Woodfordes Wherry Review

[Drunkula]

Just had a taster of my first brew (wherry kit, I split the kit in half), carbonation was spot on, clear beer only thing was there was a odd flavor which I cant but my finger on it. Ill have to have another one and get back to you.

How long's it been bottled/barrelled?

How would you describe the actual beer? I'm rubbish at doing it and remember about 6 words malty/hoppy, sweet, caramel, biscuit. Nope, that's me out.

 

[parpot]

I have done lots of Muntons kits and never had any issues!

 

[RichieBeer]

I spotted someone selling an out of date Wherry kit at my local boot fair at the weekend. The date on the cans is July 2017. I'm guessing the contents should be fine if I bin the yeast sachet that was with it and use some new yeast. I thought it's worth a try and if I manage to get 40 pints of Wherry for the £1 I paid for the kit I'll be well happy.

 

[ARTYCHOKE]

You're probably right about the tang. I suffered it with every attempt I made years ago. Thankfully, I mentioned it to the lady who, pre her retirement, ran my local home brew shop & she put me right. I'd always followed the instructions strictly before too. The solution was simple: DON'T use normal granulated sugar ! It will cost more to rectify in future brews but trust me, it makes a world of difference. I had almost given up hope before this revelation: Depending on the pint you're after, substitute brewing sugar and/or Muntons beer improver. It will take a few brews to find the balance for your own taste as eg a bitter might well become too "rich". A 50/50 is a fair starting point. Give it a go. Good luck.

 

[terrym]

You're probably right about the tang. I suffered it with every attempt I made years ago. Thankfully, I mentioned it to the lady who, pre her retirement, ran my local home brew shop & she put me right. I'd always followed the instructions strictly before too. The solution was simple: DON'T use normal granulated sugar ! It will cost more to rectify in future brews but trust me, it makes a world of difference. I had almost given up hope before this revelation: Depending on the pint you're after, substitute brewing sugar and/or Muntons beer improver. It will take a few brews to find the balance for your own taste as eg a bitter might well become too "rich". A 50/50 is a fair starting point. Give it a go. Good luck.

The Wherry kit is an all LME kit, although that does not stop homebrewers making it up with other ingredients.
Anyway there is an extensive thread about homebrew twang here
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/homebrew-twang.68929/
Borne out of experience from kits,extract brewing and partial mashes my personal favourite is LME whether it be old or cheap and the darker it is the more likely it is is to occur. And Muntons kits are especially prone to it in my experience.

 

[tiny dragon]

I've made Muntons IPA and Cwtch. Both came out very good without temperature control. I have not noticed this twang people talk about. I store my bottles at 9-12 °C after conditioning. Got a Wherry kit that I will brew soon.

 

[Drunkula]

DON'T use normal granulated sugar

I'm not disputing it with a kit yet, but it definitely doesn't count for all grain. I recently did an experiment with 200g of sugar per gallon, the equivalent of a kit and a kilo and the beer with the sugar was absolutely fine. It was a split batch and the one with sugar tasted more like a typical bottled beer than the full grain one. The sugar one really reminded me of Pedigree.

 

[rhys37429]

regardless of the "home brew twang" its not putting me off, im already planning my second and third brew.

 

[GerritT]

I spotted someone selling an out of date Wherry kit at my local boot fair at the weekend. The date on the cans is July 2017. I'm guessing the contents should be fine if I bin the yeast sachet that was with it and use some new yeast. I thought it's worth a try and if I manage to get 40 pints of Wherry for the £1 I paid for the kit I'll be well happy.

Or boil that old yeast for the last 15 minutes, to add extra nutrients for the actual yeast.

 

[ThePour]

As I am wont to do, I messed around with this kit and now I am worrying.

I steeped some malt and some oats and added them to the kit, following the instructions.

Firstly, OG was weirdly low (I thought I had brewed slightly short so was epexcting it to be relatively high), though after leaving the beer to stand for an hour or so, the OG rose (seemingly as the malt/oats 'residue' fell to the bottom). After a mad dash to the homebrew shop, I added 500g spray malt to up the ABV and pitched the yeast.

Fermentation went ballistic very quickly and the temp appeared to be up around 24C. I moved it to a cooler part of the house (around 19/20C) and then it appeared to grind to a halt. At least there is nothing coming through the airlock and my bucket's lid is not pressing out. This is only 2 days after pitching.

I gave it a quick agitation last night to see if that would kick it back to life but no joy.

Current SG is 1016.

I'll measure again in a couple of days and then dry-hop it.

Has anyone experienced this super-rapid fermentation?

Any thoughts/comments are welcome.

TVM.

 

[An Ankoù]

As I am wont to do, I messed around with this kit and now I am worrying.

I steeped some malt and some oats and added them to the kit, following the instructions.

Firstly, OG was weirdly low (I thought I had brewed slightly short so was epexcting it to be relatively high), though after leaving the beer to stand for an hour or so, the OG rose (seemingly as the malt/oats 'residue' fell to the bottom). After a mad dash to the homebrew shop, I added 500g spray malt to up the ABV and pitched the yeast.

Fermentation went ballistic very quickly and the temp appeared to be up around 24C. I moved it to a cooler part of the house (around 19/20C) and then it appeared to grind to a halt. At least there is nothing coming through the airlock and my bucket's lid is not pressing out. This is only 2 days after pitching.

I gave it a quick agitation last night to see if that would kick it back to life but no joy.

Current SG is 1016.

I'll measure again in a couple of days and then dry-hop it.

Has anyone experienced this super-rapid fermentation?

Any thoughts/comments are welcome.

TVM.

I had it once, before I learnt not to brew at 30C+ in the middle of summer. It was a long time ago, but I think the yeast was Safale S-04. The contents of the fermenter looked as if they were literally on a full, rolling boil. It fermented out in about two days and was pretty horrible.

 

[ThePour]

I had it once, before I learnt not to brew at 30C+ in the middle of summer. It was a long time ago, but I think the yeast was Safale S-04. The contents of the fermenter looked as if they were literally on a full, rolling boil. It fermented out in about two days and was pretty horrible.

Thanks. I think!

This wasn't that warm and only around 22 when I pitched. I guess I shouldn't worry and just carry on regardless.

 

[An Ankoù]

Thanks. I think!

This wasn't that warm and only around 22 when I pitched. I guess I shouldn't worry and just carry on regardless.

I would. What have you got to lose?

 

[ThePour]

I would. What have you got to lose?

About £30

 

[ThePour]

Well I siphoned it into my pressure barrel with around 80gms sugar. No obvious signs of anything happening so far... Will test it after 4 days to see if there's any carbonation going on. I'm feeling suspicious about this beer.

 

[terrym]

I steeped some malt and some oats and added them to the kit, following the instructions.
Any thoughts/comments are welcome.

There are two basically two sorts of grain added to beer. Grains that needs mashing and those that don't. Grains that do need mashing have free starch and if they are used in the wort as they come, can produce a starch haze in the finished product. Grains that don't need mashing don't have free starch, and can be used in a steep e.g. crystal malt, chocolate malt.
Since oats contain free starch they are not normally used as a steeping grain, and in doing this (unless you have mashed them with a diastase containing grain to convert the starch to sugars) you may end up with a starch haze in your beer which may or may not concern you.

 

[An Ankoù]

About £30

You make my point. Having spent £30, it's worth trying to save it. What is to be gained by not trying?

 

[ThePour]

There are two basically two sorts of grain added to beer. Grains that needs mashing and those that don't. Grains that do need mashing have free starch and if they are used in the wort as they come, can produce a starch haze in the finished product. Grains that don't need mashing don't have free starch, and can be used in a steep e.g. crystal malt, chocolate malt.
Since oats contain free starch they are not normally used as a steeping grain, and in doing this (unless you have mashed them with a diastase containing grain to convert the starch to sugars) you may end up with a starch haze in your beer which may or may not concern you.

Thanks for the clarification. I am certainly seeing this. It doesn't bother me but it certainly hasn't improved the beer.

After three or so days in the pressure keg there is little evidence of carbonation happening from the sample(s) I have drawn. And it tastes pretty ropey. Should I just try and add some CO2 or just leave it and hope for the best? There's a lot of air in the top of the barrel which isn't being replaced with CO2 as far as I can tell.

I will stick it in the shed (which will be pretty cool now) for a few weeks and see if it improves.

 

[An Ankoù]

I should boil some water to dissolve about 100g sugar, let it cool a bit and put it in the beer. Keep it in the warm for a fortnight or so and then move it down to your shed. Good luck.

 

[terrym]

After three or so days in the pressure keg there is little evidence of carbonation happening from the sample(s)

If you have primed your beer in the PB and kept it in the warm for 3/4 days, as said, you should see signs of pressure forming. If not you have a leak which you must fix before you add more sugar or add CO2. Either the PB itself has a pinhole leak or cracked seam or one of the seals is not gas tight. But the good news is by testing after a few days rather than two weeks you have saved some time.
More on that here
Guide to a Standard Home Brew Pressure Barrel