Woodfordes Wherry Review

[Slid]

Good luck with the experiments, Redron. :p

Am making my third Saison style beer using a Wherry as the base kit.

As Saison #2 dropped to 1.003 I have high hopes for the blighter not sticking at 1.020. :hmm:

Bottled today the Wherry kit made with the belle Saison yeast - very clear and down to 1.002 or 1.003. Definite Saison taste to it. Hopefully I will get to like it!

Am drinking today a Wherry made during the warm months. It and a couple of other Wherrys made at this time stalled quite badly, carbonated in the 2L PET bottles so much the whole thing just tasted of carbonic acid. Had to leave the lids untightened overnight during the first cold spell to finally vent out the excess CO2 and only now has it turned out more or less how it should.

 

[Lesinge]

I tried Madjules' Wherry which he put in about 50g of East Kent Goldings as dry hop..wow it is great..made a really good beer much better. That is what I will do with my next one for sure.

 

[Derek1]

Stared brewing a Wherry in early May, put it in a Corny keg in early June, and started drinking it yesterday, ably assisted by two of my sons. Brewed exactly as it said on the tin. Started at 1040, ended at 1010.
I may have had a better pint at some time in the past, but I can't remember it.
My next projects were to have been brewing a proper lager using a lager yeast fermented at lager temperature and then on to all grain, but if it's possible to brew something this good from a kit, I'm not sure it's worth the effort!

 

[GHW]

Just got a wherry for Xmas. Noticed it only comes with 6g of yeast, and seeing as these seem to have a tendency to get stuck, I'm thinking of replacing it. However I don't have a lhbs, only place with any kit is wilko. They sell a gervin ale yeast (11g), but I've no idea if that's any good or suitable as a replacement for the kit yeast. Anyone got any thoughts?

I'd quite like to get it going before the new year but can't imagine i'd get any decent yeast mailed to me before then.

 

[Wolfracer]

Wherrys dry hopped with citra and cascade... mmmmm lovely. See my thread "dry hopping a wherry" for details..

 

[Hughgoldsmith]

Hi all, this is my first post here. Apart from making nettle beer, a werry kit has been my first attempt at home brew.

It has turned out very well apart from there being quite a lot of sediment in the in the bottom of the bottles. Leading to a reasonable amount of wastage on each bottle (even with careful poring).

What do you think went wrong? Not enough fermenting time, did it as per the instructions. Should I have left it for 2 weeks instead?

I have another kit ready to brew but might try dry hopping this one.

 

[Slid]

Judging from experience, I would now suggest 2 weeks in primary FV, rack to secondary FV for another week and then bottle, to get rid of most of the sediment.

I know a lot of homebrewers don't rack to secondary on principle, but the Wherry yeast does not seem to flocculate well.

 

[Hughgoldsmith]

Thanks for the advise. I will give it a go.

 

[Markdon]

Disregard instructions, its ready when its ready. Wait til its stopped bubbling and test it, if the reading is low then crack on, an extra week wont harm it.

 

[Crusty]

I'm just about to add another Wherry to my FV. Nice as it is, I'd like it to have a little more body. I know this is a very good kit which doesn't need any modifications, but I do like to tinker with things.
I was thinking of adding a bit of medium spray malt to the wort to pep it up a bit. Thoughts guys?

 

[clibit]

Adding spray malt will help to a certain extent. You could use Coopers brew enhancer 2, which contains maltodextrin, as this improves the body of your beer. Also read this..

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter20-1.html

You could also steep some crystal/caramalt, this improves body, but will also affect the flavour and sweetness of the beer. So don't use too much, 200g max I'd say. 150g safer I think.

 

[Crusty]

Adding spray malt will help to a certain extent. You could use Coopers brew enhancer 2, which contains maltodextrin, as this improves the body of your beer. Also read this..

http://www.howtobrew.com/section4/chapter20-1.html

You could also steep some crystal/caramalt, this improves body, but will also affect the flavour and sweetness of the beer. So don't use too much, 200g max I'd say. 150g safer I think.

Thanks clibit, that's an interesting read. So, if I add extra fermentatble sugar such as dextrose, that would increase the alcohol content?

 

[clibit]

Yes alcohol is sugar that has been converted to alcohol during fermentation. Dextrose and other pure sugars are 100% converted to alcohol, so adding them will increase alcohol but thin the body of the beer. Malt extract is not 100% fermentable so it provides some body. Maltodextrin is not fermentable so it adds body but not alcohol. And raises the final gravity. Another good read...

http://beerandwinejournal.com/fermentability-extract-i/

 

[Crusty]

Brilliant, thanks for that! All very interesting stuff!

 

[JamesG]

I've done this kit twice now. I also found it a bit light, so when I did it again I added 250g of spreymalt and 25g of Goldings hop pellets. I am really chuffed with the second batch. Leaving the first batch for 2 months + left it a good pint, but the beefed up version was drinking well quicker and I will definitely redo but might try a different hop such as First Gold.

 

[Crusty]

Yeah, I think I'm going to do the same - add 250gms of medium spray malt. I've got a couple of 'tea bags' of fuggles hops lying around, so I might chuck them in there too.

 

[GHW]

My wherry hasn't turned out quite how I imagined. It's certainly not citrusy like the description but it's also not unpleasant. The main thing I get from it is a lot of malty sweetness. For some reason (no idea how this can happen with a kit when followed right) but the gravity started a bit low and finished a bit high, so my abv was about 3.8%. Maybe the high finish left a lot of unfermented malt in there hence that's what I'm tasting? Not bad, not homebrew-y, but not a patch on my way to Amarillo!

 

[miiikeee101]

Bugger! I was in a bit of a rush while starting my brew this evening and I accidentally added 6 LITRES of boiling water rather than 6 pints!

That explains why I could not fathom what went wrong with my water calculations. I accidentally brewed to about 24/5L rather than 23.

I realised my error after pouring in the last bottle, but only now after re-reading teh instructions have I realised exactly what the cause was.

Will this have a serious effect? I aereoated the wort using an electric mixer and it developed a nice big head. I spread the yeast nicely... only to remember I had neglected to take a gravity reading! A quick emergency read later, I have a reading of about 10.36. Adjusting for temperature that should be about 10.38.

I added a tiny amount of brewing sugar... 82grams to be exact, as an attempt to sure the yeast did not suffer too much from the 'diluted' start.

I had to move the FV from my kitchen to my living room after this, which caused a little splashing. Will this be a problem for the yeast?

These are all ridiculous beginner errors I did not even make on my first kit last year... I am sure none of these will affect the beer (Although I am worried the extra litrage will make a weeker beer)...

 

[Slid]

I've done Wherry to 25L and added 500g table sugar with good results.

So, I would suggest calming down and just leaving it to get on with it.

If you are worried about low ABV, you could always use my plebian, sugar based approach.

Wherry is a good, solid kit, takes a fair bit of abuse on the way and still delivers a decent pint at the end.

 

[miiikeee101]

I've done Wherry to 25L and added 500g table sugar with good results.

So, I would suggest calming down and just leaving it to get on with it.

If you are worried about low ABV, you could always use my plebian, sugar based approach.

Wherry is a good, solid kit, takes a fair bit of abuse on the way and still delivers a decent pint at the end.

Don't worry I am calm, just more curious about the margin of error than fretting :)

I didn;t add anywhere near that amount of Sugar.

The FV is currently measuring at about 25*c in a 20*c room using a Raytemp Laser Thermometer (No thermometer). No activity so far - all of the 'head' from the aereation has disappeared. I'll check tomorrow evening to see if there is some activity!