very first brew.. muntons irish stout

[ibintinknockin]

ok, i am planning on my first brew.. i have all my equipment, and i already ordered the following.

muntons irish stout kit
3 lbs dark lme
priming corn sugar

.... now i have two questions. first, is the 3 lbs of dark lme enough fermentables for 6 us gallons? second, i want it carbed like guinness or murphys. i ordered priming sugar for 5 us gallons. would adding that to almost 6 gallons under-compensate enough for stout carbonation? i plan to bottle.

 

[Calder]

3 lbs of LME in 6 gallons is only going to give you 1.018 as a starting gravity. I suspect the recipe recommends the addition of other sugars. 1.018 is very low and will end up with a thin beer with less than 2% alcohol.

I assume you are after the carbonation you get from guiness and Murphys which have the widget in the cans and bottles. You will not get that type of carbonation. The widget releases nitrogen into the beer as the beer is opened to give it that creamy head. Using priming sugar will result in CO2 carbonation and give a similar head to that you find in regular beers.

 

[ibintinknockin]

Thanks calder. Should I brew 5 gallons then or add more fermentables? And if so how much?
And I know in order to mimic the creamy head of guinness I need Nitro or the surger or the syringe trick, but as far as carbing when I bottle, should i carb like other beers? Stouts are a little flatter than most beers, no? How much priming sugar for an irish stout per gallon?

 

[1Mainebrew]

Yes, buy more extract-like 2 cans total for the brew. Buy some Roasted barley and chocolate malt to steep, maybe some oats or flaked barley too. As far as carbonation 4-5 oz of corn sugar is good for an average amount of carb in a 5 gal batch. Have fun!

 

[ibintinknockin]

thanks! i know im supposed to learn from my first brew but i didnt want to totally screw it up

 

[1Mainebrew]

brew it up, have fun, and let us know how your recipe comes out!

 

[ibintinknockin]

ha ha... definitely ... should i have gotten 3 lbs of dme? is 3# lme less fermentables than 3# dme ?

 

[Aschecte]

ok, i am planning on my first brew.. i have all my equipment, and i already ordered the following.

muntons irish stout kit
3 lbs dark lme
priming corn sugar

.... now i have two questions. first, is the 3 lbs of dark lme enough fermentables for 6 us gallons? second, i want it carbed like guinness or murphys. i ordered priming sugar for 5 us gallons. would adding that to almost 6 gallons under-compensate enough for stout carbonation? i plan to bottle.

quick question is this a true brew kit with muntons ingredients ? if so I've done this kit and it should be 1- 3.3 hopped Lme and I believe 2 lbs of dark DME and steeping grains roasted barley like .25 and like .3 of crystal 120. regardless what you have above is way to little for a 6 gallon batch. and #2 no you need a nitro setup to get a head like a guiness though for the money you are saving 5 oz corn sugar should make you fairly happy and hey it's your first beer so keep that in mind, good luck congratulations and let us know how it turns out.

 

[cklages]

I presume that you are taking a can of prehopped irish stout lme (3.3 lbs) and adding an additional 3.3 lbs of lme?

In that case your starting gravity would around 1.045 in 5 gallons, or 1.041 in 5.5 gallons (in line with style)

I'm guessing that you are adding the lme in place of the sugar called for in the directions, which is a good plan, but i would use light lme even though it is a stout. dark lme is less fermentable and all of the colour is brought to the table by the kit. The additional lme is just replacing the sugar you would be otherwise adding. Since you have already ordered the dark, its not the end of the world, just be ready for it to finish a little high (I'm calling dibs on 1.019 if we're laying bets )

Anyway, good luck with your brew, I'm sure it will be great!

Edited to change my numbers a little, I see muntons is 3.3 lbs...

 

[ibintinknockin]

well i am gonna add another can as per 1mainebrew's advice, but i already ordered dark lme (it was before i read the previous post)... i'll let you know how it turns out... there is homebrew store in brooklyn i could get to before i brew.. should i just get different fermentables ? if im in the neighborhood that is.. thanks again folks

 

[cklages]

well i am gonna add another can as per 1mainebrew's advice, but i already ordered dark lme (it was before i read the previous post)... i'll let you know how it turns out... there is homebrew store in brooklyn i could get to before i brew.. should i just get different fermentables ? if im in the neighborhood that is.. thanks again folks

1mainebrew probably assumed that the 3 lbs of dark lme was all of the fermentables though.

Could you confirm that you are already using a 3.3 lb kit plus an additional 3.3 lbs of lme? If you add 3.3 more lbs to that, you could end up with stiffer beer than you might be counting on. This isn't neccesarily a bad thing, but it could get a little unbalanced and might not be what you are looking for in a first brew. Or it could be the best beer ever made I guess ....

 

[dday81]

To clear up some confusion but the kit includes 3.3 lbs of hopped lme and a packet of yeast. O personally find it better that if you add 2 lbs of DME to it you get a more balanced and better tasting brew personally one the label they even say for better results use DME or dextrose along with the lme but if you have any more there are some threads on others experiences with it and all but happy brewing

 

[1Mainebrew]

1mainebrew probably assumed that the 3 lbs of dark lme was all of the fermentables though.....

I was under that impression, yes. I get confused easily. Please, splain it to me, I'm simple!

 

[C-Rider]

3 lbs of LME in 6 gallons is only going to give you 1.018 as a starting gravity. I suspect the recipe recommends the addition of other sugars. 1.018 is very low and will end up with a thin beer with less than 2% alcohol.

I assume you are after the carbonation you get from guiness and Murphys which have the widget in the cans and bottles. You will not get that type of carbonation. The widget releases nitrogen into the beer as the beer is opened to give it that creamy head. Using priming sugar will result in CO2 carbonation and give a similar head to that you find in regular beers.

Before you go buy anything else....wait until the kit arrives and see what is in it. Then come back and let us know.

 

[ibintinknockin]

Yes... the 3# of the muntons irish stout, and 3# of dark lme. That was the original amount of fermentables. I was thinking the 3# of lme instead of the add pack. Is that 3# lme enough to replace the recommended 2.2 # for can kits? If it is than I could always use the extra can I got for another batch. Would 2.2# of corn Sugar give it that cider taste?

 

[cklages]

Yes... the 3# of the muntons irish stout, and 3# of dark lme. That was the original amount of fermentables. I was thinking the 3# of lme instead of the add pack. Is that 3# lme enough to replace the recommended 2.2 # for can kits? If it is than I could always use the extra can I got for another batch. Would 2.2# of corn Sugar give it that cider taste?

My first ever beer was a coopers kit where I used 2.2 lbs of corn sugar. It didn't have a cider taste, it basically was cider. If you closed your eyes, you would swear that there was nothing but apples in it. I think part of the problem was the sugar, and part was the lack of temperature control.

Yep the 3 lbs of lme replaces the 2.2 lbs of sugar. It is a little less fermentable, so the beer may finish with a slightly higher FG than the kit says it should, but it will taste better (even if its a little lower alcohol). You could always use the LME and an additional .5 to 1.0 lb of sugar if you wanted to without running the risk of it cidering up your beer.

I switched to all-grain about a year ago, but this summer being so hot I lost interest in running a brew day so I did a couple of kits.

I used a 3.75 lb coopers kit, 2 lbs of dme and 1 lb of sugar. Its still in the fermenter, but I'm not smelling any apples in there so I think it worked out.

Anyway, short answer is yes, that 3 pounds of lme is a good replacement for the sugar. It will definitely make a better beer than just adding the sugar would.

 

[ibintinknockin]

I think I will add just a .5# of sugar to get the fg lower... thanks again. I will post results. And I ebayed that extra can of dark lme and I contacted the seller and they said they would send me light lme instead so illl save it for the next batch... can't wait to brew!!!

 

[cklages]

Sounds great, I look forward to hearing about your success.

Just to confirm, you are going to use the 3.3 lb kit, plus 3.3 lbs extract, plus .5 lbs sugar? That sounds like exactly what I would do.

In a 6 gallon batch, your gravity should come out to about 1.041. Depending on how it attenuates, that should leave you in the high 3's for abv. Sounds like a great beer for this weather we are having

One tip I would like to give (or rather link), is the tastybrew beer calculator.

http://www.tastybrew.com/calculators/recipe.html

If you play around with it a bit, you will see how to figure out what type of gravities to expect for various additions of extract and sugar. I would just ignore the hops/bitterness part of it until you start playing around with that later in the game.

Again, good luck and have fun!

 

[ibintinknockin]

wow! that site is great! thanks again cklages..

 

[hmmmbeer]

Just a quick add in here, I just made an imperial Stout and added an extra 3# of Dark DME to it and let it age for 5 months and it turned out way to dark, too high of gravity and too sweet. I've been brewing for almost 2 years now and will always be testing and trying new things but I learned a thing or 12 from this last batch... don't try to lift the FG too much or it will be off balanced for the hops and grains you use. Another tip, when ever possible, use LME/DME rather than corn sugar... Good luck and DWHAHB!

 

[ibintinknockin]

ok.... its fermenting... bubbling like crazy!!!! im fermenting at about 71 f. ok?

 

[cklages]

That could be touch on the warm side if thats room temperature, as the ferment will increase the temperature in the bucket a few degrees. At this stage I wouldn't worry about it, plus the style is a little forgiving with some extra esters being okay.

If you were trying to do a cleaner ale down the road, I might consider trying to keep the temp down just a little. There are some inexpensive solutions if you search 'swamp cooler'.

Now the hard part. Don't rush it into bottles! Give it three weeks minimum before messing with it. Good luck

 

[ibintinknockin]

actually its more like 68f. its in a small, shady room with a window unit. got it set at 68f ,and its 68f around the fermentor. for 3 weeks though i might transfer to a swamp set up in my basement, and shoot for 65f. ill do that until the winter then ill build a ferment chamber..thanks.

 

[ibintinknockin]

ok. i might have to bottle sooner because i have a second baby coming any day now and i am not gonna be able to bottle then (i also have a 16 month old). if i leave it in the bottle for 6 weeks will the yeast still clean up the bi-products?

 

[ibintinknockin]

ok... tried this stout 17 days ago and it smelled and tasted like ****. no mouth feel, green, sour, and bad bitter. i only had it in the primary for 10 days. by now its been bottled for 7 weeks. i just tried another one just now, and wow! when i first opened it the smell was a tiny bit green and ****ty, but i poured it, used a syringe to get the guinness like head, and it was very drinkable! totally hit the spot! a little light in the taste dept. (not cidery at all), but it had great head retention/lacing. i think ill brew the coopers stout kit i have with 5 gal of water instead of 6. i really did learn the lesson that time is the key.

i also carbed it real lite. i used 2.5 oz of priming sugar instead of 4.5 oz, and i didnt do a OG reading so i dont know the alcohol %.... but i feel pretty good so..... thanks everyone..

 

[djfriesen]

For future reference, this type of beer will be fine staying in primary for 2-3 months. In fact, you could probably wait til the baby is weaned to bottle and it would still be fine. Glad to hear it went well. Cheers!