"Pimping" a Muntons Bitter Kit

[slymaster]

I've been obsessed lately about brewing classic English Bitters. While I'm collecting all the ingredients for "the perfect recipe" I have in my head, I stumbled upon a Muntons Traditional Bitter Kit, so I decided to give it a try. I've never done kits in the past. From what I have read, they lack that fresh grains taste and the bitterness tends to mellow as the kit gets old.

I also always try to get the best taste possible (not the cheapest brew), so I "Pimped" that kit with steeping grains, rose the gravity a bit to get closer to 5% alc./vol., added a bit of hops to balance that and bring fresher hops aroma and burtonize the water. My brewshop had the West Yorkshire yeast on hand, so I also decided to give it a try.

----------------------
So here is what I used for a 6 US gallons batch:

Grains (Steeped at 165 Farenheit):
12 oz. Biscuit Malt
6 oz. Crystal Malt (80L)
8 oz. Flaked Corn Maize

Minerals:
2 tbsp. Gypsum
1 tbsp. Chalk

Extract/Sugar:
Muntons Connoisseur Range Traditional Bitter (1.8kg can)
2 lbs. Light Dry Malt Extract
0.5 lbs. Corn Sugar

Hops:
0.25 oz. East Kent Goldings (pellets) @5 minutes boil
1 oz. oz. East Kent Goldings (leaf) dry hop
0.75 oz. East Kent Goldings (pellets) dry hop

Yeast:
Wyeast 1469 West Yorkshire

Original Gravity:
1.053
----------------------

When I pitched, there was an awesome fresh grains/hoppy/biscuity aroma. The wort was sweet, flavourful and the hops were balanced.

It's only been 3 days and I'm pretty excited about this brew. I know that the West Yorkshire Yeast strain needs quite a bit of time to make it's job.

----------------------

Now, what do you think I added too much steeping grains? Too much biscuit malt? I know English malts and yeasts naturally retain a biscuity flavour, but maybe it's too much? Do you think it might also end with too much unfermentables?

Any thoughts?

 

[grasshopper1917]

Sounds interesting -- let us know how it turns out! Cheers

 

[slymaster]

I ended up dry hopping for a week with a combination of East Kent Goldings, Challenger and Fuggle leftovers from another recipe (1 oz. total). Final gravity was 1.014 and I primed it with beet sugar.

It's been 4 days and it's already pretty carbed. It's not super-clear yet and there's a lot of yeast flavours but it's already really good.

It's got that bite on the tongue that Bitters have from butonization of the water and from the Hops. It has a super malty/biscuity flavour that lasts in the mouth but for now, the yeast aromas and flavours are too strong to appreciate fully the malt.

It's going to be better in a month or so for sure.

 

[slymaster]

Finally, the beer is good. Not super-good but good.

If I was to redo this, here's what I'd change:
1- I'd simply steep a pound of Maris Otter. The crystal adds darkness and there's already plenty of biscuit flavour, no need to add more. The end result looked like a bit darker than Newcastle.

2- I wouldn't add Gypsum or Chalk. I feel that there was already additions as the beer feels a bit «salty».

3- I fermented just a bit too high for that yeast (room temp was around 75 Farenheit). It ended up with too estery. I would still use that yeast though, because it gives a fine carbonation and a super-creamy mouthfeel, very cask-like carbonation. I fermented another beer with the same yeast at 55-60 Farenheit, getting it up at 70 for dry-hopping and it ended up being spectacular!

It was a good experiment. And the addition of dry hops was perfect, as those kits tend to lose bitterness over time.