Some advice on upping Muntons Gold Continental Pilsner yeast

[Paulus]

Hi All,

I have done a fair few kits over the last 9 months and had some good and not so good results at the start and over summer where it gets really hot (40C).
I have temperature control for fermentation going well and do about 2-3 weeks controlled temp 2nd fermentation in bottles, after that they're out in the heat.
All that is fine I now get good beer with no real off flavours.

I have this Muntons Gold Continental Pilsner kit with 2x1.5Kg LME tins and a 6g pack of " Lager Yeast 311501". I want to add 500g DME to up the ABV and the taste a bit.

I am worried that the 6g of yeast wont cut it with this level of gravity. I have Muntons Premum Gold yeast, Saflager s-189 (12g)and Mangrove Jack M76 bavarian lager yeast (10g) handy.
I have re-hydrated kit yeast packs before pitching and this works OK, though I think it gets going too quickly and massively.

The kit instructions say to ferment the Muntons kit between 18-20C which I can do easily enough, however, the S-189 and M76 are to be kept at 12-15C which is less likely to be achievable (not impossible but my chillers will be going full on to keep it there).

Any advice on where to go with this? I haven't tried the kit before so am being a bit impatient with upping the kit before ever trying the original recipe/ingredients, it's just my first attempt to play with a kit recipe and I'd prefer not to waste the time and money.

Thanks,

 

[MmmBeer]

This kit ferments at 18-20°C, so it uses an ale yeast (even though it is a lager).
This is normal for kits as they assume kit brewers don't have the temperature control to ferment at lager temperatures.

Typically for a 4.5% ale, you would use one 11g packet for 23 litres, even adding 500g of DME (raising ABV to ~5.4%), one packet would just about be sufficient.

If you have a suitable packet of ale yeast available (the Muntons Gold, US-05 or similar), then I would add this along with the provided kit yeast.

If you want to use your lager yeasts, you would have to keep it to the 12-14°C temp range, which you said would challenge your chiller and use two packets as you need twice the amount of lager yeast to ale yeast.

There is no single answer for all situations, just some that will give slightly better results than others.

 

[Sandimas]

I would stick the 12g Saflager yeast in.

Agree that 6g is too little, it might be OK but also it might not and then you've ruined the whole kit - not worth taking the risk. I recently did Muntons Smugglers and was disappointed to only find a 6g yeast packet included in the kit so substituted it for 12g.

Also, sounds like it's a pseudo-lager coming with a hi-temp ale yeast, won't hurt to use a proper lager yeast and ferment it cooler.

 

[Paulus]

Thanks to MmmBeer and Sandimas for your advice.

I think I'll go for using 2x Saflager and keep it down to 12C for primary fermentation, then raise it for a day to 16C then upto 21C before bottling . I'm a bit worried about the 2nd fermentation in bottles as it will have to be kept at 14C for another couple of weeks.
All part of the wonderful world of brewing!
Again thanks for your help.

 

[dmtaylor]

I would use one pack of lager yeast at whatever temperature you can get it. Lagers turn out great even at 18C. Save the odd 6g yeast for a small ale later.