Muntons Nut Brown Ale Seems a Bit 'Thin'

[mshergold]

I brewed the above kit a few weeks ago and added a 1kg of Geordie Beer Kit Enhancer instead of sugar. I bottled half (I only had 20 bottles) and put the rest in a pressure barrel. After a couple of weeks, the big day arrived. On opening the first bottle there was the pleasing sigh of a little gas in the top of the bottle. It's got a lovely dark, rich colour a even has a little head and you can taste the malt. Someone else tried some and said it wasn't bad, but I think it lacks a little 'body' (I think Dave Line would describe it as 'thin').

I've drunk nearly all the bottles and it goes down nicely and seems strong enough (I forgot to check the start and finish gravities), it's just that it doesn't taste how it looks. I've not tried any from the barrel yet, but was wondering if anyone had any thoughts.

[Murton]

There's a lot of sugar in beer kit enhancer, probably 50% or more.

If you want something fuller bodied then spray malt is the way to go.

I just started a Tom Caxton Real Ale kit yesterday and used one of those Geordie Enhancer packs in place of sugar. You look at it in the bag and it has a nice brownish colour and a texture similar to flour, but when you empty it into your FV you can see that there is a quite of a lot of sugar hiding in there. Still better than just using all sugar mind.


For my next brew I'll probably be ordering in some proper stuff (including a lot of spraymalt) from Hop and Grape or somewhere similar, see how the Caxtons turns out then I'll do my research/seek advice.