New Wilko kits

[Slid]

Think I’m gonna cry, just realised these are made in Stomarket so must be muntons. Had a stuck brew with their smugglers ale which I repitched the yeast and it came out awful. Hopefully this brew will sort itself out but I am kicking myself for not spotting this sooner. I really wish I had gone with the Caxton instead, bugger.

You can stop kicking yourself, mate, Muntons make most of the kits made in the UK.

http://www.muntonshomebrew.com/other-products/other-branded-homebrew-kits/

Including, of course, Geordie and Caxtons, also available at Wilko.
Coopers kits are shipped all the way from South Australia.

 

[Graahaam]

Houston we have lift off.......

 

[Graahaam]

I usually (always) do John Bull kits which I think is Young’s. It’s like the old pair of slippers that I know will work as I’ve never had a poor brew. They didn’t have any in Wilko so I thought I would give this a go. Happy to say it’s started moving and I’m looking forward to seeing how it turns out.

 

[Sandimas]

Had a stuck brew with their smugglers ale which I repitched the yeast and it came out awful.

Smugglers is one of the best kits I've ever made, unfortunately coming from Muntons it's prone to their infamous stuck brews (occurs across the range of kits) but seems to be down to the yeast, so getting a standard 11g packet of ale yeast to put in instead of the kit yeast reduces the risk. Worth doing again if you're inclined.

 

[Scottyburto]

Are all the kits 32pint or just the xmas one? Seems abit odd to drop to a 4gal kit!

 

[TonyCall]

Just picked up their red ale kit, 4% is a bit on the low side for me but it comes with 10 g of cascade hop pellets to go in on day 4 so thought I’d give it a go. I’m just going to go with the recipe it gives i.e using brewers super instead of enhancer to see what happens.

I picked up the last red ale kit from my local Wilko but when I got home there were no instructions just the yeast and hops, are the instructions anything out of the ordinary? When I've dry-hopped before it's been when fermentation has slowed right down and the hydrometer is at 1011/10. Not necessarily on a specific day, ie day 4. Cheers.

 

[MmmBeer]

I picked up the last red ale kit from my local Wilko but when I got home there were no instructions just the yeast and hops, are the instructions anything out of the ordinary? When I've dry-hopped before it's been when fermentation has slowed right down and the hydrometer is at 1011/10. Not necessarily on a specific day, ie day 4. Cheers.

Not tried any of these kits, but follow the usual routine.

Warm can, pour into FV, add brewing sugar (1kg usually for a one can kit) and 3 litres boiling water, stir to dissolve and top up with cold water.
Stir well to oxygenate wort and add yeast. Cover and leave for two weeks at a constant temperature (18-22°C) for two weeks before bottling.

For Dry Hopping, aim to add dry hops 4-5 days before you bottle, this gives the optimum hop intensity without the hops becoming grassy. Yes, it is best to wait until main fermentation has finished, because if CO2 still being produced then it can strip some of the hop aromas. You can measure gravity with a hydrometer, but every time you do this, there is a risk of contamination, so be selective.

 

[TonyCall]

Cheers, very helpful.

 

[Spike101uk]

So I'm back after nearly a year with a new house and new brew garage, want to do the chocmeister , what would people recomemd to add to it, was thinking 1kg of medium malt and maybe one of wilko gervin yeasts .

 

[Graahaam]

I picked up the last red ale kit from my local Wilko but when I got home there were no instructions just the yeast and hops, are the instructions anything out of the ordinary? When I've dry-hopped before it's been when fermentation has slowed right down and the hydrometer is at 1011/10. Not necessarily on a specific day, ie day 4. Cheers.

The instructions say fermentationshould take 4-6 days and to add the hops on day 4.

 

[MmmBeer]

The instructions say fermentationshould take 4-6 days and to add the hops on day 4.

Don't believe everything you read.

All kits claim to make beer in 3 weeks. However if you want good beer, the safest rule of thumb is 2+2+2.
2 weeks fermenting at ~20°C.
2 weeks carbonating in bottles at ~20°C.
2 weeks conditioning in bottles at ~12°C.

 

[Sandimas]

However if you want good beer, the safest rule of thumb is 2+2+2.
2 weeks fermenting at ~20°C.

+1

...or longer, I just bottled a Wilko kit on Day15 and it was too early (still had yeast suspended in the beer) but I was going away. The instructions with most of these kits are often wrong and sometimes downright dangerous (risk of exploding bottles).

 

[MmmBeer]

So I'm back after nearly a year with a new house and new brew garage, want to do the chocmeister , what would people recomemd to add to it, was thinking 1kg of medium malt and maybe one of wilko gervin yeasts .

Sounds sensible, the Gervin yeast is very versatile and reliable, as it comes in 10g packs, rather than the 5 or 6g of kit yeast, a definite improvement. You can always keep the kit yeast in the fridge and put two packs in your next kit. Medium malt would suit a stout.

 

[Aaron Rennie]

I've just been to my local Wilko and they had the following on the shelves, all marketed under an Artisan Brewing label. They only had one of each kit in stock (I can't remember the exact names of the kits):
Chocmeister Chocolate Stout - 1.8kg - £16
Lighthouse Keeper - pale ale - 1.8kg - £16
Feeling Hoppy - triple hopped IPA - 1.8kg - £16 (someone had already bought this one!)
Thirsty Devil - red ale - 1.8kg - £16
Summer Ale - limited edition pilsner hopped with Progress - 1.5kg - £12
Winter Ale - looked to be 2 can kit in box - £19

All the kits have dry hops which are under the lid as the lid rattles when you shake it!

The Hoppy one is my next planned brew.
Looking at doing it next month as I have one of their standard IPAs in the FV at the moment. Not expecting great things from the standard IPA, just hoping for a drinkable pint. Still learning (two brews in) and didn't want to add the extra steps of dry hoping before consistently achieving standard results.

I'll give it a review once I've done the hoppy one

 

[Aaron Rennie]

Went in my local Wilko yesterday (hoping to find a cheap Sundew tbh) but had neither that nor these new kits. I don't think the price is unreasonable given they come with hops for dry hopping (except the stout). A kilo bag of brew enhancer (50/50 split of dme & dextrose???) is £6 so we're talking £22 total. I'm OK with that for a 20-23L ferment.

the B&M kits are great imo a bit of a bargain, especially @£6 a go, but are unlikely to be around for long. Get them while you can.

I'm still new, and will look up the technical reasons but what are peoples view as to the advantage of 50/50 mix over dextrose?

 

[Mavroz]

I haven't tried a 50/50 but have started substituting DME for dextrose sugar for initial fermentation. Seems to give my brews that "less watery" taste or feel to them. This is with the last 2 ales/bitters I have done recently.
Haven't done it yet but am going to make a b&m ipa with light dme soon instead of the brewing sugar supplied and see if there is any noticeable difference there.
My growing preference seems to be the use of dme rather than brewing sugar (dextrose).

 

[Aaron Rennie]

I may go full on and use DME with the next. See what happens.

 

[Heshofcheese]

Sampled the Light Keeper Pale Ale this afternoon and initial thoughts on the results are a bit mixed.

On the plus side, I've never had a brew clear so quickly and completely as this, even the first pint drawn off was clear enough to drink.
Head retention is good. Unlike some, I like a pint to have a decent creamy head which lasts all the way down the glass.


Now the negatives. It's a bit bland. There's very little hop character, when I think of what a faff on it was to filter out the floating bits of hop, I wonder whether it was worth adding the hops at all.
It's very much like the Wilko Cerveza kit, a nice refreshing pint for a warm day, but lacking in any bite or taste to be honest.
It's very pale for a pale ale, straw coloured like a lager, to be honest, the pictures make it look darker, must be the settings on my phone lol.

 

[Sandimas]

I'm still new, and will look up the technical reasons but what are peoples view as to the advantage of 50/50 mix over dextrose?

Dextrose reduces the quality of the beer, I always try to use at least 50/50 (Brew Enhancer) but preferably 100% DME/Spraymalt. You wouldn't expect a commercial beer to be made with 50% sugar, you can get away with 25% as a homebrewer.

 

[Aaron Rennie]

Dextrose reduces the quality of the beer, I always try to use at least 50/50 (Brew Enhancer) but preferably 100% DME/Spraymalt. You wouldn't expect a commercial beer to be made with 50% sugar, you can get away with 25% as a homebrewer.

Thanks for the answer, I'll start playing and look to move away from Sugar.