Wilko Golden Ale Can kit

[Neil1454]

Hi,

My next brew is going to be the Wilko Golden Ale can kit.
Says the usual add 1kg of sugar.

For a better pint would I be better off brewing it to the 20 litre mark and adding light spray malt?
Or can I use Medium (as I have that already).

Just wondering what sugars I can add to this that would be sensible.
Anyone brewed this one? If so what did you add?

I'd like to try for a higher ABV as well or will that just occur with brewing it to 20 litres instead of 23?

thanks

 

[Slid]

It will taste fine with Medium Spray malt, but it will be darker. 500g DME and 500g Sugar will be fine to 20L, maybe better still if 1kg DME and 200g - 300g Sugar.

My best efforts with these Wilko kits was by doubling them up, but then you really may as well buy a two can kit. Wilko used to have sales every few months, but have changed their marketing strategy, mainly because no-one ever bought much outside of the sales.

 

[terrym]

If you brew this kit to 23 litres with a kilo of sugar my guess is you will be disappointed. So my suggestion is to brew short to 20 litres and then do what @Slid has suggested, or brew to 15 litres and add 500g of DME or even golden syrup, which will introduce a slight toffee taste. You could also have a go at dry hopping or adding a hop tea to this kit. I'm sure it would benefit greatly from it. 50g of Cascade might do the trick. Crossmyloof Brewery sell hops online and are usually well thought of on this forum. See here
https://www.crossmyloofbrew.co.uk

And others have done this kit as a one can and as a two can as originally sold. If you search the forum you will find a kit review somewhere I'm sure.

 

[stz]

When they say add 1kg of sugar this is what ... 16 points in 23L? Assuming a target of 4.5% abv with 80% attenuation ... then an SG of 43. This is a crazy amount of straight sugar, like 37% total extract? I've made beer kits like that in the past and while I knew no different at the time I definitely would like to think I know the difference now! 6-7% sugar is about the upper limit for me before it becomes detectable.

Whatever DME you use will be way better than that. I always bulk bought the lightest one because all of them are darker than you want really and it has the most utility. Even back when it was quite cheap in bulk it was expensive, the prices seem ludicrous now and I'd urge any brewer to get into mashing grain. The other downside of DME is you accept whatever ratio of fermentable/unfermentable they've created and it is usually pretty unfermentable. I imagine they do whatever they need to do to extract the maximum yield, not what makes it fermentable.

For perspective 1kg of sugar (which you already know isn't as good as DME which is £6 or something) is 1.5kg/£1.50 of grain assuming 80% efficiency. 1.5kg of grain can be bunged in a mesh bag, mashed in a saucepan, sparged with a colander, whatever you want to use mostly with stuff already in a kitchen. Mini mashes, steeping grains, converting oats, the possibilities suddenly blow wide open.

I'd use whatever DME you've on hand in this kit. If you buy any more just buy as much of the lightest one you can to get a price break. Once you are sick of paying out for it please please please mash some grain. You won't look back I promise.

 

[ACBEV]

golden syrup

I'd second golden syrup...

 

[AdeDunn]

I brewed it with 1 kilo light DME, 500g dextrose and then dry hopped with 25g each of Faloner's Flight, Citra and Amarillo. Oh and switch the yeast for CML US Pale Ale (not my fave yeast... lol). Was the only kit beer I ever liked.... lol Cost nearly as much as a 2 can kit, or premium kit, but tasted better than any of them.....

 

[Slid]

When they say add 1kg of sugar this is what ... 16 points in 23L? Assuming a target of 4.5% abv with 80% attenuation ... then an SG of 43. This is a crazy amount of straight sugar, like 37% total extract? I've made beer kits like that in the past and while I knew no different at the time I definitely would like to think I know the difference now! 6-7% sugar is about the upper limit for me before it becomes detectable.

Whatever DME you use will be way better than that. I always bulk bought the lightest one because all of them are darker than you want really and it has the most utility. Even back when it was quite cheap in bulk it was expensive, the prices seem ludicrous now and I'd urge any brewer to get into mashing grain. The other downside of DME is you accept whatever ratio of fermentable/unfermentable they've created and it is usually pretty unfermentable. I imagine they do whatever they need to do to extract the maximum yield, not what makes it fermentable.

For perspective 1kg of sugar (which you already know isn't as good as DME which is £6 or something) is 1.5kg/£1.50 of grain assuming 80% efficiency. 1.5kg of grain can be bunged in a mesh bag, mashed in a saucepan, sparged with a colander, whatever you want to use mostly with stuff already in a kitchen. Mini mashes, steeping grains, converting oats, the possibilities suddenly blow wide open.

I'd use whatever DME you've on hand in this kit. If you buy any more just buy as much of the lightest one you can to get a price break. Once you are sick of paying out for it please please please mash some grain. You won't look back I promise.

A partial mash using grains and a one can kit is something I did quite a lot before moving on to AG. On checking my records, it seems it was 27 times. So, I totally endorse what stz suggests.

 

[Neil1454]

If you brew this kit to 23 litres with a kilo of sugar my guess is you will be disappointed. So my suggestion is to brew short to 20 litres and then do what @Slid has suggested, or brew to 15 litres and add 500g of DME or even golden syrup, which will introduce a slight toffee taste. You could also have a go at dry hopping or adding a hop tea to this kit. I'm sure it would benefit greatly from it. 50g of Cascade might do the trick. Crossmyloof Brewery sell hops online and are usually well thought of on this forum. See here
https://www.crossmyloofbrew.co.uk

And others have done this kit as a one can and as a two can as originally sold. If you search the forum you will find a kit review somewhere I'm sure.

So if I go 20 litres. 1kg sugar and 500g DME or am I better off going 50/50 with those?
If I add hops like the 50g cascade. I just throw them in a hop bag dip in starsan.. drain and throw them into the wart at the start ? or just throw in loose?

I'll use the gervin yeast as thats what I have unless that would not be advisable?

thanks

 

[Neil1454]

When they say add 1kg of sugar this is what ... 16 points in 23L? Assuming a target of 4.5% abv with 80% attenuation ... then an SG of 43. This is a crazy amount of straight sugar, like 37% total extract? I've made beer kits like that in the past and while I knew no different at the time I definitely would like to think I know the difference now! 6-7% sugar is about the upper limit for me before it becomes detectable.

Whatever DME you use will be way better than that. I always bulk bought the lightest one because all of them are darker than you want really and it has the most utility. Even back when it was quite cheap in bulk it was expensive, the prices seem ludicrous now and I'd urge any brewer to get into mashing grain. The other downside of DME is you accept whatever ratio of fermentable/unfermentable they've created and it is usually pretty unfermentable. I imagine they do whatever they need to do to extract the maximum yield, not what makes it fermentable.

For perspective 1kg of sugar (which you already know isn't as good as DME which is £6 or something) is 1.5kg/£1.50 of grain assuming 80% efficiency. 1.5kg of grain can be bunged in a mesh bag, mashed in a saucepan, sparged with a colander, whatever you want to use mostly with stuff already in a kitchen. Mini mashes, steeping grains, converting oats, the possibilities suddenly blow wide open.

I'd use whatever DME you've on hand in this kit. If you buy any more just buy as much of the lightest one you can to get a price break. Once you are sick of paying out for it please please please mash some grain. You won't look back I promise.

This is deffo something I will be looking into in the future. I'm really new to this so at the moment I'm just doing what allot of other people (from what I've seen) have done and just want to mix things up a bit to get a better result and then learn in the process.
I like the idea of moving onto whole grain.

 

[Slid]

Gervin yeast is fine for this sort of beer. 20L, 1kg DME, maybe 200g of sugar, and 50g of Cascade added as you suggest, after 9 days and bottling at 14 days.

 

[terrym]

@Neil1454
First, if you want to improve your home beer brewing at least steer clear of 1.5kg one cans, its false economy.

Next (unless you buy a premium kit where its supposedly all in the box), there are ways to improve basic kits without too much extra work and money
In order:-
-Extra hops, dry hopping or a hop tea
-Grain steeps, e,g crystal malt.
-Partial mashes.

Or could then have a go at extract brewing which follows the same principles as all grain but is a tad simpler.

And finally all grain.

These may be of help
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/a-newbies-guide-to-dry-hopping-your-beer.61045/
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/simple-kit-plus-mini-mash-method-to-improve-a-kit.52938/
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/a-simple-guide-to-extract-brewing.75501/

There are plenty of links for AG, I'm sure others will be only too pleased to provide.

We all ultimately choose what suits us best, mostly driven by time, money, ambition, and available resources.

 

[Neil1454]

Gervin yeast is fine for this sort of beer. 20L, 1kg DME, maybe 200g of sugar, and 50g of Cascade added as you suggest, after 9 days and bottling at 14 days.

Ok. I'm going to give this ago. Thanks to all that have replied :)
The cascade is added at the start or 9 days in ? And no harm just throwing them in rather than bagging ?

Thanks

 

[Pavros]

Add the dry hops after the main fermentation is coming to an end - after 9 days will be fine. I just throw them into the fv. They will form a green 'crust' on the top of the beer but this will drop to the bottom of the fv after about 5 days.

If you want to encourage it to drop, you can cold crash the fv for a day before you bottle the beer. I usually leave the fv overnight on the concrete floor in my garage.

 

[terrym]

@Neil1454
+1 on what @Pavros has said
If you chuck the pellets in without a bag you will need to filter out hop bits, since they don't all sink to the bottom, in spite of cold crashes, time and occasional rapping of the FV wall which is what I do .
I really do suggest you read this if you intend to dry hop.
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/a-newbies-guide-to-dry-hopping-your-beer.61045/
Other guides may be available
I use a small nylon mesh sock over the end of my siphon tube trap and that works fine for me.

 

[Neil1454]

Going to put in the 50g of cascade today as everything has calmed down fermentation wise.
Will a 19cmx20cm nylon hop bag be enough for the hops to do their thing?

Just put them in and forget till bottling day right?

Thanks

 

[terrym]

Going to put in the 50g of cascade today as everything has calmed down fermentation wise.
Will a 19cmx20cm nylon hop bag be enough for the hops to do their thing?

Just put them in and forget till bottling day right?

Thanks

Should be, I reckon thats just about big enough.
Boil the bag for a minute or two to sterilise. Suggest you use four or five heavy SS spoons to weight the bag down as well to stop it floating. If you do, you need to sterilise/sanitise those too. Then add the hops and make sure the knot is good. Lower into beer. Bag may float for a while but should drop later if the weights are heavy enough.
Job done.
Then leave it alone for 5/6 days or so up to bottling day.
I usually leave it at fermenting temerature for the first few days then move it to a cold place for the last 2 days to finish dropping the yeast.

 

[Neil1454]

Hi,

Moving it to a cold place cleared it a bit but not as much as I'd of liked.
The hop pellets have really clouded and changed the colour of the beer.
I used a hop mesh bag but allot of the fine pellet bits escaped. I'm assuming with pellets this is normal.

Just now wondering if I can use anything that is going to make a difference to clear it?

Heard about Irish moss but is this only used when boiling ?

Thanks

 

[Pavros]

I think you need to use finings specifically for clearing rather than Irish Moss, something like BeerBrite or Kwikclear.

Or make sure that you transfer as little as possible when bottling. I use a small mesh bag over the end of my siphon tube.

Or, given enough time, most of it will settle at the bottom of the bottle.

 

[terrym]

I used a hop mesh bag but allot of the fine pellet bits escaped. I'm assuming with pellets this is normal.
Just now wondering if I can use anything that is going to make a difference to clear it?

I'm afraid it's not normal. The whole point of using a hop bag is that it contains the hop bits and stops them getting in the beer. So unless you didn't secure the bag knot properly or the mesh size on the bag is too big, loss of hops from the bag shouldn't have happened.
However, since you say you have already had the beer in a cold place and its not helped and you still have some hop bits free in your beer your options are
- filter them out at packaging, you can do this if you have a siphon by putting a sanitised end off a pair of nylons over the cane assuming you don't have another mesh bag or sock to do the same, although I'm not sure what you do if you have a tap on the FV
- use some finings, gelatin is readily available, but you might gets clumps of gelatin floating about inside the bottles instead like I have had, which is why I don't bother with finings
- or simply put up with a few bits in your beer which given time may well settle to the bottom of the bottle along with the residual yeast