British DiaMalt
celebrated its centenary on 27th January 2009 . The company has been
manufacturing and supplying the Worldwide food and beverage industry with
premium malt products for 100 years. 
Since 1963 when, the then Home Secretary Reginald Maudling,
introduced the act that legalised beer making in the house for personal
consumption. In the United States, President Jimmy Carter signed the
law in 1979 legalising home beer and winemaking, which had been
illegal since the prohibition. The hobby of beer making has developed from
using questionable raw materials and baker's yeast into a highly
sophisticated hobby using top quality beer kits with dedicated brewing
yeast and, although the quality has improved immensely over the years it
is now even easier to make.
WHY IS PREMIUM BEER MAKING SO
EASY?
Very simply, because all of the hard work is done by
us. Our factory has exactly the same production equipment as a brewery,
the major difference is that where a brewery ferments the wort, we
evaporate it to 80% solids. Thus a standard brewing wort becomes malt
extract (or concentrated malted barley wort).
The concept of brewing is simple and, subject to
following very easy to understand instructions, the quality is guaranteed.
John Bull MasterClass, Sherwood Ale and Sherwood Ale Finest beer kits are
made from 100% malted barley with the wort being boiled before the
evaporation process to turn it into malt extract and canning. We even add
specially selected hops. The result of this is that, to make a beer of
supreme quality in the house, all that needs to be done is to put back the
water evaporated out in our factory, add a sachet of yeast and let nature
take its course. No messy boiling or the need to add sugar.
INSTRUCTIONS FOR BEER
MAKING
Suitable for the following beer
kits:
John Bull 1.6kg
John Bull 1.8kg
(not Country Cider)
MasterClass 3kg*
Sherwood Ale
3kg*
Sherwood Ale Finest 3.6kg* (not Premium Orchard
Cider)
Please read the
instructions carefully to ensure you only follow those parts that
correspond to your beer kit as these instructions are universal for the 5
ranges listed above. Some kits do not require sugar during
brewing (as marked*) or some are not filled to 40 UK pints (22.7
litres / 6 US gallons).
EQUIPMENT REQUIRED
- A food grade plastic or
polythene container with a loose fitting lid large enough to hold 40 UK
pints, which is 22.7 litres or 6 US gallons. A 25 litre fermenting bin is
ideal.
- A length of plastic tubing to siphon the
fermented beer into bottles or a barrel.
- A pressure barrel or bottles sufficient for
40 UK pints (22.7 litres / 6 US gallons) PET (Plastic) fizzy drink
bottles are suitable or brown beer bottles with crown corks are ideal.
Note - do not use glass bottles with cracks or chips in them or
non-returnable glass bottles.
- A kilo of white granulated sugar (not
required with MasterClass Beer Kit or Sherwood Ale Beer Kit 3kg or
Sherwood Ale Finest 3.6kg apart from
priming.).
- A proprietary cleaning agent to sterilise
your
equipment.
- A hydrometer and trial jar are
useful to check the progress of fermentation and final gravity.
- A
thermometer and a heater tray or belt (for optimum temperature
control).
- A John Bull
1.6kg/1.8Kg Beer Kit, a MasterClass Beer Kit 3kg, a Sherwood Ale Beer
Kit 3kg or Sherwood Ale Finest
3.6kg.
CLEANLINESS
All
equipment, bottles etc. must be cleaned and sterilised with a proprietary
sterilising agent. Rinse with clean cold water after sterilising. Do not
use household detergents and cleaners.
EXPERIENCE
-
Experienced
brewers may find that slight variations to the instructions given below
will produce a beer more to their individual taste.
Examples
for John Bull 1.8kg Beer Kits only - Substituting
some of the additional sugar with malt extract or dried malt will produce
a beer with a correspondingly fuller body.
Making the kit to 18.2
litres (32 UK pints / 4.8 US gallons) instead of 22.7 litres (40 pints / 6
US gallons) will result in a beer with a fuller, rounder flavour and an
ABV (alcohol content) of approximately 6%.
We recommend that the John
Bull 1.8kg Stout Kit be made to 18.2 litres (32 UK pints/ 4.8 US
gallons).
BREWING
1. Empty the
contents of the can into your sterilised container and add 1kg of sugar.
Sugar is not required for during brewing for MasterClass and
Sherwood Ale or Sherwood Ale Finest Beer Kits. Boil
2.25 litres (4 pints) of water, use a little to rinse the can, allow to
cool slightly and stir into the mix until the sugar is
dissolved.
2.
Add the
balance of cold water to make up the total to 22.7 litres (40 UK pints /
6 US gallons) except:
MasterClass 3kg Barley Wine - Top up to 11.4
litres (20 UK pints / 3 US gallons).
John
Bull 1.8kg Stout - Top up to 18.2 litres (32 UK pints / 4.8 US gallons)
Stir thoroughly. The final temperature of the mixture should be
18º~24º C.
For Sherwood Ale 3kg and Sherwood Ale Finest 3.6kg
Only:
Adding The Hops.
There are two ways to use the sachet of hop pellets: 1) for a
more bitter flavour add approx. 3 litres of the wort to a pan with the
hop pellets and boil gently for 30 minutes, add this to the fermenter.
2) for a full hop aroma, without extra bitterness, add the hop pellets
directly to the fermenter on day three of the fermentation. The hops
will fall out with the yeast when fermentation is complete, no need for
straining.
3.
Sprinkle
contents of the sachet of yeast onto the brew, stir, and replace the
lid.
4.
Stand
the container in a warm place in a temperature of 18º~24ºC (we recommend
the use of a heater belt or tray for optimum temperature control) and
leave to ferment for between 4 and 8 days.
5.
Check
that fermentation has completely finished before proceeding. This can be
confirmed when no bubbles are rising to the surface and the brew begins
to clear. A hydrometer a reading of below 1006 on two consecutive days
will confirm that fermentation is complete, for Low
Carbohydrate Beers 996 to 998.
It
is important to make sure that fermentation is complete before bottling,
otherwise there is a danger of the bottles
bursting.
BOTTLING THE BEER
This
"priming" process will carbonate your beer which adds the life and
sparkle to the beer.
1.
Put a
maximum of 1 level teaspoon of sugar into each of your 1 pint or ½ litre
(sterilised) bottles. Do not exceed this amount or the beer will be too
lively to serve. Syphon the beer from the container into the bottles
(taking care not to disturb the sediment at the bottom) leaving a head
space of 5cm (2 inches) between the top of the liquid and bottle
rim.
2.
Seal or
cap your bottles with Crown caps and transfer to a warm place at room
temperature (about 20ºC) and leave for about 4 days to allow secondary
fermentation to take place. Do not store in direct
sunlight.
3.
Now
move the bottles to a cool place to allow the beer to clear. Clearing
will take about one week. Once the beer is perfectly clear it is ready
to drink, but will improve if left to mature for at least a further two
weeks.
4.
When
serving the beer be careful not to disturb the yeast sediment that will
have collected at the bottom of the bottle. You may find it preferable
to pour the beer into a jug first. Serve cool.
5.
Rinsing
the bottles out with water immediately after emptying will make them
easier to clean and sterilise the next
time.
USING A PRESSURE
BARREL
1.
Follow
the brewing instructions given earlier until fermentation is
complete.
2.
Now
refer to the detailed instructions supplied with your barrel. As a
guide, the steps will be:
a)
Syphon
the beer from the container into your sterilised barrel leaving the
sediment behind.
b)
Dissolve
60 grams (¼ cup) of "priming" sugar in a cupful of hot water, add this
solution to the barrel, stir well.
c)
Cap the
barrel tightly and move to a warm place (20ºC) for 4 days, then leave to
clear in a cool place. Note that beer takes longer to clear in a barrel
than in bottles and should be left for 3 to 4 weeks to clarify and
mature. Beer finings may be added to reduce clearing time.
d) If the cap
of your barrel is fitted with a CO2 valve, you can inject further gas
when the naturally produced CO2 has been used
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