Woodfordes Wherry Review

[RobShamrock]

Bit late to this Wherry game been kit brewing two years now and have read so many times how fine a kit this is I finally succumbed. Been on since saturday gone, was thinking of dry hopping couple days prior to bottling with some fuggles tea bags anyone else done this, next question is one or two bags (20g each)

Looking forward to this kit after so many good reviews I've read

 

[foxbat]

I have been following the 2X2X2 rule so far, currently coming to the end of the two weeks warm bottle conditioning, and looking for advice for the two weeks cold.

How cold does this need to be stored at? Will leaving in the shed be ok, or will a fridge be more reliable or too cold?

I believe at this final stage you are looking to replicate ideal pub cellar temperature. So 11-13C is where you want to be at. A fridge would be too cold for ale.

 

[marlon]

Bit late to this Wherry game been kit brewing two years now and have read so many times how fine a kit this is I finally succumbed. Been on since saturday gone, was thinking of dry hopping couple days prior to bottling with some fuggles tea bags anyone else done this, next question is one or two bags (20g each)

Looking forward to this kit after so many good reviews I've read

You won't be disappointed Rob. It's a great 'standard bitter' by which to measure others. I made up a fuggles hop tea late addition for one I did back in March. It was good after about 6 weeks in keg, but great after 3 months+. The key (IMO), is to keep your mits off it as long as you can. If you manage 3 months+ you're doing well.

 

[RobShamrock]

thanks, went ahead and pirched both tea bags last night actually, two weeks in fermenter on sunday gone, will be bottling friday night, was hoping it would be ready to drink fairly soon as supplies are low.

Did a Bulldog Red Cat for christmas, have an Festival Endeavour Pale just about ready to drink, so must get another brew on rapid or supplies will be critical if I've to wait for the wherry and the Red Cat !!

 

[BeerisGOD]

Festival endeavour? Give me more info. Late autumn come winter type beer? If so Im in

 

[Eddie]

I had the Wherry kit for Christmas and then a few months later got round to buying a brewing kit. It then took me until today to get motivated to start it all off.

Followed all of the instructions and sterilised everything before starting so hopefully no nasties to ruin it. SG was 1040 and the temperature was 22 when I added the yeast (used the one that came with it as I hadn't checked online reviews before starting so hopefully it will not get stuck) and 2 hours later it is still at 22 so hopefully will stay around there. I gave it a good stir until it was frothy before adding the yeast but the froth has now pretty much all gone so hoping it will look better in the morning :pray:

I am guessing I should just leave well alone and not be tempted to keep peeking under the lid to see if something is happening?

 

[Tanzanite]

Will be bottling a wherry tomorrow, but had a stuck ferment then would not clear , so gelatined it and left to clear in cold. but its still quite dark in colour , i am wondering if it was the wherry ingredients in the wherry box ????? it looks more like a dark bitter not a light bitter ??

 

[terrym]

Will be bottling a wherry tomorrow, but had a stuck ferment then would not clear , so gelatined it and left to clear in cold. but its still quite dark in colour , i am wondering if it was the wherry ingredients in the wherry box ????? it looks more like a dark bitter not a light bitter ??

It does come up dark and the taste matches it, very malty if I remember.
If you go through the pages of this thread I'll bet there is someone who has posted a photo of their Wherry in a glass.

 

[Eddie]

I had the Wherry kit for Christmas and then a few months later got round to buying a brewing kit. It then took me until today to get motivated to start it all off.

Followed all of the instructions and sterilised everything before starting so hopefully no nasties to ruin it. SG was 1040 and the temperature was 22 when I added the yeast (used the one that came with it as I hadn't checked online reviews before starting so hopefully it will not get stuck) and 2 hours later it is still at 22 so hopefully will stay around there. I gave it a good stir until it was frothy before adding the yeast but the froth has now pretty much all gone so hoping it will look better in the morning :pray:

I am guessing I should just leave well alone and not be tempted to keep peeking under the lid to see if something is happening?

Nothing happened for a day or so and then it would appear that there was a mini eruption in the fermenter after about 30 odd hrs. A nice dark brown froth line about an inch above the beer and the lid was bulging out a bit. Since then it has all dropped off so not sure if anything is happening now. Temperature is at about 20 and the bulge in the lid has gone. The lid also looks as though it has a lot of condensation on the inside of it.
Should I give the fermenter a gentle swirl or just leave it longer?

 

[terrym]

Nothing happened for a day or so and then it would appear that there was a mini eruption in the fermenter after about 30 odd hrs. A nice dark brown froth line about an inch above the beer and the lid was bulging out a bit. Since then it has all dropped off so not sure if anything is happening now. Temperature is at about 20 and the bulge in the lid has gone. The lid also looks as though it has a lot of condensation on the inside of it.
Should I give the fermenter a gentle swirl or just leave it longer?

Primary fermentation usually takes about 4 to 7 days but can take longer. There is little activity for the first few hours then it becomes very active, then it dies back. Given you have only been going 4 days including a day where not much happened, I would leave the lid on until Sun earliest then take a peek inside (that's just crack the lid, don't take it off). If it's cloudy and there is some foam on the top it's still going. Reseal and repeat following day. When it looks like it's clearing and little foam on top take your first SG reading. Your dilemma is that you are brewing a Wherry kit which are notorious for sticking (ie incomplete fermentation) at about SG 1.020. If you can catch a stuck fermentation early enough you can sometimes get it going again. Suggest you come back to the forum and ask again when you better know where you are if you are unsure what to do.

 

[Eddie]

Okay, thanks for the info. Will leave until Sunday and go from there. Cheers

 

[Jon75]

Just thought I would share my experience with this kit so far as I finally got round to brewing and tasting it.

My OG and FG where about right with no stuck fermentation. I had it in my cool brewing bag at a constant 17C or so for 2 weeks. It has now been in the bottle for 3 weeks and recently tried my first one.

Although it could definitely do with maturing a bit more and there was a slight banana flavour, I was rather impressed. Huge head but little retention and had a lovely smooth taste. I ended up finishing it rather quickly which is always a good sign. I could happily drink this now but I will leave it at least another 2 weeks before trying again.

Although I have moved on to extract and working my way towards AG there is something to be said for pitching yeast 30 minutes after starting and I will quite likely do this one again.

 

[terrym]

.... there is something to be said for pitching yeast 30 minutes after starting and I will quite likely do this one again.

Please tell us why :thumb:

 

[Aphid]

Several contributors have mentioned fermentation 'sticking'. Am I right in thinking this means that fermentation stops but that it isn't complete? If so, what is the solution? Having just made my first batch from the same Woodfordes kit, I am trying to keep one step ahead should there be problems.

A second question. My kit came with a barrel as standard. Any thoughts as to what yields the best results overall - barrel or bottle?

 

[Dutto]

Oooh. So many questions.

Last first. Depends on how you drink your ale.

I find that a keg is great if you wander up to the keg and pull a couple of pints every day. I mainly use mine in summer and for taking them away with us for a break.

Bottles are great to just leave on the shelf and pick and choose your daily pint. At the moment I have about six or seven different beers I can choose from depending on my mood and how bad the weather is between the house and the garage where they are stored.

When a brew "sticks" it's usually caused because:

a) The yeast has been allowed to get too cold. It's still there and working but not warm enough. Just warm it up and it will start going again.

b) The yeast has been allowed to get too hot and it has killed it off enough yeast cells to cause the brew to pause or stop. When the brew cools down there is a choice of waiting to see if enough yeast survived to re-start the process or re-pitching more yeast.

c) The most common cause (and a genuine "stuck" brew) is that the yeast has run out of oxygen and slowed down to the extent that it is "stuck". The usual advice to get the brew going again is to add some yeast nutrient and then stir it violently with a sanitised paddle to introduce more oxygen and to stir up the yeast.

However, before doing anything I suggest that you take two Specific Gravity readings 24 hours apart just to make sure that it isn't still fermenting away but doing it very slowly. :thumb:

 

[GhostShip]

I now remember how it felt to be a kid at Christmas. My Micro Brewery starter pack arrived today from Brew UK, with a Woodforde's Wherry kit.

I have to say, I'm impressed with the quality of the Young's bucket and barrel - both feel really solid and well made.

Nothing on tonight so rather than wait until the weekend, I went for it. Sanitised everything using the Young's steriliser that came with the pack and my FV is now sitting happily in the back room containing 40 pints of Norfolk ale. As recommended on here, I swapped the yeast for Wilko's Gervin yeast and now it's just a case of being patient. The sanitising was a bit of a bind, but it's a great feeling sitting here now knowing that it's all done. I'll no doubt be checking the airlock every 10 minutes for the next few days!

This forum has been invaluable in getting my first home brew underway and I'm already sitting here debating which kit to do next. As I say, like a kid at Christmas.

Talking of which, I'm hoping to sample my first pint on Christmas Day! Hope I'm not being too optimistic.

 

[GhostShip]

Should also have said that my starting SG was 1.034.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[chimpo]

Should also have said that my starting SG was 1.034.

SG seems a tad low but sometimes the measurements on the side of the FV can be well out, just worth checking them so your not putting in to much water.
Also just watch watch Temperature you take SG at. I'm not up to speed on this but if you took your 1.034 reading @20 c that would be fine but if it was at 60 c your SG may actually be 1.050.

 

[Aphid]

Oooh. So many questions.

Last first. Depends on how you drink your ale.

I find that a keg is great if you wander up to the keg and pull a couple of pints every day. I mainly use mine in summer and for taking them away with us for a break.

Bottles are great to just leave on the shelf and pick and choose your daily pint. At the moment I have about six or seven different beers I can choose from depending on my mood and how bad the weather is between the house and the garage where they are stored.

When a brew "sticks" it's usually caused because:

a) The yeast has been allowed to get too cold. It's still there and working but not warm enough. Just warm it up and it will start going again.

b) The yeast has been allowed to get too hot and it has killed it off enough yeast cells to cause the brew to pause or stop. When the brew cools down there is a choice of waiting to see if enough yeast survived to re-start the process or re-pitching more yeast.

c) The most common cause (and a genuine "stuck" brew) is that the yeast has run out of oxygen and slowed down to the extent that it is "stuck". The usual advice to get the brew going again is to add some yeast nutrient and then stir it violently with a sanitised paddle to introduce more oxygen and to stir up the yeast.

However, before doing anything I suggest that you take two Specific Gravity readings 24 hours apart just to make sure that it isn't still fermenting away but doing it very slowly. :thumb:

Thanks for the response. Hopefully all is well with my fermentation but useful to be aware of things that could happen - and how to resolve them.
As for the barrel, I had planned not to rush in to drinking this initially. The consensus seems to be that the beer improves with time in terms of flavour and clarity. Time will tell.

 

[Eddie]

Primary fermentation usually takes about 4 to 7 days but can take longer. There is little activity for the first few hours then it becomes very active, then it dies back. Given you have only been going 4 days including a day where not much happened, I would leave the lid on until Sun earliest then take a peek inside (that's just crack the lid, don't take it off). If it's cloudy and there is some foam on the top it's still going. Reseal and repeat following day. When it looks like it's clearing and little foam on top take your first SG reading. Your dilemma is that you are brewing a Wherry kit which are notorious for sticking (ie incomplete fermentation) at about SG 1.020. If you can catch a stuck fermentation early enough you can sometimes get it going again. Suggest you come back to the forum and ask again when you better know where you are if you are unsure what to do.

So far I think it's looking good, although a little slow? I took an SG reading on the 14th as it looked like it had slowed down / stopped as little foam on top. It read 1017. Took one 24hrs later and it was 1016. Both times it looked very cloudy. Took another reading this morning and it was 1014 and starting to look a little clearer. Still a way to go I think but at least it doesn't appear to have stuck :pray: Will wait until I get two reading the same over two days.