Wilkinsons Golden Ale

[Slid]

Hi Joey

Any of the American "C" hops - Cascade, Citra etc will do.

1070 - well good luck on this one - is it the wilko yeast you have used?
One sachet or 2?

Probably a good time of year to put on something this ambitous, just don't rush it ;-)

 

[Joeyriles]

Indeed it was wilko yeast I used. Thanks for the hop advice. :-)

 

[Smileyr8]

I'm planning to do a Saison style brew using 3xcans of this. During the recent Wilko sale, I picked up a couple of these and I am borrowing an idea from Smileyr8 (sorry, not great on names, but it's thereabouts).

Keep us informed how this turns out, I have 3 of these kits on standby.

 

[Joeyriles]

Update: the airlock activity has died down somewhat but the sample still tastes very sweet. Am concerned the final product will be more like butterbeer than golden ale. I'm imagining that leaving it for ages will be the best way to see that it ferments out?

 

[Noah]

I'm currently brewing my 3rd one of these kits using 3 cans, that's 4.5kg of extract. I added 75g of whole hops from my garden to the initial boil along with 250g of brewing sugar giving a starting gravity of 1.072. I used Gervin English Ale yeast as the previous kit yeast left a slightly hazy finish to the bottled beer.

I racked it last weekend and I've ended up with 18 litres @ 1.020. It has a sweetish butterscotch taste not too dissimilar to Westmalle Triple. I'm giving it another couple of weeks to see if it ferments out more and I may add 400g of wild hops a week before bottling.

Cascade would be a good hop choice Joey, as I think Citra is better suited to thinner bodied IPAs. I've not used Chinook before so can't say about that one. It would be great to compare notes in a couple of months. :drink:

 

[Slid]

I'm planning to do a Saison style brew using 3xcans of this. During the recent Wilko sale, I picked up a couple of these and I am borrowing an idea from SmileyR (sorry, not great on names, but it's thereabouts).

I have a Belle Saison yeast, picked up from Neale's HB stuff via Rob the Malt Miller.

Planning to do this Belle Saison out towards 27L (6 gallons) with 3x1.5kg LME cans. There is a recipe for Belgian Candi sugar on the forum, courtesy of a, sadly departed, former member. My intention is to do 1kg of this in advance and add at pitching. Also planning to add a 1L hop tea made with 25g Triskel hops at the first racking.

Also planning to wash and re-use the yeast for couple of junior Saison-style brew, perhaps not quite so - large. Maybe a Baby Belle with 2 cans only and one so young and serious it can only be called "Sebastian".

Any ideas anyone? :

Well, guys, Belle Saison went on today at 25L, with the above mentioned 1.5 x a Golden Ale kit and about 1kg of Candi Sugar.

SWMBO watched the GB Bake Off stuff and during this the process for making a Candi Sugar was explained beautifully - it was for cake decorating with some form of icing.

500g sugar and 100 ml water in a clean, wide pan was Mary's starter (Mary's the old bird off GB Bake-Off).

When doubling it up, I found that even though it seemed difficult at first to dissolve all the sugar, 200ml seemed to take ages to carbonise to any extent. I only got real colouration from doing a 100g batch with hardly any water at all over a medium heat.

Anyway, the Candi Sugar is the sort of thing everyone should do once, if only to convince themselves to buy dark sugar from the supermarket next time, even if it costs 3 times as much.

Still planning the Triskel hop tea addition when I rack this over to secondary FV.

 

[Joeyriles]

I went with Chinook in the end as I didn't want it to be too grassy. Smells good and I bunged half the packet in (the gravity keeps dropping; was at 1040 today).

Will continue the updates.

 

[Joeyriles]

1020 today! Already at 6.6%

Sing it with me: how low can you go...:whistle:

 

[Joeyriles]

Has been at 1020 for three days on the trot, now. The hops have imparted their flavour and the last sample tasted far more rounded and quaffable.

Time to rack.

 

[Slid]

Well, guys, Belle Saison went on today at 25L, with the above mentioned 1.5 x a Golden Ale kit and about 1kg of Candi Sugar.

SWMBO watched the GB Bake Off stuff and during this the process for making a Candi Sugar was explained beautifully - it was for cake decorating with some form of icing.

500g sugar and 100 ml water in a clean, wide pan was Mary's starter (Mary's the old bird off GB Bake-Off).

When doubling it up, I found that even though it seemed difficult at first to dissolve all the sugar, 200ml seemed to take ages to carbonise to any extent. I only got real colouration from doing a 100g batch with hardly any water at all over a medium heat.

Anyway, the Candi Sugar is the sort of thing everyone should do once, if only to convince themselves to buy dark sugar from the supermarket next time, even if it costs 3 times as much.

Still planning the Triskel hop tea addition when I rack this over to secondary FV.

10 days in and it is at 1.007 or so and now out to 26L with the hop tea. Still cloudy and very gassy, though there is a lot of sediment. Tastes fairly dry, but still fermenting - it has been at around 20C throughout.

Very "funky" taste - most distinctive, presumably the peppery taste will fade a bit in due course?

 

[Spapro]

Thats a quick ferment !

My Wilkos Golden Ale has taken 3 weeks to go from 1046 down to 1014 and not quite finished yet - thats at a constant 19°C (using a ban marie with an aquarium heater to maintain consistent temp).

I made a hop tea using 20g of Cascade as I love Copper Dragon Golden Pippin so hoping for something similar to enjoy - bunged the hop tea and the teabag with the hop pellets in around 10 days in - removed the tea bag after 3 days in the wort.

Good luck with yours, should get mine kegged this weekend.

 

[Slid]

Hi Spapro

Thanks for this :wink:

One recurring theme on this site is that kit brews stall or take a long time to ferment. my observations or suggestions are:

The Wilko / Muntons / Wherry / Pretty much everything except Coopers, Brewferm and a few others - All comes with a small packet of Ale yeast that starts stalling below 20C.

The 6g or so of yeast is not of itself the problem, if, you pitch slightly higher than the preferred brewing temp of 20C and oxegenate the wort before pitching.

Usually the problem is that the wort is a bit warm anyway, after adding hot water to dissolve things, get the stuff out the can etc.

So I suggest that the water being added to the kit plus whatever else could be the major issue.

The paltry looking yeast needs oxygen to reproduce, which it does as its primary imperative, before eating sugars into alcohol.

So try adding the water by pouring it from tap into the serving jug and then pouring that from a height (not over the fire escape or anything, just from a couple of feet) into the FV. That seems to do the trick.

You see Craig (for example) on his videos adding water through a hose into the FV and I suggest this does not result in sufficient oxgenation for enough yeast to give a vigorous ferment.

Hope this is helpful :hmm:

 

[Spapro]

Cheers Slid,

I am very much still learning so some good tips there - I am doing most of the airating the wort, tipping in the water from a jug etc.

Anyway, I am enjoying the journey - tried a sample of my golden ale last night from the sample tube and it is already tasting pretty damn fine, nearly ready for kegging.

Good luck with yours.

 

[Slid]

10 days in and it is at 1.007 or so and now out to 26L with the hop tea. Still cloudy and very gassy, though there is a lot of sediment. Tastes fairly dry, but still fermenting - it has been at around 20C throughout.

Very "funky" taste - most distinctive, presumably the peppery taste will fade a bit in due course?

Racked over to a secondary FV today - very distinctive "nose" from the yeast, which I am washing with a view to attempting at least 2 further Saison efforts using the same "Belle Saison" yeast.

The next ones will not be quite the same quite "immense brew" - I doubt this one will be ready in much under a year.

 

[Spapro]

Just a quick update, this turned into a truly lovely pint, down to the last few pints in my keg and will be sad when its all gone. I will definately pickup another one or 2 of this premium 2 can ale kit when wilkos do another sale on homebrew.

I added a hop tea of 20g cascade hops (added for 3 days towards the end of fermentation) which tasted great, I would probably go with more hops next time for maximum citrusy hoppy gorgeousness.

At £22 this is a good value premium kit, when on sale its an absolute steal - well done Wilkos !

 

[Just]

Mine has now been bottled for some months and it is a great pint. It was really easy to brew and all I tweaked was the addition of 500g enhancer and a small hop tea. When on offer this is a must buy just to have put by. It's not going to win any awards for being different but it's a fine 'stock' beer that appeals to the masses (i.e. visitors!)

 

[Joeyriles]

This has been ok, though I would say it's more of a tawny ale than a blonde. Colour is on the very dark side of gold and mine (probably due to error) has retained a lot of sweetness, despite the addition of Chinook hops five days before bottling.

 

[Frogbrew]

This has been ok, though I would say it's more of a tawny ale than a blonde. Colour is on the very dark side of gold and mine (probably due to error) has retained a lot of sweetness, despite the addition of Chinook hops five days before bottling.

My golden ale also tasted very sweet after a couple of weeks in the bottle but after a month it had lost this and was a great pint. I hope they include it in the next wilko sale.

 

[Smileyr8]

What is it that gives this its distinctive flavour, is it the hops or malt or if neither what?

 

[BrannBrew]

I brewed this as my first kit 9/7/15 and bottled just shy of two weeks on 21/07/15 in 2 tap-a-draft bottles and 13 swing top bottles (brewers dozen).
The sample pint & 1/2 on bottling day went down really well, but obviously flat. Had a tap-a-draft forced carbonated for the 24-26/7/15 and I could not quite beleave this was a home brew & my first at that. Some fruity aroma and slightly floral taste. Batch Primed using Muntons Beer Enhancer. Head from the TAD was good, lingered on the inside of the glass all way down.

I pretty much finished a whole TAD bottle (10pints) in one weekend - with the help of my Dad who came over on the Sunday. He was so surprised of the results and kept on saying it was pub quality if not better. I gave him a bottle to take back with him.

Every time I had a pint I mentioned to my wife that it tastes stronger than the 4% on the box. Think she got tired of that really quickly!

I have a tester bottle in the fridge for this weekend to see how they are coming along after a week in the airing cupboard, there is clear signs of sediment at the bottom.
My first impressions of the results are that I'm very impressed & I would be happy to spend money for a pint of this at a pub, very pleasant indeed.
Can I hold of brewing my next kit? BetterBrew IPA. I don't think I can.