First Brew Lager- Too SWEET!

DaveMcC

Hi all,

This is my first home brew and first post, so I apologise for any if I have made a range of rather silly newbie mistakes.

I was given a home brew set including a Coopers Mexican Cerveza kit.

I have followed all the instructions- no messing around this time. SG was 1045 and FG 1015 after 7 days in the FV. The gift came with Coopers brew enhancer 2. Fermented at 20-23 'C
At this point I had a quick sip and it generally light like Sol but an ok first attempt.

I bottled at this point as I do not have a pressure barrel using 1 coopers carbonation drop in each 500ml bottle.
After an interesting week I have tried one of the bottles. To my displeasure they are quite flat and have an awful sweet taste to them which was not there before, But they are very clear.

Simple question.

Why?

HBO_Staff

Welcome, firstly everything sounds to be OK and this is nothing to worry about, once you prime the bottles with a drop then leave them somewhere warm, around 20 degrees C or so, to help the priming drop dissolve and secondary ferment. It will vary how long it takes to carbonate, but they can now be left to develop some fizz and this is when the full flavours will develop too, we always recommend you leave as long as possible, at least a few weeks or more if you can as they continue to develop and improve. The flavours will change and they will also carbonate, sample again in another couple of weeks minimum, for more fizz you can add up to 2 drops per 500ml bottle

BUDFORCE

Yeah a week is not long enough, try to leave them minimum 3 weeks or longer if you can. If you got the storage (kegs and/or plenty of bottles) brew batches in advance, the longer they can condition the better.

Beervai

I just bottled a coopers mexican cerveza kit. (my second brew attempt) I used enhancer 1 though instead of the recommended enhancer 2. (enhancer 1 is supposed to be for lagers which more seemed to suit cerveza in my mind at least..

I also ended up with a high FG it stopped at 1016 after about 6 days and despite a stir it was still 1116 after 12 days so I bottled it anyway. According to the kit it should have an ending FG of 1006..!!

Anyway going to leave it 7 days in the warm for secondary fermentation. Then in the cool for at least a couple of weeks. I'm going for a long secondary ferment though due to my first kit results (different brew though) being flat and various things I've read saying that kit instructions are usually way to short.

Was about to post all about the first kit results but got side tracked by this post. ;-)