Milestone kits

[PeteH]

I just bought 2 Milestone kits, the Black Pearl stout, and the Olde Home Wrecker. As they are both 3kg kits and are to be made up to 22.5 litres are they going to be the same strength or are there diferent amounts of fermentables in each kit? The bottled versions are pretty strong, Black pearl is 4.3% and Homewrecker is 4.9%. Is it worth making the volume up to match the bottled strength or will that compromise the flavour too much??

[Ska_J]

Hey,

They'll be different to each other already, and presumably they're aimed to be the same as the bottled versions (just checked that, they should be 4.3 and 4.9 as you say, if all goes to plan!)

I'm waiting for my black pearl to bottle condition and it was tasting like it's gonna be good last time I checked! (no fizz though, which is a little concerning, but it had only had a week... Fingers crossed!)

I believe you can decrease the length of the brew when using kits to increase the abv and give it a bit more punch in the flavour department though. Not tried it myself, its still relatively early days and I'm just happy if it works as its supposed to!

J

[PeteH]

I always thought a 3kg kit would produce a 4% beer unless extra fermentables are added, dunno how they get the extra strength, but it doesn't state the OG or strength on the box or in the instructions.

[Ska_J]

Hmm, well in my head the kits were just a wort condensed (boiled?) until it would fit in the tins. I assume that the fermentables in the extract can be increased or decreased as they would be in the full process.

Does anyone know how the kits are made?

J

[Waffty]

From my limited experiances of 3kg kit brewing, Milestone Lions Pride, Woodfords Wherry & Brupaks IPA, which I believe are all made by Muntons, they're all basically the same. That is, two cans of pre-hopped extract & 6g of yeast. In the lions pride, the two cans of extract was the same, as I believe was the Wherry, in the case of the IPA this was made up of two different cans of extract + a hop/grain bag for addtional flavour.

Both the wherry & Lions pride, were within a digit of two of each other, with the IPA being slighterly higher, or be it, the IPA should be made with 20 litres of water, as opposed to the 23 litres in the other kit, hence the IPA comming in at a higher strength.

So unless there's more fermentable sugar in one of the kits, I'd expect them to be pretty much the same. So if you're looking for additional strength, whilst retaining flavour, it may be an idea to reduce the brewing length i.e make up with less water.

I could of course be complety wrong, as it's still all very new to me

Darren.

[PeteH]

I'd agree with you Waffty. But Olde Homewrecker is described as a strong ale (which the bottled version is I suppose) yet can't be any stronger than the others in the Milestone range, as they're all 3kg kits, and all to be made up to 22.5 litres as far as I know. It doesn't really matter, I just wondered if there was a difference in the fermentable sugars in each kit or something. As long as they taste good!

[maxashton]

Strength is not determined by the weight of the kit. The fermentables are more or less concentrated in the cans as determined by the product the manufacter mashed.

In short, if you're making a mild at 3%, your 3kg kit will have more dextrins, less maltose, and more water, and if you get a kit that's a 7.6% you will have a different mix altogether.

The cans are concentrated wort, the weight and volume of the cans is merely a convenience and consistency thing as regards shipping. You could probably condense it down to a fine poweder if you really wanted to, but it wouldn't be as convenient.

[PeteH]

Cheers Maxashton, thats what I was wondering about, but I seem to remember Daab having said that the 3kg kits usually make a 1040 wort.

[maxashton]

I haven't brewed a kit in a year or more, so give it a razz and let us know how it goes.

[JohnJeye]

I have done the black pearl before. Was great but gave me terrible wind, I became a menice to society !