New Wilko Artisan Brewing Kits

[wiredcharlie]

Wilko have launched a range of own brand 1.8Kg kits at £16 each. I bought a Light Keeper https://www.wilko.com/en-uk/wilko-light ... /p/0468417, to give it a try. Comes with a 10g sachet of Amarillo for dry hopping. Syrup seemed thin. We'll just have to see how it turns out!

Tony

[wiredcharlie]

Drinking it now. Nothing special.

Tony

[WalesAles]

Drinking it now. Nothing special.

Tony

wired,
HaHaHaHa!
Brilliant review of the Kit.
Perhaps more Dry Hopping would have made it better.
Don`t let this put you off brewing.
Keep up the good work!

WA

Sent from my Sofa.

[wiredcharlie]

Confirms my suspician that 10g for dry hopping is just a gimmick to justify the price.

[Kev888]

In general, light ales and bitters etc often have just a few dry hops added (if any at all). The purpose is only to add a subtle aroma note (they aren't trying to be APAs, after all), so in theory 10g would be fairly reasonable.

But in practice, the quality of the hops and their storage conditions make a big difference, and the underlying beer does need to be very good in its own right; no hiding behind loads of hops. So if these don't come together then yes, I can well imagine a few dry hops being a somewhat moot point. Could be quite a big ask, for a modest 1-can kit to make the best of them.

[Jackthehat]

'Nothing special'

Doesn't that rather define a light ale?

[Kev888]

It shouldn't... but it very often does. IMO light ales can be excellent session beers on hot summer days, but they're subtle so everything has to be right for them to be truly good: if not then they're easily just bland and/or even minor faults are more prominent.

[TheSumOfAllBeers]

Dark star hop head on cask, or Oakham jhb. Great examples of light ale done well.

If you take the gravity down again, down to redemption trinity, kernel table beer.

Also many regional breweries have a great cask ale in the 3.7 - 4% abv range.

[Jackthehat]

I think that we may be talking about slightly different things.

My 'Nothing special' comment was really aimed at the type of bottled light ales that were very popular in the 50s and 60s and were still around when I started drinking, and indeed, working in pubs.

DS Hophead on cask and Oakham JHB aren't what I (nor indeed their brewers) think of as light ales. I don't know the other two, but if they taste of hops then they aren't either.

[Robwalkeragain]

More hops in a pint of doom bar, what's the point?