Muntons yeast upgrade needed?

[Pfeffer]

Hi all,

I'm fairly new to brewing and one of the kits I bought was a muntons belgian style ale kit. As it's for 21 liters, it's a fairly expensive kit (two cans).

http://www.muntonshomebrew.com/belgian-style-ale/

It's made with "Saison" yeast blabla, but now (of course after buying the kit) I'm reading that Muntons kits are quite sensitive for stuck fermentations. As I'm not really willing to risk a 37 euro kit on a stuck fermentation, I was wondering if it would be wise to toss the dried "Saison" yeast and replace it with some Wyeast WLP565. That said, I'm also wondering if it might be possible (and wise) to pick another yeast.. and if so, which one would be a nice pick for a belgian style ale? If I'd pick a "Ardennes 3522" yeast from Wyeast.

 

[Poochops]

I can't help with your question sorry except that attenuation doesn't appear to be a particular problem with this kit, but it probably does need a long time in the bottle
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=52356

 

[mike77]

I've used wyeast 3711 french saison several times and its always been good. Ferments well and has a nice flavour.

 

[Personal91]

Hi all,

I'm fairly new to brewing and one of the kits I bought was a muntons belgian style ale kit. As it's for 21 liters, it's a fairly expensive kit (two cans).

http://www.muntonshomebrew.com/belgian-style-ale/

It's made with "Saison" yeast blabla, but now (of course after buying the kit) I'm reading that Muntons kits are quite sensitive for stuck fermentations. As I'm not really willing to risk a 37 euro kit on a stuck fermentation, I was wondering if it would be wise to toss the dried "Saison" yeast and replace it with some Wyeast WLP565. That said, I'm also wondering if it might be possible (and wise) to pick another yeast.. and if so, which one would be a nice pick for a belgian style ale? If I'd pick a "Ardennes 3522" yeast from Wyeast.

never chuck away the yeast that comes with it as you may need a starter or need to re-pitch a brew in the future - that or find that a kit that was supposed to have a yeast pack in didnt or was damaged in transit. think long term not just in the moment :)

 

[Pfeffer]

Well I'd have the same concern as I live in the Southeast of the Netherlands I can just hop in my car and stop by Brouwland (home of brewferm). Why risk a brew if I can buy fresh yeast for 5 euro?

 

[Sandimas]

Do you know the weight of the yeast packet that comes with that kit? Wherry comes with a tiny 7g yeast packet, which is the reason a lot of people get stuck brews with that particular kit - 7g of yeast it too little for a 23L brew, most people would use a standard 11g packet for that size brew.

Muntons make a whole range of kits including the highly-respected Tiny Rebel Cwtch kit, so it's possible they include a standard 11g yeast packet in their more premium kits
http://www.muntonshomebrew.com/other-products/other-branded-homebrew-kits/

I've made Wherry and one of their Brewmaker kits and had stuck brews with both. I now do smaller half-size brews whenever I do Wherry, and use the yeast packet with just the 1-can 10L brew and that's never stuck.

 

[dad_of_jon]

Hi all,

I'm fairly new to brewing and one of the kits I bought was a muntons belgian style ale kit. As it's for 21 liters, it's a fairly expensive kit (two cans).

http://www.muntonshomebrew.com/belgian-style-ale/

It's made with "Saison" yeast blabla, but now (of course after buying the kit) I'm reading that Muntons kits are quite sensitive for stuck fermentations. As I'm not really willing to risk a 37 euro kit on a stuck fermentation, I was wondering if it would be wise to toss the dried "Saison" yeast and replace it with some Wyeast WLP565. That said, I'm also wondering if it might be possible (and wise) to pick another yeast.. and if so, which one would be a nice pick for a belgian style ale? If I'd pick a "Ardennes 3522" yeast from Wyeast.

or use mangrove jacks saison - high fermenting temps required though.

does it actually say it's a saison because it could be a saison yeast fermenting at lower 18-20 degrees to not taste so 'funky?'

if it's not a saison you're after mangrove jacks do a lovely Belgian ale yeast.

 

[Pfeffer]

Thank you all for the reply. My lovely Chouffe yeast is taking off like a rocket, so I think I´ll pitch that one in this kit and see where it brings me (decided on starting one after posting this one). I should have 4 batches of about 170 grams of yeast suspension in about two weeks. One of those should do for 21 liters (hopefully). I'll do this one with a mix of candi sugar and malt extract I think, to keep it a bit malty.

 

[pms67]

The yeast that comes with this kit is absolutely fine,i had no problems with it at all.

 

[marlon]

I've been given this exact kit as a birthday present....glad it's OK. PFEFFER - keep us posted...I'd like to know how your different yeast turns out please

 

[Pfeffer]

Haha you'll know in about 2 months. First need to finish my brewferm triple (went from 1.072 to 1.036 in 7 days, not as fast as I hoped).

Unfortunately I didn't brew it before, so no idea how it will differ from the original yeast.

Edit; haha just joining.. arghh.. Apparently my lab one is density, the brewferm one in plato. Thought 3.6 was short for 1.036.. but apparently I'm actually at 1.014 after a weeks (which makes me a happy brewer).

 

[Pfeffer]

Another quick question regarding this kit. The instructions for Belgian style ale seem a bit off (sound more British then Belgian).

In short; extract in hot water, top up with cold water without adding additional fermentables.. then pitch yeast without adding extra sugar. When the SG is <1.014 siphon into a 2nd fermenter and add 500gr of spray malt + scoop half a cup of yeast sediment to the new fermenter. When the SG is 1.006 or lower.. bottle.

Where's the candi sugar and the priming sugar? It sounds like it wouldn't be too fizzy. The advertised 7.5% ABV also sounds pretty low.

As I'm using la Chouffe yeast which should be able to go all the way up to 12%, would it be possible to prime with 7gr/liter to get the ABV and fizz a bit up or would the oxygen content of the bottled beer be too low? (Or am I missing something and will I blow up my bottles)