Geordie Winter Warmer

[Bort]

I have just kegged 22 litres of Geordie Winter Warmer, a beer kit I found in Wilkos a month ago at a bargain price as I wanted to keep a bitter-type beer readily accessible in the keg during the colder months.

I started the brew on 10/10/20 with 1kg of Beer Enhancer and took the original gravity of 1040. Two weeks later fermentation appeared to have completed and I kegged the brew with a final gravity of 1016 (not as low as I would have liked as the instructions suggested a target of 1005) which gives a fairly weak 3.1% ABV.

I am hoping that secondary fermentation in the keg enhances the body of this beer as the trial sample tasted quite weak and was very ‘thin’.

I’ll post on here how the beer is when we start pulling off a few pints after another week or two of secondary fermentation...

 

[soupdragon]

It's not my type of beer but a friend of mine swears by this kit. It's in his top 3 favourite brews, he loves it. Never mentioned it being thin though.

Cheers. Tom

 

[Bort]

Tempted to draw off a ‘half’ later today...

 

[Will B]

I have this kit too and am about to start brewing. Do you happen to know whether you can use golden syrup instead of sugar? I had heard of people adding it but not sure if it was instead of sugar or on top of? Also wondered about adding in hops? Any thoughts gratefully received! Thank you...Will

 

[terrym]

I have this kit too and am about to start brewing. Do you happen to know whether you can use golden syrup instead of sugar? I had heard of people adding it but not sure if it was instead of sugar or on top of? Also wondered about adding in hops? Any thoughts gratefully received! Thank you...Will

You can use golden syrup in beers, and I have used it. And its probably best in darker beers like this one unless you specifically like the taste, since you might be able to detect it in lighter beers . But its not as fermentable on a w/w basis compared to 'solid' sugar due to its water content. However my recollection is that 650g of GS is equivalent to 500g table sugar, but I might be wrong on that

 

[Will B]

Thank you!

 

[Will B]

Btw What is a w/w basis? - is this week by week- ie it will take longer? Thanks!

 

[terrym]

Btw What is a w/w basis? - is this week by week- ie it will take longer? Thanks!

W/w is weight/weight (and v/v is volume/volume which may be different). So in this case the weight of fermentable sugars in say 100g cane sugar is more than the weight of fermentable sugars in 100g of golden syrup.

 

[Will B]

To add a further question , does anyone know whether I can use beer enhancer AND golden syrup? Or half half?? Not sure and grateful for help! Thank you TerryM for responding so quickly last time!

 

[Will B]

Maybe answered my own q but I can use half and half I think? But that leaves me with loads of leftover brewing enhancer? Does it keep??

 

[terrym]

To add a further question , does anyone know whether I can use beer enhancer AND golden syrup? Or half half?? Not sure and grateful for help!

There is no firm rule about what 'sugars' you can or cannot add to a one can kit. But it's often accepted its probably best to add maltier adjuncts to one can kits rather than sugary adjuncts. But that's a simplistic view. Some folks would have no problem in adding all sugar, others would never do that. So in some ways its personal choice, perhaps balanced against what you are brewing, what your expectations are, and what your budget happens to be. But there's no reason why you can't add Brew Enhancer and Golden Syrup, but you might find its a bit on the thin side because you are moving towards the sugar end of additions rather than the malt end, but then again you may not. Ultimately the choice is yours.

 

[Bort]

Had a pint of this last night... beautiful head from the keg and a nice, bitter taste when in the mouth with caramel and spices coming through but the whole lot vanishes when swallowed - no after-taste whatsoever which is really odd. Maybe it needs a little more time in the keg...

 

[Appleyard]

I'm just about to start a brew of this off. Haven't tried it before. Was thinking of going for 17 litres, leaving other ingredients the same. Is this wise?