Batch #6-10: Mexican Cerveza

This will be a first-time Cerveza.

Summary:

This was a rather uneventful brewing session.  This looks like a 3.X% range brew, judging from the initial gravity.  That would be quite nice for a non-complex summer-style brew.

I did not do a yeast starter for this batch: I forgot to start this earlier, and didn’t want to wait another day.  The Wyeast was “whacked” to let the nutrient get things going after I took the package out of the fridge,  and 7 hours later the package looked like an inflated balloon.  I just gave the wort a good swirl after putting in the yeast.

Sunday, 11 Jul: The bubbling cycle intervals were at about 50 seconds.  I had a busy schedule, which only allowed me to bottle on Wednesday, so I counted on the fermentation being done by then.

Wednesday, 14 Jul: Took a final gravity reading and began bottling.  My siphon hose and the racking cane gave me problems holding a seal for the siphon, so I ended up using only the hose after a few failed attempts.  It caught a bit of trum once or twice but worked fine.  I have to find a better way to siphon.

Yield was 53x 12oz bottles.  For the priming sugar this time, I elected to put 1/4 cup of corn sugar into 1 cup of water and boil it, then add the cooled mixture to the bottling bucket before siphoning.  I have noticed that using this method tends to make a smoother head on the beer, compared to putting small amounts of raw corn sugar in the bottle directly.

Sunday, 1 August: tried the first bottle.  There is a lot of trum in the bottles, probably due to filtering problems when siphoning.  But there is an excellent head during the pour, and it has a clean, crisp taste.  I’m very pleased with this batch, and I normally don’t like corn-based beer.  This beer will be very pleasing to the tongue and body on a hot summer day.

Friday, 20 Aug: The beer is just plain smooth and tasty.  Everyone who tried it had basically the same opinion as I did: it was just plain refreshing.