Wilco's Mexican Lager kit

[Suffolkbrewer]

Evening all

I'm having some issues with the Wilco's mexican lager kit coming out brown instead of a straw colour similar to Corona. I brewed this years ago (different kit and i can't remember the ingredients i used) and had good success, since i am back brewing, i've changed my kit and am now getting lots of issues. List of kit below and the process i follow

Consumables

1 x Wilco Mexican Cerveza kit 1.5kg
21 lts bottled water
1 x Mangrove Jacks Pure LME Light

Kit

5 gallon Youngs fermenting bin - used to mix the hot water with the can and add the LME
1 x Grainfather conical fermenter
Corny keg
CO2

Method

Everything gets cleaned before start

As per the kit instructions, heat 3.5lts water to boiling, mix in to kit and add the LME. Cool down to 18 degrees in the concial fermenter and pitch the yeast

Fermentation usually starts within a few hours (using the yeast supplied with the kit), i then leave it for two weeks until the SG is a steady 1010.

I will then cold crash the beer for a further week to 4 degrees.

After this is will then transfer to the corny keg, purge the O2 with CO2 and set to 15 psi for another week.

I have no issues with carbonation as the beer is now carbonated.

To start with it is coming out cloudy and dark, this maybe due to yeast and particles on the transfer from the conical to corny. I would expect these to disappear after running a few pints off, but it doesnt.

So.... any advice or anything glaring that i am doing wrong? I did think about transferring to a secondary fermenter before cold crashing to minimise any yeast or particles (happy to try this if it helps)

I do like a mexican lager and would like this to be an easy brew, can't quite understand why i am getting a brown colour beer when it should be straw coloured.

I've had a couple of pints and initially it tasted ok apart from the strange colour, had one tonight and it had a different taste. I would like this to be a 'go to' brew, but am struggling to get this basic one right at the moment.

I've got another Wilco kit ready to go for this weekend, any advice would be great. I've got a 1kg of light DME in stock if this would help?

Thanks
SuffolkBrewer

[bitter_dave]

I think I’m right in saying that liquid malt extract continues to darken in the can as it ages. Could it be that this can had been around a fair while? Depends on the shade of brown and age of extract. Nothing in your description of technique seems unusual to me.

[Suffolkbrewer]

Thanks Dave

What would be the alternatives to keep the straw like colour?

Thanks

[bitter_dave]

I’ve got to emphasise that this is just a guess. I’ve never made a lager in my life (I tend to brew darker beers), so someone with more experience in this may have some thoughts. However, you can get extra light DME which is made for pale beers, if you’re adding this. Also, you could look at the use by date and see if it’s close. Kit and extract brewers tend to emphasise that it’s better to use fresh extract as it will produce a superior beer, which I guess may have darkened a bit less as well. This is not always easy to do. However if you’re buying from wilko you could poke about and get the one with the longest remaining period until the use by date.

[guypettigrew]

Or perhaps the can was just wrongly labelled?!

Guy

[Robwalkeragain]

You're adding more malt than intended - so more colour These kits are designed to be brewed to their spec and sugar keeps the colour light.

You would either need to use sugar, extra light LME, or buy a different kit which is made from extra light LME

Other culprit would probably be oxidation, but I'm dubious with your kegging method.

[Jocky]

Is is the dark colour before fermentation, or just after?

[Suffolkbrewer]

Hi Jocky

It's at serving when i noticed this, once it has been under CO2 in the corny.

I've ordered some standard brewing sugar so will give this a go this weekend. Also tempted to transfer to secondary fermenter after fermentation has finished (or should i leave it sitting on the yeast for a further week to clear everything up)? Would it be best to cold crash before transferring to the secondary fermenter or afterwards? Any advice would be great!

As suggested, it could well have been a wrongly labelled can. Assume the bulldog mexican cerveza kit would eliminate this as i just need to add water and yeast?

Any advice getting the White Labs Mexican lager yeast going? I have always had difficulty in getting fermentation started and have had to drop dried yeast in a couple of days later to get it going.

Thanks as always
SuffolkBrewer

[Jocky]

If the wort before fermentation is light, and darker at some point later (at transfer to keg, or at serving) then I'd be 90% certain the problem is oxidation. In this case you need to work backwards from when you noticed it darkened to figure out where this has happened.

If it's that colour before fermentation then it's your ingredients. LME can darken with age, so if it's sat around for a while then that could be it.

[Robwalkeragain]

No point in secondary unless you want more oxidation problems.

The bulldog kit would likely fix the issue yeah. For the white labs go for a warm (15c) pitch with 15m cells per ml then cool it down for fermentation.

Hi Jocky

It's at serving when i noticed this, once it has been under CO2 in the corny.

I've ordered some standard brewing sugar so will give this a go this weekend. Also tempted to transfer to secondary fermenter after fermentation has finished (or should i leave it sitting on the yeast for a further week to clear everything up)? Would it be best to cold crash before transferring to the secondary fermenter or afterwards? Any advice would be great!

As suggested, it could well have been a wrongly labelled can. Assume the bulldog mexican cerveza kit would eliminate this as i just need to add water and yeast?

Any advice getting the White Labs Mexican lager yeast going? I have always had difficulty in getting fermentation started and have had to drop dried yeast in a couple of days later to get it going.

Thanks as always
SuffolkBrewer

[sandimas]

I've done a lot of LME and DME brewing over the years, hundreds of brews, and I've never seen a brew change colour to brown: slight darkening yes, but not a complete change. I've also made that Wilko kit with light DME and it came out as expected, very light. This doesn't explain your problem but I don't think it's the ingredients, seems very strange. Can you post a picture of the brew?