LowerMillHillBackyardBrew
Well-Known Member
Hello wonderful forum, and thanks for a great source of knowledge! 
I'm pretty new to the hobby, and (lack of) space/equipment/money makes it easiest for me to brew with simple pre-hopped LME kits. I've done one successful batch based on a really cheap kit, and I have a christmas/winter ale in primary now based on a more expensive kit (Muntons Highland Heavy Ale), which I have high hopes for. I'll probably move to real extract brewing soon, but for now this is what I have to work with.
But let's get to the point: I bought a Muntons Barley Wine kit very cheap (past expiration date) and plan to brew this when I get the christmas ale into bottles. I plan to wash the yeast in that one (Wyeast 1450 Danny's Fave) and reuse it in this "Barley Wine" kit. So the yeast should be good.
Here's some info about the kit:
http://www.muntons.com/homebeer/countries/uk/prem_barley.htm
Googling hasn't turned up much information about what results to expect from it though :/
Now, my #1 question is:
The kit is meant for 13 liters. I have a 10 liter fermenter, and would like to use that one. That means I'll probably make about 9 liters of beer, to leave some headspace. What will be the consequences? Of course the OG will be higher, but that should be appropriate for a barley wine, instead of the suggested 1.060-1.064. I'm also going to make a starter to get a good fermentation going.
Will there be other consequences? Could it end up very sweet/thick? Is it stupid to reduce the amount of water by that much? I'm also going to add 1 kg of extra light DME instead of the suggested 1 kg sugar (of course). Would that be even more overkill with the diminished water amount?
And, does anyone have any general experience with this kit? Is it any good at all? Any tips for improving it? It cost me about $10, so I don't have much to loose.
I will greatly appreciate any advice! Thanks! Cheers! 
I'm pretty new to the hobby, and (lack of) space/equipment/money makes it easiest for me to brew with simple pre-hopped LME kits. I've done one successful batch based on a really cheap kit, and I have a christmas/winter ale in primary now based on a more expensive kit (Muntons Highland Heavy Ale), which I have high hopes for. I'll probably move to real extract brewing soon, but for now this is what I have to work with.
But let's get to the point: I bought a Muntons Barley Wine kit very cheap (past expiration date) and plan to brew this when I get the christmas ale into bottles. I plan to wash the yeast in that one (Wyeast 1450 Danny's Fave) and reuse it in this "Barley Wine" kit. So the yeast should be good.
Here's some info about the kit:
http://www.muntons.com/homebeer/countries/uk/prem_barley.htm
Googling hasn't turned up much information about what results to expect from it though :/
Now, my #1 question is:
The kit is meant for 13 liters. I have a 10 liter fermenter, and would like to use that one. That means I'll probably make about 9 liters of beer, to leave some headspace. What will be the consequences? Of course the OG will be higher, but that should be appropriate for a barley wine, instead of the suggested 1.060-1.064. I'm also going to make a starter to get a good fermentation going.
Will there be other consequences? Could it end up very sweet/thick? Is it stupid to reduce the amount of water by that much? I'm also going to add 1 kg of extra light DME instead of the suggested 1 kg sugar (of course). Would that be even more overkill with the diminished water amount?
And, does anyone have any general experience with this kit? Is it any good at all? Any tips for improving it? It cost me about $10, so I don't have much to loose.
I will greatly appreciate any advice! Thanks! Cheers!
