This brew was my first foray into home brewing. It came with the older type of Coopers Beer Kit which has since been replaced with the newer, more simple design. I chose to go with this kit as it reduced the chances of forgetting something when starting your first brew and the instruction videos, both from Coopers and from Craig were a great start.
 |
| Coopers Home Brew Kit & Brew #2 |
Naturally being a complete beginner I simply followed the instructions and applied a lot of the tips from Craig's videos which document the process from start to finish very well. The only issue I had with the process was the difficulty of getting a good seal with the lid of the kit. For the first couple of days there was no bubbling from the airlock as the CO2 was being vented through the threads in the lid. With the help of SWMBO, who basically had to straddle the fermenter for grip, I was able to tighten the lid! :)
Out of all my brews to date (13 at time of writing), this one was the only one to produce the Rhino Fart. I came home after work to find the apartment stinking of sulphur and rotten eggs. Being inexperienced, I immediately panicked thinking I had an infection! A quick search online revealed this to be a common occurrence and hence the name. This smell thankfully dissipated after a few days.
This is the image of the brew after 1 week of bottling. The lack of head, carbonation and clarity was expected but it didn't smell great. It still kinda smelt like sulphur and a bit like cider at the same time. It tasted a bit like cider too but these tastes and smells faded over time and it ended up being a great brew. I think the addition of light malt extract instead of the brew enhancer would improve this brew significantly.
I have an excel document which I use to keep track of all the brews so at the end of every post I will include this information about each brew. The names are all purposely small to save as much space as possible in the document.
Stats:
Started - 2.5.11
Racked - NA
Finished - 8.5.11
Bottled - 9.5.11
Code - 1001
Yeast Brand - Coopers Standard
Yeast Code - 21610W
Y-Temp - 26.0Deg
Beer/Product Type - International Mexican Cerveza
Malt/Sugar Type - Brew Enhancer 2
Volume - 25.0L
OG - 1040
FG - 1012
Proof - 4.25 (Including 0.5% Priming)
I just googled for egg smell with the Cerveza kit too! I've only done ales/stouts so far, so I was cursing myself until I saw all the google results. I'm brewing at around 18-20, so I'm totally going to keep it in the primary at lower temps for a week (or maybe even put it in a secondary to let it clear up for two) before bottling. It's good to know it turned out ok in the end, my plan was to brew now for early summer and let the bottles condition for a good few months in the cold.
ReplyDeleteYeah it turned out quite well in the end. The last of the batch was very clear. Its a real crowd pleaser as its very similar in taste and mouth-feel to corona.
ReplyDelete