I've decided to brew using the Wilko Chocmeister kit. I have lost the instructions however....can anyone supply me with a brief rundown? I'm totally lost on how much DME to use if I'm going off-piste with the recipe. I'm going to use Muntons Extra Dark DME but I thought I pimp the kit a bit with some golden syrup, a little muscavado and some espresso. I'm also thinking of brewing it short because I've never found a stout less that 5.5% that I didn't hate!
As far as I can glean from watching numerous YouTube videos of people doing Wilko kits it goes a bit like this:
- Warm the can to loosen up the stuff
- Chuck the contents in the fermenter with 3.5L of boiling water
- Add DME and any extras (syrup, muscavado and espresso in my case)
- Stir in yeast
- Top up with 16L of cold water (as I'm brewing it short, 18.5L total water is a complete guess)
- Ferment for at least 14 days
- Transfer to bottles for conditioning in a cool place.
So if that's the vague process my questions are basically these:
- How much DME and extras should be used if brewing short at 18.5L?
- Do I add more sugar to bottles (I'm using 500ml bottles) for conditioning? I did the last time I brewed, but that was full grain and I ended up with a not undrinkable beer but each bottle, when opened, sprayed about hallf the bottle out! I assume this was because I only fermented for a week.
Does this sound like the ramblings of a fool or a generally good plan for a relatively new brewer? Any and all feedback is appreciated...can't believe I lost the instructions.
As far as I can glean from watching numerous YouTube videos of people doing Wilko kits it goes a bit like this:
- Warm the can to loosen up the stuff
- Chuck the contents in the fermenter with 3.5L of boiling water
- Add DME and any extras (syrup, muscavado and espresso in my case)
- Stir in yeast
- Top up with 16L of cold water (as I'm brewing it short, 18.5L total water is a complete guess)
- Ferment for at least 14 days
- Transfer to bottles for conditioning in a cool place.
So if that's the vague process my questions are basically these:
- How much DME and extras should be used if brewing short at 18.5L?
- Do I add more sugar to bottles (I'm using 500ml bottles) for conditioning? I did the last time I brewed, but that was full grain and I ended up with a not undrinkable beer but each bottle, when opened, sprayed about hallf the bottle out! I assume this was because I only fermented for a week.
Does this sound like the ramblings of a fool or a generally good plan for a relatively new brewer? Any and all feedback is appreciated...can't believe I lost the instructions.