Wilkos IPA

[mancer62]

I'm buying 2 Wilko IPA kits tomorrow.
Having read recent opinions on here I plan to use a kg of plain granulated sugar instead of Brewing sugar. Wilkos also sells
Muntons spray malt light & medium at £4.50 each for 500g.
They also sell Geordie beer kit enhancer at £6 for 1kg.
Can I ask which is recommended more and how much sugar and how much either spray malt or enhancer would u you use in 21 litres???

 

[MmmBeer]

Yeast cells contain loads of enzymes that can readily consume glucose (a.k.a. dextrose or brewing sugar). If they were to encounter sucrose (granulated sugar) they would have to expend a lot of time and energy creating two different enzymes, one to split the sucrose into glucose and fructose and the second to consume the fructose. Using brewing sugar puts less stress on the yeast and allows a quicker fermentation.

Spraymalt is equivalent to the liquid in the beer kit cans, that has been spray dried into a fine powder. It contains sugars, as well as some other compounds that will add to the quality and flavour of your beer. Beer kit enhancer is a 50:50 mix of brewing sugar and spraymalt.

Granulated Sugar ~£1.00 per kg
Brewing Sugar £2.50 per kg
Beerkit enhancer £6.00 per kg
Spraymalt £9.00 per kg

Which you should use is up to you, but by spending a little more, your beer should improve. If you have two kits, why not try one with brewing sugar and one with spraymalt (light for an IPA) and compare the results.

 

[mancer62]

decided to go with the granulated to try it....so how does 1kg granulated and 500 beer enhancer sound?

 

[terrym]

My advice to anyone doing a 'kit and a kilo' is to never use all sugar to top up the kit, and in fact the more malt the better, starting at 50:50 malt sugar, in spite of what the instructions advise. So if you have a Holland and Barret near you buy a 454g jar of their liquid malt extract or buy 500g LME from Wilko, and substitute that for the same weight of sugar at least. And the Wilko IPA kit is only 1.5kg (unlike Coopers and many other one can kits kits at 1.7kg +) and if you use sugar alone you will end up with a 'thin' brew in my opinion, even though you are brewing slightly short. For the sake of a couple of ££s it isn't worth skimping on quality.
And I dont bother with 'brew enhancer', its an expensive way of buying sugar and spray malt, and in my view is like using carbonation drops when ordinary suagr does the same job.
PS Before you spend your money on this kit I would have a read of this
https://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/threads/wilko-hop-cheer-ipa.64849/
There are mixed reviews and it seems to me you should be thinking of a hop tea or a dry hop to give it a bit of oomph, which in my experience is the norm for most one cans.

 

[Drunkula]

I'm buying 2 Wilko IPA kits tomorrow.

Do they have the John Bull IPA in the same shop? Reviews on here say it's much better than the Wilko's one.

Munton's brew enhancer is 50% spraymalt and 50% brewing sugar so save yourself some money as said above. Buy some spraymalt and use your own sugar.

 

[mancer62]

Was in Wilkos today...basically had very little is stock......no Wilko IPA so instead bought slightly dearer John Bull 1.8kg IPA... they had no enhancer either. I am already on a tight schedule to get it ready for my deadline date in 3 weeks. I plan to make tomorrow and although no doubt not ideal this is what I go to war with.......1.8kg John Bull IPA 700g brew sugar (I also have bag of T&L sugar on standby also if required)..25g columbus...25g citra..25g amarillo...... theres no possibility of getting any other ingredients in time do have to work with these.
How does this sound.
37 pints
700g brew sugar + 300g granulated sugar.
Then dry hoped?
Put in corny pressure at 20psi.
Taken off gas left for least a week???

 

[terrym]

Was in Wilkos today...basically had very little is stock......no Wilko IPA so instead bought slightly dearer John Bull 1.8kg IPA... they had no enhancer either. I am already on a tight schedule to get it ready for my deadline date in 3 weeks. I plan to make tomorrow and although no doubt not ideal this is what I go to war with.......1.8kg John Bull IPA 700g brew sugar (I also have bag of T&L sugar on standby also if required)..25g columbus...25g citra..25g amarillo...... theres no possibility of getting any other ingredients in time do have to work with these.
How does this sound.
37 pints
700g brew sugar + 300g granulated sugar.
Then dry hoped?
Put in corny pressure at 20psi.
Taken off gas left for least a week???

Seems I wasted my time suggesting you avoid using all sugar to top up the kit can.
It would have been better to wait, 'patience is the friend of the homebrewer'.
At least you will learn by experience .
Best of luck with it.

 

[mancer62]

Terry I didn't waste your time I tried (or my wife did as I am nightshift) to get enhancer or dme from wilkos they never had it. I am trying to get a decent, drinkable beer (not an award winning one) ready in 3 weeks......in time for the Cheltenham Horse Racing Festival which I always take a week off work for. These are th eingredients I have and whilst I aknowledge that

 

[terrym]

Terry I didn't waste your time I tried (or my wife did as I am nightshift) to get enhancer or dme from wilkos they never had it. I am trying to get a decent, drinkable beer (not an award winning one) ready in 3 weeks......in time for the Cheltenham Horse Racing Festival which I always take a week off work for. These are th eingredients I have and whilst I aknowledge that

Then my final suggestion to you is to use the kit can (1.8kg LME) plus 500g dextrose (or a 1lb can of Tate and Lyle if you can get it), and brew short to 16-17 litres which should give you a beer with some malt body in it at around 4.6% ABV. And then prorate the hops down if you see fit.

 

[Spike101uk]

Terry I didn't waste your time I tried (or my wife did as I am nightshift) to get enhancer or dme from wilkos they never had it. I am trying to get a decent, drinkable beer (not an award winning one) ready in 3 weeks......in time for the Cheltenham Horse Racing Festival which I always take a week off work for. These are th eingredients I have and whilst I aknowledge that

3 weeks you will be lucky, fermentation will be 10 days proper carbonation assuming priming will be 2 weeks for the co2 to be absorbed into beer. Then you need at least a few more for it all to mellow and condition assuming your not banging 100g hops in as a dry hop, my advice would be go to Tesco and buy the beer for Cheltenham and take your time with homebrew, you rush it you won't have an enjoyable product