Wilko's Hoppy Copper Bitter

[Brewbob]

So I got my brew on last night, all was going well, but I think I stirred a bit vigorously when I pitched my yeast, I saw clumps sinking, and this morning there was very little action. So I went and bought some Safale-05, pitched that at about 11am this morning, and now I'm looking there is a nice krausen forming and a goodly bit of condensation on the lid, and if you breathe heavily on it the bubbles fire away in the air-lock (I've kept it all sealed), so all seems to be going well. OG was 1044 @ 21C, so lets see what happens....

 

[jasea3632]

made this up 'as is' with 1 kg of wilkos brewing sugar, fermented for 2 wks then transferred to king keg and primed left for a aday and taste tested seemed a reasonable pint but after 2 weeks in the keg i have perfect clarity and good head retention all in all a very pleasing session bitter for the price (i got it all for 8 quid) people on here saying it lacks body and is a bit thin but you get what you pay for and i will defo use this again

 

[Brewbob]

Yeah, mine's been in the PB for a week in the warm, had a try today, and it is acceptable, once I get it in the cool and let it mature a bit I'm sure it'll be very nice, especially for £8. A quick and easy pint to make

 

[redhousebrewing]

Another Hoppy Copper started here today.
1kg brewers sugar (free with the kit) + 500g brew enhancer, rehydrated yeast, tsp tom puree for yeast nutrient, 1/2 campden tablet, tap water.
22 litres with a corrected SG of 1042.
Quite a malty aroma from the can - Interested to see how this goes.

Stuart

 

[Rucky]

Hi All,

Am a relative newb to home brewing. Have done a couple of the Festival kits which have turned out great. A couple of people have mentioned above the possibility of getting two of these Wilko one-can kits and just brewing them up as if they were a single, two-can kit. Admittedly from a position of ignorance this seems like a good idea to me - shoukd think it would give it more body than adding DME. Is there any particular reason why it wouldn't work? The price isn't the issue - besides, by the time you've bought DME to ramp it up a bit it's barely any cheaper than buying two of the kits. Any thoughts on whether this would make a decent pint?

All the best,

Rucky.

 

[Speccy]

Hi Rucky. The problem there would be that a single-can kit contains enough hop bitterness for a full 23-litre brew. Put two single-can kits into one brew and you'll have twice the bitterness you need. Ugh. Better to stick with one can and add DME, liquid malt extract, sugar or some combination of the three.

 

[kentmark]

Another trick is to brew the kit short by a few litres. I tend to brew to 20l myself. Strength (both in abv and taste) seems improved.

 

[Rucky]

Hi Rucky. The problem there would be that a single-can kit contains enough hop bitterness for a full 23-litre brew. Put two single-can kits into one brew and you'll have twice the bitterness you need. Ugh. Better to stick with one can and add DME, liquid malt extract, sugar or some combination of the three.

Ahh, I see. Thanks mate. Makes sense now.

As for liquid malt extract, I'd never really thought of using this (rather than DME). Is one or the other considered superior to the other? I'd imagine LME was better than DME. However, because LME is obviously part water and DME isn't, do you have to use more LME for any given recipe than you do DME? How would you work out how much of each you need?

Thanks,

Rucky.

 

[bananabread13]

I just set this brew up today. It's my first ever brew and I'm a bit worried about a few things. I finished it about 6 hours ago now, and not much has happened really. I don't have a proper airlock, so I've covered the hole in the top of my fermentation vessel (I'm using Wilko's screw top fermentation bin that has a hole for a bung in it), so I can't tell using the airlock bubbles. But peering through the hole, I can't see much going on. I assume the ring I'm looking for is around the edge, but there doesn't seem to be much of one yet, and there's no foam at all.

I bough a hydrometer, but I didn't realise I needed a test jar to go with it, so I until I get one over the next few days, I'll just have to wait to test it.

I used the kit as advised, made it up to 23 litres and added 1kg Wilko Brewing Sugar.

Hopefully it'll turn out ok. Just with no real experience, I'm not sure what to expect in this early fermentation!

Thanks!

 

[kentmark]

I know there are mixed thoughts on this but you could just drop the hydrometer into the fv. I've been doing that with no problems and is much less hassle!

 

[Brewbob]

I've always done that. Pour boiling water all over a clean hydrometer and lower gently into the brew, never lost a brew yet

 

[bananabread13]

Ok. I'll try doing that then, seems safe enough. There appears to be some light foam appearing now. Nothing major, just a light layer of froth. So seems to be working. Hydrometer reading will prove for sure in a few days.

 

[Brewbob]

When did you get your brew on? Leave it for at least 2wks. Don't even crack the seal. As long as your sterilisation is sound let the yeast and sugar do their thing. After 2wks get your next vessel sterilised and ready and check gravity, if it 1010ish proceed, if it 1015 or higher agitate the brew gently and leave another week. Messing about with a brew is a sure fire way to introduce nasties, also it lets out the protective CO2 layer, whereas after a couple of weeks a decent %age of alcohol will have fermented further protecting your precious brew. Patience is key. You'll find that a lot on this site and it is very sound advice

EDIT - Oh, just read your 1st post. Don't worry, unless you're up now and reading this, by the time you do there should be the start of a krausen forming. It will happen, sometimes it will take 24-36hrs, sometimes it will bubble over your vessel, or it might just be a couple of inches, but it'll be fine. Keep calm and have a brew

 

[Kyle_T]

I did this brew earlier this year and made a post back then, just had a read through of all he posts since and I can safely say it was a very enjoyable drink from bottle conditioning but I found it a real struggle to drink from the keg.

That may be due to being impatient and uninformed of what I was doing at the time, that and being a beginner in the hobby, however, I left six bottles alone for a few months and entered 3 in The Spring Thing competition and for a bog standard kit it gained a respectable 3rd place and a rosette in its category from the judges.

The length of time in the bottle transformed it into a lovely, hoppy summer beer. I do believe I still have one bottle knocking around that is nearly six months old. I might have to crack it open soon and see what she's like.

Overall it was a very pleasant beer to drink, a nice malty nose, good head retention, not to bitter, lovely colour with a good hop aroma.

A definite thumbs up from me for a budding kit brewer.

Kyle_T

 

[iceo]

its a sad day that a brew has to go down the drain but mine will be no more in the morning after a mess up with my cleaning (bleach based cleaner) and added hop tea i now have many bottles of lovely clear beer that tastes like tcp

 

[Rompy]

Hello,

Bought my can of hoppy copper today along with equipment, it will be my first homebrew!

Any advice for sugar addition? I've been reading on here that alot of people have been adding enhancers and DME for extra body etc, which I'd prefer (I was hoping for quite a full-bodied bitter).

Cheers,
R.

 

[Ravabelli]

I've made this up per instructions apart from an extra kilo of light spray malt. Wanted a bit more body.

Came out a tad under 6%.

Kegged it and it tastes pretty good but won't clear after 2 weeks. Great head retention though - maybe connected? ;-)

Not too bothered as tastes good but I'll have to tell next weeks Czech visitors that it's supposed to be like that...

 

[glendragon]

short brewed 20ltr my first copper bitter last week with no frills just as it stated on the tin and with wilkos brewing sugar but had no bubbling and very little gas burping off, been brewing for two years with many kits this is the first not to burp but the hydrometer readings were dropping just fine, bottled and warm stored for two days then chilled two days and already I am very impressed at such a cheap single tin kit, now going back for more and may try my first hoppy tea mix see how things go, if anyone has any tips on this brew please feel free to share as I am now starting to experiment with these cheap kits. happy brewing:thumb: