Tom Caxton Real Ale Review

Lesinge said:

I brewed the Best Bitter with 500G of Medium spray malt and 500G of brewing sugar and used the whole hop sachet (although now having the real ale I might not do so in the future) and it turned out a very good drinkable beer. My notes after one month were that it was a very nice beer, sweetish with a bit of a Wherry flavour but more bitter and I was impressed. Pity about the Real ale though.

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Cheers for that, i'll give the mdsm a go with the sugar this time when I've been to wilkos to get some:smile:.

HI Chaps i brewed this kit some time ago using just brewing sugar been in bottles for 6 weeks primed with half a tsp brewing sugar, this beer did clear very fast however i would say i think its more of a bitter than a real ale. Opened 2 bottles today very clear bit more of carbonation than i would have liked nice head tho all the way down the glass, Over all dont think this win ever win any awards

06-02-15 oops tried this again and its certainly getting better no yeast smell anymore a bit over carbonated but getting a very pleasant drink for the money

Just made this kit and wow. I first started home brewing by making up a lager kit, i ignored all sanitation requirements and only used washing up liquid as i didn't know any better. I didn't have a proper air lock and basically didn't have a clue what i was doing, so to my suprise at the time i wondered why the outcome was super grim :sick: anyway that was the first and last kit since being in my early 20's that i ever did........until now. Im now in my early 30's and decided i needed a hobby for my spare time. So guess what im back :p anywho this time i have done my research and learned about sanitation. I couldn't decide what to make first so i started by making some tuŕbo cider which resembled cider and was quite strong so this gave me a little confidence to try something else. This brings me as to why i have brought life back to a long dead thread, anyway i came across some reviews of beer kits and wanted to try a real ale kit. The tom caxton real ale kit had mixed reviews so was a little unsure but the positive reviews imho seemed to out way the bad so i went to my lhbs and asked the bloke there what he thought of the kit and he said it wasn't bad and thats all he said. This didn't help much but decided to go for it anyway, i also paid 15 quid for it which i later found out was a little steep as others had got it cheaper. This kit has turned out great i used i beer kit enhancer for the fermentable, kept to the correct temperature using a submersible fish tank heater which has worked great and now it is sat in nice brown glass pint bottles ageing. I have a few litres in pop bottles which im already sampling lol. I highly recommend this kit to anyone especially if you like real ale. Its a nice dark caramel colour which has a lovely hoppy and malty taste although mine turned out a little sweet. Im hoping aging sorts this out, if it doesn't then no worries as it is still highly drinkable.

This was my first brew, however I brewed short (21l) added candy sugar and galaxy hops to it and it was lush:p

Getting my first post in on an old thread. Any advice welcome...
Just got my first brew on ( its taken me 30 years to get over the guts ache of having no patience from my first attempt age 15 ! ) Anyhow still with no patience I have stuck my Caxton Real Ale kit in Wilkos FV with no air lock with 1kg of brewing sugar. didn't take Original Gravity , have not peeked , kept lid on , temp at 19C , just had a smell now and again and to check lid wasnt ballooning out of control but guess as i could smell brew was nice that air could escape though the seal, anyhow, had my first peek today, looks fine , gravity reading is 1.016 How does that sound? had a sip tastes ok but very sweet. Kit instructions say 4-6 days but most on here say 2 weeks or more in FV. Thinking I should leave a while longer as my temp is cool side of range,but could not see any bubbles in brew but looked and smelt Ok ( not foul or anything) to my novice eyes, there was a scum tide mark so must have been doing something.
Should i give it a few more days and what gravity reading should i be aiming for ??
My intention is to bottle half with household sugar to prime (half a teaspoon / 500ml bottle ) and keg the rest in the wilko pressure barrel, keep in warm for a week before sticking in garage for the longest 2 weeks of my life. Sound ok ? :-?

Javalian said:

Sound ok ? :-?

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Welcome.
All sounds OK to me.
19*C is fine if you can keep it at that; 19-20*C is what usually I aim for.
At 1.016 I would leave it for the full two weeks, your target should be around 1.010 although you might not hit that. It all depends on a number of things especially yeast. Usual advice at the end of the primary is to check SG on two or more consecutive days and if it stays the same, its OK to bottle/keg. I have had brews stop at 1.016 before and they are OK just a bit on the sweet side as you said.
And keep the lid on your FV as much as you can.
Once in bottle/keg, two weeks in the warm to carb up, followed by two weeks in the cool to condition, then you can start to drink it although it should improve the longer you leave it.

thanks TerryM , as I still have a week or so to go before bottling would it be worth me giving it a stir now to get it going a bit more ?? If so would it be a gentle stir or do i want to dig right down in the sediment ?
Without an OG will I be able to calculate an ABV. I have seen somewhere that kit with brewing sugar has an OG of 1.048 would it be safe to assume mine would be similar ?
Thanks again

Javalian said:

thanks TerryM , as I still have a week or so to go before bottling would it be worth me giving it a stir now to get it going a bit more ?? If so would it be a gentle stir or do i want to dig right down in the sediment ?
Without an OG will I be able to calculate an ABV. I have seen somewhere that kit with brewing sugar has an OG of 1.048 would it be safe to assume mine would be similar ?
Thanks again

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You can estimate the OG of your brew by using http://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/calculator/. Use 'extract', the volume of your brew, weight of the kit assuming all liquid ME and 1 kg Corn sugar=dextrose= brewing sugar. I use this and find it compares well to my hydrometer readings. However my guess is that your OG will be nearer 1.040 assuming you have brewed to 23 litres.
If you feel you need to, you will do no harm in stirring your brew provided you don't introduce air. Just ensure you keep the lid off the FV for the minimum time possible. Alternatively you could try swirling the FV without taking the lid off. Also it won't do any harm to move your FV into a warmer place say up to 22*C. There is a small possibility that these measures might persuade the yeast to get going again for a while,assuming of course it's not still active anyway.

Terry, thanks for link, i could not make sense of it though , (btw have done 23litres, so will presume your 1.040 OG is correct) but , good news,moved FV to new location and temperature is 20C. Popped top of ready to stir but it was bubbling away nicely so decided not to stir it. Took hydrometer and is now 1.012 so will leave alone for a few more days. I could now taste the alcohol in it , it was less sweet but seemed very bitter , is this usual ?
Also wanted to ask if PET bottles ok for bottling (wilkos seem cheap £10 for 24) if I cant get enough glass bottles together, im going to try and get a load of cobra bottles together from my local indian restaurant , hopefully they will work with my new red capper I have on order. :thumb:

Javalian said:

Terry, thanks for link, i could not make sense of it though , (btw have done 23litres, so will presume your 1.040 OG is correct) but , good news,moved FV to new location and temperature is 20C. Popped top of ready to stir but it was bubbling away nicely so decided not to stir it. Took hydrometer and is now 1.012 so will leave alone for a few more days. I could now taste the alcohol in it , it was less sweet but seemed very bitter , is this usual ?
Also wanted to ask if PET bottles ok for bottling (wilkos seem cheap ����£10 for 24) if I cant get enough glass bottles together, im going to try and get a load of cobra bottles together from my local indian restaurant , hopefully they will work with my new red capper I have on order. :thumb:

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I use PET bottles and others do too, they are fine. However if you are intending to use glass bottles long term and haven't enough at present, a cheap alternative to tide you over are 2 litre fizzy (not still) water bottles from Tesco or similar at 17p each. Prime prorated to what you would do for the smaller bottles typically 2 - 2.5 tsp sugar per 2 litres. I use these in conjunction with a litre serving jug and drink half the bottle then reseal and leave the rest for consumption within the next few days, usually the next!
PS Any 'unusual' tastes at this stage will usually disappear if you leave it for the 2 +2 week period after bottling

Terry, short update, just took reading and is now 1.008 so think this is going in right direction , still lots of bubbling action. I will check again in 2 days, Is there a certain reading I am aiming for or is it just till it stops falling ? Anything to look for with the beer before bottling ?

BTW , with regards to bottles, I now have been given a load of 500ml brown ones from a friend who used to collect bottles and am collecting a load of cobra bottles from the Indian tonight.:thumb:

Til it stops dropping. But leave it longer, it will help it to clear as the yeast drops to the bottom. And you can speed this up by putting it somewhere cold after the readings stop dropping.

Wot clibit said :thumb:

2 days on and reading is the same at 1.008 . I don't have airlock so have to take FV lid off to do this. It looks like there are a lot less little bubbles but stuff is still spinning around in there. Is it time to move it somewhere cooler or do I have to wait for all little bubbles to stop( and when you say cooler another room or to garage)
Will it hurt to leave it till the weekend to bottle it ? ( 660ml bottles , how much priming sugar ( normal cup of tea sugar or brewing sugar ? ) )
Do you give em a shake after bottling ?
How warm should I keep em for the following 2 weeks?
With an estimated OG of 1.040 and FG of 1.008 gives me a ABV of 4.2% is that what I should expect out of a Caxton Real Ale Kit ?
BTW Batch was put in FV on 27th Dec. Beer tastes still quite alcholly but not a lot of other flavour at present.
Sorry for all questions again. Next brew I have is coopers IPA and once ive bottled this may be looking for some advice to get best out of this.
Cheers guys ! Not long now :drunk:

Hi TerryM, Clibit, . Today reading still being 1008 decided to bottle, have bottled just over half in bottles , 500's I primed with a heaped half teaspoon of table sugar, the 660 cobra bottles i gave 3/4 of a teaspoon and then had 10 litres over to put in pressure barrel with which I primed with 35grams of dissolved sugar which i boiled for 5 mins and allowed to cool. Does all sound ok so far :pray:
I know I have to leave in warm for 2 weeks but how arm is 18C OK ??
Then cold (garage or shed ) for 2 more weeks if I can wait that long !!
My hydrometer taster werent that please to tell the truth :hmm:
Onwards and upwards , I have a coopers IPA kit now which I was going to do with 500g of light spray malt and 300g of brewing sugar ( as it tells me that in instructions) Any hints or tips to get some extra flavour out of this brew or does that sound fine ??
Next thing I have been reading about and fancy doing is one of the Wherry 2 cans kits , any recomendations welcome :hat:

Javalian
Your bottle priming rates are OK, but in my opinion I would have put at least another 20-25 g sugar into the PB (on the assumption its about 25 litres) since I think your priming pressure will give out quite early on so you will have to repressurise from a CO2 cylinder or bulb or open up and reprime. My notes tell me I put 70g sugar into a PB with 11 litres Coopers IPA and I think I managed to get everything out without a reprime.
Your two weeks at 18*C should carb up OK.
Don't be concerned by the odd taste from the FV hopefully things will improve with time although I haven't done this kit.
You might consider dry hopping or a hop tea with the IPA. I have used First Gold and Goldings as a dry hop with this kit, but you could use a 'New World' hop like Cascade if you wanted to do something different. I only used 25g for the dry hop but it might take more if you like hoppy beers.
Wherry makes a decent pint, but you need to change out the kit yeast for, say, a GV12 or Wilko's Ale yeast since the kit yeast is notorious for sticking at about 1.020. Using a proper ale yeast will ferment out drier too which I think suits this kit well.

Well, patience eluded me, The Tom Caxton has been sitting in the warm for 1.5weeks , just chilled one and drank it and it is very drinkable so much so another one has just gone in the fridge for another tester :grin:. Thanks for your help TerryM, I am well pleased with results, I will let the rest sit for a few more days in the warm and then stick in garage for a couple of weeks but guess I will be having a lot of testers along the way. As I now have a coppers IPA in FV and Wherry sitting in cans ready guess you could say ive caught the bug. Cheers Guys :
For the record I did as the instructions, brewed to 23 litres with half the sachet of hop enhancer but left in FV for 2 weeks rather than the 4-6 days the instructions says. Its a nice colour and taste, could maybe have more carbonation but I prefer less gassy beer anyhow.

Hello mate, how did this beer turn out in the end? I got a can of Tom Caxton real ale today from wilko (£13). Did you add many other fermentables?
it looks as though it wont need as many being a 1.8kg but Im seeing mixed views on body/flavour so would like a guideline for when I do my next brew.

Cheers

BeerisGOD said:

so would like a guideline for when I do my next brew.

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If you are going to do 22/23 litres you could add, in ascending order of preference
- 1 kg brewing sugar (least preferred) or
- 1 kg brewing/beer enhancer or
- 1 kg of spraymalt or alternatively liquid malt extract
You could also think about a mini or micromash using grain (plenty of ideas for that on this forum)
And if you want to give the hops a lift a hop tea or a dry hop. 25 to 50g of Goldings or similar would be fine. I have a kit bitter in the FV at present and will be dry hopping it later with Styrian Goldings.

Javalian said:

Well, patience eluded me, The Tom Caxton has been sitting in the warm for 1.5weeks , just chilled one and drank it and it is very drinkable so much so another one has just gone in the fridge for another tester :grin:.

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Glad it worked out. You could try adding hops to a brew, after the fermentation dies down. It's an easy way to improve your beer.