Wilko's Own Brand Cerveza.

[xdaver]

I just read my first post in this thread I started and would like to say I've learned alot from this forum and with experience.
All my beers/lagers are in the fermentor for about two weeks now and in the warm for about that aswell before being moved to the shed, this helps alot with the final beer.
I still make the cerveza for the mrs, that and the light delicate pilsner which has less flavour but she really enjoys (shes not a fan of hoppy ales).

 

[Ashley]

4.5% percent. Im happy at that!!!!

 

[Featherhat]

Got to say I'm pretty impressed with this one. I used a beer kit enhancer, also from wilko, in place if sugar. Bottled after a week and started drinking after a fortnight in the garage. If it does get better with time then I'll be well pleased 'cause it's not too shabby now.

 

[bristolsparks]

Does this clear after bottling? I left in FV for around 14 days then bottled today.
This is what it looks like

 

[DoctorMick]

Does this clear after bottling? I left in FV for around 14 days then bottled today.
This is what it looks like

Mine cleared in a couple of days, wasn't that cloudy to start with but I did leave it in the cold for a few days before bottling.

 

[Ashley]

Does this clear after bottling? I left in FV for around 14 days then bottled today.
This is what it looks like

I took a look at mine after a week and it was pretty clear but i havent tried one yet...

 

[greyman]

I read recently that by adding 1 litre of coca cola to a cerveza brew it would result in a slight aftertaste of caramel and vanilla. The cerveza has turned out OK but with no c and van aftertaste. Has anyone tried this and how did it work out? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[simoncrouch]

Sorry to resurrect an old thread but I have given this a go and after 2 weeks of seeing little to no action from my FV I took a reading and I am now at 1.01, which was a most pleasant surprise as thought it wasn't doing much.

Problem I have is I've brewed to 23l with 1kg of sugar and 500g of Light Spray Malt and my OG was 1.032 which seems very low. Looking at others on here it looks like it should have been around 1.044 and my original reading was probably incorrect (newbie error). Am I right in thinking that if others had brewed with the same as me then my OG would be around the same ? On my calcs I have got a rather whispy less than 3% brew while I actually could have something that more resembles 4.5%

Sorry if this all sounds a bit crud but this is my first kit in about 8 years and wanting to start off on a good grounding.

 

[TheFerret]

Was going to give this a go next but was thinking brewing a little short and also adding a couple of ltrs of lemonade at the brewing stage to give it that extra Mexican feel... Or do you think at the conditioning stage?

 

[Slid]

If you want to add some lemonade, I would suggest doing so by adding a "top" up when you eventually serve it. Adding before then is questionable as there may be preservatives in the lemonade that hinder fermentation in primary or secondary. Also, the lemonade added at the end will impart more taste and carbonation.

 

[Slid]

Problem I have is I've brewed to 23l with 1kg of sugar and 500g of Light Spray Malt and my OG was 1.032 which seems very low. Looking at others on here it looks like it should have been around 1.044 and my original reading was probably incorrect (newbie error)

I don't believe the quoted OG - the beer you are brewing will be 4.5% plus, no worries. Priming sugar adds a few decimal points to the ABV also.

 

[LarryF]

SWMBO bought me one of these kits as a late Valentines pressie so I'm putting it on this coming weekend. I'm thinking of 1kg of Youngs beer enhancer, 250g light brown sugar, I have a spare packet of Wilko yeast from another kit so I'm going to chuck both in with a tspoon of yeast enhancer. I'm debating about 10-15g of Aramis hops boiled for 20 mins prior to pitching the yeast. I'm looking for a nice summer lager with a hint of a kick and a hint of hop and I'm hoping that this will do it. What I am wondering is about priming it, I've seen on the thread that 3/4 tspoon of sugar gives just the right carbonation but as luck would have it I have 1/4, 1/2, and tspoon measures, so it's down the pound shops to see if any do a 3/4 tspoon I can buy cheap, unless anyone thinks it'd be ok with a full tspoon to carbonate.

 

[simoncrouch]

I don't believe the quoted OG - the beer you are brewing will be 4.5% plus, no worries. Priming sugar adds a few decimal points to the ABV also.

That's great to hear. After 2 weeks in primary, 2 weeks in secondary and then just 10 days ago bottled with 1 tsp of sugar it is starting to look lovely and clear. Slight excess of beer to bottles means I have about 850ml in a 1l pet which seems to be firming nicely, another couple of days and i'll crash it in a fridge. Looking forward to a drop in a couple of weeks.

 

[Slid]

SWMBO bought me one of these kits as a late Valentines pressie so I'm putting it on this coming weekend. I'm thinking of 1kg of Youngs beer enhancer, 250g light brown sugar, I have a spare packet of Wilko yeast from another kit so I'm going to chuck both in with a tspoon of yeast enhancer. I'm debating about 10-15g of Aramis hops boiled for 20 mins prior to pitching the yeast. I'm looking for a nice summer lager with a hint of a kick and a hint of hop and I'm hoping that this will do it. What I am wondering is about priming it, I've seen on the thread that 3/4 tspoon of sugar gives just the right carbonation but as luck would have it I have 1/4, 1/2, and tspoon measures, so it's down the pound shops to see if any do a 3/4 tspoon I can buy cheap, unless anyone thinks it'd be ok with a full tspoon to carbonate.

The plan with the hop thing sounds good to me.

As a suggestion, most brewers would use more aroma hops (like Aramis)and boil for more like 5 mins. If you reduce them down to near powder in a food processor, you can just chuck the whole lot in the fermenter. Used this approach a few times myself and it works well.

Since 1/4 plus 1/2 gives you 3/4, you could line the bottles up and fill systematically with 1/2, then repeat with 1/4. I would be tempted to just guess 3/4 off a full spoon myself

 

[Schnapps In Derby]

Wilko's cerveza - I'm new to brewing and have so far tried a Cooper's Australian and A Simply Lager - both were absolutely rank, which has probably been due to using ordinary sugar or not watching the temp. I like a light lager so thought I'd try the cerveza. I followed the advice on here - half brew sugar, half spray malt and kept the temp strictly between 18 -20 degrees.
The brew is only 3 days in bottles but tastes fantastic already - very crisp and clean-tasting (unlike the previous brews, which just tasted of chemicals) and a pale golden colour.
I actually got the amount of water wrong and ended up with 44 pints instead of 40, but this doesn't seem to have left it with a weak taste. Either that, or I just like pissy lager :). My father in law, who is a retired Marston's brewer, calls it b*ll*ckwash!
Ive just noticed on this thread that people have used a full kg of brewing sugar with 500g spraymalt. I used the malt but only 500g sugar - the taste is great but would the extra sugar make a stronger brew without affecting the taste? I don't won't to muck about when I've finally found a lager kit I like. Would appreciate your thoughts.


This kit is the future!

 

[Ashley]

This is the only lager i did. I made to 40 pints and used a kilo of LME and 500g brewing sugar. While it was o.k. i wont make it again. I only made it for a home brew party for lager drinking friends but they all drank the turbo cider and the real ale. Adding more sugar might make it a bit more watery hence using LME keeps the body and mouthfeel up. 😉

However, if you like it the way you made it but want it to be a bit stronger then you could reduce the amount of water you use in it. That will up the flavour AND the volume...

 

[simoncrouch]

Cracked open my first bottle of this yesterday, has a bit of a homebrew tang to it. Overall crystal clear and quite drinkable.

 

[Schnapps In Derby]

Thanks for the responses all.
Almost three weeks in the bottle now - it is improving but its hard to tell as I keep drinking it! It was fizzy, light and clean from the word go but the flavour is deepening nicely. Nohome brew tang at all - tasting just like a cerveza and even quite close to a Carlsberg. A very faint hint of bitter to it - I might have liked it slightly sweeter.

A couple of interesting points... 2 bottles have reeked of home brew and were thrown. Infection?
A couple of bottles haven't carbonated although the taste is fine - I think this may be because I primed with brewing sugar, as I ran out of granulated. Make any sense?

Im definitely brewing this from now on!

 

[Ashley]

Thanks for the responses all.
Almost three weeks in the bottle now - it is improving but its hard to tell as I keep drinking it! It was fizzy, light and clean from the word go but the flavour is deepening nicely. Nohome brew tang at all - tasting just like a cerveza and even quite close to a Carlsberg. A very faint hint of bitter to it - I might have liked it slightly sweeter.

A couple of interesting points... 2 bottles have reeked of home brew and were thrown. Infection?
A couple of bottles haven't carbonated although the taste is fine - I think this may be because I primed with brewing sugar, as I ran out of granulated. Make any sense?

Im definitely brewing this from now on!

you shouldnt get any difference in priming between the two sugars. If anything granulated sugar will take longer to prime because the yeast has to break it down into fermentable sugar where as brewing sugar is already fermentable and available for the yeast to eat straight away...

 

[Slawek]

Hello everyone. This is my first post here and I just started my first homebrew experience with Wilko Cerveza kit. I've done everything as per instructions and I added 1kg of beer enhancer. It started to bubble within about 5-6 hours and then slowed down after 2 days in temperature around 20-21C. This is now nearly 12 days in FV and still bubbling and I am hoping it will be ready for the weekend. I took the reading 4 days ago and it was 1010 ( initial 1034) so I think it still should go down. The bubbles comes very slowly, I would say every 10 minutes, do I need to wait until it stops completely or can I bottle it when the reading reaches 1006 ?