Wilko's Sweet Newky Brown kit

[beer_here]

Hi All

I really fancy having a crack at the Sweet Newky Brown kit. It will be my first attempt at brewing.

Any tips at all? I've heard of a lot of people using brewing sugar along with dry malt and also golden syrup.

All feedback welcome 😊😊

 

[Saltrock]

Hi, Have a read of the thread in the review section, there's loads of variations in there. Most people say to follow instructions to the letter the first time though.

 

[beer_here]

That's a fair point. Just don't want my first batch to be awful, when I could of easily enhanced it at the beginning.

Cheers 😊

 

[Saltrock]

I generally brew a couple of litres short, not had a bad batch yet!

 

[beer_here]

I generally brew a couple of litres short, not had a bad batch yet!

What have you used with it? Just brewing sugar?

 

[Energise65]

I had my last pint out of the keg of Wilko's sweet Newkie Brown last night - very acceptable.

I am also an absolute beginner and so I followed the instructions to the letter, and I used everyday granulated sugar.

I have used a keg and gas though, I did not bottle it.

 

[beer_here]

I had my last pint out of the keg of Wilko's sweet Newkie Brown last night - very acceptable.

I am also an absolute beginner and so I followed the instructions to the letter, and I used everyday granulated sugar.

I have used a keg and gas though, I did not bottle it.

Sounds good. How long did it stay in the keg for?

 

[magpie2000k]

I'm fairly new also and am quickly moving to more complex method rather than kits but I followed all kits to the letter first time then tinkered. If I'm honest for first half a dozen brews I just wanted drinkable cheap beer. Now the challenge gets better with each brew. And I feel that when I change things I can tell what the result is.

 

[LarryF]

This is what I did with my second Newkie Brown brew:

Wilko Sweet Newkie Brown 23L - 16/02/16 - 28/02/16 20-21c
Re-pitched Mangrove Jacks Workhorse yeast + 1tsp Yeast Nutrient
1kg Youngs Beer Enhancer + 60g Honey
35g East Kent Golding pellets - 20m boil, tea and hop bag added to FV
OG:1050 - FG:1005 - 6%

I'll try my first taster this Friday but I'd expect it to come into its own in about a month. I loved the last one I did and I'm really looking forward to this one.

 

[terrym]

Most on here will recommend you don't use ordinary table sugar, but use spray malt (DME) possibly with brewing sugar (say 500 g of each). Because the kit is only 1.5kg (compared to other one can kits at 1.7 or 1.8kg) it is also better to brew short say 20/21 litres or less to concentrate the flavours. By doing this you will only improve the end result. And follow the 2 weeks in the FV, 2 weeks carbonation, and 2 weeks conditioning in the cool guideline and your brew will be better for it when you finally get to drink it.
And you may find this useful if you haven't seen it already
http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=57526

 

[Tolemac]

I have just finished a Sweet Newkie Brown myself with just beer enhancer added to the kit "i'm very new at home brewing" but next time I will try LarryF's method for sure :)

 

[Energise65]

Sounds good. How long did it stay in the keg for?

I started the kit on boxing day afternoon (no James Bond film on TV), it had 8 days fermenting, then transferred to a pressure barrel with priming sugar (85g of normal table sugar) for a week, then moved to an unheated conservatory to settle. I also gassed the barrel with CO2, but I now understand that I didn't need the priming sugar when gassing.

And as I said, it tasted pretty good, but I only got 4% ABV.

I think though that I will try another Newkie kit and follow TerryM's advice.

Is it OK to leave the brew in the fermenting vessel for 2 weeks without an airlock (i.e just a loose lid)?

 

[terrym]

I started the kit on boxing day afternoon (no James Bond film on TV), it had 8 days fermenting, then transferred to a pressure barrel with priming sugar (85g of normal table sugar) for a week, then moved to an unheated conservatory to settle. I also gassed the barrel with CO2, but I now understand that I didn't need the priming sugar when gassing.

And as I said, it tasted pretty good, but I only got 4% ABV.

I think though that I will try another Newkie kit and follow TerryM's advice.

Is it OK to leave the brew in the fermenting vessel for 2 weeks without an airlock (i.e just a loose lid)?

If you are going to use gas to pressurise your barrel then you don't need priming sugar. I'm at the other end. I just use priming sugar, I don't use gas. If it runs out of puff half way through I just reprime.
You can brew without an airlock in the lid, a lot of people do just that especially since the seal between the lid and the FV often leaks and gas bypasses the airlock making it as useful as a chocolate teapot. All you do is to just crack the lid open very slightly so that it is not quite 100% sealed, and any gas can escape, but I would not leave it 'loose' however. And its fine to leave it like this for two weeks.

 

[Bigcol49]

I also gassed the barrel with CO2, but I now understand that I didn't need the priming sugar when gassing.

Hi!
There are plenty of posts about force carbing in a PB, both on this forum and elsewhere.
The beer must be chilled down very cold and the pressure cranked up to 10 to 15 PSI. You will need some type of pressure gauge to monitor the pressure and some method of adapting the pressure release valve to accept the higher pressure.
If you prime first you will only need to add CO2 to serve the beer when the pressure in the barrel drops as you draw off the beer. If you draw off beer infrequently, you will probably get well down the barrel before you need to add CO2 to maintain a serving pressure.

 

[terrym]

and some method of adapting the pressure release valve to accept the higher pressure.

Why would you do that? Pressure barrels have PRVs fitted for a reason, i.e. so that they are safe to use and can only operate within their capability, and doing that takes out the human error factor. I certainly would not want to meddle with any safety device.

 

[Energise65]

Hi!
There are plenty of posts about force carbing in a PB, both on this forum and elsewhere.
The beer must be chilled down very cold and the pressure cranked up to 10 to 15 PSI. You will need some type of pressure gauge to monitor the pressure and some method of adapting the pressure release valve to accept the higher pressure.
If you prime first you will only need to add CO2 to serve the beer when the pressure in the barrel drops as you draw off the beer. If you draw off beer infrequently, you will probably get well down the barrel before you need to add CO2 to maintain a serving pressure.

Thanks, that has made things nice and clear for me, cheers