Wilkinsons (Wilko) 1 can beer kits

[Wasabi]

There has been plenty of discussion of Wilkinson's Golden Ale and Woodford Wherry but they also do some cheaper 1 can kits that I can't find any reviews of. Has anyone tried these, such as the Scottish export beer or newkie brown? Due to the price hikes of the Golden Ale (£22 now! was £17 only last summer) I am tempted by the one can kits such as the Scottish beer (heavy?) but don't know which if any is worth trying.

(Edit - just to say I know there are some reviews of the Hoppy Copper kit, but they weren't very positive so I have already discounted trying that one.)

 

[Gunnar]

Hey Wasabi, I've just bottled my first brew which is also a Wilko one can kit. Are you looking for reviews of the canned extract or the whole kit? :)

 

[padders]

i must say that im a big beliver in you gets what you pay for,and have allways done 2 can kits or extract,however ive nearly finished drinking a wilkos cerveza (bottled) brewed with 500gms spraymalt and 1kg brewing sugar, cost wize this is about £17 in total ,this is without a doubt the best beer i have brewed by far...

 

[YoungJames]

I have had the Newkie Brown kit before, I liked it. I have put on another one this week with a Brewkit Enhancer bag instead of the usual Sugar and brewed it short. It's ok for the money.

 

[redhousebrewing]

I find the 1 can kits with beer enhancer work out very similar cost to a basic 2 can kit by the time you've added 1kg beer enhancer and maybe 500 brewers sugar (about £5-£7 on top of the £10 for a 1 can kit).
I do buy the Wilko Pilsner 1 can kit regularly as a basis for my std lager(ish) brew and have done a few Hoppy Coppers but find I prefer the results of a 2 can kit for bitter such as a Wherry.

HTH

 

[ian808]

The scottish export is that the Geordie kit I have done it recently and it's ok. I used brewing sugar but if I ever do it again i'll use spray malt as I think it would make it better, maybe even 1 KG spray malt and some added brewing sugar to boost ABV to above 5%. I've done a lot of 1 can kits and coopers seem to be ok also john bull bitter but if your added spray malt then your about the same price as a 2 can, I like to try different beers so I have done lots of both, just keep a record of them so you go back to the good and keep away from the bad

 

[ericmark]

I have done a few of the Geordie kits, Geordie Lager, (non sampled yet) Scottish Export, Geordie Bitter, Geordie Mild (like them all) and Geordie Yorkshire Bitter (not so keen on this one) all are stocked by Morrisons most at less than £7 I have found them very easy to use.

I started with the Young's Harvest range which were in local brew centre for around £14 and when I was in Shrewsbury could pick them up for around £12 but there was very little difference between the kits and at half the price to me it's Morrisons all the time now. Unfortunately only sold in the larger stores so have to travel 8 miles to get them but single bus run and I have bus pass so will travel.

At 20p a pint by time I include the sugar home brew is well worth while but at 60p a pint, then like with brewing of wine it's getting to the point where one has to think twice is it worth all the effort. The brew has to be top notch every time when you start to pay out that sort of money.

 

[Grand gris]

I have done a few of the Geordie kits, Geordie Lager, (non sampled yet) Scottish Export, Geordie Bitter, Geordie Mild (like them all) and Geordie Yorkshire Bitter (not so keen on this one) all are stocked by Morrisons most at less than £7 I have found them very easy to use.

I started with the Young's Harvest range which were in local brew centre for around £14 and when I was in Shrewsbury could pick them up for around £12 but there was very little difference between the kits and at half the price to me it's Morrisons all the time now. Unfortunately only sold in the larger stores so have to travel 8 miles to get them but single bus run and I have bus pass so will travel.

At 20p a pint by time I include the sugar home brew is well worth while but at 60p a pint, then like with brewing of wine it's getting to the point where one has to think twice is it worth all the effort. The brew has to be top notch every time when you start to pay out that sort of money.

Morrisons :wha: I do hope you got the name and prices right :pray:

Please confirm this as I thought Morrisons stopped doing homebrew and I can't seem to find any

 

[Aethelstan]

I looked in Morrison's Derby just before Christmas and there was none to be found. He did say larger stores, though.

 

[Frogbrew]

I'm new to this but done the wilko hoppy copper using 1kg of brewing sugar and I was happy with the results but as I'm new I didn't have much to compare it with, I was impatient with it and maybe should have left it longer. My first brew was a Tom Caxton bitter which also came out nice, but pressure barrelled half the batch and it didn't gas up so ended up down the sink
I've got another Wilko hoppy copper in the vat but this time I've used 750g brewing sugar and 250g medium spray malt, started at 1044 on wed now at 1016 so will leave another week before bottling.
I'm learning lots from this forum though and hope it gets better. :

 

[mattyhall22]

I've never seen any home brew stuff (in St Frank Whittle or Burton) at Morrisons, I didn't know they had ever sold it.

My local Sainsbury's doesn't stock home brew stuff either.

 

[Aethelstan]

They did sell it on Sir Frank Whittle Way about 6 years back, no idea when they stopped stocking it though as I took a break from brewing until recently.

 

[Grand gris]

I know they sold it 3 years ago but I thought they stopped

It would be great if they started again. It may be something they will bring back now they are thinking of getting online?

 

[bobsbeer]

I'm new to this but done the wilko hoppy copper using 1kg of brewing sugar and I was happy with the results but as I'm new I didn't have much to compare it with, I was impatient with it and maybe should have left it longer. My first brew was a Tom Caxton bitter which also came out nice, but pressure barrelled half the batch and it didn't gas up so ended up down the sink
I've got another Wilko hoppy copper in the vat but this time I've used 750g brewing sugar and 250g medium spray malt, started at 1044 on wed now at 1016 so will leave another week before bottling.
I'm learning lots from this forum though and hope it gets better. :

Welcome : Your pressure keg probably had a leak in the lid. Put vasaline on the threads and don't be tempted to screw on too tight. It deforms it and causes leaks.

 

[Frogbrew]

I'm new to this but done the wilko hoppy copper using 1kg of brewing sugar and I was happy with the results but as I'm new I didn't have much to compare it with, I was impatient with it and maybe should have left it longer. My first brew was a Tom Caxton bitter which also came out nice, but pressure barrelled half the batch and it didn't gas up so ended up down the sink
I've got another Wilko hoppy copper in the vat but this time I've used 750g brewing sugar and 250g medium spray malt, started at 1044 on wed now at 1016 so will leave another week before bottling.
I'm learning lots from this forum though and hope it gets better. :

Welcome : Your pressure keg probably had a leak in the lid. Put vasaline on the threads and don't be tempted to screw on too tight. It deforms it and causes leaks.

Thanks for the reply pal, I did use Vaseline (not much though) around the top and tap but thought it might be down to only kegging half of it, too much air space maybe. It has put me off re-using the pb until I can afford to get a cap with the gas injection, don't want to lose the beer again. What do you think??

 

[Aethelstan]

I would imagine it was because of too much headspace leaving too little pressure to carbonate the brew properly. Having said that, I don't have too much experience but from a physics point if view it makes sense.

 

[Frogbrew]

I would imagine it was because of too much headspace leaving too little pressure to carbonate the brew properly. Having said that, I don't have too much experience but from a physics point if view it makes sense.

Yeh thanks, that's what I thought having seen someone on youtube doing a half batch in a pb and gassing it straight away :

 

[Wasabi]

I have done a few of the Geordie kits, Geordie Lager, (non sampled yet) Scottish Export, Geordie Bitter, Geordie Mild (like them all) and Geordie Yorkshire Bitter (not so keen on this one) all are stocked by Morrisons most at less than £7 I have found them very easy to use.

Thanks, I think I may try either the Geordie bitter or Scottish Export.

Re supermarkets, people have periodically mentioned getting homebrew stuff from Tesco, Sainsburys and now Morrisons but I can't find any homebrew stuff at all in any of these supermarkets (apart from fruit juice and sugar for use in WOWs of course!)

 

[Frogbrew]

I have done a few of the Geordie kits, Geordie Lager, (non sampled yet) Scottish Export, Geordie Bitter, Geordie Mild (like them all) and Geordie Yorkshire Bitter (not so keen on this one) all are stocked by Morrisons most at less than £7 I have found them very easy to use.

Thanks, I think I may try either the Geordie bitter or Scottish Export.

Re supermarkets, people have periodically mentioned getting homebrew stuff from Tesco, Sainsburys and now Morrisons but I can't find any homebrew stuff at all in any of these supermarkets (apart from fruit juice and sugar for use in WOWs of course!)

Tescos do it online for delivery or collect free from your local store, I'm planning on ordering a coopers english bitter from them this week@ £.13.50

 

[beechwood]

There has been plenty of discussion of Wilkinson's Golden Ale and Woodford Wherry but they also do some cheaper 1 can kits that I can't find any reviews of. Has anyone tried these, such as the Scottish export beer or newkie brown? Due to the price hikes of the Golden Ale (£22 now! was £17 only last summer) I am tempted by the one can kits such as the Scottish beer (heavy?) but don't know which if any is worth trying.

(Edit - just to say I know there are some reviews of the Hoppy Copper kit, but they weren't very positive so I have already discounted trying that one.)

I've tried the 1 can stout kit and its quite nice, I brewed it slightly short to about 20lts and added 1.5kg of brewing sugar which brought it up to 5.6% I also tried the light lager which was alright added 500g light dme and 700g brewing sugar which brought it up to 4.6%
To be honest I wouldn't bother doing any more of the kits, because there's much better one's out there like coopers which are around 14 quid.