Just brewed a Wilko 'kit'

[cheshirehomebrew]

Hi all, a friend gave me a can of Wilko's Copper Ale as he isn't going to get round to brewing it, so I made it up yesterday.

Having been doing all grain for the last 5 years or so it was a real pleasure to have done my brew day in about an hour, instead of the usual 4-5 that all grain can take.

Has anyone else used this can of malt extract, its pre hopped and tasted a little bitter/sour to me but as I have never used it am not sure if this was correct or it was 'off'.

One thing though, I re-hydrated the yeast that came with it and made a starter, it smelt absolutely rank, didn't seem to be very active so I used some of my usual yeast I have in stock.

It says ready to drink in 21 days. I usually dry hop in the secondary, but am curious to see how good (or bad) the beer is without any additions.

Has anyone else used Wilko kits, do they need dry hopping or not?

Thanks in advance

 

[Sandimas]

I've done a few. Like you I'm an AG brewer who still does the occasional kit due to lack of time. Good that you've used your own yeast rather than the kit yeast, as the kit yeast seems a bit small amount.

I've not done that one but I'd dry hop it with plenty of hops. I did the Golden Ale with 25g dry hops, not enough, just done the Ceveza with 64g dry hop and they're coming through OK.

My results have been OK but not in the league of an AG brew, I'd hoping pimping these kits with additional hops and grains would significantly improve them but my results have been a bit average.

 

[Dutto]

I did this one back in 2016:

WILCO'S HOPPY COPPER BITTER KIT
Started 15th June 2016
Only 600 grams of DME added
King Keg 21st June 2016 with 90gm of brewing sugar.
Started drinking 2nd July 2016
OG 1.038
FG 1.010
ABV 3.7%

This was back in the day when I more or less followed the instructions on the tin!

I shudder at the thought that I went from "start" to "drinking" in seventeen days; but in my own defence I:

• Didn't put as much DME into the brew as recommended.
• Stored it in a King Keg Top Tap which gave a clear(ish) pint.
• Was running out of beer as I attempted to get back to "critical mass" after spending three months in France.

The good news is that it was a superb pint with a "copper" colour that well justified its name.

The bitterness mellowed before the end of the keg. I think you will enjoy it.

 

[cheshirehomebrew]

Thanks everyone, I have a stack of hops so not short on options for dry hopping once it gets transferred into a carboy. I forgot to add I didn't have any DME to put in so I used a kilo of demerara instead which I think will suit it and not thin the beer down too much

 

[Spudhead94]

I've just sampled the wilko chocmeister stout kit it's been fermenting for 6 days and its dropped to 1.010 from 1.052 so i'm happy with that but it tastes quite sour? I'm OCD about sanitation so its 100% not that and it doesn't look infected either!?

 

[The Baron]

Hi Dave
I have done it a couple of years back I think you will need to dry hop it as it is a little thin in body and taste

 

[Dutto]

After six days? For a Stout?

Just leave it alone for another week (or even two weeks) and you should see a significant difference!

 

[Spudhead94]

After six days? For a Stout?

Just leave it alone for another week (or even two weeks) and you should see a significant difference!

I dry hopped with some cacao nibs and thought i'd have a little taste and has changed massively! ever so slight sour now and very stouty, in my other fermenter though it looked kinda like it had the start of a pecille infection so fingers crossed it's all good. It had a fizzy smell to it (weird i know) but that reassures me no oxygen (other than opening it) has got in

 

[cheshirehomebrew]

right, its been bottled now after dry hopping for 10 days, I used the last of my Zythos hops and the last of the chinook too, will know in 4-6 weeks what its like but when I took the lid off the fermenting bucket it smelled really 'beery', so am hopeful of a half decent pint that cost me a pound of sugar !!

 

[Aqualung]

I have just brewed a copper ale from Wilco. It seems a bit sweet and I wonder if I should have left it a few more days than on the instructions.

 

[LeeH]

I have just brewed a copper ale from Wilco. It seems a bit sweet and I wonder if I should have left it a few more days than on the instructions.

Should have left it for 2 weeks minimum.

 

[hesstondriver]

I have just put a Copper Ale in the FV,

added 2 jars of H&B malt extract and 0.5 kg sugar

gave me an OG og 1.044 so should be just over 4%

I also added a sachet of hop extract powder left over from another kit I found in my box of tricks

added the dry yeast and its sitting at 20 degrees and going like a train

so we'll see what is does …...

 

[hesstondriver]

ive bottled my copper ale from above:

finished at 1.012

I managed to brew it a bit 'long' as I eneded up with 42 pints and a fair bit left after batch priming,

so I had a good excuse to 'taste' a couple of pints. I couldn't understand the sweetness of it , then I remembered I had batch primed !!

however , it looked like beer , smelt like beer and tasted like beer so with gods blessing I will call it beer !

I think once the sweetness dies back after conditioning I think it may have characteristics of (cheap) ipa due to the extra hops.

 

[cheshirehomebrew]

I tasted this last night, its not too bad its a little more bitter than I usually drink and the carbonation is as much either, but overall not bad for the price of a kilo of sugar and some time

 

[Dutto]

You're a bit quick off the mark. It can take a couple of weeks just to carbonate in a nice warm place and then another couple of weeks to clear and condition somewhere dark and cool; but for 10 days after bottling it sounds as if it will get a lot better by the end of the month!

BTW, I think most of us probably started out on the basis of how little a pint can cost, but after a few brews you will forget all about that and suddenly realise that you are hooked on brewing your own because it tastes much, much better than anything you can buy!

Enjoy!

 

[Gunge]

I made a Thirsty Devil kit a few weeks back. No time for AG during the hassle of moving house. Was dreadful at first tasting but now it's alright. It was tweaked with a bit of crystal, more dry hops and additional yeast. However, after all these years I've just realised how much of my time AG has cost, so I'm packing it in and making kits. Half an hour tops, tweaked accordingly to suite the style. So long as it is edible and gets me leathered, that's fine.

 

[DavieC]

I did the wilko IPA kit as my first homebrew, I used 1kg wilko brew enhancer and swapped the kit yeast for 'real ale yeast' from wilkos yeast selection (think that is what it's called) left it in fv for 2 weeks, batch primed (split it into 2 batches and steeped some hops from my garden in half ltr of water and used this to dissolve my priming suger )bottled it all up,left to carb for 2 weeks,settle down cool for another week and started supping..hops batch just slightly more bitter,no hop aroma but a very nice result for my first attempt.I think it tastes great.

 

[terrym]

a very nice result for my first attempt.I think it tastes great

And that's all that really matters