First brew! Woodforde's Wherry

[Rickous]

Hi everyone,

I received the Wilko homebrewing kit for Christmas and today I finally got time to prepare my first brew

After much reading on this site and others, I decided upon the Woodforde's Wherry as my first brew.

I began with sterilizing all my equipment with the supplied Bruclean and rinsed everything thoroughly, and prepared exactly as it said on the box. Didn't really fancy tinkering with it at this stage, as many of you have said it's a great brew on its own. I used the supplied yeast and its now sat comfortably in the dining room (wrapped in a towel for now) near one of the radiators. My OG was 1040, which was promising.

I pitched the yeast straight away, but I did take a temperature reading and it was about 11 degrees using my thermometer....Hence wrapped in a towel and stuck close to the rad. Is that going to cause too much of an issue or will it warm up suitably?

Would love to hear some input from you all, and hopefully I haven't gone catastrophically wrong!

Cheers all :

 

[Dazza1shot]

Welcome mate I am sure someone will be along with far superior knowledge to me shortly ...

Imo I reckon it should be fine once the yeasties up to that ideal temp about 20degrees I imagine better starting cold than too hot.

Just a though could you not put it in a bath of hot water until it gets up to about 18 ? May be quicker. :-)

Good luck Daz

 

[Rickous]

Ahh thanks for the reply and the input!

Unfortunately I don't have a bath at home, small flat with just a shower....I've bunged a hot water bottle inside the towel I've wrapped the FV in, just going to keep an eye for now and see what happens haha. I'd be upset if nothing happens, but thankfully I've got another sachet of yeast just in case I need to start over. Although I'm hoping it won't come down to that. Will leave it overnight and see if anything's happened tomorrow.

Rick

 

[Sandimas]

What temp is your living room? Cold is usually the cause of stuck / failed brews this time of year, it should warm up if your room is hot enough but it would have been much better to start it warm, as the yeast that comes with Wherry isn't the best so needs all the help it can get. If you can get to Wilkos in the next day or two, pick up a tub of yeast nutrient and stir 2 teaspoons into a tiny bit of hot water to dissolve it, then chuck it into the brew.

 

[Rickous]

I'll give that a bash tomorrow then if nothing has happened overnight, thankfully I'm only 10 minutes from my local Wilko so its no bother. I'll make sure to not repeat the same mistake again in future, but guess that's part and parcel of the learning process! Thanks for the reply :)

 

[Sandimas]

It wouldn't be fun if we knew it all first time. I've been brewing for 3 years and am still learning, gives a lot of satisfaction and makes it an enduring hobby IMHO.

And unlike other hobbies I've tried (building / flying model planes) rarely does it result in an absolute failure, so you don't feel so bad about making the odd mistake with brewing if you still end up with some half-decent beer :hat:With the planes, I ended up with too many piles of broken balsa wood so gave that up

 

[Rickous]

Well we have lift off! Woken up today, and went to check on the brew and happy to report that I have a nice 1/2 inch foamy top and a satisfying pffft of gas escaping (no airlock on this wilko FV) :pray:

Will still need to head to Wilko though as need a turkey baster for gravity testing down the road but looks like this could be back on track. Would you say its still worth getting some yeast enhancer?

I've been wanting to homebrew for a few years now, after spending many a time at some of the local beer festivals down this end of the country. And so far after an agonizing wait for my first brew to kick off, I've finally got that almost euphoric rush that I'm making beer!

I can imagine that could run in to being an expensive hobby haha, being a returning to uni student (bit late but worth it, chemistry degree by the time I'm 30) my only other hobby is doing a radio show and that's only a once a week thing. So hoping this will continue throughout the year, already wanting to get a cerveza on the go next I think :drunk:

 

[Sandimas]

Worth getting yeast nutrient if you can get it in there within the next 24-48hrs, if not some of the yeast will already have done it's job and started to decline.

If you have a sleeping bag, wrap it round it to keep it's temp up - as I said earlier, Wherry and low temps is a perfect recipe for a 1020 stuck brew.

Finally, leave it alone :-D Check the gravity after about 10 days, but I leave all my brews at least 14 days before fiddling - every time you open it up, you risk infection.

 

[Rickous]

Well I've just got back from town and I picked up some yeast nutrient from Wilko just on the off chance, so I'll get that in ASAP and then will leave it well alone.

I shall report back in a few weeks to let you know how it's getting on :) Though I'll still be reading everything I can get my mits on and posting on here. Can't wait until I can start doing a bit of this... :drink:

 

[Rickous]

Well I siphoned the Wherry to my pressure barrel today, and I must say WOW! For my first brew I'm so impressed with both how it smells and tastes already. Flat mate and the missus both said it smelled wonderful, so I'm going to keep this one conditioning for a few weeks now before getting it in the cool for at least another couple before trying it again.

 

[Yeastmaster]

Sounds brilliant - fanastic! What was your final gravity of you don't mind me asking.

Good call on adding the yeast nutrient. It's either that or replacing it with something else. I wish I knew why muntons produce such nice kits and then suppling such an inadequate yeast sachet with it.

 

[Rickous]

Yeah the nutrient really kick started the fermentation off and ended up with a really nice krausen after 12 hours. Fermented out lovely come the end and finished up with an FG of 1008, better than the 1010 from last week. I think if I do the Wherry again in the future, I'll probably end up getting a different yeast to use. As you say, it seems odd to produce such a good kit and give such a poor yeast.

Must say though for my first kit, I think I've really come up trumps here! When I pour my first pint, I'll make sure to upload a picture on here...for science of course, not to brag

I see you've done the Wilko Golden Ale, that was initially going to be the first kit I was going to do, but opted for the Wherry in the end. What's it like? It's on my "to-do" list, which I'm finding is slowly increasing!

 

[Yeastmaster]

1008 is excellent for a wherry.

The wilko golden ale is really good. The wilko real ale is great too - I'm pretty sure it's a rebadged wherry!

They do a yeast at my wilko called gervin English ale yeast. The packet is twice the size of the wilko one and it goes off like a train.

Wait until there's a sale on. I bought mine for £12.75 last year which is amazing for a two can kit.

 

[Rickous]

Yeah I've seen the gervin ale yeast in my local Wilko as well, one to keep in mind for the future. How is the yeast for the Wilko kits, or is it worth picking up a gervin for those as well?

I'll keep an eye out for a sale then, that's a cracking price for a two can kit! Plus, I'll be able to stick my student discount on top of that as well. It's only 10%, but it all adds up over the year. Thankfully my first few kits are all going to be Christmas presents so for now at least its proving to be a cheap hobby so far.

That'll all change soon enough though I'm sure haha

 

[Yeastmaster]

The yeast isn't great. I think these are Muntons kits, which means the same inadequate yeast.

If you can get away with just adding yeast nutrient then that could be a solution.

I wish I had a local homebrew shop to experiment with yeast and hops; buying online always incurs an annoying delivery charge.

The hobby is cheap for sure. You'll soon discover which equipment you need and which you don't.

 

[MyQul]

I wish I had a local homebrew shop to experiment with yeast and hops; buying online always incurs an annoying delivery charge.

With yeast it's easy to spread the cost, just harvest from one brew and pitch into the next. It's what I'm planning to do starting tomorrow. Hops not so easy, although if you buy pellets, you can buy a large variety of different hops have one delivery charge and store them in the freezer for up to two years

 

[Yeastmaster]

MyQul I thought you'd be a good person to ask as I seem to remember you've got the yeast book.

Are you planning to harvest during active fermentation or wash your yeast after bottling and store that in the fridge?

Is there a liquid yeast that would go well with wherry?

 

[MyQul]

I wouldn't say owning the yeast book qualifies me for anything, although it is an excellent book

I intend doing both . If I brew and want to brew again the next week using the same yeast I will top crop as you can harvest in the first 48hour and harvested yeast will be ready for pitching by the following week.

If I have a yeast that I want to use but not straight away I will rinse. You can only really keep yeast in the fridge for about two weeks if you want to directly pitch. After two weeks it's highly recommended you make a starter.I can't be bothered with the faff of starters (at the mo).
With rinsing I will have a month to use the yeast - It will be under the beer for two weeks before I bottle plus up to two weeks in the fridge.

I have never used liquid yeast myself. You can use more or less whatever liquid yeast you like. Having said that as a first liquid yeast, being conservative and sticking to styles, Wherry is a English Ale (Bitter) so you might consider White Labs WLP002 English Ale yeast (or its Wyeast equivalent) I understand this is the Fullers strain. Have a look at White Labs/Wyeast yeast lists and any you like the sound of google them, as all of the liquid yeasts are discussed endlessly on various forums