Muntons no-boil kit - addition of LME?

Hi, I've just gone 9 days into bottling of my first canned, no-boil kit, a Muntons Canadian Ale. It's good so far, surely will get better, however I'd like to start my production pipeline going a bit now. And I'd like to do another canned no-boil kit so I can get my basics down pat.

I've heard adding liquid malt extract (this is LME, yes?) to the canned kit can help the body of the final product. If this is a good call, do I still need to add any corn sugar in?

The canned kit I'd be doing next would be some sort of Muntons again, probably, the 3.3lb no-boil dealie. How much liquid malt extract would I need to add to have good alcohol content and good body in the final beer, and do I need to still add some corn sugar for proper fermentation or final taste?

I've found I can buy liquid malt extract from a local brewhouse at $10/liter (Canadian) if I bring my own container, not sure if that's a rip off or an acceptable price, or if that would give me WAY too much!

Thanks all!

Adding more LME instead of sugar is definitely a good idea. Adding another 3.3 pound can of unhopped LME should get you close to 1.050-ish as a starting gravity for a 5-gallon batch. Try to use the lightest extract available.

If you know how much a liter of liquid extract weighs, you could compare prices. Most LME isn't sold by volume.

So I could drop in a liter (1.48kg I think?) of LME instead of using ANY sugar? Or would I still need some further sugar?

If a liter of LME actually weight 1.48kg, you should be alright without any sugar. Beersmith is showing me a starting gravity of 1.047. Is there a target starting gravity in the kit instructions?

Is the can prehopped? If not u will want to add hops to ur recipe.

Yes the Muntons cans are pre-hopped, so I'd be adding either 1.4kgs of LME to it, or maybe DME if I can find it. (Presuming that the extra LME/DME is NOT pre-hopped)

So the consensus seems to be I don't absolutely need to add any extra sugar with that addition, but can add a little if I wanted without jeopardizing the brew. I'd like to hit a little higher on the ABV scale on this one, for sure, but I don't have any other big goals for this one besides a good tasting beer.

With adding DME/LME, should I think about throwing in some hops somewhere along the line? Not sure where that'd be, if so. The kit method without any LME/DME would be bring water just to a boil then mix in the sugar, add can of extract, Bob's your Uncle. With LME/DME I'm presuming I should bring water to a boil and add that LME/DME, then boil it for some amount of time, THEN mix it with the kit can in the fermenter.

For a bit of a hops addition, would I throw them in during the boil there, or dry hop it after?

Thanks for all the responses so far! I can't wait to get this one rolling on the weekend!

Psych said:

Yes the Muntons cans are pre-hopped, so I'd be adding either 1.4kgs of LME to it, or maybe DME if I can find it. (Presuming that the extra LME/DME is NOT pre-hopped)

So the consensus seems to be I don't absolutely need to add any extra sugar with that addition, but can add a little if I wanted without jeopardizing the brew. I'd like to hit a little higher on the ABV scale on this one, for sure, but I don't have any other big goals for this one besides a good tasting beer.

With adding DME/LME, should I think about throwing in some hops somewhere along the line? Not sure where that'd be, if so. The kit method without any LME/DME would be bring water just to a boil then mix in the sugar, add can of extract, Bob's your Uncle. With LME/DME I'm presuming I should bring water to a boil and add that LME/DME, then boil it for some amount of time, THEN mix it with the kit can in the fermenter.

For a bit of a hops addition, would I throw them in during the boil there, or dry hop it after?

Thanks for all the responses so far! I can't wait to get this one rolling on the weekend!

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Well,down in Australia,it's popular to make a "hop tea" in some water (I'd say 2G) for 15 mins or so,then pull it off the heat,add your malts,sugar (if any),& stir like it owes you money. Then put a lid on it,& let it steep in the boiled water while you get the other stuff ready.
Still others say you have to add some malt (usually DME) to the water to make your aroma/flavor hop addition to better utilize the Lipulins (hop oils). IDK,so far I don't think it matters to a very noticeable degree. But to each there own.

Awesome, so if I was going to add a bit of hops, is there a recommended type and quantity for a basic sort of brew, just to add a bit to it? I'd likely be doing a mid-color ale, not brown not blonde, somewhere in between likely. I don't really care for SUPER hoppy beer, but it'd be nice to get a feel for what they can do.

I see cascade hops in a lot of recipes, would that be a good neutral sort of hop to experiment with first?

My hops source is offering pellets so that'll likely be what I wind up purchasing.

Cascade is a good choice. Cascade offers a citrus smell and taste. I would maybe add an ounce of cascade near the end of your boil.

unionrdr said:

Well,down in Australia,it's popular to make a "hop tea" in some water (I'd say 2G) for 15 mins or so,then pull it off the heat,add your malts,sugar (if any),& stir like it owes you money. Then put a lid on it,& let it steep in the boiled water while you get the other stuff ready.

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I like this...it's like adding flameout hops. Great for hop aroma.

brewhooligan said:

I like this...it's like adding flameout hops. Great for hop aroma.

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It gives some flavor too,as I've noticed. I bottled it last Sunday. Great amber color,like a Salvator doppel bock,or a marzen. But the aromas/flavors should be pretty good. As the brew fermented,then cleaned up,I started getting biscuity smells,floral,lemon grass,earthy/spicey notes. Especially after dry hopping with an ounce of Willamette. I made the hop tea out of an ounce of Kent Golding for 15mins.
I thought it wise to try & match the hops to the flavors the yeast makes. Not just the style of beer. Seems to be working,but we'll see in about a month. I can't wait to try the end result of this one. Hope these insights help you make a decision in this regard.

I just completed my second batch, it's in the fermenter right now. I was even able to drink two of my past home brew batch while brewing today, which was so pleasant

I had 1.8kg's (3.96lbs) of pre-hopped canned, no boil, extract. This was actually from a "Canadian Adventure Ale" can, $14 in the grocery store. I also had 1L (1.48KG's, 3.26Lbs) roughly, of pale liquid malt extract.

My process was to boil 1gallon of water in my new 5g stock pot, which worked fairly well on my electric stove but even better once I fired up two elements and straddled it over them. I then added the pale liquid malt extract, off the heat so it didn't scorch, stirred that all up good, then added in 1oz (30g) of cascade hops in a bag, covered and let it heat back to a boil over the next 20 minutes. Sort of didn't reach a boil until the very end, but so be it.

I then dumped my 1.8kg's of pre-hopped extract into my sanitized fermenter, then removed the hop bag and added in the boiling water, using some of it to wash out the can and get everything I could from the inner walls. I then added what I think is about 200-250g of corn sugar to kick it up a bit, stirred it well for a few minutes.

I then topped it off to 23L (6g) as per the kit instructions, with filtered water, which took forever.

My original gravity after mixing this all up well was 1.050 on the nose, which is .01 more than Beersmith says it should be, but good deal! I may have done it a bit warmer than my hydrometer is calibrated for though.

Brought the fermenter to it's room and added the yeast right from the packet, stirred it all up good again, covered and now we'll see how it goes!

If you have a source for fresh LME at $10/liter, I wouldn't even bother w/ canned extract. Try experimenting w/ 2 liters of LME, hops and perhaps steeping some specialty grains in a grain bag, that should provide you with a decent variety of pleasant brews.

I sort of just realized yesterday when pouring it in that I may have gotten a good deal on the LME, since it weighed almost as much as the pre-hopped can but the can was $5 more and of questionable age. The LME came from a giant container, I'd guess they go through it fairly steadily since they're a 'come in a brew beers here' place.

All the bits and pieces of actual brewing are starting to fall into place in my head now, next one will be for sure as you suggest. Looking forward to getting a feel for the specialty grains and concocting my own recipe!

Peeked in on the fermenter this morning and had a good couple inches of foam on top, looks like things are going well so far!

I use 2.2 pounds of DME light or xtra dark . Makes for a much better flavor and more body . sugar is way too much and makes it thin . I love Muntons no boil kits . Just brewed a Canadian and a pilsner today .
Use the malt instead of sugar or along with a pound of sugar for more ABV . Try doing a boil with some grains that compliment the beer style and some hops and use that for a couple gallons of the water . I use chocolate and black and honey in my muntons no boil nut brown along with some fuggles . Just a couple handfuls of each grain . Makes some tasty brew.

unionrdr said:

This discussion was from Feb & March of last year,just so you know. I was on my 2nd batch in this discussion. How times change...

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No doubt...I'm now some 50 batches in doing all grain on an electric setup that I built myself. And though I said I didn't before, I now like hoppy beers lol

I need to go electric . I am going to look into that as the propane bill is a bit high . Can you post your setup specs for me to check out .

MarcusKillion said:

I need to go electric . I am going to look into that as the propane bill is a bit high . Can you post your setup specs for me to check out .

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It's all in my sig: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/electric-biab-setup-complete-254590/

Page 1 has the pics and page 2 has the parts breakdown as much as I could remember. There's a wiring diagram here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f170/wiring-assistance-single-pid-ssr-single-kettle-setup-241686/

That's essentially what I used, though minus the emergency stop, felt it wasn't needed.

Yeah when I calculate the cost of firing my element at full for an hour, and see that it's maybe $.80c or something, it makes me glad I opted for electric. Especially when it's below freezing outside and I'm indoors!

thank you much