Morgans Golden Sheaf Wheat Beer 1.7kg Kit Can

[terrym]

For various reasons I will have to brew a few kits over the coming weeks. So rather than repeat what I’ve done before I thought I’d give a few from the Morgans range a try. If kit brewers have never heard of them, neither had I until a couple of weeks ago, when I found Brew2Bottle were more or less out of Coopers kits, so I decided to try Morgans kits since they had plenty (although you can also get them from the Homebrew Shop, perhaps other suppliers in the UK). Morgans are Australian and Coopers have an interest in them. Their range is quite varied and they all come in 1.7kg cans. More here...
http://morgansbrewing.com.au/products/beer-kits/Anyway this review is about the Morgans Golden Sheaf Wheat Beer, which, for me, sits within the ‘and now for something completely different’ category since I have only done one wheat beer before. Kit description says 'A golden yellow highly aromatic Weiss style beer with an excellent head and vanilla overtones. A classic Weizen bier clear and bright until chilled , then cloudy but golden'. I'm sure I’ll find out.
So yesterday I made up some Campden dosed brewing tap water and used that, plus kit can, plus 1kg Wheat DME, and 7g kit yeast, all to 21 litres and set the water bath to 21.5*C, OG about 1.041. And lo and behold 18 hours later I had to set up a blow-off tube, which I have kept under close scrutiny in case it blocked, but so far so good.
When the airlock is back and its finished I might add a hop tea with a few gm of Amarillo and/or Cascade, but I’ve never done this kit before before, so I don’t want to overdo things.
That’s it,
Further updates to follow.
Anyone else done this kit?

 

[The-Engineer-That-Brews]

Good luck with it and very much look forward to hearing how you get on

 

[Farley]

I'm in the middle of this one terrym, due to bottle it tomorrow (10th) only problem is took a reading and it's about 1017. Now I don't know to bottle or leave it another few days.
Morgans wheat 1.7kg tin
Morgans wheat liquid extract 1.5kg
Kit yeast. OG was 1046
Maybe it's their yeast as their blue mountain lager finished at 1016 for me a few weeks back
Any suggestions anyone?

 

[terrym]

I'm in the middle of this one terrym, due to bottle it tomorrow (10th) only problem is took a reading and it's about 1017. Now I don't know to bottle or leave it another few days.
Morgans wheat 1.7kg tin
Morgans wheat liquid extract 1.5kg
Kit yeast. OG was 1046
Maybe it's their yeast as their blue mountain lager finished at 1016 for me a few weeks back
Any suggestions anyone?

I have had an interesting five days with this kit.
It needed a blow off tube after 18 hours as I said above, and today, day 5, virtually no airlock bubbles (FV lid to bucket sealed with cling film) so I opened it up and found the SG still at 1.015, and it was clearing too. So I added 50g sugar roused the contents of the FV and its very slowly bubbling away again. I also sent an email to Morgans to see if this high OG is normal for this kit and will post if/when I get a reply. As far as you are concerned you could try what I have done sugar plus rousing to see if it kicks off again , but don't allow any air to get entrained into the beer if you do that.
PS The attenuation on both your beer and mine is currently a disappointing 62-63%. However I have just checked and mine's definitely on the move again, albeit fairly slowly, but for how long we shall have to wait and see.

 

[Farley]

Nearly had the same thing happen myself, went mad for 36 hours then nothing. Not sure what to do next, I'm on day ten now I know it's still early but I ferment my beer at a constant 22/23oC & 99% of the time they are finished by day 11

 

[Farley]

Think I'll try the 50g of sugar and give a very gentle stir, keep me informed if you get a reply,
cheers

 

[terrym]

@

keep me informed if you get a reply

Their reply .....
"......it sounds like your fermentation still has some way to go.
I would leave this for another 2 days and then check the SG again.
I would expect is to finish around 1.010, I personally wouldn’t have added the 50g of sugar.
The other option could be try heating it slightly to 23c"
About 1.010 is what I would have expected too and is also what I said in my original email to them.
Anyway I increased the temperature last night to 22*C, and although it has slowed up a little, it's still going.
I have roused it again and will raise the temperature to 23*C as suggested.
If you want to read more about stuck fermentations try this..
Simple strategies for dealing with stuck fermentations

 

[Farley]

I'm going to check reading on Fri bottle Saturday, hopefully it'll drop a bit more after rousing it a bit

 

[terrym]

@Farley
I'm afraid my brew sort of fizzled out again this morning.
However I had some yeasty trub (originally CML Midland yeast) in the fridge which I was intending to throw away, but revived a few good spoons of it in some water and a little sugar, and when that was going well put it in the wheat beer. The SG was about the same as yesterday. After about 5 hours it's now bubbling as steadily as I might have expected given the SG, and hopefully I should now get down to 1.010 or lower since that is what this yeast usually manages. If you have some beer yeast you can trust you might consider doing the same, and since your SG is higher than mine you might get yours going again as well, although there is no guarantee on that.

 

[Farley]

Too late for me to add new yeast, will let u know how I get on over w/end

 

[Farley]

Terrym this is my 1st taste of my Morgans blue mountains lager!! Unfortunately zero head little carbonation but taste is good thankfully.
I'm convinced it's the yeast they use. This one finished at 1016. Problem is I have about 3 or 4 more of their kits to do. I'll be swapping the yeast for the rest of them. Any decent not overly expensive yeast anyone recommend. Thanks

 

[Pavros]

Try Crossmyloof for a selection of yeasts. You can get a 5 pack assorted bundle and delivery is usually pretty quick

 

[Farley]

Try Crossmyloof for a selection of yeasts. You can get a 5 pack assorted bundle and delivery is usually pretty quick

Thanks, have used him before for hopps

 

[Pirate_Pete]

View attachment 35577
Terrym this is my 1st taste of my Morgans blue mountains lager!! Unfortunately zero head little carbonation but taste is good thankfully.
I'm convinced it's the yeast they use. This one finished at 1016. Problem is I have about 3 or 4 more of their kits to do. I'll be swapping the yeast for the rest of them. Any decent not overly expensive yeast anyone recommend. Thanks

Mate, that is a damn sight lighter than my Blue Moutains Lager turned out.

I sent an email to Morgans and someone from there phoned me.
I was quite surprised he seemed to think it wasn't too bad.
All of the reasons that it was too dark were my fault.
- should have used kit yeast, not yeast saved from previous Lager.
-Too much malt. I added a kilo.
-Brewing short to 22 litres instead of 23 would make it darker. yeah I get that, but not that dark.
-Too much hops & hops could be old. I added 50 grams. I'd ordered the hops around the time I made the beer.
-Should have used Morgans drops, not bulk primed.
I took a bottle to the local homebrew store who are going to pass it on to the rep, who also happens to be the rep for Coopers.
I'm still waiting to hear.

A bloke in work says his turned out very dark too.
To me it didn't taste right. It wasn't off or anything, just didn't taste right.
I got three people to try it who all said the same. Not off, but not right.
I did ask the Morgans bloke if it could be a different can, with the wrong label. He didn't like that.
I've made the Blue Mountains twice now. Never again.

The Pilsner turned out nice and I make the Frontier IPA a lot. That's a favourite with my English friends.
I have another Morgans Amber Ale here to make. The first one I made didn't turn out that good.
Regretting buying two of those in a pre lockdown panic buy.

I never use the kit yeast though. Always use Safale yeast, that I then harvest and use again.

 

[terrym]

@Farley
Have you bottled your Wheat beer yet, if so where did it finish up?
And which supplier did you buy your kits from?
Mine were from @Brew2bottle Homebrew.

 

[Farley]

Mate, that is a damn sight lighter than my Blue Moutains Lager turned out.
View attachment 35668
I sent an email to Morgans and someone from there phoned me.
I was quite surprised he seemed to think it wasn't too bad.
All of the reasons that it was too dark were my fault.
- should have used kit yeast, not yeast saved from previous Lager.
-Too much malt. I added a kilo.
-Brewing short to 22 litres instead of 23 would make it darker. yeah I get that, but not that dark.
-Too much hops & hops could be old. I added 50 grams. I'd ordered the hops around the time I made the beer.
-Should have used Morgans drops, not bulk primed.
I took a bottle to the local homebrew store who are going to pass it on to the rep, who also happens to be the rep for Coopers.
I'm still waiting to hear.

A bloke in work says his turned out very dark too.
To me it didn't taste right. It wasn't off or anything, just didn't taste right.
I got three people to try it who all said the same. Not off, but not right.
I did ask the Morgans bloke if it could be a different can, with the wrong label. He didn't like that.
I've made the Blue Mountains twice now. Never again.

The Pilsner turned out nice and I make the Frontier IPA a lot. That's a favourite with my English friends.
I have another Morgans Amber Ale here to make. The first one I made didn't turn out that good.
Regretting buying two of those in a pre lockdown panic buy.

I never use the kit yeast though. Always use Safale yeast, that I then harvest and use again.

Pirate Pete, some stupid answers they gave you! Sounds like excuses to me. I had a few of the blue mountains last night, they went down grand but not a beer I'll be handing out to my mates!!
I have 3 more Morgans kits to do
1 Canadian light
2 Australian lager
3 another Morgans sheaf wheat
I'll be swapping out the yeast with all 3, we'll see how they turn out.
Should rename the kit for your beer to brown mountains lager
Hopefully with age it might turn out drinkable
Good luck

 

[Farley]

@Farley
Have you bottled your Wheat beer yet, if so where did it finish up?
And which supplier did you buy your kits from?
Mine were from @Brew2bottle Homebrew.

Bottled today day 16,
dropped to 1016,
4% abv
Batch primed with 120g caster sugar
It smelled really good so fingers crossed.
All from brew2bottle as well
Will do a taste in 2 weeks time.
Wish you luck with your own

 

[Pirate_Pete]

Pirate Pete, some stupid answers they gave you! Sounds like excuses to me. I had a few of the blue mountains last night, they went down grand but not a beer I'll be handing out to my mates!!
I have 3 more Morgans kits to do
1 Canadian light
2 Australian lager
3 another Morgans sheaf wheat
I'll be swapping out the yeast with all 3, we'll see how they turn out.
Should rename the kit for your beer to brown mountains lager
Hopefully with age it might turn out drinkable
Good luck

I did drink a fair bit of it. I didn't have much else to drink.
Now I have two decent beers to drink, so I chucked the BML.
Drinking the Coopers APA & a Cerveza makes me realise how bad the BML was.

Terry, I think brew2bottle are the only suppliers of Morgans in the UK.
They did have a post about it on here.
They claimed it out sold Coopers. A claim my homebrew store disputes.

 

[karakitten]

I think , after reading this will be sticking to Coopers !
Other stockists in UK appear to be The Homebrew Shop , despite Brew2Bottle saying initially .. Australia's Number 1 Beer Kits. New To The UK / From The Makers Of Coopers / Exclusive to Brew2Bottle ( in their The Drinkers Den Brew Book ) ...... !!
Out of curiousity may try the Dockside Stout & compare to Coopers Original / Irish Stout ....

 

[Farley]

I think , after reading this will be sticking to Coopers !
Other stockists in UK appear to be The Homebrew Shop , despite Brew2Bottle saying initially .. Australia's Number 1 Beer Kits. New To The UK / From The Makers Of Coopers / Exclusive to Brew2Bottle ( in their The Drinkers Den Brew Book ) ...... !!
Out of curiousity may try the Dockside Stout & compare to Coopers Original / Irish Stout ....

I done a Morgans Canadian light after this (to be bottled tomorrow) 1kg brew enhancer 500g brew sugar but used crossmyloaf wheat yeast I had spare, droped from 1048 to 1006 in 7 days, have to see how that turns out