Meh...Made the kit/pack as per the ingredients and instructions provided (1.7kg of MJ's international cerveza malt can, MJ's brew blend #15 - 1kg of sugars/DME) Fermented while keeping the temps within the temp range given in the instructions 18-30oC (pitched yeast at 20oC and kept between 18 and 19oC for 8 days) bottled at SG 1006 after getting the same reading for 2 days in a row, the yeast was obviously not a true lager strain (bassed on recomended temps and lack of charectoristic sulphur smell from fermenter which true lager strains give off) despite a seperate "mangrove jack's craft series lager yeast" pack being included in the package seperate fromthe one glued to the top of the malt can and seemed no different from anyother 'neutral ale yeast', tried the 1st beer after 14 days in the bottle (with 2x mangrove jack's carbonation drops added per 750ml bottle) and the next one at 21 days at a similar temp, the result is a beer that has alot of malty/sugary scents and VERY average taste with poor head retention. Wouldn't recomend buying this kit if you want a crisp mexican style lager like corona (as sugested on the package) and have had better results from cheaper 'euro lager' kits purchaced from supermarkets at a much lower price. some home brew companies appear to be marketing and tayloring their products towards the masses who will buy a brew setup on a whim, brew 2-3 times and give up and either sell it or throw it away after not controlling temps and/or not sanitising bottles and not getting a good result, then go back to buying comercial beers in the box. this kit is a prime example. first and the last Mj's kit i'll buy. |