I'm still a newbie, having brewed less than a half-dozen batches which
were all commercial recipe kits. The most recent is a 3 pound, 5 ounce can
of Muntons Premium Bitter, with the enclosed yeast packet. This was about
$10 cheaper than other, more complex kits I've tried. It consisted of a
can of extract and the packet of yeast, no crystal malt or hops, and the
enclosed instructions didn't even mention boiling the wort. I did anyway,
adding three pounds of extra corn sugar and some leftover hop pellets I
had lying around the refrigerator (about a tablespoon full). It just
didn't seem like brewing without a hot break. Anyway, the instructions
that came with this recipe kit came to "dissolve the extract and
additional sugar in boiling water, add cold water to make 6 US gallons,
and add the yeast."
Can one really make beer that easily?

Karl S.
--
Lord Atticrat, Duke of Solderwicke, Duc'Taep, and Les Isles Du Theatre

You can make beer, yes but is it good beer? maybe.

"Karl S." <null_dev@earthlink.net> wrote in message
news:RVGqb.1163$nz.1105@newsread2.news.pas.earthlink.net...[color=blue]
> I'm still a newbie, having brewed less than a half-dozen batches which
> were all commercial recipe kits. The most recent is a 3 pound, 5 ounce can
> of Muntons Premium Bitter, with the enclosed yeast packet. This was about
> $10 cheaper than other, more complex kits I've tried. It consisted of a
> can of extract and the packet of yeast, no crystal malt or hops, and the
> enclosed instructions didn't even mention boiling the wort. I did anyway,
> adding three pounds of extra corn sugar and some leftover hop pellets I
> had lying around the refrigerator (about a tablespoon full). It just
> didn't seem like brewing without a hot break. Anyway, the instructions
> that came with this recipe kit came to "dissolve the extract and
> additional sugar in boiling water, add cold water to make 6 US gallons,
> and add the yeast."
> Can one really make beer that easily?
>
> Karl S.
> --
> Lord Atticrat, Duke of Solderwicke, Duc'Taep, and Les Isles Du Theatre
>[/color]

On Fri, 07 Nov 2003 00:38:17 +0000, BKBooth wrote:[color=blue]
> You can make beer, yes but is it good beer? maybe.[/color]

Ah, so I assume these cheaper recipe kits begin to approach the "Mr. Beer"
zone of home-brewing. My most recent finished kit-beer was Listermann's
Barleywine kit, with 12 pounds of fermentables to make one 5-gallon batch.
One might imagine the dramatic difference between that kit and the
Munton's currently in primary.

Well, live and learn1!
Karl S.

On Fri, 07 Nov 2003 06:25:53 GMT, "Karl S." <null_dev@earthlink.net>
wrote:
[color=blue]
>I'm still a newbie, having brewed less than a half-dozen batches which
>were all commercial recipe kits. The most recent is a 3 pound, 5 ounce can
>of Muntons Premium Bitter, with the enclosed yeast packet. This was about
>$10 cheaper than other, more complex kits I've tried. It consisted of a
>can of extract and the packet of yeast, no crystal malt or hops, and the
>enclosed instructions didn't even mention boiling the wort. I did anyway,
>adding three pounds of extra corn sugar and some leftover hop pellets I
>had lying around the refrigerator (about a tablespoon full). It just
>didn't seem like brewing without a hot break. Anyway, the instructions
>that came with this recipe kit came to "dissolve the extract and
>additional sugar in boiling water, add cold water to make 6 US gallons,
>and add the yeast."
>Can one really make beer that easily?
>
>Karl S.[/color]


I generally use DME (dry malt extract) others prefer LME (liquid malt
extract) which you bought. My understanding is hops are in the LME
all you need is sugar and yeast. Should yield the greatest
consistancy, if you find one you like. I've also heard some speak of
substituting another can of LME for the sugar, as corn sugar adds no
flavor to your brew. As for boiling, general rule 15 mins or more for
LME an hour or more for DME.

Brew on brother!

In <r5lpqvc153bmcfjkvdnmhj44te747en9o0@4ax.com> Avery wrote:[color=blue]
> On Fri, 07 Nov 2003 06:25:53 GMT, "Karl S." <null_dev@earthlink.net>
> wrote:
>[color=green]
>>I'm still a newbie, having brewed less than a half-dozen batches which
>>were all commercial recipe kits. The most recent is a 3 pound, 5 ounce
>>can of Muntons Premium Bitter, with the enclosed yeast packet. This
>>was about $10 cheaper than other, more complex kits I've tried. It
>>consisted of a can of extract and the packet of yeast, no crystal malt
>>or hops, and the enclosed instructions didn't even mention boiling the
>>wort. I did anyway, adding three pounds of extra corn sugar and some
>>leftover hop pellets I had lying around the refrigerator (about a
>>tablespoon full). It just didn't seem like brewing without a hot break.
>>Anyway, the instructions that came with this recipe kit came to
>>"dissolve the extract and additional sugar in boiling water, add cold
>>water to make 6 US gallons, and add the yeast." Can one really make
>>beer that easily? Karl S.[/color]
>
>
> I generally use DME (dry malt extract) others prefer LME (liquid malt
> extract) which you bought. My understanding is hops are in the LME
> all you need is sugar and yeast. Should yield the greatest
> consistancy, if you find one you like. I've also heard some speak of
> substituting another can of LME for the sugar, as corn sugar adds no
> flavor to your brew. As for boiling, general rule 15 mins or more for
> LME an hour or more for DME.
>
> Brew on brother!
>[/color]


I have tested a bottle of muntons Irish export stout last night.
I did not boil the hopped can of extractl. I added a 1.5 kg can of dark
malt extract to the brew, which I did boil. The results are pleasing.
The stout has a good hop flavour and of course there is a very strong
malt flavour too.
I was impressed by the character of the hops flavour. The only real
problem you have from boiling hopped beer kits is you remove the hop
flavour and aroma if present, so you will have to add these if desired.
I generaly do a partial mash and add hops also.

Based on this one bottle I shall do this again with a liquid yeast