Batch #4-12: Mexican Cerveza

Style Mexican Corn Beer (Partial Mash)
Ingredients View here
Brewing Date: Thu: July 19, 2012
Primary Fermentation: Thu: July 19, 2012
Original Gravity: 1.030
Secondary Fermentation: n/a
Bottling Date: Tue: July 24, 2012
Final Gravity: 1.018
Release Date: Fri: August 31, 2012
Alcohol by volume: 1.6% RAW ABV (2.1% final)
Final Release Name: East of the Border

Summary:

This recipe from Heart’s is a good one, and should fit perfectly with the weather around Labor Day.

Thu 7/19 @ 11:45PM — The brewing session went very well.  No boil-overs, etc.  One difference in this batch is that I decided to use bottled water for the wort, for a 18.6L carboy from Plano.  I want to see if that has any impact on the taste compared to previous batches.  I also used a Cooper’s dry yeast packet for the yeast, instead of White Labs or another wet yeast.

Sat 7/21 @ 11:00AM — Carbonation is very active, with solid bubble bursts at about 1 second intervals.

Tue 7/24 @ 11:30PM — The FG was quite a bit higher than I expected.  Nonethelese, the wort looks good and has a smooth taste.  If I had to do this batch again in the future, I would add a bit of Irish Moss to the wort during the boil.  It is a bit too cloudy: hopefully that will settle in the bottles as they condition.  Yield was 1x 34oz, 1x 1L, and 52x 12oz bottles.

Mon 8/27 @ 10:00PM — The conditioned beer is very smooth, and a bit on the sweet side (I expect this for something corn based).  The beer is very clear, and produces about 1/4″ of airy head when poured.  I can tell that the alcohol content is on the low side as I drink it.  This is a good hot weather beer.