Wilko's Sweet Newkie Brown

[ClownPrince]

Hi Guys,

I gave this kit a go as my first attempt at homebrewing before christmas, following the provided instructions and using my less than adequate equipment and while I wasn't disappointed with the results (it at least resembled Newcastle Brown) I look back on it of an amateurish brew now.

So I'm going to be revisiting this kit when my next payday rolls around. My plan being to acquire some higher quality yeast and use two cans of kit with a jar of locally sourced honey and forgo the sugar/brew enhancer/spraymalt that I used first time around.

While I'm much more competent now than when I started brewing, this plan represents a significant leap in my development as a homebrewer, so I'll be keeping you all informed as to how it goes, but in the meantime if anyone wants to offer advice (particularly pertaining to which yeast to use and how to use the honey) it will be much appreciated.

 

[Andysbrew]

I have one of these kits in the cupboard which I bought in the recent sale. I am planning on brewing short to 20 litres and using 500g dark spraymalt and 500g table sugar. Should turn out reasonable.

:pray:

 

[Lesinge]

I brewed this with 1kg of Muntons beer enhancer and it came out at 1042 og but seems I forgot to do final gravity but it would probably be around the 1012 Mark so about 4% no added sugar. This beer quite quickly had really good carbonation, with a head that lasted all the way down and the taste was nice, more like a mild than a brown ale, lacking that nutty taste you get with the Muntons connoisseurs nutty brown ale which is a lovely beer for a one can kit. So nice easy session beer, but lacks the depth and after taste (had a slight powdery aftertaste at first) that would make this a really good beer. On the other hand, with a deal this is less than a tenner and at that price is worth knocking up for a session with your mates.

 

[devexwarrior]

I put this on just now brewed to 19L with 1Kg of Brewing Sugar and a 680g jar of golden syrup. OG is 1053. Looks a lovely colour. I'll give it the full two weeks in the brew fridge and see how it goes.

 

[Lesinge]

I put this on just now brewed to 19L with 1Kg of Brewing Sugar and a 680g jar of golden syrup. OG is 1053. Looks a lovely colour. I'll give it the full two weeks in the brew fridge and see how it goes.

Really interested to see how it goes with the syrup, wondered if black syrup would be good too.

 

[marktyson]

I just made one of these four days ago. I used 500g of brown sugar plus about a kilo of raspberries boiled with some sugar as the 'fuel'. The krausen has reduced now, it smells a very nice beery/raspberry concoction. I'm a bit worried by mould, which often seems to attack raspberries left around at this time of year, but hopefully the yeast will beat any mould to consuming the sugars. Has anyone else mixed their garden fruits in beer kits?

 

[Slid]

I just made one of these four days ago. I used 500g of brown sugar plus about a kilo of raspberries boiled with some sugar as the 'fuel'. The krausen has reduced now, it smells a very nice beery/raspberry concoction. I'm a bit worried by mould, which often seems to attack raspberries left around at this time of year, but hopefully the yeast will beat any mould to consuming the sugars. Has anyone else mixed their garden fruits in beer kits?

Oh, yes, on the Coopers website you can find a recipe for a "blushing blonde" lager that uses this theme - raspberries will be very good for this as they have such an excellent aroma.

The yeast on the raspberries will be killed in the boiling process for sure. Since you used a kilo there may be some cloudiness due to the pectin in these fruits - pectin is the thing that makes jam set. You can get pectin destroying enzyme from the LHBS, but since its a mash-up kit why bother? :-D

 

[marktyson]

Oh, yes, on the Coopers website you can find a recipe for a "blushing blonde" lager that uses this theme - raspberries will be very good for this as they have such an excellent aroma.

The yeast on the raspberries will be killed in the boiling process for sure. Since you used a kilo there may be some cloudiness due to the pectin in these fruits - pectin is the thing that makes jam set. You can get pectin destroying enzyme from the LHBS, but since its a mash-up kit why bother? :-D

Thanks for pointing that out Slid, I will take a gander at the Cooper's site. When my beer is ready I will do an update here too.

 

[devexwarrior]

Just checked on mine and it is down to 1008 giving 6.3%. Very healthy.Will be bottling it on Monday or tuesday

 

[devexwarrior]

Having given mine a week of warm conditioning I thought I'd try a sneaky one. Definitely not ready yet but still very very good. You get a hit of sweet on the tongue then a lovely slightly bitter middle with a distinct liquorice flavour and a long warming finish. Real potential if I can keep my mitts off it long enough.

 

[Szabster]

This is my very first brew and right now happily bubbling away in the FV. Not knowing anything about homebrewing, I more or less followed the instructions. I brewed it to 23L, 500g beer enhancer, 500g brown cane sugar and a few tablespoons of Honey. All I can do is crossing my fingers and wait. Hopefully it will turn out nice. :)

 

[devexwarrior]

I've had two of these 'foam' badly on opening. They weren't chilled and were in recycled flip tops. Interestingly both tasted ok (what I managed to salvage) but had some extra debris in the bottom making me wonder if something nasty was growing in there.

 

[marktyson]

The raspberry brew was so good in sampling that its... erm... nearly all gone!
I started with a plum version as we started to get overrun with these fruits from our trees recently. That was made with 1.5Kg of plums, 300g of brown sugar and the single can Newkie Brown kit. Brewed to 20L. That was bottled a couple of weeks back and we have sampled one bottle and it is also very good.
However this plum one isn't so fragrant. In fact you wouldn't know it was made with the plums really. But at least it isn't cidery like if you use a kilo of regular sugar with some brews...
Overall I am happy with this Newkie Brown for fiddling with, I wonder what it's like if I just brewed it straight?!?