# Muntons Highland 'heavy' Ale



## JunkzOr (21/9/10)

Hello again brewmasters! 

My jCPA k&b has fermented out and will be bottled today or tomorrow.. OMFG it smells and tastes SO good!!

Moving along, I bought myself a Muntons gold highland 'heavy' ale kit from the LHBS and the nice chap threw in a muntons gold yeast sachet cos he said the kit one was average... 

The poms being a bit soft when it comes to alc% I was considering tossing in a couple hundred grams of dextrose to bump it up a little..

Question I have though is.. Are there any other little things I can do to enhance this kit? This is my first 'premium' k&k kit (will be my 3rd brew overall). I'd presume it should be fairly bitter as it is being a highland style ale.

Thanks again.


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## JestersDarts (21/9/10)

JunkzOr said:


> Question I have though is.. Are there any other little things I can do to enhance this kit? This is my first 'premium' k&k kit (will be my 3rd brew overall). I'd presume it should be fairly bitter as it is being a highland style ale.
> 
> Thanks again.



G'Day mate - 

First question is.. what does this kit consist of?


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## chemacky (21/9/10)

JunkzOr said:


> Hello again brewmasters!
> 
> My jCPA k&b has fermented out and will be bottled today or tomorrow.. OMFG it smells and tastes SO good!!
> 
> ...




Just out of curiosity, you're not the quake player are you?


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## JunkzOr (21/9/10)

The muntons gold highland heavy ale comes with a 1.5kg can of goo and a 1.5kg can of liquid fermentables, will have to wait til I get home to be more specific. Also as mentioned the LHBS gave me a muntons gold yeast sachet to replace the kit yeast.

Chemaky, Haven't played quake for years. 

EDIT: From a website _Ingredients: 100% hopped malt barley extract (malted barley, hops, water), yeast in a separate sachet. No sugar required. _


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## WarmBeer (21/9/10)

JunkzOr said:


> The poms being a bit soft when it comes to alc%...


Or maybe, just maybe their traditional styles have developed over centuries to display subtlety, and demonstrate the skills of the brewer and the quality of their ingredients.

That, and the low alcohol promotes a friendlier drinking culture where the traditional English pub (ignore the modern beer-barn interpretation) becomes an extension of the family "space", where people in the same village can come together socially.

Counterpoint this to the goal of just getting smashed and punchin' some c*nt out after drinking high alcohol brews.


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## JestersDarts (21/9/10)

WarmBeer said:


> Or maybe, just maybe their traditional styles have developed over centuries to display subtlety, and demonstrate the skills of the brewer and the quality of their ingredients.
> 
> That, and the low alcohol promotes a friendlier drinking culture where the traditional English pub (ignore the modern beer-barn interpretation) becomes an extension of the family "space", where people in the same village can come together socially.
> 
> Counterpoint this to the goal of just getting smashed and punchin' some c*nt out after drinking high alcohol brews.



*appaluds*


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## Shed101 (21/9/10)

Yeah nice point WarmBeer ... although it's a Scottish beer, so a headbutt, a pint glass or an empty bottle of Buckfast might suit better rather than a punch  

And the alcohol in most British beer dropped markedly in early/mid parts of the 20th century in times of shortage and before ABV or gravity was labelled and breweries were trying to do one over on the poor working class beer drinkers.

OT:

I made this to 21 litres at 18C, with reused US05 'cos that's what I had around. 

It finished at 1014 and 4.8%. 

Even Screwtop said he liked it.  

It's a good malty beer as i'd expect from a heavy... a distinctive almost peaty flavour. I definitely wouldn't add dextrose.


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## JunkzOr (21/9/10)

WarmBeer said:


> Or maybe, just maybe their traditional styles have developed over centuries to display subtlety, and demonstrate the skills of the brewer and the quality of their ingredients.
> 
> That, and the low alcohol promotes a friendlier drinking culture where the traditional English pub (ignore the modern beer-barn interpretation) becomes an extension of the family "space", where people in the same village can come together socially.
> 
> Counterpoint this to the goal of just getting smashed and punchin' some c*nt out after drinking high alcohol brews.



Point taken 

I'll make it as per the destructions up to 21l and toss in a us-05, save the muntons yeast for another time.


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## Shed101 (21/9/10)

JunkzOr said:


> toss in a us-05, save the muntons yeast for another time.



Can't see why the muntons wouldn't be any good. I've heard people say it does a nice job, and may be more to style than US05... I just used it as the trub was waiting to be dumped on.


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## manticle (21/9/10)

JunkzOr said:


> The poms being a bit soft when it comes to alc% I was considering tossing in a couple hundred grams of dextrose to bump it up a little..




Barleywine, Old ale, stout, porter, IPA and Extra Strong Bitter says phooey to that.

The scots also object to being called poms and offer their wee heavy as an example as being unsoft.


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## bum (21/9/10)

manticle said:


> The scots also object to being called poms and offer their wee heavy as an example as being unsoft.


So is the use of the word "wee" a hedgement of bettery or a precursor to post-modernity?


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## manticle (21/9/10)

Exclamation.

'My goodness, that's a little strong isn't it' 

became;

'hoots toots mon, tha's wee heavy. Redcoats'd be dinnlin' in their buits an thay bebbed et'.


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## Shed101 (21/9/10)

I've always assumed wee heavy is irony coupled with 'weight' of malt in the beer as well as the alcohol.

... you couldnae get fresh hops from the lowlands at a good price.


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## mwd (21/9/10)

:icon_offtopic: I'll be having a pint of 80shillings and an Isle of Jura nip thank you very much if you are buying.

I think the 80 shillings had something to do with excise duty on beer way back then.


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## Shed101 (21/9/10)

Tropical_Brews said:


> I think the 80 shillings had something to do with excise duty on beer way back then.



yeah - 70/, 80/, and 90/. 

Last time I was drinking in Scotland there were plenty still called by that method.

Wee Heavy would be a 90/, the Munton's Heavy would be more like 80/.


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## kbe (21/9/10)

I do a few Muntons' brews, mainly the Mt Mellick Irish cream. Here is a copy of the email that I sent to Muntons. It makes me think that there would be nothing wrong with the yeast that comes with the kit. I used SA05 in the others and the brew I have on now is the first that I have used the yeast that came with the kit, so I can not tell yet if it is going to be ok, although I am sure that it will be, Muntons kits are very very nice.

_Hi Ken

The yeast is Safale S33, which is an ale yeast.

Kind regards


Linda 
Homebrew Sales Executive
Email: [email protected]
Mobile: 07717 000000



From: Ken [mailto:[email protected]] 
Sent: 11 September 2010 03:03
To: Homebeer
Subject: yeast type

Hello,
I was wondering if you could tell me what sort of yeast comes with the Mount Mellick Cream ale kit. The one that is in the kit says YBB on it. What would this be equivalent to in the term of Safale or Wheast? Thanks a lot.
_


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## JunkzOr (22/9/10)

Thanks kbe, I'll use the yeast I was given.

And thank you everyone else for the schooling.


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