Woodfordes Wherry Review

[trummy]

I have brewed a Werry and a Wilkos kit which I understand is a badged Werry. The first Werry was ok but nothing special, the Wilko kit I think must have stuck as it was 3.7 and tasted like it! I would not bother with the kit again but a friend has given me one - best before 2012! I have replaced the yeast with a packet of Gervin - sprinkled that on the made up kit in the morning, working like a trooper by the evening - will see how this turns out

 

[BeerisGOD]

I have brewed a Werry and a Wilkos kit which I understand is a badged Werry. The first Werry was ok but nothing special, the Wilko kit I think must have stuck as it was 3.7 and tasted like it! I would not bother with the kit again but a friend has given me one - best before 2012! I have replaced the yeast with a packet of Gervin - sprinkled that on the made up kit in the morning, working like a trooper by the evening - will see how this turns out

Wish I had friends that handed out kits..Mind you I'd need some first (smallest violin plays)

 

[trummy]

I think he is expecting a few bottles!

 

[trummy]

Its been in the FV -final og 1017 started 1041 making less than 3% ABV - this was with Gervin yeast - have given it another good stir (I always stir well before pitching anyway)( Some say I am a good stirrer!) What puzzles me is the beer does not taste sweet - which I would have expected - Anyone any words of wisdom?

Cheers

 

[Tanzanite]

Its been in the FV -final og 1017 started 1041 making less than 3% ABV - this was with Gervin yeast - have given it another good stir (I always stir well before pitching anyway)( Some say I am a good stirrer!) What puzzles me is the beer does not taste sweet - which I would have expected - Anyone any words of wisdom?

Cheers

You have been diddled i am not a seeker of ABV a 4% bitter or lager is nice, i make woodfords regular , got a Nelson going at the mo, love the wherry but at 3% i would be contacting the makers, i noticed the last wherry kit i made was a bit thin are they cutting costs on the quality of the malt , i dont know,? the next wherry i make i am going to add 500g of amber spray malt and 30g of EKG hops

 

[terrym]

Its been in the FV -final og 1017 started 1041 making less than 3% ABV - this was with Gervin yeast - have given it another good stir (I always stir well before pitching anyway)( Some say I am a good stirrer!) What puzzles me is the beer does not taste sweet - which I would have expected - Anyone any words of wisdom?

Cheers

I have managed to restart two brews recently by moving them into a warmer place. You could try that. Anything up to about 23*C should be OK.

 

[trummy]

Thanks for the advice. I have put the FV on a tray heater for a bit and also added a few spoons of brewing sugar - A few bubbles have appeared on the brew. I will see how it goes, if i can get the og down to around 1.010 I will be happy! Will post on the final result.

 

[Tanzanite]

Thanks for the advice. I have put the FV on a tray heater for a bit and also added a few spoons of brewing sugar - A few bubbles have appeared on the brew. I will see how it goes, if i can get the og down to around 1.010 I will be happy! Will post on the final result.

For the sake of a quid, throw a wilkos nottingham ale yeast in and keep it warm:thumb:

 

[BeerisGOD]

definitely better than the commercial bottle/pub imo. give it a month to condition or longer and you wont be dissipointed

 

[Jon75]

I definitely agree with giving this a month or longer. I am just finishing my final bottle of this after a good few months and it is a very nice pint. Even though I've since moved on to extract and got everything ready for my first bbiab, I will do this kit again.

 

[BeerisGOD]

Yes jon75. It's a kit I'll still do. Good luck with biab. There's plenty of info on here. Can't wait to do myn sat.actually UV just reminded me I've got to calculate the recipe for an 11 litre batch.

 

[Jon75]

I've just added a brew day thread about how I got on with that biab.

As for the Wherry, I should mention that a few weeks ago I gave a friend at work a bottle of this along with a bottle of extract Sarah Hughes Dark Ruby Mild which I think is probably the best brew I have done so far. My colleague actually slightly preferred the Wherry.

 

[trummy]

Hi All
Well I have bottled half my 2012 bbe Werry - I got it going by giving it a stir and adding a dose of brewing sugar and sticking it on a tray heater - that worked - It then stopped again so I added more sugar off it went again. It dropped to 1010 so I have primed it and bottled it. The priming sugar certainly set it off again. So does it stick because it is light on fermentable sugars? For a BBE 2012 kit it tastes ok and its been in the FV for 5 weeks needs to clear now and then I can drink the dammed stuff!

 

[Clint]

It could stall for a number of reasons...low temps ,dead yeast,not enough yeast..my John bull ipa stalled and I did the same..stirred it added a bit more sugar and heated it up..I settled for 1014 as I'd made it up with malt extract but only primed with around 50g on advice on kegging incase it started again. It's been kegged about 6 weeks and is very nice now. ..as I am about to confirm!

Cheers

Clint

 

[BeerisGOD]

It could stall for a number of reasons...low temps ,dead yeast,not enough yeast..my John bull ipa stalled and I did the same..stirred it added a bit more sugar and heated it up..I settled for 1014 as I'd made it up with malt extract but only primed with around 50g on advice on kegging incase it started again. It's been kegged about 6 weeks and is very nice now. ..as I am about to confirm!

Cheers

Clint

Hi Clint
Where do u get the John bull IPA kit? Thinking of a partial mash
Cheers

 

[BeerisGOD]

Never thought wilkos would bump this kit up past the twenty quid mark. In fact looking at a few others I've noticed u can get cheaper at other brew stores. If u can get to them up avoid the postage.
I guess they're noticing an increase in sales. Shame

 

[Clint]

JB kit was a Christmas present.

 

[Sandimas]

I'm currently drinking a pint of Wherry and have concluded that this is one of the best-tasting kits out there.

Background - I'm a longish-term homebrewer, 124 brew under my belt in 6 years, moving from kit to extract to all grain. I occasionally pick up a Wherry when on offer and tweak it with some hops and/or grains, as I don't always have time for AG brews.

Last time, I just did it as standard with no tweaks: the only thing wrong with the kit is the measly packet of yeast (hence many people getting stuck brews) so I replaced it with a standard 12g packet, it's been bottle-conditioning for 10 weeks and it's absolutely cracking. No more tweaking from me.

 

[trummy]

Woodfordes Wherry Review -small yeast packet size causing stuck fermentation - not convinced about that!
1) Muntons are not idiots - If it was due to the size of the yeast packet they would increase it
2) The kit I made I bought a good size packet of yeast and it still stuck - the only way I could get it going was to add more suger

 

[terrym]

Woodfordes Wherry Review -small yeast packet size causing stuck fermentation - not convinced about that!
1) Muntons are not idiots - If it was due to the size of the yeast packet they would increase it
2) The kit I made I bought a good size packet of yeast and it still stuck - the only way I could get it going was to add more suger

Congratulations. :thumb:
To my knowledge I believe you are the first person on here to suggest that the 6g packet of yeast may not be responsible for stuck fermentations on Wherries and similar Muntons kits, in spite of what seems to be much anecdotal evidence to the contrary.
And although many on here would disagree with your views on this, most would, I feel sure, agree that Muntons are not idiots at all, they are very successful at what they do.