The Beer Borg

Ever been in a hurry to fill a 2.5 gallon keg? But not sure what to do?

Well, it’s cold in this part of the world. And it won’t be long before your wanting to grab an nice amber to sip on.

A while back, while at the local home brew store (LHBS), I was trying to figure out what to brew. I was doing a lot of Irish Stouts then, and if it was dark, I was into it. While looking at the options, I noticed a Munton’s 3.3 pound can of Hopped Amber Malt Extract. THAT got the wheels turning.

I didn’t know what hops they used to “hop” it, so, I really didn’t want to go Frankenstein on it…as a soft general rule, that doesn’t turn out well. It’s better if you know what flavors you are playing with.

Cutting to the chase, I got a can, took it home. Yeah, I paid for it first, silly person and put the pot on to boil with some water.

I mixed that can with 4 cups water. Didn’t add any other stuff. I used a MB sized fermenter, as I hadn’t started the 5 gallon brewing yet. I put pre-chilled water in the LBK (Little Brown Keg) then added the hot wort. Topped the keg off, and checked the temp. It was under 85*F so I added a packet of Safale S-33 yeast. I let it sit undisturbed for 3 weeks at room temp (read about 70-ish*F). I then bottled it, let it sit for 4 weeks at room temp. I tried one… it was okay. I left them alone for another 2 weeks… it was a wee bit better. After all is said and done, at the 2 month mark, I ran out of bottles of that brew.

So, should I modify it or just do that again… depends. You want to play? I’d add about 1/4 oz of Fuggles at flame out (in a bag) let sit for about 10 min, then remove the bag, and pour the wort into the keg.

Muntons also makes a Dark HME, but I didn’t play with that one.

So, this is just a quickly brew you can toss together when all else fails.

~The Nong.