Sticking Munton's (Woodfordes) Kits - Information and offer

[joel_m]

Sorry to revive this thread but i just had to say GRRRRRR RAH!

I've done 2 woodfordes kits a wherry and a great eastern and both dropped to below the predicted FG top notch I thought... sticking pah..

So I bought a muntons Midas touch and a smugglers special, put the midas in my FV last saturday and thought OG 1.052 Great I thought should be a decent strength hope it tastes good.. it went off fermenting like a rocket, excellent. Nothing has happened now for the last two days so last night figured I'd check it lobbed my hydrometer in and guess what it read... thats right 1.020 spot on... gave it a rouse... checked it again this morning 15h later... 1.020 spot on ...

When I bought it the chap at my local HB shop said you might want this aswell something called "Tronozymol yeast nutrient", funny I thought he's never tried to sell me it when i've bought my woodfordes kits (although looking at the date on them they were considerably newer than the muntons kit). I know alarm bells should have been going off at this point!

So tonight i'm going to lob a couple of teaspoons of it in give it a gentle rouse and see what happens failing that i have a pack of safale 05 in the fridge if there is no movement come sunday thats going in too!

Sorry for the rant but when I was ranting at work about it people were just looking at me like I was a mad man! lol
Guess the guy at my local HB shop knows about this problem too! A bit worried about putting the smugglers special on now. Thinking about double pitching the yeast put the kit yeast it and a the pack of safale 05 too (assuming i don't use it sunday)!

[garwatts]

When I do my next Woodfordes kit I am going to use 11g of Safale04 instead of the supplied pack of yeast. I hope that will work out OK

[Capped]

Well I bought a Woodforde's Wherry from Wilko's about a month ago,and made the thing up about an hour before reading all the grief that lot's of folk have had with stuck ferments! Gave it my best TLC and it ended up around 1016 - ok. Seemed to take a long time to start clearing though,and I didn't use any priming sugar - figured that with the fairly high FG it might just be ticking over a little. Sampled it the other day and I'm well happy with it.

Never tried Tronozymol in beer but it's a must for country wines (the missus likes that kinda thing...). Anyways,in contrast to the Woodforde's I got a Cooper's Bitter (+500g spraymalt + 500g white sugar) on the go yesterday morning,and the damn thing's almost done! Is it just my imagination or are Cooper's kits the best on the planet??

[joel_m]

OMG I can't believe what I've just done...
I got back from work and stuck 1 1/2 lvl teaspoons of that tronozymol stuff in my stuck brew then wandered in to town to get my SWMBO a birthday present for next week...

Got back about 3 hours later and thought "oooh wonder if my brew is doing anything" so went and had a look, the air lock was bubbling away at a nice steady pace.... I ACTUALLY KISSED MY FV ....

[KevP]

OMG I can't believe what I've just done...
I got back from work and stuck 1 1/2 lvl teaspoons of that tronozymol stuff in my stuck brew then wandered in to town to get my SWMBO a birthday present for next week...

Got back about 3 hours later and thought "oooh wonder if my brew is doing anything" so went and had a look, the air lock was bubbling away at a nice steady pace.... I ACTUALLY KISSED MY FV ....

Thats good news, and its something we've found does indeed help, but it begs the question as to WHY we should have to do it


ps Happy Birthday to SWMBO from us at Jim's
pps Nowt wrong with kissing your FV

[Sunray11A]

I don't know if this is a good or bad sign:

After 48 hours at 21.6C (kept constant by heat from a PC running 24/7 in the room) my Woodforde's Wherry appears close to being fermented out - crust subsided very considerably and few bubbles. I suspected this may be another case of stuck fermentation with this brand so took 3 SG readings over a 6 hour period but, the SG is now steady at 1012. I didn't know enough then to record the OG, sorry. Anyway, that seems to me to be a heck of a fast fermentation over a mere 48 hour period. The brew is obviously still very cloudy, which I suspect will affect my SG readings, but looks and smells good - no hint of a vinegar smell etc.

I confess to being a total novice so, the comments of more experienced people would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[joel_m]

You are right 48h does seem pretty quick, 71F thats about 21C I think which is nicely within range.

I did end up at that FG on my wherry but I put too much water in to begin with!

1.012 is a good end point though as Wherrys usually finish about 1.014. You are best doing two readings 24h apart I wouldn't take to much on what your hydrometer reads they are often out by a few points, all you are looking for is a steady reading.

You might want to wait for the advice of someone with more experience than me but I would say not harm leaving it in the FV for a few days and see what happens. It should only improve the beer as the yeast will start to mop up some of the other chemicals they produce when metabolising the sugars that give the unwanted and "green" flavours (if I remember correctly). If you taste the wort and it tastes something like beer you are half way there! It really is a patience game sometimes, its best to not panic and leave it to do its thing (which is something most of us a really bad at) so you aren't alone! lol

Cloudy at this point is perfectly normal and will be taken in to count in the 1.014 FG. It won't clear until you prime it in the bottle or keg.

hope this helps!

[Sunray11A]

joel_m, thanks mate. It'll be interesting to see what things look like in a couple more days. I understand that I can leave it in the primary FV for up to a max of 10 days. I won't be doing that but, it will give me a bit of leeway to fit in moving it to the conditioning barrel between shifts at work. Sorry, for having used that 4 letter word.

[Sunray11A]

While I don't doubt for one second that many people have had problems with getting Woodforde's kits to reach the correct FG, it doesn't seem to have turned out that way for me this time. The Wherry SG is now reading 1010 after 4 days in the FV. Even if my hydrometer is out by a couple of points, the brew should have a good ABV after conditioning. If it is the same tomorrow, I'll syphon it into a barrel with 85g of brewing sugar.

Yep! The FG was 1010. Now all I have to do is wait for it to mature.

[LeeS]

Hi all

I'd like to add my current state of play into this debate, bear with me, sorry its a long post

First kit Woodefords Great Eastern, with a teabag of Cascade in, it stopped at bang on 1020, got a restart pack from Brewking and it got going again and got to 1014, I had the lid on and off all the time trying to sort it, rousing etc etc, eventually did 6 bottles and rest in Keg, they wont clear after 2 months. Bottle I tested tastes good but Keg not so much, the new keg had no pressure seal fitted (brand new) so gas leaked out. Not happy

Bought a Muntons Premium gold, paid very careful attention, lots of air in the mix, all very careful, stopped dead at 1022 after a week or 10 days, added a sachet of Nottingham yeast, a small amount of yeast vit and off it went again, then slowed eventually getting down to almost 1014, but it smelt a little too caramelly, not fresh at all, I left it a little longer but no movement, yet again messing about with the damn thing all the time, rousing, adding the yeast etc etc etc after a full month it tasted sweet still with a very bitter after taste so I chucked it in the bin.

I decided to try and recreate set one, Great Eastern, Cascade hops, etc etc but with Safale 04, brew was looking great, after a week down to 1016, but a few days later nothing happening and stopped at 1015-1016, so I'm now convinced its not just the yeast.

Going to bottle this and forget about it, I suppose I'll try a coopers kit or something, any specific recommendations, I like a light hoppy beer?

Getting well pissed off though, cheaper to go to the boozer!


Lee

[garwatts]

Get going on the AG you won't regret it

[rollin danny]

Hi all

I'd like to add my current state of play into this debate, bear with me, sorry its a long post

First kit Woodefords Great Eastern, with a teabag of Cascade in, it stopped at bang on 1020, got a restart pack from Brewking and it got going again and got to 1014, I had the lid on and off all the time trying to sort it, rousing etc etc, eventually did 6 bottles and rest in Keg, they wont clear after 2 months. Bottle I tested tastes good but Keg not so much, the new keg had no pressure seal fitted (brand new) so gas leaked out. Not happy

Bought a Muntons Premium gold, paid very careful attention, lots of air in the mix, all very careful, stopped dead at 1022 after a week or 10 days, added a sachet of Nottingham yeast, a small amount of yeast vit and off it went again, then slowed eventually getting down to almost 1014, but it smelt a little too caramelly, not fresh at all, I left it a little longer but no movement, yet again messing about with the damn thing all the time, rousing, adding the yeast etc etc etc after a full month it tasted sweet still with a very bitter after taste so I chucked it in the bin.

I decided to try and recreate set one, Great Eastern, Cascade hops, etc etc but with Safale 04, brew was looking great, after a week down to 1016, but a few days later nothing happening and stopped at 1015-1016, so I'm now convinced its not just the yeast.

Going to bottle this and forget about it, I suppose I'll try a coopers kit or something, any specific recommendations, I like a light hoppy beer?

Getting well pissed off though, cheaper to go to the boozer!


Lee

1.015/ 1.016 isn't too bad.My wherry finished at 1.018 and was lovely.Try a Coopers i.p.a or coopers traditional draught nice light golden beers.

[rollin danny]

Hi all

I'd like to add my current state of play into this debate, bear with me, sorry its a long post

First kit Woodefords Great Eastern, with a teabag of Cascade in, it stopped at bang on 1020, got a restart pack from Brewking and it got going again and got to 1014, I had the lid on and off all the time trying to sort it, rousing etc etc, eventually did 6 bottles and rest in Keg, they wont clear after 2 months. Bottle I tested tastes good but Keg not so much, the new keg had no pressure seal fitted (brand new) so gas leaked out. Not happy

Bought a Muntons Premium gold, paid very careful attention, lots of air in the mix, all very careful, stopped dead at 1022 after a week or 10 days, added a sachet of Nottingham yeast, a small amount of yeast vit and off it went again, then slowed eventually getting down to almost 1014, but it smelt a little too caramelly, not fresh at all, I left it a little longer but no movement, yet again messing about with the damn thing all the time, rousing, adding the yeast etc etc etc after a full month it tasted sweet still with a very bitter after taste so I chucked it in the bin.

I decided to try and recreate set one, Great Eastern, Cascade hops, etc etc but with Safale 04, brew was looking great, after a week down to 1016, but a few days later nothing happening and stopped at 1015-1016, so I'm now convinced its not just the yeast.

Going to bottle this and forget about it, I suppose I'll try a coopers kit or something, any specific recommendations, I like a light hoppy beer?

Getting well pissed off though, cheaper to go to the boozer!


Lee

1.015/ 1.016 isn't too bad.My wherry finished at 1.018 and was lovely.Try a Coopers i.p.a or coopers traditional draught nice light golden beers.

[Normski]

Hi LeeS
Sorry to hear of your sticking kits. Go get a Coopers kit, Any one will be OK, to restore your faith in this home brew lark.
The coopers have a decent yeast and will be a quick brew. The stout is fantastic, even after about 5 days it can be ready to bottle or keg. And drinkable in another few days, although if you can wait a bit longer it's suposed to be even better. I've not managed that yet. I've done the Stout, the Lager and the Sparkling Ale. All have fermented in a few days to a week. And the quality is top notch. I still brew the ocational woodfordes/muntons, but have a regular supply of coopers to drink while the muntons are doing there thing. I will be doing a Wherry soon, and will be adding yeast vit to the wort before the yeast.

[joel_m]

Just an update for anyone who is interested the TronOzymol worked my midas touch is now down at 1.013.
If its the same tomorrow I'm going to Keg it. Still tastes a little sweet but nothing offensive.

Should be over the 5% mark ... so quite pleased after being stuck!