Brew Manual

Ah, the sacred dance of beer fermentation – a pivotal phase in the alchemical transformation of humble ingredients into the nectar of the gods. Let the Jovial Monk guide thee through the steps, the signs of completion, and the post-fermentation rituals. 🍺 The Fermentation Waltz: A Delicate Tempo The Ballet of Fermentation: Unveiling the Phases … Read more

You can either bottle or keg your beer, of the two bottling is the easiest and cheapest option. This is your Jovial Monk guide to bottling your beer! So, noble brewer, the time has come to crown thy hard work with the sweet fruit of your labour – the bottling of your cherished homebrewed ale. … Read more

Brewing with beer concentrates is the most expensive way to brew. Full mash is actually the cheapest way, but using bulk extract is a halfway house: mash tuns and the knowledge of how to mash are not needed. We do need a decent kettle, the bigger the better, 20L at least. If you intend to … Read more

The Series 2 brew improver Packs contain dried extract, some may contain a small amount of sugar, all have hop packs kept separately in our fridge and some Packs have a pack of crushed specialty grains. The preponderance of malt, the fresh hops and the specialty grains combine with your brewing to produce the tastiest … Read more

Malt v sugar in beer A can of beer concentrate by itself will create a beer of about 2% alcohol. Something therefor needs to be added to it to create a beer with more body and alcohol. Many people add a kilo of sugar, table sugar or dextrose, but while this does add alcohol it … Read more

What we are talking about here is steeping crystal malt (also known as caramalt) or roasted malts to extract the sugars, colors, flavors and aromas they contain—we are not talking about mashing, steeping is quicker and easier and temperature is nowhere near as important as with mashing. Adds colour, flavour and aroma to beer Why … Read more

These are supplementary mashes, usually used with a full mash, but could be used with a 3–4Kg partmash quite easily. In fact, you will see a “Viennese decoction” that could be used with a 1Kg part mash! Cereal Mashes These are usually done to gelatinise a non–pregelatinised adjunct. Pregelatinised? Adjuncts? Adjuncts are unmalted grains added … Read more

These recipes are for a total of 3Kg of base and specialty malts and adjuncts, and boiling 12 litres of wort. GU is the original gravity less 1000: 1035-1000=35GU. BUs is just the number of IBUs. the BU:GU ratio is an important parameter of beer styles. On a practical note, where dry extract is to … Read more

Part or mini mashes are small mashes that provide part of the fermentables for a batch of beer, the balance of the fermentables being provided by extract in some form—unhopped extracts are usually the go, but if you have any kits lying around by all means use them up. Assume they have 25IBU. I mention … Read more