Ever found yourself brewing a beer kit, following the instructions to the letter, only to taste the final product and think, “It’s… alright”? That was precisely my experience with a previous Morgan’s kit. It didn’t quite inspire me to rush out for another. However, a fantastic deal on an online retailer recently changed my mind, making a different Morgan’s kit too tempting to resist at just £8.95 a can.
This time, I decided to approach it with a few strategic upgrades. Instead of sticking strictly to the kit’s recommendations, I opted to swap out a couple of key ingredients. The goal was simple: transform an “alright” kit brew into something genuinely impressive and refreshing. This article, complementing the video above, details the process and the fantastic results I achieved with the Morgan’s Blue Mountain Lager kit.
Elevating Your Homebrew: Strategic Ingredient Swaps for Better Beer
Improving a basic beer kit doesn’t have to be complicated or expensive. Often, a few thoughtful ingredient changes can make a world of difference in your final product. For this particular Morgan’s Blue Mountain Lager brew, two primary substitutions were made to enhance its flavor, body, and overall quality.
Dry Malt Extract vs. Brewing Enhancer: Building a Flavorful Foundation
Many basic beer kits suggest using “brewing enhancer” or simply sugar. While these work to provide fermentable sugars, they often result in a thinner beer lacking character and body. For this brew of the Morgan’s Blue Mountain Lager kit, I chose to use a kilo of Light Dry Malt Extract (LDME) instead of a standard brewing enhancer.
Dry Malt Extract is essentially malted barley that has been brewed down to a concentrate and then dehydrated into a powder. It provides fermentable sugars, but crucially, it also contributes body, color, and a more complex malt flavor to your beer. Unlike plain sugar, which ferments completely, leaving little behind, LDME ensures a richer mouthfeel and a more authentic beer profile for your homebrew.
For the tasting portion of this brew, a slight variation occurred: 500 grams of light dry malt extract was combined with 500 grams of extra light dry malt extract. This specific blend was chosen to achieve a good balance of malt character without making the lager too dark or heavy, keeping true to the “pale refreshing lager” description. This choice helped to deliver a beautiful, slightly copper color in the final product, far from a pale, watery lager.
The Right Yeast for the Job: Mangrove Jack’s California Lager Yeast
One of the most impactful changes you can make to any kit brew, especially a lager, is swapping out the generic kit yeast. While functional, kit yeasts are often designed for broad temperature ranges and can sometimes impart off-flavors or fail to achieve optimal clarity and flavor profiles for specific beer styles.
For this Morgan’s Blue Mountain Lager, I opted for Mangrove Jack’s California Lager yeast. This particular yeast is a game-changer for homebrewers looking to achieve lager-like results without the need for strict, cold lager fermentation temperatures. It performs well at ale temperatures (typically 18-22°C or 64-72°F) while still delivering the crisp, clean finish characteristic of a true lager.
I’ve personally had excellent experiences with this yeast before, most notably with a Coopers 86 Day Pilsner that turned out “cracking” when paired with a kilo of light dry malt extract. This yeast has a remarkable ability to compact sediment efficiently, leading to wonderfully clear beers directly from the bottle. This clarity is a hallmark of good lager and a significant upgrade for many kit beers.
The Brewing Process: Simple Steps for Enhanced Results with Your Morgan’s Kit
The beauty of brewing a kit, even with upgrades, is its inherent simplicity. The hands-on time is minimal, making it an accessible hobby for everyone. Here’s a breakdown of how the Morgan’s Blue Mountain Lager was brewed, focusing on efficiency and quality.
Sanitation: Your First and Most Important Step in Homebrewing
Before any ingredients touch your fermenter, ensuring everything is perfectly sanitized is crucial. This prevents unwanted bacteria or wild yeasts from contaminating your brew, which can lead to off-flavors or even spoilage. A clean, sanitized fermenter is the foundation of a successful homebrew, especially for delicate lagers.
Mixing the Foundation: Malt and Hot Water
The first step involved adding the kilo of light dry malt extract to the bottom of the sanitized fermenter. Two liters of hot water were then poured over the malt extract, followed by a thorough swirl to dissolve it completely. This creates the concentrated wort base for our lager, ensuring the malt sugars are fully incorporated.
Adding the Kit Concentrate and Topping Up
Next, the contents of the Morgan’s Blue Mountain Lager kit were added to the fermenter. To ensure all the sticky goodness was extracted, the can was rinsed out with boiling hot water, pouring the rinse water into the fermenter. This maximizes the utilization of the kit’s ingredients and prevents waste, which is key for maximizing flavor from your kit beer.
Finally, the fermenter was topped up with cold water to reach the desired volume. For this brew, bottled water was used—specifically four 5-liter bottles, totaling 20 liters. Combined with the initial 2 liters of hot water, this meant the final brew volume was 22 liters, slightly under the typical 23 liters. This minor adjustment was purely for convenience, making it easier to manage the bottled water quantities, and slightly intensifying the flavor profile.
Pitching the Yeast and Fermentation for Your Blue Mountain Lager
With the wort at the correct temperature (typically around 20°C or 68°F for this yeast), the Mangrove Jack’s California Lager yeast was “pitched,” or added, to the fermenter. A good stir ensures the yeast is evenly distributed and can begin its work effectively. The lid was then sealed, an airlock fitted, and the fermenter placed in a quiet, stable corner of the room to ferment for about a week.
An initial hydrometer reading was taken, registering 0.044. This measurement, known as the Original Gravity (OG), helps estimate the alcohol content and track the fermentation progress. The yeast will steadily consume the sugars, lowering this reading over time until it reaches a stable Final Gravity (FG), indicating fermentation completion.
Bottling and Conditioning for the Perfect Pint of Morgan’s Blue Mountain Lager
After approximately one week of primary fermentation, the beer was ready for bottling. This crucial stage prepares the beer for carbonation and allows its flavors to mature. The beer had been in the bottle for about four weeks before tasting, allowing ample time for conditioning.
Ensuring a Lasting Head: Young’s Beer Heading Liquid
For a beautiful, stable head on your lager, a small addition can make a big difference. Before bottling, two teaspoons of Young’s beer heading liquid were added to the bottling bucket. This liquid helps to improve foam stability, ensuring that lovely head lasts longer in your glass. It’s a subtle touch that significantly enhances the visual appeal and drinking experience of your homebrew.
Patience is Key: Conditioning Your Homebrew Lager
Once bottled and primed (usually with a small amount of sugar to create carbonation in the bottle), the beer needs time to condition. Four weeks in the bottle is a good minimum for many beers, especially lagers, allowing the carbonation to fully develop and the flavors to meld. A few days in the fridge before serving helps settle any remaining sediment and ensures a crisp, cold pour.
The Verdict: Tasting the Enhanced Morgan’s Blue Mountain Lager
The moment of truth arrived after weeks of anticipation. The Morgan’s Blue Mountain Lager, brewed with its upgraded ingredients, was ready for assessment. Pouring the beer revealed a lovely clear, copper-colored pint with a robust, lasting head – a testament to the chosen yeast and the heading liquid.
Aroma and Appearance
The aroma offered a delightful sweet, hoppy bouquet, perfectly aligning with the kit’s promise of a “light pleasing hop bouquet.” Visually, the beer was not a pale, watery lager but boasted a beautiful depth of color, proving that light dry malt extract can build character without making the beer heavy. This makes for a visually appealing homebrew.
Flavor Profile: Crisp, Clean, and Refreshing
Upon tasting, the beer truly shone. It delivered a lovely, refreshing, and clean-tasting lager experience. While it wasn’t a beer to “blow your socks off” with extreme flavors, it was exactly what a good lager should be: highly drinkable, crisp, and utterly satisfying. The final alcohol by volume (ABV) was estimated at 4.2%, making it a sessionable and enjoyable brew.
My opinion of Morgan’s kits has significantly improved due to this experience. The simple act of swapping out the kit yeast for a quality alternative, like the Mangrove Jack’s California Lager yeast, alongside the use of dry malt extract, made all the difference. This brew stands as a strong recommendation for anyone looking to make a great budget beer.
Upgrade Your Kit Brewing Journey Today
This experience with the Morgan’s Blue Mountain Lager kit proves that even affordable beer kits can yield fantastic results with a few smart substitutions. Don’t be afraid to experiment with your ingredients; small changes can lead to big improvements in your homebrew.
- **Swap Your Yeast:** Consider specialized yeasts tailored to the beer style you’re brewing. These can significantly impact flavor, clarity, and fermentation characteristics.
- **Embrace Dry Malt Extract:** It adds body, flavor, and better head retention compared to plain sugar or basic enhancers, creating a more professional-tasting beer.
- **Prioritize Sanitation:** It’s the simplest and most crucial step to prevent common homebrewing problems and ensure clean flavors.
- **Be Patient with Conditioning:** Time in the bottle allows flavors to mature and carbonation to develop properly, leading to a much better drinking experience.
For just the cost of the £8.95 kit and an estimated £6 for the kilo of malt extract, producing 40 pints of such a refreshing and high-quality lager is an incredible value. This is why the enhanced Morgan’s Blue Mountain Lager comes highly recommended for any homebrewer. Cheers to better homebrew!
Fermenting Your Questions: Morgan’s Blue Mountain Lager Q&A
Why should I use Dry Malt Extract instead of just sugar in my homebrew kit?
Dry Malt Extract adds body, color, and a more complex malt flavor to your beer. Unlike plain sugar, it helps create a richer mouthfeel and a more authentic beer profile.
Can I use a different type of yeast than the one that comes with my beer kit?
Yes, swapping out the generic kit yeast for a specialized one can significantly improve your beer’s flavor, clarity, and overall profile, especially for specific beer styles like lagers.
What is the most important step before I start mixing ingredients for my homebrew?
The most important step is sanitation. Ensuring all your brewing equipment is perfectly clean and sanitized prevents unwanted bacteria from contaminating your brew and causing off-flavors.
Why is it important to be patient after bottling my homebrew beer?
After bottling, your beer needs time to ‘condition’. This allows the carbonation to fully develop and the flavors to mature, which leads to a much better drinking experience.
