Muntons American Lite

I have been lurking,hoping to find an answer with out posting because....well,kinda intimidated by...ahhh...how do I say this nicely? Home brew....ahhhh ....snobs.....who think if you like Coors you should be shot to be put out of their misery.....
Anyhow,We brewed our first batch...Northern Brewers Cream Ale.....carbonation is really flat,letting it sit longer to see if it improves.....cause that what I have read hear to do

Next is the Muntons
But the directions to open the can of wort,poor in fermenter ,add 3 1/2 litres of boiling water and 2.2 lbs of sugar(brewing sugar)
From all the posts and books I've read you are suppose to boil water and wort for a minimum of 15 minutes
Am I misunderstanding something?
Does that seem like a lot of sugar?
For a LITE BEER????
Shouldn't the sugar be dissolved in the boiling water?

HHHEEEELLLLPPPPPPP!!!!!!

respectfully yours
Karyn

I don't have any experience with pre-hopped kits but I'd suspect if you boiled the pre-hopped extract for any length of time that you would boil off the hops flavor & aroma. You may want to add the extract and sugar while the water is on the stove though to ensure it dissolves completely.

2.2lbs of sugar? Adding alcohol without adding much body

As for your carbonation on the cream ale: how did you add the priming sugar when bottling? Elaborate more on that procedure so we can hopefully prevent any problems there this time. :rockin:

I just brewed a muntons gold pilsner.

I boiled the water on the stove, removed the heat from the pot, then poured the extract in the hot water and stirred like crazy. I'm of the opinion that extract kits that are "no boil" should not be boiled again. So I'd just add the extract to the hot water in the pot. You'll need a big pot by the way.

Also I'd add some cold water to your fermenter before adding the wort. I don't like the idea of dumping boiling water in a plastic bucket. They can probably take it but I don't like the idea. Besides the more pouring you do can only aerate the wort more and give the yeast more oxygen to work with.

Follow the instructions and you probably won't wind up with bad beer. You can probably improve on the instructions a little but I'm not there yet. I'm still just getting my process down. I figure if you follow the instructions you'll wind up with decent beer. After I have the process down I'll look to improve my output.

In regards to kits from Muntons, Coopers, etc - yes, these are "no boil" kits, and boiling them will 1] eliminate and/or alter the hop profile, and 2] darken the resulting wort. DON'T BOIL THEM. They are made to be "mixed" not really "brewed". Some of them, Coopers in particular, are formulated to be made with a mixture of DME, Maltodextrine, and corn sugar. I have made them in that fashion, and have added 2 pounds of DME only to others. You can also play around with some specialty grains and added flavor and aroma hops. But if you're starting out [you mentioned this was your second brew], just follow the directions. Also, these kits are designed to make 6 US gallons [23 litres], not 5. Obviously, you can make them to 5 gallons, it'll just alter the profile a bit. Don't let anyone tell you otherwise - you can make some nice beers with "no boil" kits.

The beauty of a no boil kit is that someone already boiled it for you. Add sugar, water, yeast... wait... done. If they weren't any good, they wouldn't be on the market. These kits are perfect for you to learn the process of fermentation and to get your sanitizing skills in order.

Why are American gallons different than normal ones?

Thank God I think in metric, too confusing otherwise.....

StittsvilleJames said:

Why are American gallons different than normal ones?

Thank God I think in metric, too confusing otherwise.....

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Don't know why US gallons are different. Imperial gallons are about 1.2 US gallons. It's all what you get used to I guess.

Seems the US drives on the right side of the road and everyone else on the left. To each his own.

We like to be different... but always end up like good ole' England in the end.

AR-Josh said:

Don't know why US gallons are different. Imperial gallons are about 1.2 US gallons. It's all what you get used to I guess.

Seems the US drives on the right side of the road and everyone else on the left. To each his own.

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You mean everyone else drives on the wrong side . . . right? haha


I have done a muntons stout kit (just bottled it 2 weeks ago) it is good but need to age a bit and a coopers wheat kit (going into bottle this weekend). The few thing's I learned. everyone likes them better with all DME not a DME and corn sugar mix. It is perfectly ok to bump up your DME. my friend bumped his DME on his wheat up a pound and it was awesome, only lasted 4 days after bottle conditioning was done.
Do not boil the prehoped LME kit butwhen I do the wheat kit again I will boil in the DME. Boiling in the DME makes it so mutch easer to deal with! and yes muntons are a 6 gal kit. Other than that follow the destruction and you will have great beer!

I was told by my LHBS to boil the Muntons for 10 mins. It definitely darkened up my continental pilsner, but I like the flavor of it. As someone previously said, it'll all make beer. I'm very glad that I used the Muntons kits for my first two brews, because now my Northern Brewer kits aren't nearly as intimidating.

dabaki said:

I was told by my LHBS to boil the Muntons for 10 mins. It definitely darkened up my continental pilsner, but I like the flavor of it. As someone previously said, it'll all make beer. I'm very glad that I used the Muntons kits for my first two brews, because now my Northern Brewer kits aren't nearly as intimidating.

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Yeah I have been told that boiling them for 5 or ten minutes Wont hurt to bad but you absolutely don't need to. So do what you feel but I wouldn't boil it for 30 minutes!

Thanks everyone,I will try it as the directions say and not boil

as for the 1st batch I boiled the water added the sugar added it to the bucket mixed and then bottled.....the taste is good ,just no head very flat

since I dont have the sugar I am doing Northern brewer American Lager.....I just read over the directions,smacked the yeast packet and now have to figure out what a yeast starter is......LOL
the first kit didnt say anything about it

Shot out of their misery for drinking Coors Light? Thats a little strong, dont you think?

A good flogging is probably more appropriate!

A yeast starter is like a small beer to start the yeast growing cycle. Here watch this, this is a great video.

mixedbrewer said:

the beauty of a no boil kit is that someone already boiled it for you. Add sugar, water, yeast... Wait... Done. If they weren't any good, they wouldn't be on the market. These kits are perfect for you to learn the process of fermentation and to get your sanitizing skills in order.

Click to expand...

+1

Primo said:

You mean everyone else drives on the wrong side . . . right? haha


I have done a muntons stout kit (just bottled it 2 weeks ago) it is good but need to age a bit and a coopers wheat kit (going into bottle this weekend). The few thing's I learned. everyone likes them better with all DME not a DME and corn sugar mix. It is perfectly ok to bump up your DME. my friend bumped his DME on his wheat up a pound and it was awesome, only lasted 4 days after bottle conditioning was done.
Do not boil the prehoped LME kit butwhen I do the wheat kit again I will boil in the DME. Boiling in the DME makes it so mutch easer to deal with! and yes muntons are a 6 gal kit. Other than that follow the destruction and you will have great beer!

Click to expand...