It's all Munton's

[arcain]

Like a lot of the members here, I spend ages selecting kits to brew. It could be a cheapie like Geordie, or Brewmaker or more expensive like Woodforde's, or even Munton's who have Handcrafted, Conoisseur, etc etc. However, when I delve a little deeper they are ALL made by Munton's. What's going on? As far as ingredients go, on the side of the tin it just says it's malt extract whichever kit you get. I guess my question is, "Is the malt extract you get with a tin of Munton's Connoiseur likely to be the same as in a Geordie?" OK the type of malt might be different but what are you paying more for? How is the quality different? And why don't they list the type of malt or even the strain of yeast they use?

 

[marshbrewer]

As far as I am aware, Cooper's, Brewferm, Mangrove Jack and Black Rock are the only malt extract kits aren't made by muntons. Interestingly, all of those are made outside of the UK.

 

[LarryF]

I had three kits out of the Muntons Connoisseur range lately, the Wheat, Traditional Bitter and their Irish Style Stout. The Tradional Bitter was a year out of date (their first email back to me offered me advice on how to brew it and a £5 gift code. Their second mail back was quite curt advising they'd refunded the price of the kit and the BE). I brewed it with First Gold but it's never been what it should being that far out of date, drinkable but not what it should be. The Stout I did with chocolate and marmalade and that's conditioning nicely. The star was their Wheat beer, I bottled it 20/01/18, 6.7%, with a North Downs hop tea and a UK Cascade dry hop using Wilko Gervin yeast. I absolutely loved it and couldn't leave it alone from the first try in the bottle at 2weeks. I liked the Connoisseur kits and I'm planning to work my way through them, saying that though, the kit yeast is in the jar with the rest of them for making bread.

 

[Sandimas]

. I guess my question is, "Is the malt extract you get with a tin of Munton's Connoiseur likely to be the same as in a Geordie?" OK the type of malt might be different but what are you paying more for? How is the quality different? And why don't they list the type of malt or even the strain of yeast they use?

I don't think the tins are just malt extract, they must be bittered somehow with some hops. I'm guessing they use different amounts and different hops for each kit.

The yeasts can be a bit iffy with Muntons, it's not the quality but the quantity: in most kits they only include a small 6g packet, which isn't really enough for a 23L brew. Some kits such as Cwtch include 2 packets. It's always worth using another yeast if you get the small packet as you can sometime get a stuck brew.

When I first started brewing I found the premium kits such as Midas Touch and Smugglers to be better. Tiny Rebel Cwtch (again made by Muntons) is one of the best kits out there.

 

[arcain]

I've got a Milestone, Beerworks and a St. Peter's on order at the moment and as far as I am aware these are not Munton's products (and I started a Coopers real ale today). I'll soon see when I get hold of the packaging. At the very least it will be interesting to see the size of the yeast packets with these products.

 

[marshbrewer]

Almost 100% sure Milestone and St Peters kits are manufactured by Muntons. No idea about beerworks.

 

[soupdragon]

As far as I am aware, Cooper's, Brewferm, Mangrove Jack and Black Rock are the only malt extract kits aren't made by muntons. Interestingly, all of those are made outside of the UK.

Can't speak about the others but mangrove jack are made in the UK. Spl international I believe, based on the wirral

Cheers. Tom

 

[suffolkbeer]

St. Peter’s and milestone are made by muntons.

 

[soupdragon]

Beerworks malt extract pouches are filled using "modern cold-fill techniques". Sounds very like mangrove jack to me. As far as I know and I'm happy to be corrected on this but I don't think muntons do pouches

Cheers. Tom

 

[arcain]

The info I've got (Milestone website) is that they are based in Nottinghamshire http://www.milestonebrewery.co.uk/contact/ and St. Peter's have their own wikipedia page: "St. Peter’s Brewery is based at St. Peter South Elmham, near Bungay in Suffolk." pretty close to Munton's territory it must be said. Maybe they produce their own beer but muntons provide the malt? One thing is for sure, it's not clear.

 

[suffolkbeer]

Yes they both produce their own great beers. The kits are produced by muntons for them

 

[suffolkbeer]

http://www.muntonshomebrew.com/category/milestone-brewery-kits/

http://www.muntonshomebrew.com/category/st-peters-brewery-kits/

 

[soupdragon]

Not done either of those two brands. They two tins or pouches?

Cheers. Tom

 

[arcain]

Looks like Muntons have pretty much cornered the market. I'd be still interested to find out how the various kits differ.

 

[Sandimas]

I'd be still interested to find out how the various kits differ.

Here's the ones that I've done, ranked in order of the ones I liked best:

• Tiny Rebel Cwtch - an incredible beer for a kit
  
• Smugglers
• Midas Touch
• Woodfordes Wherry
• Woodfordes Admirals Reserve

Here's the ones I've done but wouldn't do again

• Woodfordes Nog
  
• Bock (Connoisseurs)
  
• Old Conkerwood
• Woodfordes Sundew - had a strange tatse which others have reported too
  
• Brewmaker Yorshire Bitter - horrible

 

[suffolkbeer]

TBH I don’t brew kits now just all grain (I do use muntons malt though and live about 5 miles from their factory, lol)

When i started out I brewed woodfords wherry kit and really liked it!

 

[arcain]

TBH I don’t brew kits now just all grain (I do use muntons malt though and live about 5 miles from their factory, lol)

When i started out I brewed woodfords wherry kit and really liked it!

Lucky you being close to the factory! It's a bit more difficult being in central Portugal. I've just started a Cooper's Real ale and a Woodforde's Wherry is next off the rank. After that, I'm graduating to a Beerworks Craft Series - which is a half way house to All grain. NB With the Wherry, I've heard on the forums that the yeast supplied is often not enough. It doesn't give the weight of yeast on the packet so I might have to add a bit of wine yeast (that's the only stuff I can get here).

 

[suffolkbeer]

Lucky you being close to the factory! It's a bit more difficult being in central Portugal. I've just started a Cooper's Real ale and a Woodforde's Wherry is next off the rank. After that, I'm graduating to a Beerworks Craft Series - which is a half way house to All grain. NB With the Wherry, I've heard on the forums that the yeast supplied is often not enough. It doesn't give the weight of yeast on the packet so I might have to add a bit of wine yeast (that's the only stuff I can get here).

Yes the yeast in the wherry kit does have a reputation for sticking at 1.020!

PM me your address and I’ll post you a pack of Crossmaloof real ale yeast (I’ve got a couple hanging around in the fridge) if you like?

 

[Slid]

You can obtain some financial details via the Muntons website. You may imagine that Homebrew is quite big in the UK. It isn't - in fact it is tiny.

 

[OlsBean]

Looks like Muntons have pretty much cornered the market. I'd be still interested to find out how the various kits differ.

Are you able to get Young's Kits at all out there? I'm not that experienced but the Young's American IPA is the best kit I have done to date, in fact I was so happy with it that I have just started the same one again and it ships with 20g of yeast. You'll see that both the American IPA and the American PA get good rounded reviews in this forum.