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Recipe for Lime Corona Beer
I love a good Corona or Mexican Cerveza style beer on a hot summers day. Personally I prefer to have a piece of lime or lemon in the top of the bottle to give it that nice tang. There are some tales going around that the Mexicans use the lemon or lime to disguise the taste of the atrocious things they put in the brew. Old wives tale I say. It is just that these styles of beers (which are made from rice not wheat) just take citrus juice nicely and it enhances the flavor.
I've brewed very basic cerveza before using just the Coopers Cerveza kit and brew enhancer number 2. Came out a very nice drop but I wanted to make it even better. So I scanned the forums for ideas and came up with this Corona recipe which has a really nice taste with a lime finish.
Ingredients:
1 Can of Coopers Mexican Beer or Thomas Coopers cerveza.
1 Bag of Coopers brew booster number 2 (or any brew booster).
SAF US-05 yeast.
10gm Hersbrucker finishing hops of hops pellets.
1 to 2 whole limes depending on how strong you want the citrus flavor (or a lemon if you prefer). I recommend 1 lime.
Method:
To start, put a cup or 2 of water in a small pot and get it simmering. We are going to add in citrus flavors to this brew. I think 1 or 2 limes work best as you just want a light citrusy taste. Grate the zest of the limes being careful to get just the colored bit (the zest) and not the bitter white part. Put the zest into the simmering pot. Juice all of the limes or lemons and put this into the pot to simmer as well. Needs to simmer for at least 20 minutes but I recommend 45 minutes to an hour to really draw out the flavor from the zest.
Next put your can of Coopers into hot water to soften (discard the yeast under the lid), also begin steeping your finishing hops. If you buy the finishing hops in a packet ready to use complete with steeping bag, then just put it into a sanitized cup and pour hot water over it like you are making tea (give it a jiggle every now and then too). You can go stronger on the finishing hops with this brew than you would with standard cerveza.
Then get your hot water for the mixing boiling.
Also start your yeast re-hydrating by putting it into a sanitized cup and fill with luke warm water. Stir it to dissolve the yeast and keep stirring every now and then.
When everything is ready to start mixing, chuck in your bag of brew booster into your sanitized fermenter. Pour in around 2 liters of boiling water and stir until the sugars are dissolved. If you use a small kettle like me, put another batch of water on to boil.
Open the can of Coopers Cerveza and pour into the fermenter. Add some boiling water to the can and more to the mix. Stir the mix until everything is well dissolved. Give the can a good swish with the hot water to get the last bit and pour into the fermenter. Give everything a good stir to make sure it is dissolved.
Next pour in the citrus flavored water from the pot and stir in.
Next top up your fermenter with cold water. Keep stirring it as you top it up. Once filled to 23 litres, use the empty Coopers cerveza can to take 2 or 3 cans out of the tap at the bottom and pour it into the top (this takes the stronger mix down the bottom and puts it into the top, plus you always get a strong sugar mix stuck in the tap).
Next throw in your finishing hops. Put the whole lot in, water and bag (if you are using one). Give it a good final stir.
Add in the re-hydrated SAF yeast and stir in. Put the lid and air-lock on and you are done. Bottle when ready.
Notes:
I've also tried this recipe with lemon. it is a matter of preference but I prefer the lime taste to the lemon. Makes it more like the popular lime chiller beers around. But if you like the idea of a Lemon corona instead, go ahead and use 1 lemon in place of the limes.
As with the cerveza recipe, this one unfortunately takes some patience. Early after bottle conditioning it can have a sour taste to it. But be patient as this goes. It needs a good 3 months bottle conditioning before it mellows but the wait is worth it.