First Brew - Brewing Temp for Woodeforde's Wherry

Hey all! This is my first post on this forum and I gather that the Wherry is a VERY popular kit, so I apologise if this point has been covered before.

Choosing to brew during the winter probably wasn't the wisest decision, since ambient temperature was about 15-18 degrees Celsius. As a result fermentation was sloooow. It was in the FV for two weeks and during this time it never got below SG of about 1.020. I figured that it had got too cold and stopped. So I purchased a brew belt and hooked it up to a thermostatic controller which kept it at a constant temperature of 19 degrees for a further week and the SG reached the target, and stayed there. So, all told, 3 weeks in the FV. I then bottled it with a little sugar and left it in a warm-ish place for 2 weeks, then a cold place for another week.

After all this I tried one and it was flat, had no head, and had some...odd...tastes. Could this simply been because it was cold (perhaps around 3 or 4 degrees), so the carbon dioxide stayed dissolved and the esters etc. weren't evaporating?

Then I brought it out into my living room and left it for another week and it improved massively. It's really quite good now and gets better with each bottle I open. It is well-carbonated, and with a good head (although it's not the creamy white I was expecting, more like the head on Guinness...)

Now, my question is this. The beer did not come out as I was expecting. It is very dark and has some caramel and coffee overtones. Also, whilst I've got the OG and FG readings and it claims to be about 4%, I wouldn't have said it tastes particularly alcoholic, nor do I and others seem to feel any effects of it. So, since this is my first brew, is this what Woodeforde's Wherry is meant to taste and behave like? I like it, but it's not what I expected. Could the slow, cool fermentation have changed the nature of the beer? I would say it's more like a dark ale now, getting towards a stout.

Please do let me know your thoughts. I'm now gearing up for another brew, possibly a Trappist-style ale, or Woodeforde's Sundew, so that they're ready for summertime consumption! Essentially, so much to brew, so little time... Ha! :):

Hi Toonahfish

And welcome to the Forum!

Wherry is indeed very popular, as it is a great session style ale, but it does take longer than a couple of weeks in the bottle to reach its full potential.

No idea why it seems to be dark in colour, but can't imagine this is related to the low brewing temps initially.

If you got it down to around 1010 you have done pretty well and I would suggest leaving it for as long as possible and getting another brew on. Fastest to be ready to drink from kits might be light pale ales (usually called "lager" on the tin) or a stout.

Thanks. It does seem like patience is the key. The Wherry has been in the bottle for about a month now and it's starting to get good. Really good. Do you have any recommendations for my next brew?

Toonahfish said:

Thanks. It does seem like patience is the key. The Wherry has been in the bottle for about a month now and it's starting to get good. Really good. Do you have any recommendations for my next brew?

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An excellent question. I'm tempted to suggest another Wherry, but that leaves the same problem with time. Incidentally, I always add 500g of table sugar to this, which saves one walk to the garage a session.

If you like a stout then Coopers is the go-to kit for me.

The Youngs kits with the hop additions are very popular.

I also like anything on offer at Tesco or Wilko.

Slid said:

An excellent question. I'm tempted to suggest another Wherry, but that leaves the same problem with time. Incidentally, I always add 500g of table sugar to this, which saves one walk to the garage a session.

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Do you just add 500g of sugar to up the ABV? Where does a garage come into this? Excuse my ignorance...:shock:

Yes, adding more fermentables (ie. sugar) ups the starting gravity and therefore the final ABV of your beer - assuming the yeast is up to the job of chomping through more fermentables:

Adding an additional 250g of sugar will increase the starting gravity by about 4 points - so if the gravity of your wort is 1042, then dumping 250g of sugar in and mixing well, before adding the yeast, will increase your starting gravity to approx 1046. This in turn will increase the ABV of your brewed beer by approx 0.5% (for example from 4.1% to 4.6% ABV).

Adding 500g of sugar should give you an increase of 1%.

Toonahfish said:

So, since this is my first brew, is this what Woodeforde's Wherry is meant to taste and behave like? I like it, but it's not what I expected. Could the slow, cool fermentation have changed the nature of the beer? I would say it's more like a dark ale now, getting towards a stout.

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Hmm, I never heard Wherry referred to as a stout before. I've done it a few times, it's a darkish ale, malty with not a lot of hops. As with all these kits, patience is the key after bottling - leave as long as you can before drinking, certainly at least 6 weeks. I just drank one of mine that has been bottled a year! You can easily "pimp" a beer like Wherry with some extra hops: get a bag of East Kent Goldings and chuck 25g of them in the FV after the beer has been fermenting for 3 days and the inital ferment has started to die down, and leave them in there until kegging/bottling.

Just wonder what you were expecting, then we can maybe advise on the next brew? I find the Woodfordes kits a bit bland, and actually rate Wherry as the best of them. And do you know that many of the kits are all made by the same manufacturer, so whilst you may think you're trying lots of different beers, in fact they're not that different:
http://www.muntonshomebrew.com/other-products/other-branded-homebrew-kits/

Muntons Premium Gold (Midas Touch and Smugglers) are the best kits I've ever made:
http://www.muntonshomebrew.com/category/premium-gold-range/

But none of these beers are particularly hoppy: the manufacturers try to hop the 2 cans, but it doesn't come through in the beers that much. If you want a hoppy beer, you need separate hops, and to be moving onto something like Extract brewing, which is easy after you have mastered the basics of kit brewing:
http://www.brewuk.co.uk/beerkits/craftybrews/brewextract.html

Thanks guys that's a great help. :) Perhaps saying it was a stout was going a bit far - it's just darker than I was expecting, I guess!

Toonahfish said:

Do you just add 500g of sugar to up the ABV? Where does a garage come into this? Excuse my ignorance...:shock:

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Yes, it just adds to the ABV.

The garage reference was an attempt at humour and refers to the fact that one might need one less walk to the garage to get another beer.

Ah, I'm slow on the uptake :P

Well this interesting. On the right is Woodeforde's Wherry as it comes out of Woodeforde's brewery. My version on the left. Their version is virtually tasteless, whereas mine is very tasty. They're completely different! What might have caused this?

What volume did you brew? Almost looks like a porter.

23 litres...

Slid said:

I also like anything on offer at Tesco or Wilko.

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Like it Slid, a man after my own heart, you can't beat the old click and collect.

My first brew is a Wherry, also kept in a cold outhouse with a brew belt on. About six weeks in the barrel & now pretty clear & tasting lovely, I'm glad I bottled half of it to mature. Next time will probably add a bit more sugar, think I feared blowing up the recently refurbished outhouse! Going for a darker ale next but still a bit of wherry in the barrel to finish off first. Mine is darker than the pub pint, but more of a reddish hue.

So it mine. When I shine a torch through it it's a lovely deep red.