Cwtch by Tiny Rebel Brewery

This is my first review. Apologies if I haven't got the format right.

Cwtch is apparently Welsh for cuddle and is pronounced cutch. This beer gained the accolade of champion beer of Great Britain 2015 and was also brought out in 36 pint (20 ltr) kit form for us to brew. I was swayed by the home brew shop in Leyland to give this kit a try even though I have not bought a kit for a good few years. I was not disappointed.

The kit is marketed by Muntons and consists of two large 1.5kg cans of hopped malt extract and 4 packets of vacuum sealed hop pellets, 2 citra and 2 columbus along with 2 sachets of american ale yeast. It's very easy to make starting with pouring some boiling water on 2 of the packets of hops. The rest is fairly standard. Hopped malt and water added, yeast then pitched and finger crossed. The fermentation started quite quickly and was reasonably vigorous. After 4 days and a gravity check the other two packets of hop pellets are added. Te starting gravity was bang on at 1045. The fermentation stopped after about a week but I left it in the fermenter (fermentor for our US friends :grin: ) for another week before racking into a secondary fermenter. This isnt required but I wanted to clear it well so I could put it into a Corny keg and force carbonate it. Anyway it went in the keg reasonably clear a couple of days ago and tonight I had a quick taste. It's obviously not ready yet but curiosity had got the better of me. Well it's nice hoppy red ale and tasted really nice. It honestly didn't taste like a kit beer to me. Very pleased indeed with it. I'll report back further down the line when it matured a little.

Cwtch Kit
Instructions

Bottled my Cwtch on sunday night, was tasty then, I have high hopes. Mine was quite cloudy, hope it'll clear as it primes. I tried a bottle that was sent to LHBS and mine is pretty similar. Only issue I had was my fermenter cant take boiling water so had to put a litre of cold in first then hops then boiling, seemed to work. well the smell was lush. Glad you agree its a kit worth brewing Wrongway!

I was lucky as I was using a stainless steel fermenter so no problem with the boiling water. I must admit I tried to get the bottle the LBHS had as a freebie but no chance. I would love to taste the commercial version in a pub as a comparison, but I think it's only sold locally in Wales. I agree though about the smell, fantastic.

I am going to the Ayrshire real ale festival in Troon in a couple of weeks time and I see that Cwtch is on the list of beers for the event. Would you recommend I stick it on my list of beers to try?

Certainly.I have been to a few beer festivals recently and looked out for Cwtch but it's not been featured at any of them so far.

Wrongway said:

I was lucky as I was using a stainless steel fermenter so no problem with the boiling water. I must admit I tried to get the bottle the LBHS had as a freebie but no chance. I would love to taste the commercial version in a pub as a comparison, but I think it's only sold locally in Wales. I agree though about the smell, fantastic.

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I've had it on draft in London, at the Craft Beer Co. Covent Garden, if you get an excuse to head to the big smog. Great bar actually, 40 taps and not too expensive. I don't think I've ever ordered a Russian Imperial Stout on tap, only to be asked which one.

great review. I have just started brewing my batch tonight. Agree totally with the smell - beautiful hoppy aroma!

It was a little pricey for me as a kit but it was recommended by my homebrew shop so I gave it a go - hope it turns out well :smile:

It is available in bottles in many good bottle shops or online.

howyoubrewin said:

I am going to the Ayrshire real ale festival in Troon in a couple of weeks time and I see that Cwtch is on the list of beers for the event. Would you recommend I stick it on my list of beers to try?

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YES! Although check the % before you do. Tiny Rebel had a launch event in one of my fave bars in Wales last year and being friends with the staff they suggested we try it, we enjoyed the free sample so had a pint, loved it got up to get the next round to find legs wobbly...it was a 10% beer! Didn't feel it though :)

zippy40 said:

It was a little pricey for me as a kit

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Seen a few comments on here about pricey kits, which I don't quite understand. A 1-can kit needs extra fermentables added to it which takes the price to near 20 quid, these 2-can kits are 3 quid more, thats 7.5p a pint more - do people really make a kit choice based on that?

3ishop said:

YES! Although check the % before you do. Tiny Rebel had a launch event in one of my fave bars in Wales last year and being friends with the staff they suggested we try it, we enjoyed the free sample so had a pint, loved it got up to get the next round to find legs wobbly...it was a 10% beer! Didn't feel it though :)

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I have never seen cwtch at 10%

darrellm said:

Seen a few comments on here about pricey kits, which I don't quite understand. A 1-can kit needs extra fermentables added to it which takes the price to near 20 quid, these 2-can kits are 3 quid more, thats 7.5p a pint more - do people really make a kit choice based on that?

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I agree,it's funny how we will pay four quid a pint in a pub but spread across 46 bottles its nowt.
All premium kits are still "ten Bob " a pint or less :thumb:

Leon103 said:

I have never seen cwtch at 10%

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Might not of been Cwtch but was part of their family. Naturally can't remember the names that well :P

darrellm said:

Seen a few comments on here about pricey kits, which I don't quite understand. A 1-can kit needs extra fermentables added to it which takes the price to near 20 quid, these 2-can kits are 3 quid more, thats 7.5p a pint more - do people really make a kit choice based on that?

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Yep I do. one of my favorite extract kits is JB porter. £11 + a fiver for malt/sugar and I get 40 pints from it. I got the cwtch for £24 which makes 36 pints. so the porter is made for 40p a pint and this new brew is made for 67pp equating to approx. 40% price difference.

I am happy to pay the difference if the quality is there but there are some two can kits which I have found to be not that great.

each to their own :thumb:

I've recently brewed this and it tastes great. No famous home brew twang and really good body.

It comes with 116g of hop pellets (citra and Columbus if I remember) making it really good value for the money, you don't get that flavour out of extract alone.

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zippy40 said:

Yep I do. one of my favorite extract kits is JB porter. £11 + a fiver for malt/sugar and I get 40 pints from it. I got the cwtch for £24 which makes 36 pints. so the porter is made for 40p a pint and this new brew is made for 67pp equating to approx. 40% price difference.

I am happy to pay the difference if the quality is there but there are some two can kits which I have found to be not that great.

each to their own :thumb:

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There are a few exceptions, Brewferm not bad but almost all kits require hops IMO
And thats where it jumps a bit, pellets are far superior for me and they cost a bit.
Never tried the porter though.

Be careful when bottling
I added the spray malt to my bottling bucket before bottling but it just clumped together like glue. So unsure if my bottles are going to be carbonated as the last 4 bottles were sludgy
Could have 4 nuclear carbonated bottles

Mine ended up in a Corny Keg and I force carbonated it for about 4 days. Tastes superb.

Braindead said:

Be careful when bottling
I added the spray malt to my bottling bucket before bottling but it just clumped together like glue. So unsure if my bottles are going to be carbonated as the last 4 bottles were sludgy
Could have 4 nuclear carbonated bottles

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That's why you should dissolve it in a pan of boiling water/wort.

Haven't posted on here in ages. Back in the spring I found I had 400 bottle of beer....and SHMBO had a word!

Last 5 brews have been AG, but new job means time is precious, hence looking for a kit.

Recently up in Darlington, visited the legendary Hop and Grape + came away with Cwtch.

Really impressed with the kit, a bit of a game changer to include real hops.

Got the brew on in 45 minutes (used Aldi spring water). Good to be back brewing, even if it is a kit.

Cheers

Martin