Munton's Gold IPA

[jawats]

So, I bought and "brewed" a Muntons Gold IPA last night. Hops were mixed in with the malt. I bought 8 oz. of smoked malt, steeped them for 25 mins at 155 deg. in 1 gallon of water, then drained the malt, boiled, added it to the two cans of hoppy malt, stirred to dissolve, then added 4 gallons of cold water and tossed the yeast at 70 degrees.

My wife was amazed - "You're done," she said, "in less than an hour?"

Anyone else tried one of these kits?

-Jonathan

 

[Bob]

Yup.

My warm-weather 'lawnmower beer' - listed in my recipe book as Summer Fizz - consists of a tin of Cooper's Draught, a pound of Muntons Wheat DME, an ounce of Hallertau pellets, and Nottingham yeast.

Bring 1 gallon liquor to boil. Switch off heat. Stir in extracts until dissolved. Add hops. Strain to cold liquor in fermenter. Ferment until complete. Package. Consume when ready.

Yeah, it's my dirty little secret. But I like it! It's fresh, tasty and just the thing after an afternoon doing outside work.

Bob

 

[jawats]

Yup.

My warm-weather 'lawnmower beer' - listed in my recipe book as Summer Fizz - consists of a tin of Cooper's Draught, a pound of Muntons Wheat DME, an ounce of Hallertau pellets, and Nottingham yeast.

Bring 1 gallon liquor to boil. Switch off heat. Stir in extracts until dissolved. Add hops. Strain to cold liquor in fermenter. Ferment until complete. Package. Consume when ready.

Yeah, it's my dirty little secret. But I like it! It's fresh, tasty and just the thing after an afternoon doing outside work.

Bob

Inexpensive AND refreshing - the ultimate combination.

 

[dangerbrew]

Muntons Gold FTW

love that yeast too. never fails.

 

[jawats]

Muntons Gold FTW

love that yeast too. never fails.

I called my wife at home, and she said it's bubbling away! Less than 12 hours for ferment start. Nice.

 

[jawats]

BTW, I got an OG on this of 1.050 - I am still learning to read my hydrometer. Does that make sense?

 

[jawats]

Okay - instructions said when the bubbling stops, bottle. However, I took a SG reading and had 1.020, giving me roughly 4%. I moved it to secondary, adding a cup of corn sugar.

 

[ssabin]

Jawats,

Three quick comments for you:
1) I think you moved the beer too soon. Should wait at least a week - femrentation continues after the bubbles slow and stop. In fact, you may want to slightly increase the fermentation temp when activity seems to slow to help the yeast work on the dicetyl it created during the furious early fermentation.

2) You don't add corn sugar until you are bottling. Transferring to secondary was a bit early, but would be acceptable. No need to add the corn sugar at this point, unless it was for an "alcohol boost", in which case 1 cup isn't going to do a whole lot.

3) Read the material here on the forums. Especially the stickies and the FAQs. After spending about 15 minutes doing that, you will certainly know not to trust the instructions that come packaged with kits!

You're in good shape with no major worries about this batch. Just make sure your fermentation is really done before you bottle, and use your hydrometer to know that it's done (should read close to the recipe FG).

Good luck to you!

 

[jawats]

Jawats,

Three quick comments for you:
1) I think you moved the beer too soon. Should wait at least a week - femrentation continues after the bubbles slow and stop. In fact, you may want to slightly increase the fermentation temp when activity seems to slow to help the yeast work on the dicetyl it created during the furious early fermentation.

2) You don't add corn sugar until you are bottling. Transferring to secondary was a bit early, but would be acceptable. No need to add the corn sugar at this point, unless it was for an "alcohol boost", in which case 1 cup isn't going to do a whole lot.

3) Read the material here on the forums. Especially the stickies and the FAQs. After spending about 15 minutes doing that, you will certainly know not to trust the instructions that come packaged with kits!

You're in good shape with no major worries about this batch. Just make sure your fermentation is really done before you bottle, and use your hydrometer to know that it's done (should read close to the recipe FG).

Good luck to you!

True - I should just ignore the recipe. The addition of the sugar was called for by the recipe, as was moving to secondary in 3-5 days when the bubbling stopped....

 

[ruffdeezy]

I've been doing cooper's kits, about to tackle my first recipe with extract, grain, and real hops. Kits are simple but they are almost too easy. I'm really looking forward to getting it going, but I need a nap first.

 

[jawats]

I've been doing cooper's kits, about to tackle my first recipe with extract, grain, and real hops. Kits are simple but they are almost too easy. I'm really looking forward to getting it going, but I need a nap first.

I actually did it bass ackwards. A friend of mine is a chemical engineer and homebrewer, and he held my hand through the first few, which were partial-grain kits.

This is the first all-extract kit I've tried.

 

[ssabin]

OK - the kit calls for the cup of sugar as an alcohol booster then.

Let us know it turns out. I've been talking with my father about doing these sort of kits. He's retired and has planty of time, especially during the winters in northern Michigan, but I don't think he cares much about high-brow brew and hours of work at a time. These simple kits might just be the ticket. His staple beer is Labatt's, so if these kits are at least that good, he might it find it worth the minimal effort!

 

[jawats]

OK - the kit calls for the cup of sugar as an alcohol booster then.

Let us know it turns out. I've been talking with my father about doing these sort of kits. He's retired and has planty of time, especially during the winters in northern Michigan, but I don't think he cares much about high-brow brew and hours of work at a time. These simple kits might just be the ticket. His staple beer is Labatt's, so if these kits are at least that good, he might it find it worth the minimal effort!

I'll let you know. The cup of sugar is precisely that - an alcohol booster. The kits are less expensive than the Brewer's Best, and my brew store guy says people have been getting good results.

 

[jawats]

All,

I bottled about two weeks ago, tried one last night. Good carb, but it does not have the body I hope for in beer. Of course, I have rather intense body likes, and I think some of it is simply preference issues. In addition, though, there's an odd flavor there that I might describe as...hmmm...aged, maybe? Or maybe the beer is just too young to be good at this point?

Anyway, overall not a horrible beer so far, but not impressive enough (yet) to have me buying more of these kits.

 

[mlanoue]

Try it again in a few weeks. I bet it will taste completely different--and better.