Santas winter warmer /donnar and blitzed

[Mattyde05]

Hey guys thinking of doing either muntons , santas winter warmer or milestones, donnar and blitzed for Xmas .
My first question is if I were to do one of them this weekend would it be ready in time for Xmas ?
Also should I tweek it in any kind of way ?
Lastly has anyone tried these kits before as can only find limited reviews online ?
The ones I have read about santas winter warmer is it gets stuck at 10.20 . Any help would be much Appreciated . Thanks guys

 

[Mattyde05]

Sorry 1.020

 

[MyQul]

I haven't done one of the santa's winter warmers but I bottled a geordie winter warmer (which I also understand is made by muntons) a week ago. Made with 1kg of medium spray malt + 250g of dark muscavado sugar, brewed short to 20L. OG 1041 FG 1006 so according to my ABV calulator it comes out at 4.6%ABV (if brewed according to instructions it comes out about 3.8%ABV). The hydrometer sample before bottling tasted and smelled lovely, cant wait for another week to pass-won't be saving it for xmas.

I think i'm right in the the santa's/donna & blitzen a two can kits so don't really need tweaking - and yes it will be ready for xmas if you do it this weekend, nice 4 1/2 month conditioning should be really nice if it's a decent kit

 

[Mattyde05]

Thanks for the reply myqul . Just a quick one . With the santa the yeast that comes with the kit is only 6 g and I've read that a lot of people are having trouble getting it down to 1.014 which is the recommended FG . I've been thinking of using a safale 04 the blue one I think .which is 11g . To hopefully get over this problem . But I wanted to know if this would change the taste of the beer at all ? Also the Geordie is from wilkos is that right ? Another question what would you recommend for FV 1 and FV 2 in the way of time frame ? Thanks

 

[MyQul]

I'm FAR from an expert on yeast, hopefully someone with more knowledge can answer that one for you but I used Gervin (Nottingham in all but name) yeast, which comes in 11g packets, from wilko's with the Geordie WW - the Kit was also from Wilko's.
I don't rack into a secondry just use the one FV - I generally leave it in the FV for two weeks to give the yeast a bit of time to clear up after itself then 2 weeks conditioning in the bottle before I start drinking it

 

[Mattyde05]

O right I didn't know the yeast from wilkos was bascially Nottingham . The only reason I was going to put in to secondary was because I have a tap on that one and use the little bottler to put in bottles which is a lot more easy . Should I just use the one with the tap as FV 1? . Thanks :drink:

 

[MyQul]

I only found out about Gervin from wilko's being nottingham when reading the review of wilkos kits in the review section of the forum - someone mentioned it in a post.

It's up to you whether you use a secondry FV. The purpose of using a secondry FV in the way you describe is so it leaves as much sediment behind in the primary as possible, so when you bottle there is little to no sediment in the bottom of the bottles and you therefore have clearer beer. I bought the coopers kits set up which is just the one FV with the tap on the bottom. When I bottle there is sediment in the bottom of many of my bottles - when I pour into a glass I just leave about a cm of beer (along with the sediment) in the bottom of the bottle So it's up to you whether you can be bothered to rack into a secondery or wether it bothers you that you have to leave a bit of beer in the bottle (that being said some people like the sediment and pour it into the glass with the beer)

 

[Mattyde05]

Thanks mate that's helped me out loads. :drink:

 

[noddyman]

I have just bought one of the GWW kits from Wilkinsons. Forgot to look for beer enhancer :x . I have read that golden syrup can be used in this brew but i'm interested as to quantities of brew enhancer, syrup etc. any help please?