Have Muntons Found The Answer

[delboy]

From what I've read it seems that traces of zinc and magnesium are essential to healthy yeast reproduction, so they might just have hit the nail on the head.

The hit the nail on the head in as much as they've came up with a plausible excuse that diverts the blame from them. Personally i don't believe them, their kits stuck even with the addition of yeast nutrients/hydrolysed yeast.

[chris_reboot]

without wanting to defend muntons, that's up to them, I've found that kits I've made have come within or below expected FG levels.

the last wherry I made went down to 1008, whereas most people get it down to 1012-1014.

to be fair, there are so many factors at play here, that the malt is only one part.
the biggest constituent in beer is of course water.
no-one here has exactly the same water supply and chemicals/minerals etc.

nor do we all brew at the same temp in the same room etc.

only I have used my airing cupboard, so my results are 'closed off' in that sense.

my point is that people's processes vary, whereas the only constant(?) is the kit itself.

it would be much easier to explain differences in performance and attribute them to the brewer/brewing process.

[araldite]

i put my first wherry on on sunday bought from wilkos, put in a teaspoon of yeast nutrient and used s04 yeast just checked the gravity and its showing 1.010 already, smells awesome aswell. have'nt done one upto just because of the things i've read, i always get alot of air in the mix because all the water goes through a brita filter jug, just hope it tastes as good as it smells.

[chris_reboot]

i put my first wherry on on sunday bought from wilkos, put in a teaspoon of yeast nutrient and used s04 yeast just checked the gravity and its showing 1.010 already, smells awesome aswell. have'nt done one upto just because of the things i've read, i always get alot of air in the mix because all the water goes through a brita filter jug, just hope it tastes as good as it smells.

well done - it will!

[chris_reboot]

Judging by the poll there are enough people out there that have found that Muntons kits fail to properly ferment to say they do have a problem with a proportion of their kits and the fact that not all of them suffer from it suggests its a quality control problem.

QC is definately a factor I'm sure.

I also think that the zinc explanation is bollocks.

don't know enough about the chemical side of it to agree/disagree which is why that may well be an effective smokescreen for them!

Assuming they have been made properly, the required minerals will be in the wort and concentrated in the extract and its rare that kits other than Muntons all malt kits suffer from stuck fermentations with the exception of the odd one or two which would be expected with new inexperienced brewers starting out and the odd pack of poor quality yeast.

Polls can be deceptive in results, and sometimes only people with an axe to grind will answer them , but I hear the same about stuck wherries and the like too. All I can say is I've been OK, but perhaps I'm not representative.

[delboy]

Chris-reboot how long have you been brewing the muntons/woodforde kits for? Muntons seem to have turned the corner on this issue in the last few months, have you been brewing them successfully for much longer than that?
Just interested to know if your sucess with them corresponds to muntons fixing the problem or if your sucess predates the 'fix'.

[chris_reboot]

Polls can be deceptive in results, and sometimes only people with an axe to grind will answer them , but I hear the same about stuck wherries and the like too. All I can say is I've been OK, but perhaps I'm not representative.

You aren't the only one who claims to have never had any problems with these kits over the years and I don't doubt it, i'm sure a majority of their kits are fine but and i'm sure the opinion poll is more likely to encourage people who have had problems to respond rather than those who haven't but it makes no difference in that respect it wouldn't matter if the proportion was only 20% of people having problems, there should be very few if any problems with the beer kits assuming the ingredients are of good quality, they are made according to the instructions and the instructions are adequate.

dangerous words!

[Normski]

I think there are enough of us that know how to brew a kit that have had stuck fermentation, to know that it has been real.
I’m still hopeful that Muntons have sorted the problem, as I'd like to brew some of there kits. I have had problems and I've also just brewed 3 Wherry's and they turned out great. All started at 1040 and finished at 1013. I can understand them not wanting to admit to the fault or liability as it would likely cost them money. Hopefully we won’t see or hear of any more sticking. Time will tell.

Thanks all, for the great comments.

[chris_reboot]

lets hope so Normski!

I'll raise a glass to that!

[robharper]

Well, I have a Great Eastern on the go, which after nearly a week seemed to have stopped, so I checked SG and got 1014 last night. Today, though, the fermentation seems to have kicked off again with some fairly regular bubbling through the airlock, so I'm hoping we'll knock a few more points off the FG.

[Normski]

Nice one Rob

Looks like another one has passed the test there then. Cheers

[crafty john]

Just took an SG reading of my wherry and it has reached the magic 1.014, it has been in the FV for exactly a week.

[Normski]

Just took an SG reading of my wherry and it has reached the magic 1.014, it has been in the FV for exactly a week.

Hi John
Looks like we have another sucessful Wherry there then. Keep us posted on the other one and the Stout too. Cheers

[AlexCricket]

Normski


Where is your local brewshop - I too am near Hereford and have not found anywhere - am fed up of having to buy online!!!

[Normski]

Normski


Where is your local brewshop - I too am near Hereford and have not found anywhere - am fed up of having to buy online!!!

Hi Alex

There a good shop in Leominster called brewing at home. The manager is a guy called Carl. He is very friendly and quite knowledgeable. Cheers
Heres a the web address http://www.brewingathome.co.uk/leominster.htm