Muntons Imperial Stout Review

[jobby]

started this kit just over 2 weeks ago and did have a little trouble getting the final reading down to a acceptable level but with a gentle stir and increase in temp managed to get it down to 1014 after 14 days, now in the keg and primed with 85grams sugar, 1st sample taste while kegging was very interesting and if all goes to plan will be a super pint now the long wait
i did add 2 weetabix too this kit at the start as advised by my local brewer :clap:

 

[the-erl]

Hi Jobby,

What is the reason behind adding weetabix? :wha:

Chhers :drink:

 

[Essex_Lad]

Hi,

I also have one of these kit on the go, its been around 14 days now and its at 1014, after around 8 days it seemed to be stuck on 1020 but like yourself with a stir its soon started up again.

Will be bottling this sunday and will test my first one at the end of March - will report back then :party:

Would also like to know about the weetabix?

 

[jobby]

Hi Jobby,

What is the reason behind adding weetabix? :wha:

Chhers :drink:

hi
i was told it will make the head creamier, its tasting very nice now after 2 weeks in the keg, i used some the other night to make a steak and ale pie

 

[shearclass]

I didn't add Weetabix or Crunchie not cornflakes, or any other breakfast cereal to mine, but it is one of the bst kits I've done.

I am getting some kits used up and then plan to go extract brewing, but I strongly reccomend this kti to any otherkit brewer.

I drank it slowly at first so the majority of it had at least 2 months (probably more) to condition before i started drinking it more quickly.

 

[shearclass]

Don't be fooled by the name though, there is nothing imperial about this stout! Mine was about 3.8% i think.

 

[blackrat]

As others have said this is a great kit and the results superb, in my opinion this is better than Guinness.

I just followed the instructions but beware, this kit goes crazy in the first couple of days. If you dont have much headroom above the liquid in your FV, put the FV in a container or put some towels under it if this is not possible. If you have the new style Coopers FV with the Krausen collar you will be fine.

Here's a picture of mine after a few hours, you can just see the level of the liquid below the froth. After a day the froth filled the entire space before going down to nothing.

Dont let this put you off, the results are fantastic with nothing extra added.

Cheers

 

[dye29]

sounds great ive just got this kit , is it like guiness nice and creamy also im going to barrel it do i still use co2 in barrel

 

[blackcountry pie]

Bin in the keg for 4 weeks now,just poured me a pint and what a smooth creamy stout with a prominent coffee an liquorice taste,prime with soft dark brown suger.definatley up there with me best brews.
cheers.

 

[Marcusp]

Newbie to home brew so please be patient but had the imperial stout in the fv now for 10 days. The starting sg was 1042 and after 7 days it seemed to stick at 1016 so I added some yeast nutrient and gave it a gentle stir. 3 days later its now down to 1014 but doesn't seem to be moving any further.
Does this sound like its finished or should I leave it longer.
The stout will be going into a corni after so not worried about bottle bombs but the sg just seems a little high still when my other beers have all finished around the 1010 mark

 

[Remf]

I started this brew last night, and when I woke up this morning the airlock was filled and overflowing with foam from the brew. I sanitized an other airlock and put it in,but by the time I went to work that was filled as well. this kit is a very wild one in the first 24 hrs.

Alan :

 

[Remf]

UPDATE

Just tried this brew and it lacks body and taste, not one I will try again

Alan :

 

[JKaranka]

Isn't the gravity of this very low for the "Imperial" moniker? I assumed that Imperial stouts started at above 7.5% abv

 

[Remf]

Mine came out at under 4%

Alan :

 

[Ian_T]

Started this kit on the 20th of November, intended to do a coopers (a la Ditch) but my LHBS didn't have stock. It was my 4th brew.

Used kit, 1KG Medium DME and 250g of Demerara I had in the kitchen. Brewed to 21 litres with an SG of 1.044

Fermentation finished at an SG of 1.012. Batch primed with 100g of soft brown sugar on the 28th of November and bottled in a mixture of 500ml glass and 17pence Asda water bottles.
Left in the warm for a week and transferred to the shed.

Just opened a bottle for a taster and I am, quite simply, blown away! A good cappucino coloured head, taste not far off Guinness, sediment like a rock at the bottom of the bottle and it can only get better with age. The first bottle went down so well that a 2L bottle has just chased it down!

Will deffo be on the list to do again, but will give the coopers version a go next just to see.. Will have to try and keep a bottle of this back to compare - not going to be easy!

Would reccomend as a beer for the new brewer who wants quick results. Having this in the bottle will give the Wherry and the Festival porter a chance to condition properly for Christmas!

 

[Brewed_Force]

Did you put the Weetabix in so you had an excuse to drink it for breakfast...;-)

 

[Custodian]

Ok Guys, Hear the real, why n wherefores. Muntons 3k kits are notorious for sticking at 1020, after 7 days, So, 1. dont use their yeast. 2, Use Nottingham yeast. I used 1 of their cans in a test, 8 days at 75 deg F, this summer in 11 litres. day 5 i put in 20 gm of target hops. Day 8 I racked into a barrel and primed, Result,= tastes like GUINNESS !! after 2 days, i will test the FG, again after another week. It seems to me that you can have the GUINNESS taste and smooth, without the FG thinness of Guinness Extra bottle proper, If you want to know what I mean by the Guinness 'thinness' ask me. I will show you the calc's . Cheers .

 

[Henders]

I just tried my second bottle of this from the fridge. Lovely.

I started it off at 19.5L, OG was 1044, had it in the fermentation chamber at 20c for 15 days. FG was 1013 (it was 1020 at 7 days, so pretty linear, though I did stir it a bit due to nerves). I then briefly racked, realised I had a leak in the tap and primed with 60g of soft brown caster sugar in 500ml boiled water. Then bottled it all.

I tried the first bottle 2 days later because. And it were nice. It's now been a week, the bottles are all in the garage where they've had a few of those days at decent warm temps. I put one in the fridge yesterday, tried today. Mild carbonation, goes down a treat.

 

[Custodian]

I just tried my second bottle of this from the fridge. Lovely.

I started it off at 19.5L, OG was 1044, had it in the fermentation chamber at 20c for 15 days. FG was 1013 (it was 1020 at 7 days, so pretty linear, though I did stir it a bit due to nerves). I then briefly racked, realised I had a leak in the tap and primed with 60g of soft brown caster sugar in 500ml boiled water. Then bottled it all.

I tried the first bottle 2 days later because. And it were nice. It's now been a week, the bottles are all in the garage where they've had a few of those days at decent warm temps. I put one in the fridge yesterday, tried today. Mild carbonation, goes down a treat.

Glad you liked it Henders, You made 19.5 L ( 4.3 uk gall instead of five it seems), Your OG should have been 1049. If we are talking the 3k kit,from the thread?

 

[Henders]

Well indeed Custy, but you can't discount my ability to mess things up! :) I forget if I took that sample at pitch time or when it was 30c, which I'll check the result of now... well it'd help but not quite.

Maybe I hadn't stirred it enough.