Wilko Sweet Newkie Brown

[LarryF]

I was bought this kit as a present so I thought I'd have a crack at it and see what I could do with it.

Wilko Sweet Newkie Brown
Brewed 23L -15/02/15
1kg Youngs brew enhancer
250g light brown sugar
25g Aramis hops boiled for 20 mins
11g Wilko Gervin yeast
Dry hopped 10g Aramais hops for four days
13 days in FV at 21c, SG of 1010 for three days running
OG:1040
FG:1010
bottled with 3/4 tspoon light brown sugar
I'm hoping for about 4.5% or there abouts.

Had a taste when I tested the SG and for a kit I probably wouldn't have bought myself I'm really pleased with it and I'm looking forward to trying a first bottle in a month or so to see how it's doing. I will post again when I have my first taste and then a month after that to complete the review.

 

[LarryF]

This has had two weeks in the warm now and a week in the shed so I tried a bottle last night. It had a good head to start with but it didn't last but being Newkie Brown Ale I didn't expect it to. There was a HB twang but it is still very young, underneath this is quite a nice ale with a malty sweetness that I think will come into its own in another six to eight weeks.

 

[remaerd]

i made this with spray malt meduim , plus 1kg brew suger came out at 6.% for xmas , plus fuggles hops, dry hopped for 3 days, put in barrel it was ok . I thought it would be better tasted . The head on it was the same as yours . going to try again , but will give your recipe a go :grin:

 

[LarryF]

i made this with spray malt meduim , plus 1kg brew suger came out at 6.% for xmas , plus fuggles hops, dry hopped for 3 days, put in barrel it was ok . I thought it would be better tasted . The head on it was the same as yours . going to try again , but will give your recipe a go :grin:

remaered, I must admit whilst I do think this is going to be ok as you said, I think it will only ever be ok. I do have soft spot for Newkie Brown I used to drink it when I used to go a reggae club back in the eighties, I could load up my Levi's jacket (A Levi's jacket that hasn't fitted me for 20 years now) with bottles and not have to go back to the bar. As this kit was bought as a present for me I gave it my best shot but truth be told if I was going to spend the money I'd buy a Coopers English Bitter over this. I did a Coopers English bitter with 1kg of beer enhancer and 454g of Lyons Golden Syrup and then dry hopped with 20g of Aramis hops five days before bottling. It was my second brew so I must admit when I got an OG of 1050 I freaked out a bit having read that 1050 was too high so I drained 2L or wort and replaced it with 2L of water. Anyway, it eventually came out at just over 6% and it's a cracking beer. I bottled it on 08/02/15 and I'm really having a hard time leaving it alone. Having only started brewing in January this year my Coopers English Bitter is my show off beer, well it was until my stock of them started dwindling. I know I shouldn't but I have a feeling there'll be three or four bottles going in the fridge tonight for when I get home from work tomorrow. Good luck remaered with whatever you choose to do, I will be updating this review again at the 2 month and finally again at the four month mark, maybe wait for those before committing the money to doing this one again, Cheers.

 

[remaerd]

:clap: thanks for your reply larry f , will take everything you say on board. will let you know in the near future how it goes, and i might try your coopers bitter :p in the summer ,as i am still drinking stout at this time and have some pilzner on ferm.Hang on to your levi jacket , brings back good memories ha ha see yer mate .Dave.

 

[LarryF]

This is near enough at the two month mark since I bottled this and I thought I'd update my review. I have to say it's a gorgeous drinking beer, a very nice tight head that thins out but stays in the glass all the way down. The BE has given it a nice feel in the mouth and the earthy flavours that brown ales have, have really come through nicely in this one. As of late I've been hopping all my brews but this would make me want start doing some kits as they come, maybe just bump up the ABV a tad but leave the kit flavour as it is. As I bottled this into 1L and 600ml bottles it's going a lot quicker than I'd like. I will hold a couple of bottles back and do a final review at the four month mark.

 

[LarryF]

Four months in, well, well well. Who'd have thought that this one would have come out so well, a brilliant platform for added fermentables and hops. The sweet side of the newkie brown gives it a real fullness that the beer enhancer brings out, I'm really sorry to see this one go. I never expected much from it but it delivered way beyond what I'd thought it would. Will I do it again? Not sure but for a tenner or on sale and I can bump up the ABV and hop it, I'd be very tempted to tuck one of these away at the back of the cupboard.

 

[Colonel Porter]

I brewed this with liquorice powder and star anise. I added a tin of black treacle just before bottling.

Wow. This is the best pimp of a kit I have ever done, I will be sad to drink the last bottle. Definitely not a session beer, powerful, smooth and moreish.

The black treacle provided explosive second fermentation and the beer Molatovs had to be stored outside! De-capping takes ten minutes of careful gentle persuasion.

The treacle flavours really come through with ageing.

 

[Robsparky99]

In the right corner - Newcastle Brown Ale, In the left corner - Wilko Sweet Newkie Brown

Any way... decided to buy a real NBA to taste it at the same time I tasted my HB. (It has had 6 weeks in the bottle).

Visually: the NBA is lighter and clearer than the HB, with a half creamy head that lasted. The HB was very dark (porter) with a small head that disappeared over time, no yeast that I could see so that's a result.

Smell: NBA was a caramel/nutty? note. HB MALT!

Taste: NBA again had a very subtle caramel/nutty taste with I'm guessing a medium finish(wasn't dry, but wasn't sweet). The HB was overpowered by Malt, I think it had the underlying taste of the NBA, but was just over malted. Home brew 'Twang' might have reared its ugly head also...

This leads me to thinking am I putting too much malt in the brew......

Would I buy again - Nope, I'm glad I tried it and was drinkable (vaguely resembled the NBA). But its not really my bag, on to a pilsner me thinks...
Dishing it out at work to get rid of it.


My method:
Batch size: 22Litres (slightly short)

Ingredients:
1 x can WSNB
1kg Youngs brew enhancer
100g Billingtons Molasses

Yeast:
The Crossmyloof Brewery Real Ale Yeast 10g

Water:
Tesco Ashbrook (Chilled!)

2.5 litres of previously boiled water to used to dissolve the brew enhancer and molasses. This was added to the FV along with the pre heated can + 0.5 litres of water used to swill the can.
Vigorously stirred and temperature reading taken 19C bang on! OG 1034.
Yeast left at room temp for about an hour and then pitched straight from packet (I will do a yeast starter soon...)

Put in the Brew fridge at 19.5C.

 

[Steve62]

You only gave it 6 weeks to prove itself? I've read reviews that state it tastes better than NBA after 3 months, I have 1 brew of this conditioning and i'm not going to touch it before October 7th

 

[Rog.T.B.]

I have just come back from a 6 year lay off. The Wilko Newkie Brown, I bottled 4 weeks ago is tasting very good, and would recommend it to anyone.
1 Can of malt extract
1k of Wilko brewing sugar
1 Wilko Gervin ale yeast
Brewed from S.P. 1.045 down to S.P. 1.010 bottled it with a half tea spoon of white table sugar, making 20 LT of brew. GREAT BREW!!!

 

[terrym]

I had the misfortune to have to buy a bottle of Newcastle Brown a week or so ago. It was Hobson's choice since there was no draught beer at the bar where I was.
I was never a big fan many years ago when it was supposed to be the go-to for many folks in the NE. Anyway I have to say that the recent bottle I had was truly awful. Syrupy sweet with a horrible lingering taste. It is now brewed by Heineken. There was a recent thread on here about how bad John Smiths had become, and that too is brewed by Heineken, so its not really surprising.

 

[ninja_geeze]

I have just come back from a 6 year lay off. The Wilko Newkie Brown, I bottled 4 weeks ago is tasting very good, and would recommend it to anyone.
1 Can of malt extract
1k of Wilko brewing sugar
1 Wilko Gervin ale yeast
Brewed from S.P. 1.045 down to S.P. 1.010 bottled it with a half tea spoon of white table sugar, making 20 LT of brew. GREAT BREW!!!

can you say where you got the can of malt extract from ?
our local home brew shop closed recently without a word.only have wilko and some odd bits at the range ,mail order too expensive with postage.

 

[terrym]

mail order too expensive with postage.

Mail order is the way to go if you have no LHBS.
I use The Homebrew Company. Yes you have to spend £70 to get free postage , but their prices are very good, they have a good range of stuff, forum members get 5% discount and they have occasional sales with one due around St Patricks Day.
And of course there are others online.
All thats required is to plan ahead.
So in the long term its usually cheaper to buy online if you bulk buy.

 

[Rog.T.B.]

Ninja, the can was the Wilko Newkie Brown Kit.

 

[Rog.T.B.]

Terrym, the Wilko Newkie is not in my opinion sweet at all, but everybody has different taste.

 

[Gulpitdarn]

I've been looking at brewing a Wilko Newkie after having good experience with the Wilko Winter Warmer and Milk Stout which were both very nice having brewed short at 15 litres instead of 23, I also used DME as opposed to using sugar or brewing sugar.

Problem is though, is that in between these brews I have been all grain brewing and am now a bit reluctant to go back to kits even though they still are good. Having said I brew them short at 15 lits, they still have that wateryness about them in comparison with All Grain.

I've not had a proper purchased Newcastle Brown for many months now and I wonder what my impression of it will be now?

 

[Rog.T.B.]

I am reluctant to go the all grain way as the kits I have used in the past, have been very successful with a few tweaks. But who know possibly one day.