying a home brew kit from somebody that took the effort to buy everything for me and then give up, so I will be ready to brew Friday night. The kit comes with a couple LME kits, and I was thin king of making the Coopers Cervesa as my first home brew. The issue is that all it comes with is the can, no sugar...I have read that I should get Coopers brew enhancer 2 (Which I presume is the sugar), but do I need any hops or anything or is it all in the malt extract can? Also I have seen videos on youtube of people making these kits, and they always just pour a boiling kettle into the primary tub, add sugar, add malt extract, stir well, then pour cold water to top up to the mark and pitch yeast...all the directions on this site and other dedicated brew sites say to boil the wort for an hour or whatever adding hops or whatever and then chilling and pitching. Is the boiling a kettle and dumping it in then pouring cold water to quench just a cheap corner cutting method?

 

[jaycount]

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/coopers-mexican-cerveza-beer-kit-10218/

Quick search found that thread.

You don't need to boil this kit for a specific period of time because the LME is pre-hopped so hop utilization (reason we add hops at 60, 30, 15, etc. minutes) is not an issue. I would still add the can of LME (and "brew enhancer") at boiling temps to help kill any baddies hiding in the ingredients.

According to that thread the "Brew Enhancer" is a mix of DME, maltodextrine and dextrose.

OH and if the yeast isn't included you'll need to pick that up too...

 

[9am53]

cool thanks. This seems like a good beer to start out with, nothing hard. Hopefully it is as tasteless as the original, as this will make the wife like it and condone my hobby

 

[jaycount]

Honestly it will be a fairly difficult kit to do for a first but hey give it a shot.

 

[mrk305]

Pouring the water in is not a cheap shorcut. The extract is concentrated and meant to make five gallons. It is not very strong though, which is why most people add more DME, or sugar (not as good), sometimes adding more hops to add more flavor, or use two cans.

 

[9am53]

ok, if it's not totally an easy beginner kit, the other that it comes with is Morgan's Canadienne Blond...I presume that it is a lager though, so it would likely not be a good one to start with too right? Again, this kit doesn't come with any sugar, Morgans seems to be a smaller company than coopers, so I can't find any info on the kit, could I try using the same coopers brew enhancer 2?

I was planning on fermenting the cervesa upstairs at room temp for a week, and then moving into the cool basement to maybe give the lager yeast some action...

 

[mrk305]

If it is a name brand yeast you might want to check out their website for the recommended fermentatioin temp. I have only done a couple lagers, but most of the time I think you want to start out cold. The last one I did this winter I held at 50 degrees for three weeks. After the main fermentation is over you can bring it up to room temp to finish up. Do a search for diacetel rest. There are a couple good threads about it.

If it is just a generic yeast that came with the kit you will not realy know the recommended fermentation temp for that strain. You can always play it safe and ferment at lower temps. If it was meant to be warmer it will still taste good but might take longer to finish. Or, you can buy an ale yeast for about $1.50 and ferment at room temperature.

 

[jaycount]

I can't find much information but I'm guessing that both of those kits have ale yeasts. I would definitely err out on the cold side if possible, it will provide a crisper, cleaner taste. Just make sure you are fully fermented out before bottling, check via the hydrometer! If it's too cold and fermentation stops then bring it to a slightly warmer location. Don't let it get too warm especially in the first 72~ hours.

The cerveza (light lager with a Mexican name) kit is only difficult because it's supposed to be flavorless. The trouble in this is that off-flavors and off-aromas can be detected much easier. I guess it's not really any harder to do, just easier to screw up.

Oh and I've never heard of Morgan's but when I looked up some info on their kit I didn't find alot of specifics. One thing I noticed is that their IPA is only 23 IBUs

What are some of the specifics of your equipment kit? Since both of these will require more ingredients maybe you should start off with a fresh ingredient kit for your first then come back to these once you get the wifey's approval and have built your own confidence.

 

[9am53]

ok, the kit comes with primary and secondary bucket and carboy, several airlocks, thermometers, hydrometer, racking cane, hoses, keg, lines, bottlecaps...misc stuff, and then 2 cans of the beer. I went out and bought 1.2 kg of dme and 1 kg of dextrose. I think I am going to try the canadian one, add a kg of the dme and 250 g of dextrose and ferment in the basement at around 55 degrees for a couple weeks, then bring it up to maybe 65 for secondary and see what happens. Does my recipe sound reasonable as a first time baseline?

 

[jaycount]

you might check to see if your ingredients are on beer calculus and put the recipe together and see what gravities you get.

 

[rod734]

ok, the kit comes with primary and secondary bucket and carboy, several airlocks, thermometers, hydrometer, racking cane, hoses, keg, lines, bottlecaps...misc stuff, and then 2 cans of the beer. I went out and bought 1.2 kg of dme and 1 kg of dextrose. I think I am going to try the canadian one, add a kg of the dme and 250 g of dextrose and ferment in the basement at around 55 degrees for a couple weeks, then bring it up to maybe 65 for secondary and see what happens. Does my recipe sound reasonable as a first time baseline?

I made one of the Cervesa kits a few weeks ago and I have the instructions right here. It says insteade of the brewhancer 2 you cnd use 500g of DME and 250g of sugar/dextros. If you have the Coopers yeast that came with it the opt ferm. temp is 70-80 degrees F. if you use another yeast you should ferm according to the yeast needs. Hope this helps.

 

[william_shakes_beer]

All of the kits I've done thus far generally include 6 lbs of extract for a 5 gallon batch. I believe the Cooper's kits call for 1 can extract and 3 lbs corn sugar. It's a cheaper way to produce the kit, since the brewer can provide their own sugar. If you elect to use something other than sugar for the other 3 lbs of fermentables, be sure its unhopped. More than likely the can of extract you have is hopped for a full 5 gallon batch. If you add another can of hopped extract your product will be more bitter than expected by style.

 

[9am53]

I tried the beer calculus utility, but it didn't have the morgans beer I have. I am going to try it at 55 degrees in my basement and see what happens. worst case it sucks and I dump it, it was free. What sort of OG should I be aiming for? is there a general number, or is it vastly different for each beer type? If lets say I shoot for 1.050, if I get below this should I just mix in another 100g's of dex to raise it? IF it's too high do you just deal with it as you will just have stronger beer in the end?

Thanks for dealing with my newbness, first time jitters :/

 

[jaycount]

Varies based on style. Id expect something close to 1.045- 1.050 for that style.

 

[unionrdr]

The Cooper's cervesa (as are other Cooper's kits) are designed for 23L in the cooper's FV (6.072G). And a good temp for it would be 68-70F. I brewed the 2 Cooper's cans I used in my recipes at 70F. & the brew enhancer 2 is 500g dextrose,250g maltodextrine,& 250g light DME. That'd work well in making the cervesa a bit better. And OG should indeed be around 1.045. If,with the brew enhancer 2 you get it down to FG of 1.012,you're good. Adding DME &/or any dextrose,or dex with additions, it doesn't seem to want to go below 1.012...

 

[9am53]

ok, so I am gonna forgo any of this worry and I got a coopers dark ale and an ounce of fuggles hops. I figure Ales are easy to start with. I like hoppiness, I was thinking I would just dry hop the ounce and see how she works. Is an ounce of hops enough? it seems like so little...

Thanks, can't wait to be the guy giving advice so you guys can retire and just drink...

 

[jaycount]

Should come out alright. The can is pre hopped so the fuggles will be in addition to the hoppiness in the can

 

[9am53]

thanks I will post results in a few weeks