New Wilko kits

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I've just been to my local Wilko and they had the following on the shelves, all marketed under an Artisan Brewing label. They only had one of each kit in stock (I can't remember the exact names of the kits):
Chocmeister Chocolate Stout - 1.8kg - £16
Lighthouse Keeper - pale ale - 1.8kg - £16
Feeling Hoppy - triple hopped IPA - 1.8kg - £16 (someone had already bought this one!)
Thirsty Devil - red ale - 1.8kg - £16
Summer Ale - limited edition pilsner hopped with Progress - 1.5kg - £12
Winter Ale - looked to be 2 can kit in box - £19

All the kits have dry hops which are under the lid as the lid rattles when you shake it!
 
£16 is a lot for a single can kit.
Add brewing sugar / DME and you are in to premium 2 can kits money.
Not sure I could justify that price point under those circumstances, especially when the b&m kits can be doubled up for less that the initial outlay of the Wilko kit and already has the brewing sugar included.
 
Saw these in my local Wilko today and I picked up a can of the "Limited Edition Summer Ale". I notice it come with a 6g sachet of Lager yeast. Do I need to do anything different to this as opposed the the standard ale yeast? the instructions that are included seem to be just the standard ones that come with all the kits.

I can confirm that the Winter ale is a two can kit. It looks like Wilko have stopped doing the John Bull kits which is a shame as I've had good results with them.
 
Went in my local Wilko yesterday (hoping to find a cheap Sundew tbh) but had neither that nor these new kits. I don't think the price is unreasonable given they come with hops for dry hopping (except the stout). A kilo bag of brew enhancer (50/50 split of dme & dextrose???) is £6 so we're talking £22 total. I'm OK with that for a 20-23L ferment.

the B&M kits are great imo a bit of a bargain, especially @£6 a go, but are unlikely to be around for long. Get them while you can.
 
I think the good thing is that Wilko is constantly changing its range and coming up with new (and old) types/makes of beer. Hopefully they won't be getting rid of home brew for quite some time!

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Picked up the Lighthouse Keeper pale ale kit and a bag of dme from my local Wilko's yesterday. I've had nothing but good brews from their budget range of kits, so looking forward to trying this one.
 
Picked up the Lighthouse Keeper pale ale kit and a bag of dme from my local Wilko's yesterday. I've had nothing but good brews from their budget range of kits

Let us know how you get on, intrigued by these kits - Wilko products are usually very good inc their homebrew range. When I originated this post I went in for their Cerveza which I've pimped with some grains and Hallertau hops, fermenting at the mo, hoping it comes out good.
 
Yes, will keep you posted. I will be interested how your Cerveza goes - the only slight gripe I've had with this kit was that it is slightly lacking in flavour - fine for a cold refreshing pint in the recent hot weather, but not much character.
 
It's a great kit if you dry hop the hell out of it and brew it with different alternative yeasts.
Best I did was the cerveza kit with magnum and saaz hops brewed with a cali-common yeast
Really different and very tasty.

Also did one with honey and a hallertau hop tea. Also very refreshing.
All the others have been straight forward kit with a regular saaz dry hop and faux lager yeasts
 
Some pics attached .
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Just picked up their red ale kit, 4% is a bit on the low side for me but it comes with 10 g of cascade hop pellets to go in on day 4 so thought I’d give it a go. I’m just going to go with the recipe it gives i.e using brewers super instead of enhancer to see what happens.
 
Just 10g of hops! For a full 20/23l brew that seems a little undersized.
 
Bit of a slow starter, it’s not doing a great deal. Followed the instructions to the letter and I think it was a bit warm when the yeast was pitched in. It’s beginning to come to life after about 8 hrs. Hydrometer reading 1038 - it says on the pack it should be about 1044 but we shall see. Fingers crossed.
 
Think I’m gonna cry, just realised these are made in Stomarket so must be muntons. Had a stuck brew with their smugglers ale which I repitched the yeast and it came out awful. Hopefully this brew will sort itself out but I am kicking myself for not spotting this sooner. I really wish I had gone with the Caxton instead, bugger.
 
Light Keeper kit going smoothly - two weeks in the FV (not as per instructions, but my usual practice) Added the hops after a week and this was the only problem I've had so far - hadn't read the BM kits thread where someone advised to not add hop pellets straight to the FV, so had to rack to secondary using a muslin bag on the end of the syphon tube to filter out the floating bits. This seems to have worked just fine, as the sample I took to check for gravity was already pretty clear and the beer is currently cold crashing in the fridge.
 
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