The Muntons Gold range of kits combine premium brewing malt and the choicest hops so you can brew the very best traditional beers. Packed with yeast and instructions.
CUSTOMER QUESTIONS
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7/1/2009 -- I have recently brewed an American light kit. It is very good, but I prefer a little more bitter taste. Is there an additive I can use to get that?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: Yes. American Lights tend to use hops with an alpha acid of around 3% to 5%. Try replacing with a slightly higher alpha hops. For kits where the hops are already added to the blend, add 1 to 2 ounces of Northern Brewer hops about 30 minutes from the end of the boil to get the added bitterness.
10/20/2008 -- I made a batch of beer using Muntons American Style Light Beer. I put the packet of yeast on top, let it sit for ten
minutes and stired it in.It has been 17hrs later and no bubbles or fermentation has started.What to do now?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: When you have yeast that doesn't start within 24 hours of pitching, it could be any of several problems. The yeast may have been too old. The temperature of the wort may have been too hot. There may not have been sufficient nutrients or sugars for the yeast to start. The best fix is to get a fresh yeast packet, and start it in a pint of sugar water at a temperature between 75 and 85 degrees Fahrenheit. Add a teaspoon of yeast nutrient, and let the mixture sit in a covered jar overnight. You should see foam on top the next morning, indicating active yeast. At this point you can add it to the wort and be relatively sure it will show activity in the wort within 12 to 24 hours. If after 24 hours there is not activity, then you may have an unintentional ingredient (such as cleanser or disinfectant) in the wort that is killing the yeast.
1/19/2008 -- I have a 3.3 lb. can of your CBW malt extract("golden Light") that I purchased 3 years ago. My questions: One, is this still usable without much flavor lost, and two, should I add hops for a "true beer" flavor? Thanks
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: Hi Ray. An excellent question. I've brewed "old" malt several times with mixed results. Check the can. If it's not rusting around the seams, and it isn't starting to bulge (any more than the normal bulging that always seems to accompany liquid malts) the malt should be safe to brew. Yes, I would add hops depending on the recipe you are trying to emulate. For American light lager, I recommend an ounce of Cascade or Northern Brewer for 30 minutes in the boil. You would need to check a recipe for other styles as they are too numerous to list here (I use the HBD database at http://hbd.org/brewery/gambmug/gambmug.shtml)
What I have found in my own experience is that the older the malt is, the stronger the change in flavor. You will experience some loss of flavor overall with a slight addition of the harsher after tastes. The oldest malt I ever brewed from a can was just over 7 years old and I could detect a slight tinny flavor in the aftertaste of the beer, although the overall flavor was still decent.
5/22/2007 -- What is the best type of sugar to put into the wort?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: Corn sugar is better than table sugar, as table sugar tends to give the finished beer a cidery after taste. Honey is also a good sugar.
10/17/2006 -- I got an Ironmaster Stout and Porter Kit for my birthday, but was wondering if is recommended to add any hops if brewing this with another can of malt to make a 5 gallon batch?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: There is no need to add any hops, as the kits are formulated for the 5-gallon standard.
Of course, if you prefer your beers a little hoppier than "standard", you should feel free to do so. If that's the case, I would recommend no more than an ounce of Fuggle 45 minutes in the boil, and probably a half-ounce would boost it enough for most folks, for either the porter or the stout.
8/22/2006 -- I was given a Muntons Pilsner kit and it calls for adding 2.2 pounds of sugar. I am new to brewing and want to know what kind of sugar to use and if I can use corn sugar.
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: Yes, not only can you use corn sugar, but we encourage it. Using table sugar (cane or beet) tends to give a cidery taste to the finished beer, and using fructose or lactose will tend to sour it. Corn sugar will add the appropriate amount of fermentable to get the correct alcohol rating without altering flavor or body. You could also use 2.2 pounds of malt extract to give a richer, fuller bodied flavor if you prefer.
8/20/2006 -- This is my 1st attempt at homebrewing. I got the EDME red ale in two 4lb cans. Do I need some sort of sugar to add with the kit?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: Each can of the Edme is balanced to produce 2.5 to 3 gallons of beer with no additional ingredients required. Most brewers will add three pounds of malt extract or corn sugar in order to produce a 5-gallon batch. With two cans of Edme Red Ale, you can do one of two things. You could either brew them together to make a 6-gallon batch, or you could brew them separately with additional malt extract added to each to make two 5-gallon batches.
For red ales, my recommendation for additional malt would be 3-pounds of the liquid amber. Corn sugar will make for slightly less body in the finished product, but is also less expensive as an additive.
6/2/2006 -- I would like to make the Brewferm product: Abbey Ale (Abdij). I have a 5 gal. carboy and would like to buy two cans and add sugar or malt to make 5 gal. How much extra sugar should I add? Will it taste similarly to making an 18 gal. batch? Or should I use Candi sugar?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: Each of the cans is formulated to mix with 3 pounds of additional malt or sugar to make a 5-gallon batch. Each can will make 3 gallons by itself, although the hop character of the finished beer would be slightly higher since there would be no plain malt blended in to average it out.
I have used two can kits to make a batch before on several occassions, and have found that the balance of flavor is best at 6 gallons. Since you only have a 5 gallon fermenter, one solution is to go ahead and make the kit as a 5 gallon batch, and add sterile water to bring it up to 5-1/2 or 6 gallons in the bottling bucket at bottling time. Between 5 and 6 gallons, no additional sugar or malt needs to be added.
5/10/2006 -- I have decided to forgo adding sugar or malt to turn this into a 5 gallon batch and just ordering another kit. Is that a good idea, or will it be too strong? Will I need to use both yeast packets? I would also like advice on adding hops to this and the Mountmellick export ale kit. Any suggestions? I think if I use more malt or sugar it will dilute flavor, so more hops would be in order then? What hops should I use for bittering and aroma?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: I have used the "multiple kit" rather than the additional malt system for making beer, and had good luck with it. What I found works best is using two kits to make 6 gallons rather than one kit plus malt to make 5. The kits will make a satisfactory 3-gal batch on their own.
The good news is that the canned kits are all pre-hopped to style with the consideration of additional malt up to 5 gallons already taken into account; so you don't need to add any more hops. In fact, by using the 2 kits on a slightly larger batch, you will get a little more hop flavor rather than a little less.
On the other hand, if you just like hops and want a higher hop flavor than what the style would normally call for, I would recommend Fuggle for either, about a half-ounce added at the 15-minutes-to-go point in the boil... 30 minutes if you prefer a little more flavor and a little less aroma.
One packet of yeast will get you going, but I still recommend using a fresh packet - I believe you ordered a fresh packet already. I have found one good use for the yeast that comes with the kit is to boil it with the malt during brewing. The boiling kills the yeast cells, which then become a source of nutrients for the fresh yeast to feed on - sort of like a vitamin pill.
5/5/2006 -- I have ordered the John Bull Master class IPA. I was not sure if yeast was included so I ordered the 15gm Coopers Ale yeast. Hindsight is always 20/20, should have asked before I ordered the Coopers yeast, but does John Bull come with yeast?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: Yes, all the kits come with yeast. However, we always recommend buying fresh yeast to use with the canned kits. Some kits include generic yeast, for which no one can judge the quality. Even if the yeast included is a brand name, the kits have not been refrigerated, and the shelf life of the yeast packets is always much less than the shelf life of the malt itself. For that reason, it's better to order the fresh yeast, as you've done. Since we build the boxed kits "to order", the yeast in the boxed kits is always fresh.
5/3/2006 -- Priming 5 gallons of beer with honey instead of corn sugar for better head sounds great, but how much honey would I use?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: A good rule of thumb when priming is 1-1/3 cup DME = 1 cup sugar = 3/4 cup honey. You can use that conversion and adjust your honey amount for whatever priming agent your recipe calls for. I generally recommend between 2/3 cup and 3/4 cup honey for most beers.
4/17/2006 -- When selecting a priming agent, why does honey give a better head retention than malt or corn sugar?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: There are a couple reasons. First, honey is made up of complex sugars that take the yeast a longer time to break down. As a result, the carbonation profcess is slower resulting in a more thoroughly absorbed CO2. Second, honey contains a large concentration of acids and proteins that are missing or available in smaller amounts from other priming agents. The protein content in particular provides more body when used as a fermentable, and consequently more body in the head when used to prime with. Finally, stir sugar or dry malt extract into water and see how thick it gets... then look at honey - the high viscosity translates directly to the quality of the head in the finished product.
4/17/2006 -- Have you ever heard of chili pepper beer? Do you have a recipe?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: Yes, I have heard of it, and in fact have sampled several. I have come to the personal conclusion that chili peppers are to be enjoyed WITH a beer rather than IN a beer, but hey - who am I to judge?
Try this recipe. Substitute a jalapeno for the green chili for a more "vibrant" taste.
1/2-lb crystal malt
3.3-lb light LME
3.3-lb amber LME
2.5-lb honey
2-oz cascade hops
1 lb roasted green chili
1 packet ale yeast
Crack the grains and place them in a gallon of cool water. Apply heat to slowly raise to a boil. At the start of the boil, remove the grains and add the LME, honey, and hops. Boil for one hour. Pasteurize chili peppers by soaking them in 160F-170F water. At the end of the boil, strain the wort and the chili peppers (with the water) into a fermenter and add chilled water to bring up to 5 gallons.
4/17/2006 -- Just curious... is there a natural way to make green beer? ...without adding the food coloring?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: My partner and I tried for years to produce a naturally green beer with horrid results. The closest we got was a green champagne, when we pushed it through copper tubing in a jockey box on a really hot day (the acid in the champagne caused copper to leech into the beverage, rendering it really nasty tasting and somewhat poisonous).
We did find one article online that claimed to have a "green" beer. Imagine our surprise when we found out that "green" meant it was brewed in a solar-powered brewery.
4/17/2006 -- I want to try malting my own barley. What would you suggest as a good resource?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: There are a number of good resources on the market. The magazine "Brew Your Own" has published some great articles in the past - look for them online at byo.com. Some good books include "Malts and Malting" by Dennis E. Briggs, which talks about it from the commercial perspective, but includes a great section on chemistry/biology and another on methods; "The Homebrewer's Garden" by Joe and Dennis Fisher has a 30-page chapter on growing and malting your own grains; "The Biotechnology of Malting and Brewing" by James S. Hough, which has several chapters on the malting process.
4/15/2006 -- I want to brew a Hoegaarden clone. What do you suggest?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: Although I've not brewed this recipe before, I've heard positive feedback from a couple of friends who have. It comes from the Nov 2000 issue of Brew Your Own.
Ingredients for 5 gallons:
2 lbs. pale malt
2 lbs. malted wheat
1 lb flaked wheat
1 lb flaked oats
2 lbs. unhopped wheat dry malt extract
3 AAU East Kent Goldings hops (0.75 oz. at 4% AA)
2 AAU Saaz hops (0.5 oz. at 4% AA)
1/8 oz. lightly crushed coriander seed
1/4 oz. dried Curaco orange peel, shredded
Belgian witbier yeast slurry (White Labs WLP400 or Wyeast 3944)
All-Grain Option
Replace DME with an extra 1.5 lbs. ea. of pale malt and malted wheat
All-Extract Option
Omit pale and wheat malts, steep flaked grains at 150°F for 30 minutes remove grains, increase DME to 5 lbs
Mash @ 163°F to start 9 qts water (152F for 90 minutes)
Sparge w/ 12 qts @ 170°F
Add DME, boil Add E. Kent Goldings hops, boil 45 minutes. Add Saaz hops, boil 15 minutes. Remove from heat, remove hops if possible Add coriander and orange peel, steep 30 minutes. Cool to 70°F add enough water to make 5.25 gal
Pitch yeast
Ferment at 65°F for 2 weeks
Rack to secondary cool to 45°F for 3-4 weeks
Prime with DME, bottle and age 3-4 weeks at 45 - 50°F
3/19/2006 -- I received a Mr.Beer brewing kit as a gift and was wondering if I could use any type of sugar for bottling or if I need a special type. The sugar is the only thing that didn't come with the kit and they don't offer any on there web sight. I haven't found any in yours with the exception of your drops.
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: We highly recommend using corn sugar rather than table sugar as a priming agent. Table sugar is high in fruit sugars (fructose) and often lends a slightly cidery taste to beers. Corn sugar is cheap and easy for the yeast to convert into carbon dioxide. A Mr. Beer kit would need about 1/3-cup boiled down in about a pint of water to prime the 2-1/4 gallon batch.
You can find it in the "Honey and Sugar" section in one-pound (2K1) and three-pound (2K3) bags.
3/13/2006 -- I am desperately looking for a recipe for maibock. Any suggestions are greatly appreciated.
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: Try this:
2 x 4.0-lb cans of Alexanders Pale liquid malt
1/2-lb 20L crystal malt
1/2-lb carapils
2-oz 350L chocolate malt
2-oz Hallertau hops (bittering) - 40 min
1-oz Hallertau hops (flavor) - 15 min
1/2-oz Hallertau hops (aroma) - 5 min
Any lager yeast (recommended liquid yeast, White Labs WL800, Pilsen Lager)
Crack the grains, and mash them at 140 degrees for 30 minutes. Add the liquid malt and raise wort to a boil. Set the timer for 45 minutes. At 40 minutes remaining, add bittering hops. At 15 minutes remaining, add flavor hops. At 5 minutes remaining, add aroma hops. When timer runs out, remove wort from heat source and chill as rapidly as possible to below 60 degrees. Pitch the yeast, and allow to ferment between 55 and 60 for 12 to 20 days. Reduce temperature to between 42 and 48 degrees, and hold for 6 weeks. Bottle or keg normally.
1/4/2006 -- A friend gave me one of your Cooper Stout kits for Xmas, and I'll be brewing my first ever batch of beer with it. However, the instructions that came with it don't say anything about boiling it... they just say to add boiling water to it and then fill the fermenter the rest of the way with cold tap water. Is this the correct way to use these kits?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: Coopers makes an entire line of what they call "no boil" kits. In truth - nearly every malt extract could be billed as "no boil" because the mashing process (converting starches to sugars) is already done and the malt was already boiled down to create the extract.
However, I have found through practice that if I don't boil at least 15-20 minutes in 4-6 quarts of water, I never get the malt liquidy enough to completely mix with the water. The result then is that the malt sinks to the bottom of the fermenter, and I don't get complete fermentation. By boiling, I ensure that the malt is evenly distributed in the fermenter, and the end-result tastes much better.
There are some people who also contend that you should always boil because boiling, even for a few minutes, kills all bacteria; and that ensures that you start with a sterile batch.
I recommend boiling 6 quarts of water, remove from the burner, add the malt, stir until liquified, then return to the burner for 15 minutes. Watch the pot, and stir constantly in the beginning, because the malt will foam up. Use a big pot (16-quarts or larger) to avoid boil-over. As the foam rises, you can also lift the pot off the burner and it will subside. This is called "hot break". After boiling, I recommend adding at least a gallon if chilled water to your fermenter. Then pour in the boiled wort (beer that isn't beer yet), then fill up with more chilled water. That lowers the temperature of the beer so the yeast isn't shocked. Also, for a five-gallon batch, I usually fill to 5 gallons plus a quart. You will lose a little liquid at the end when you siphon the beer out, since there will be a yeast sediment layer in the bottom of the fermenter that you will leave behind.
11/22/2005 -- How long does it take in total to ferment and brew the beer?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: Lighter beers, such as an American light lager, take approximately 5 to 10 days to ferment, and about a week to carbonate in the bottle. Heavier beers, like a porter or Irish stout, take between 8 and 18 days to ferment and between 2 and 3 weeks to carbonate in the bottle. A good average would be three weeks total time for most styles to be ready to drink.
10/29/2005 -- Do you have a reccomendation for a recipe similar to bud light/busch light. I also like amber bock, but I am a beginner at home brewing. Any suggestion would be appreciated.
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: If you check out our Home Brew Select line (under Malts and Extracts: Beer Kits by Brand Name: Home Brew Select), our HBS001 kit is specifically designed to emulate the mid-American light lager that made Budweiser so popular. We have a special kit we put out every December/January specifically for people to brew for Super Bowl that is a bit lighter in body and alcohol that would be the "lite" version. I'll "unmask" it so you can see it listed under "Specials".
10/19/2005 -- My preferred beer is a German beer named Warsteiner Dunkel. Can you suggest a kit, or advise me of a recipe that is similar in taste/body?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: Try a website called The Brewery (brewery.org). The organizers of this site have compiled two sets of recipes from among their readers. The first is called Cat’s Meow, and has over 1000 recipes in a searchable database. The second is called Gambrinus’ Mug (after the mythical patron saint of beer) with nearly as many. Browse or use the search function.
You are also some good books on cloning commercial beers. Three that I like that are out of print (still available used from http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/redirect-home/hombresupllc) are “Brewing the World’s Great Beers” by David Miller, “Brewing Beers Like Those You Buy” by Dave Line, and “Designing Great Beers” by Ray Daniels. While I can’t swear that any have a particular recipe for Warsteiner, the first two have excellent clone recipes for emulating commercial beers, and the third helps understand how to build your own recipe to achieve a given taste/body.“
Clone Brews” by Tess and Mark Szamatulski, and “Home Brewers Gold” by Papazian are a couple of good books that we have in stock. Clone Brews has a collection of clone recipes, plus a discussion of how to clone a beer. Home Brewers Gold is a collection of recipes that have won medals at previous AHA National Homebrewing Competitions.
I'll also be posting a recipe or two in the November issue of Foamy Express for folks to try out and give us feedback on.
6/25/2005 -- I am trying to brew a Hefeweizen and I was sent in the kit leaf hops and Tettnang pellets, do I use both or just the Tettnang? Do I steep the Tettnang like a tea for 60 minutes and then just add liquid and dry malt? Do I boil longer? Confused if should then add leaf hops as well and boil longer as I've read that Hefeweizens don't use much hops to keep sweeter taste... Do you have a hefeweizen recipe in Foamy Express? Thanks!
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: Most of the hefe recipes I've looked at have an ounce of hops anywhere from 40 to 50 minutes in the boil (I recommend 45), with an ounce of aroma hops being added anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes remaining. Since the longer they boil, the more bitterness becomes flavor and the less becomes aroma, I would recommend 5 to 10 minutes maximum. Tettnang is one of the preferred hops, since the low alpha acid results in only a marginal bittering. If the kit had both pellets and leaf, I would use the pellets as the bittering hops and the leaf as the aroma.
5/23/2005 -- I love the southern German bock beers. Can you suggest a kit, or advise me of a recipe that is similar in taste/body.
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: We have both a Brewers Best and a True Brew bock-style kit that may suffice.
A recipe that could be set up independently would be:
"When we put all this advice into practice, we can formulate a couple of different recipes. All are shooting for an original gravity of 1.066 to 1.068 and the formulations shown below are for a 5 gallon batch.
All-grain approach
Pilsener-Based Munich-Based
Grain Recipe Recipe
Pilsener/Two-row 9 lbs 1 lb
Munich Malt 2 lbs 11.5 lbs
Crystal Malt (90-120L) 2.25 lbs 1.25 lbs
Chocolate Malt 8 oz 4 oz
Extract/Mini-mash Approach
Pilsener-Based Munich-Based
Grain Recipe Recipe
Light Unhopped Extract 4 lbs 4 lbs
Pilsener/Two-row 1.75 lbs --
Munich Malt 1.5 lbs 4.5 lbs
Crystal Malt (90-120L) 2.25 lbs 1.25 lbs
Chocolate Malt 8 oz 4 oz
Hopping:
As mentioned above, classic German aroma hops are generally used for all of the hop additions in bock beers. The European varieties I would recommend are: Hallertau, Hersbruck, Tettnang, Spalt, and Saaz. Workable American-grown alternatives are Liberty, Crystal and Mt. Hood.
For bittering, you'll want 5 to 6 alpha acid units -- that's one ounce of 5% to 6% alpha acid hops, two ounces of 2.5% to 3.0% alpha acid hops or any other combination where the alpha acid percentage multiplied by the ounces equals 5 to 6. Boil these hops for 45 minutes to one hour.
If you want, you can add a small hop addition about 15 minutes before the end of the boil. Use one of the varieties listed above and add no more than one-half ounce.
Fermentation:
The critical part of bock fermentation is achieving proper lager fermentation temperatures. If you can achieve 50 to 55F, use a lager yeast that emphasizes malt complexity, such as the Wyeast Bavarian Lager yeast.
Strange as it may sound, if you are not able to achieve these cool temperatures for fermentation, you might want to make this beer using an ale yeast. The American Ale or Chico Ale yeast strain is typically very clean and can give you a somewhat lager-like product, especially if fermented at temperatures of 62 to 66F.
Regardless of which yeast you use, you'll want to allow a period of lagering after fermentation. For lager yeasts, this phase should be conducted at 35 to 40F. If you use the ale yeast, you might allow for a slightly warmer lagering temperature, say 40 to 50F."
3/24/2005 -- Have you ever heard of a beer called "cock ale", and do you sell the ingredients for it?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: Yes, oddly enough, I have heard of cock ale. It's an early 17th century recipe that actually calls for a whole chicken to be cooked with the wort.
We sell all the ingredients except the chicken.
11/30/2004 -- I would like to know the amount in liters rather than gallons for the Brewmart kit.
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: The kit produces approximately 39 liters.
8/8/2004 -- Does the Brewmart Czech Pilsner come complete with everything or am I going to have to buy a separate malt extract?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: Each can will make 3 gallons by itself. In order to make a 5-gallon batch, the recipe calls for the addition of either malt extract or corn sugar. Speaking from experience, I recommend at least 2-pounds of malt extract (a 3.3-lb liquid works best)
7/28/2004 -- Do you sell Coopers home brew starter packs with all the essential gear for brewing and bottling etc?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: We carry the True Brew or Brewers Best starter pack for equipment. Both have all the equipment you need to get started (except a brew pot.)
We do carry a complete line of Coopers liquid-malt ingredient kits as well as Coopers unhopped liquid malt extracts. Look in the section labeled 'malts, grains, and extracts', and select "Beer Kits by Brandname" for the Coopers kits. Select "Malt Extracts" to find the unhopped LME.
5/5/2004 -- Out of curiosity, how many gallons does this make?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: Both the fermenting bucket and the bottling bucket ar six-and-a-half gallons in size. If you were to allow head-space (room for the foam) during the ferment, you could go up to about 5-1/2 gallons without worry. If you were to use a blow-off tube (a tube that carries the foam into a separate bottle or jar next to the fermenter) then you could go to just over 6 gallons.
As a side note, most commercial ingredient kits are set up to make 5 gallons. There are a few on the market designed to make 4 or 6 (mostly due to conversion of Imperial pints to American pints), but 5 is a standard. I usually brew in 5 gallon batches, and fill my fermenter to 5-1/2 gallons - allowing for the yeast bed that will build up in the bottom.
11/8/2003 -- I was wondering if I could use one of these 5 gallon Coopers beer kits in my 2.6 gallon beer machine and how. I dont really like the mixes that the machine has to offer, and want to try some GOOD beer!!
Thanks!
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: Actually, we have many in-store customers who have asked the very same question over the years. The answer is - absolutely. The 2-1/2 gallon beer machines usually use a half-size malt can, and recommend adding some sort of sugar to bring the alcohol content up to "normal". For people who own these kits, getting the half-size cans is sometimes difficult (they are not sold in most mainstream brewing shops), and the instructions do not normally make a distinction between brewing sugars and table (cane or beet) sugar.
What we recommend for our customers with half-sized fermenters is one of two things: (1) If you like brewing with sugar, split the canned kit in half, add the appropriate amount of sugar (make sure it's corn sugar), and get two batches out of it. (2) If you prefer using additional malt extract to plus-up your beers, one of the Coopers kits (or any of the 5-gal kits for that matter) will make between 2-1/2 and 3 gallons of full-bodied beer by using the whole can in your beer machine with no extra sugar added.
One technique I recommend is saving about a cup-and-a-quarter of the liquid malt to carbonate the beer with after your done fermenting, then pour the rest of it in the machine for a 2-1/2 gal batch. The results are excellent.
11/4/2003 -- I want to find a stout beer that is in a can. I just want to add the ingredients to my 5 gallon container, water and let it ferment. Do you have such a stout beer? Let me know if you do or where I can find one. Thanks
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: As a matter of fact, we do. The John Bull Master Class brand is a 7.7-pound all-malt kit that doesn't require the addition of any extra malt or sugar.
One technique note - many extract kits advertise themselves as "no boil", meaning you just add water/sugar/extract and ferment. I always recommend adding water and heating above 160-degrees for 20 minutes or more for two reasons: First, that is the pasteurization temperature, and it ensures that any bacteria in the water is killed off. Second, it helps the malt extract to liquefy, ensuring that you get an even distribution of malt/water for a more efficient fermentation.
7/1/2003 -- I recently dug out my home brew equipment stored since 1994. Inside were two cans of Muntons light malt extract. Whadya think? Should I try to use it?
Response From The Home Brew Store Dot Com: I can say from experience that it is possible to use really old malt when brewing. I can also say that while it works, it will not produce the same product that fresh malt would. Here are some things to look for: Is there any rust or corrosion around the edge of the can (where the rim meets the side)? If so, there may be oxidation of the liquid malt. Is the can bulging at all? If so, bacteria may have gotten in. While the bacteria can be killed by boiling, if it included wild yeast you may have some off-flavor from wild fermentation. If you open the can, is there any "solid" material floating on top of the liquid? If so, you may have crystalization. This can be cleared up by boiling. Finally, just being in contact with the sides of the can for that long may lend a slightly metallic taste to the malt. This can be partially overcome by blending the malt with fresh malt in a batch, or covered by brewing a high-hop beer or a clove beer.
In any case, boil the malt in a gallon of water for at least 30 minutes before adding to any batch you brew, just to minimize the effects of any of the negatives. Also, be prepared for a finished beer that doesn't necessarily taste as good as it might with fresh malt.
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