Mangrove Jacks Partial Mash Kits

[MyQul]

Does the kit not just come with a Mangrove Jacks yeast? The only MJ yeast I ever used stated the temperature range, attenuation and floculation on the sachet. I wouldn't have thought it would have a significant cost benefit to stick unprinted sachets into these kits.

Edit - just spotted your photo of the box contents and it does appear that the yeast sachet is in plain packaging! Just stick to 18-20C as that seems to be "standard" for most yeasts.

Seeing as the kit is for a Califorian Common. I guess they would put the MJ Californian Lager yeast in the kit?

 

[MyQul]

The instructions that came with the kit were so bad that I ended up putting the aroma hops in after 30 minutes and boiling for another 30 minutes, I took it off the heat after 60 minutes but this was purely a guess. I'm not holding out much hope for this brew, can't even find out at what temperature I'm supposed to be fermenting at, it's not a cheap kit at ��£25 so more than a little pissed off at the ridiculous instructions. These are marketed as the next step up for kit brewers so should be idiot proof, this idiot didn't think so :twisted:

Did you put the both the flavour and aroma hops in at 30 min? If you did it will be more bitter than it should be. I've never added hops at 30 min so I don't know how much flavour a 30 min addition imparts.

When it's fermented have a taste. If there's not enough flavour from the hops you could buy some from ebay and do a hop tea to add at bottling time

 

[MickDundee]

Seeing as the kit is for a Califorian Common. I guess they would put the MJ Californian Lager yeast in the kit?

I thought it was an American Pale kit he got? So probably Liberty Bell or similar rather than the Cali Lager?

 

[MyQul]

I thought it was an American Pale kit he got? So probably Liberty Bell or similar rather than the Cali Lager?

No,CaliLager yeast is a steam beer yeast rather than a 'proper' lager yeast

 

[MyQul]

I thought it was an American Pale kit he got? So probably Liberty Bell or similar rather than the Cali Lager?

Your right he got the American Pale so I guess they'd put in the US West coast yeast. Liberty Bell is the Burton Union yeast re-named (pretty odd renaming, I know) so I imagine they wouldn't use that for an APA

 

[MickDundee]

No,CaliLager yeast is a steam beer yeast rather than a 'proper' lager yeast

Yeah I know, I'm using it at the moment for my steam beer!

 

[MyQul]

Yeah I know, I'm using it at the moment for my steam beer!

Didn't you do a brewday thread for that? I'd be interested to find out what attenuation you get. Forumite Albion got a really high one

 

[MickDundee]

Didn't you do a brewday thread for that? I'd be interested to find out what attenuation you get. Forumite Albion got a really high one

Yeah I did. I had a couple of mishaps/errors but nothing as fundamental as my first AG. The yeast set off like a rocket and I'll either be bottling on Friday evening when SWMBO is out or I might leave it another week and do it the following weekend.

 

[sausagefingers]

Did you put the both the flavour and aroma hops in at 30 min? If you did it will be more bitter than it should be. I've never added hops at 30 min so I don't know how much flavour a 30 min addition imparts.

When it's fermented have a taste. If there's not enough flavour from the hops you could buy some from ebay and do a hop tea to add at bottling time

As soon as it started to boil the instructions said to add the bittering hops, then after 30 minutes I mistakenly added the aroma hops and boiled for another 30 minutes then took off the heat. So is there any hope or is it going to taste like pig swill? Thanks for the tip with the hop tea :thumb:

 

[MyQul]

As soon as it started to boil the instructions said to add the bittering hops, then after 30 minutes I mistakenly added the aroma hops and boiled for another 30 minutes then took off the heat. So is there any hope or is it going to taste like pig swill? Thanks for the tip with the hop tea :thumb:

I thought there were some 30 min flavour hops and then a 0 min aroma/favour addition?

 

[sausagefingers]

No flavour hops, that's what confused me so I threw the aroma hops in instead

 

[al398]

Hi, I have been brewing extract kits for a few years and have found a lot of good tips from forums such as this one. I have been very happy with what I have brewed so far but after seeing the Mangrove Jacks Partial Mash kits I was keen to find out if they were any good. As they are quite new I could not find any reviews so I just decided to give one a go. As I have gleaned so much good information from forums in the past, I thought it was about time I gave something back so I have joined this forum to share my views.

I brewed a batch of the Liberty Golden Ale and found the instructions for this kit to be very good. It started fermenting within 12 hours and was pretty much finished after 4 days. I bottled it after day 8 and it has so far been in the bottle for a week. It was still looking very cloudy today but, as always, I was keen to see how it was going so I cracked one open. Obviously, at this early stage there was not much of a head and it was still cloudy but I couldn't believe how nice it tastes already. Even after only a week, it tastes better than any extract kit that I have brewed. There is none of the home brew twang that you often get with extract kits and I can't wait to see how much better it gets with time. I would quite happily pay good money in a pub for this beer!!!

 

[MickDundee]

Didn't you do a brewday thread for that? I'd be interested to find out what attenuation you get. Forumite Albion got a really high one

I'll put a full report in my brew day thread once I've bottled, but I took a gravity reading when the kids were having their tea and my FG was 1.009 giving an attenuation of a whopping 80%!

 

[Braindead]

The instructions are very retarded.
Also theres a huge printing error on the box itself.
It says the kit contains 0.5 G of dextrose.
SO the instructions say add the dextrose if the kit contains it, but the kit contains 500 G of priming sugar.
Very messy.
Also does anyone know how much priming sugar to add as I want to put this in my PV not bottles, it recommends 2 carbonation drops per bottle.????

 

[terrym]

The instructions are very retarded.
Also theres a huge printing error on the box itself.
It says the kit contains 0.5 G of dextrose.
SO the instructions say add the dextrose if the kit contains it, but the kit contains 500 G of priming sugar.
Very messy.
Also does anyone know how much priming sugar to add as I want to put this in my PV not bottles, it recommends 2 carbonation drops per bottle.????

I always put about 90g sugar into my PB for a 20-23 litre brew, whether its dextrose or table sugar. This initially gives a good head on the beer. If you keep adding more, there is a danger you will pressure stress the PB, and anyway it is difficult to dispense the beer through the tap, i.e. its foam rather than liquid. Even more sugar and the pressure relief device will just vent the CO2 the excess sugar produces.

 

[sausagefingers]

Very late review - it was bloody awful!

Wasn't expecting much due to the cock up with the hops and the shocking instructions but the beer never cleared, kept trying a bottle every couple of weeks but it was utter dish water just can't bring myself to pour the swill down the plug hole. Won't be trying any more of their offerings

 

[Braindead]

Dam really.
Thats a lil gutting to hear, unless you infected yours.
I`ll keep you updated on mine

 

[hhh]

Sounds like the guy might not have been the most competent brewer.

 

[Slid]

Three and a half years on, he may have judged for himself his shortcomings, real or imaginary.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Three and a half years on, he may have judged for himself his shortcomings, real or imaginary.

I strange first post i look forward to his/her second.

Could be a late contender for the bump the oldest thread of the week prize.