# Muntons Yorkshire Bitter



## cozmocracker (13/12/08)

Just picked up a can of muntons yorkshire bitter 1.8kg and a can of morgans master caramalt blend 1kg (this will be my 3rd brew). Any suggestions of what i might add to this or should i just keep it stock standard, i have about 250g of LDME i thought i might add to it, yes? no?
i am off to the local for a couple of beers, as mine are still conditioning and i going to be patient, so i hope to return to some thought provoking suggestions.

cheers to one and all


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## razz (13/12/08)

Depending on what sort of yeast came with the kit you could buy some dry english ale yeast. S04, Windsor or Nottingham are all good.


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## albrews (13/12/08)

cozmocracker said:


> Just picked up a can of muntons yorkshire bitter 1.8kg and a can of morgans master caramalt blend 1kg (this will be my 3rd brew). Any suggestions of what i might add to this or should i just keep it stock standard, i have about 250g of LDME i thought i might add to it, yes? no?
> i am off to the local for a couple of beers, as mine are still conditioning and i going to be patient, so i hope to return to some thought provoking suggestions.
> 
> cheers to one and all



hi, a nice drop of beer with a kilo of malt.

cheers
alan


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## cozmocracker (17/12/08)

alright last chance for any suggestions, i will be brewing tomorrow. should i add the LDME? i contacted Muntons to try and find out what sort of yeast they supplied but no responce so im thinkin l'll try the nottingham (yes? no?). should i add some hops? if so what sort. What temp does the nottingham like to be pitched and fermented?

cheers in advance

coz


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## buttersd70 (17/12/08)

Personally, I would leave it at just the tin of YB and the tin of caramalt. OG in 23L around 1038ish, just right for a bitter imo. A yorkie should be sweet on the front end, bitterness kicking in in the mid palate and a dry finish...so nottingham (as far as dry yeasts are concerned) is a good choice for it...it should attenuate fairly well...
18-20C for the nottingham...I'd suggest 18. just be aware that nottingham chews through quickly, so don't panic if it looks like it's stopped in a few days. It's a fast working hungry little bugger.


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## cozmocracker (17/12/08)

cheers butters, i will follow your words of wisdom. much appreciated.

the 1st brew, a brewcraft kit (becks style) went down a treat with the indoor cricket team tonight. saving the rest for xmas day. the YB will be for end of season cricket BBQ.

coz


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## bconnery (17/12/08)

Back in my kit days I made this up with a brew blend from the store, dark ale blend, not sure what it contained, and added in some Fuggles and Goldings hops. 
I used S04 dry yeast. 
It was a very popular drop. 
I think the caramalt would work well with it.


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## Jakechan (17/12/08)

I made this kit up 11 days ago using a recipe from the LHBS. Its still a bit green tasting in the keg but its showing a lot of promise, already has fantastic head retention and flavour.

The recipe (Kilkenny clone apparently for what its worth):

1 x munton YB
250g corn syrup
500g lt malt
250g dextrose
English Ale Yeast
12g Goldings
12 Fuggles

Cheers,
Jake


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## buttersd70 (17/12/08)

Just an afterthought, because differant people have differant tastes.....bear in mind, cozmo, that this will produce a fairly mildly hopped english style beer....English Standard Bitter isn't actually very bitter...its more a malt driven beer. If you like your beer bitter (in the hoppy sense), add some more hops....as suggested, fuggle, EKG, or both (or styrian goldings). But not too much (if you want to retain a Yorkshire style).  It doesn't help that the muntons website says this kit is 17-23IBU...thats a fairly big range to try and judge.....


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## MHB (17/12/08)

A truly delightful kit, restrain the urge to over hop so you get to appreciate fully the soft toffy and caramel flavours typical of Muntons malt. A little EKG or Fuggle as suggester would be great, just dont hide the malt.

Muntons kits come with yeast made by Saf (if what I hear is true) and its a very good yeast, personally if I didnt have a very good reason to change it I wouldnt go to the extra expense, the yeast supplied is a good match to the kit.

This kit rewards maturity, 3 months or longer will really highlight how good a kit it truly is.

Lastly that range of IBU (EBU) values (17-23), the bitterness of a beer can change by up to 30%, just by varying the fermentation temperature, something outside the control of the kit maker.
Strange how the range quoted (6) over the mean value (20) is 30%.

You cant blame Muntons for the quality of information they put on their packaging, colour and realistic bitterness information, I just wish more kit makers were so forthcoming.

Top Kit
Cheers
MHB


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## cozmocracker (18/12/08)

ok, i have decided to use the yeast supplied, Saf yeast as MHB suggested, so what temp does it like and what temp should i pitch at?

i got 12g of fuggles (i like my bitters) and i will leave it at that.

my only problem now is, after bottling a batch last night im short on bottles, might ask to get my chrissy present early (a couple of kegs ) got a co2 reg coming my way as well, just need a co2 bottle and a tap.


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## buttersd70 (18/12/08)

fermentis reccomends 15-24. 18C-20C would be good.


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## cozmocracker (31/12/08)

i have been fermenting the YB for 8 days now, for last 3 its stuck on 1020, it started at 1052, i think SG is still to high but have a wide range of info from 1008 to 1018 for FG. i just gave it a swirl to see if it kick starts things again but would like some opinions on what FG should be. i used muntons yorkshire bitter 1.8kg and a can of morgans master caramalt blend 1kg using yeast suppiled, meant to be a SAF but what sort i dont know. It got pitched at 24 and fermented at 18.

Happy New Years! :beer:


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## Jakechan (31/12/08)

Ive only done it once and it finished at 1.014. A nice drop though and the keg is almost finished.


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## tumi2 (29/4/09)

cozmocracker said:


> i have been fermenting the YB for 8 days now, for last 3 its stuck on 1020, it started at 1052, i think SG is still to high but have a wide range of info from 1008 to 1018 for FG. i just gave it a swirl to see if it kick starts things again but would like some opinions on what FG should be. i used muntons yorkshire bitter 1.8kg and a can of morgans master caramalt blend 1kg using yeast suppiled, meant to be a SAF but what sort i dont know. It got pitched at 24 and fermented at 18.
> 
> Happy New Years! :beer:



Hi there

I did the Muntons Yorkshire bitter yesterday and it started at 1055. 

The recipe was:

1.8 kb kit of Munton Yorkshire Bitter
700 grams of dry dark malt
500 grams of dry wheat malt

300grams of crystal grain stepped for 3o mins @ 70 degs

15gr of Goldings hops pallets in the boil for 10 mins

The taste was quite malty and the hops added a nice bitterness but overall it was more malt than bitterness.

I am a bit worried that i used too much malt given i added grain wort to the fermenter also which i guess is why i ended up with 1055 OG.

What did yours end up finishing on?

I used the yeast supplied with the kit and pitched at 18 deg and will probably ferment between 18 and 22 degs depending on the sydney weather over the next few days. its pretty cold now so hope it stays constant.

This morning it had only just started to show some froth build up on the surface.


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## cozmocracker (29/4/09)

Hi tumi,

as i mentioned, on day 6 it stopped at 1020, i left till day 14 and it was still at 1020, i bottled and left it to condition for 8 to 10 weeks( i made this for the cricket team and handed it out at the end of season). i was left with 1 bottle which i really enjoyed and wished i had more, so far i have had nothing but good comments on the brew! i didnt add any extras and i used the kit yeast, i did find out through Muntons what it was, if i can dig it up i will post the info.

cheers cozmo


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## cozmocracker (29/4/09)

ah the kit yeast was Saccharomyces Cerevisia, what ever that means! somebody might be able to put that in lamens terms.


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## rclemmett (29/4/09)

cozmocracker said:


> ah the kit yeast was Saccharomyces Cerevisia, what ever that means! somebody might be able to put that in lamens terms.



In laymens terms that would be an ecumenical matter....... Its the latin name for ale yeast. I couldn't tell you what strain though....

Hope that helped


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## tumi2 (30/4/09)

cozmocracker said:


> Hi tumi,
> 
> as i mentioned, on day 6 it stopped at 1020, i left till day 14 and it was still at 1020, i bottled and left it to condition for 8 to 10 weeks( i made this for the cricket team and handed it out at the end of season). i was left with 1 bottle which i really enjoyed and wished i had more, so far i have had nothing but good comments on the brew! i didnt add any extras and i used the kit yeast, i did find out through Muntons what it was, if i can dig it up i will post the info.
> 
> cheers cozmo


Great thanks for the reply.

After 24 hours it has started to froth but no bubbles yet. 

Good to hear it was a nice drop.


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## cozmocracker (30/4/09)

well if the krauzen has formed then its on its way, remember to ignore the airlock because there not to be trusted, co2 can easily escape from the lid so if theres no bubble activity then dont worry. i normally check the gravity about 10 days in then at 14, checking the gravity is the only real way of making sure its fermenting. after 3 stable readings your ready to bottle.

good luck and enjoy!

ps you can guesstimate your final gravity by dividing your SG by 4, so if you started at 1050 you could expect it to finish about 1012.

also remember to remove airlock before taking a SG sample, so you dont suck dirty water into your fermenter, i used to use some no rinse sanitizer in there. now i just use a shot glass over the airlock hole with the grommet removed.


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## tumi2 (5/5/09)

Im a little concerned.

My Yorkshire bitter is still in the fermenter and it is now day 7. 

On Sunday (day 5) i opened the lid and added some finings and a dry hops bag. I am only new to brewing and each time i am trying to do a new process with the intention of one day being able to do an AG beer in a bag. So i am always trying new things which is why i dry hopped.

Anyway i looked through the clear panel on the fermenter last night and noticed that some small scattered patches of froth had developed on the surface of the wort. When i added the Hops and fining the wort was pretty much flat with no surface froth. i checked again this morning and the scattered froth is still present. It looks like very early stages of fermentation after pitching yeast.

The gravity at the time i added it was 1022 down from an OG of 1055. I thought that day five would be a good time to do it as it would still have some minor condition fermenting to go so the chance of infection would be minimal.

My process was as follows:

- boiled a cup of water and sanitized a cup. Added water and finings to cup and dissolved. then added to fermenter with a very gentle stir.
- Boiled some water and added some muslin cloth and string to the water for about 10 minutes after boil. Put 15 gr of Goldings hops pallets into the cloth that i had removed from the boiling water and tied it in a sack with the string. Dropped the sack of hops into the fermenter.

Overall the lid was open for about 20 seconds.

Do you think that the froth that has now developed mean i have an infection in the wort?. I cant smell anything but i cant smell anything normally anyway.

Why would froth develop after it had already subsided?


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## cozmocracker (5/5/09)

tumi,

at this stage i woundnt be to concerned with infection, im not experienced enough to say what it is, maybe the yeast is reacting with the hops or maybe some co2 that is being released is gathering on the bag? as i said i dont know, what i do know is no point worrying about it now, let the beer finish, bottle or keg and see how it goes. something i would recommend is adding the finnings after you have dropped the temp down as low as you can get it to drop out anything that is in suspension, say a few days prior to bottling. also if your worried about infections just put the hops straight in dont worry about a bag, the few kits and bits i did i just chucked everything straight into the fermemter, it all settles out especially if you cold chill before you bottle, all my beers have been clear. 

im sure if i have given you a bum steer someone will sort me out and set you straight.

cheers cozmo


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## tumi2 (6/5/09)

cozmocracker said:


> tumi,
> 
> at this stage i woundnt be to concerned with infection, im not experienced enough to say what it is, maybe the yeast is reacting with the hops or maybe some co2 that is being released is gathering on the bag? as i said i dont know, what i do know is no point worrying about it now, let the beer finish, bottle or keg and see how it goes. something i would recommend is adding the finnings after you have dropped the temp down as low as you can get it to drop out anything that is in suspension, say a few days prior to bottling. also if your worried about infections just put the hops straight in dont worry about a bag, the few kits and bits i did i just chucked everything straight into the fermemter, it all settles out especially if you cold chill before you bottle, all my beers have been clear.
> 
> ...



Thanks for that info

So as it turns out i took another reading last night and it had reduced from 1022 to 1018, the scattered bubbles are still present.
So it is still fermenting which i think means i dont have an infection and the bubbles are just fermntation that has started after a brief stall. Also i tasted it and despite being a bit bitter from the extra hopps i added the taste was nice and definitely no taste of infection that i could notice. it had cleared out alot also i guess due to the finings.


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## c0z (6/5/09)

I get little islands of bubbles a day after i add finnings, they look bad but they go away.


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## RobboMC (7/5/09)

Remember that during fermentation the brew is holding as much dissolved CO2 as it can handle. That's called a saturated solution.
A solution that is sitting very still can become over-saturated and the CO2 won't bubble out because there's no physical way to start the bubble. Then particles that are added like finings become places where bubbles can form. It's called nucleation. 
This could be the cause of your slight frothing.

So adding the finings and hops allows the over-full solution to release it's gas. No harm done as you're going to put plenty of gas back when you do the priming.

It's the same as when adding hops to very hot water, it boils over instantly. 

Instead of taking the lid off, consider just removing the airlock and trickling your additions thru the hole with a funnel.


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## tumi2 (8/5/09)

Thanks for the info.

I will keep this on the yeast for another few days and then bulk prime for the first time.

I will calculate my sugar amount to get normal carbonation. I know it is usually less on an English Bitter but i prefer a bit more carbonation than the English Bitters i tried in England.

Will update this once i have tasted one.


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