Many years ago I made a few batches of homebrewed beer, and for a variety of reasons got out of the hobby. I have hung on to most of the equipment and after years of procrastinating have now decided to try to get back into it.
So… I stopped by the local homebrew supply shop to get some ingredients, but unfortunately they weren’t especially knowledgeable (the “expert” wasn’t in at the time). In the end I got a Muntons Wheat Beer kit from the Connossieurs range. I have the Papazian book (1991 edition complete with cheesy 70’s graphics) but it seems as if things have moved on since I last did this and I’m not sure I understand all the instructions.
It also advises adding sugar but doesn’t recommend how much. I bought a kilo of glucose for this, would this be appropriate?
Do I need to get more glucose for bottling or can I reserve some of the first amount? Or can I use table sugar?
I know there is a fairly knowledgeable homebrew community on the Dope so hopefully someone can help out a not-quite-newbie. If you have any other tips I’d be interested in hearing them. I do want to keep it simple for the first batch though…
I’ve never done this but I understand people do it and get reasonably good results. It assumes a reasonably clean source of water (most municipal water supplies should suffice) and I would say close attention to sanitation would be a must. For what it’s worth I think Papazian himself admits you can make beer this way but that it will always turn out better if you boil.
What is the weight of the malt in the beer kit? As long as the additional sugar (and glucose is a good choice) doesn’t make up a too high percentage of the fermentable ingredients you should be ok.
For future reference most styles of beer taste better (more beerlike) if the only fermentable used is barley malt, or for a wheat beer, barley malt and wheat malt.
I wouldn’t use table sugar. You can certainly reserve some of the stuff you already have. For a 5 gallon batch you only need 4 oz glucose if you are going into actual bottles, less if you are going into a keg.
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It sounds like you will do fine. My first batch wasn’t the best I’ve ever made but it turned out really well and started me on a very enjoyable hobby. Have fun!
As a general rule, don’t use table sugar when you could use glucose, and don’t use glucose when you could use malt. White sugar can impart a cidery taste to your beer. You make a brew with white sugar, and it’ll “taste like home brew”.
Adding sugar to the bottles for ‘priming’ is the tricky part, which you need to get fairly exact. You can buy nifty little dispensers for this (maybe you have one) which will measure out the exact amount for each bottle. The trouble is, this only works for white (table) sugar, as glucose and malt will clog the works. If you are brewing with glucose or malt as your main ingredients, than you can get away with using white sugar for this, but if you want to get really good beer, use glucose or malt. To use these, draw off a litre or two of wort into a sterilised container and mix the glucose or malt in over heat (probably about 900 grams for a 22.5 litre fermenter). Cover with a sterile lid, cloth, or wrap, and when it’s cooled a little, you can pour it back into the fermenter, and bottle immediately.
TIP: It’s a good idea to turn off an heat source a day or two before bottling, then siphon the wort into a new, sterilised fermenter in order to bottle it. This enables convection to cease, and you’ll get a clearer beer, leaving most of the yeast deposit behind in the first one.
No, and no. No to not boiling, and no to sugar of any type in the wort.
You can play pretty loose with brewing and still turn out good beer, but boiling is essential and sugar is Evil (except invert sugar in Belgians, but that is a special case.)
To follow up the good advice, for a good (and free) intro to homebrewing practices…try here. FWIW, there is a new edition of the Papazian book now…bit more up to date from what I’ve ehard.
I know this is the conventional wisdom, but it does say on the Muntons website specifically not to boil because boiling will remove a great deal of the hoppiness. Of course I could add hops but then it starts getting a touch complicated for the first time out, and why do so if the extract is already hopped?
Yes. It is OK to pour the extract directly from the can into the fermenter. I have been doing this for about 50 batches and have never had an infected brew.
Never use sucrose. Like **TLD **said - it gives the beer a cidery taste. Use canned (pasteurised syrup) malt extract, glucose or brewing sugar. 1 kg is fine - reserve some for the bottling…
or you can buy little glucose pellets to dose the brew - depends on the size of the bottle. I have used 2 jelly beans in 750mL long-necks. Liquorice works nicely with stout. Easiest to use a little scoop with glucose.
Another tip - I now use PET bottles - gasp - shock!!! - much easier with no differnce to the taste.
The kit is 1.8 kilos and the glucose is 1 kilo so the glucose would be just over a third of the fermentable ingredients. Is that in an acceptable range?
Well, I have opted for a compromise which is sure to satisfy noone
I have just been back to the supply shop and bought some wheat spraymalt. Since it was quite expensive (£2.99 for 500g) I will use 500g spraymalt and 500g glucose.
Thanks for all the advice. I’ll let everyone know how it goes!
