Hello from Wilkinson

[Steve@Wilkos]

Hi Steve

Can you confirm that Wilko Gervin Ale Yeast is still the same yeast as Danstar Nottingham?

Cheers Tom

Hi Tom
A little bit more information from our supply on this.....
Gervin yeasts are selected from the active dried yeasts that are currently available to the commercial winemaker and commercial brewer. They are only released under the Gervin name once they have been fully tested to ensure that they will perform well under home conditions. The ale yeast is currently the Nottingham strain.

cheers
Steve

[Steve@Wilkos]

Hi Steve
I am in Nottingham and have a few stores locally and have just brewed the newkie brown in your range and i must say from early tastings that it is a cracking brew and a proper bargain at £10 which begs the question Why are the 2 can kits £22 when i could get 2 normal kits for £20 which weigh the same? 1 thing I would like to see in stores is bigger packs of bruclens as i go thru a lot cleanliness being next to godliness and all that lol .I've also brewed the forest fruit er for the wife which is good especially if you prime with hi juice cordial.Also got a wherry for£15 Is this because you are planning to cease stocking and are selling off the last of your stock?
Regards
Mark Simpson

Hi Mark

Thanks for the feedback. Lots for me to take back to the team on price and range. Watch this space. The Wherry is not on the way out. It is just a price promotion we have running at the moment. It wont be at that price perminantely, so make the most of the bargain.

Cheers
Steve

[Steve@Wilkos]

Hi Steve.
I was impressed to see the new range of products available at the Wilko's in Andover, especially the DME and brewing sugar.I bought the pilsener to try and was a bit dissapionted to see the fermentation temperature is suitable for ale yeast and not a lager yeast. I swopped the yeast for some lager yeast and am now waiting for the fermentation to finish, it smells nice and I'm looking forward to it.

Please, please, please could you supply lager yeast with your lager kit's (it makes the difference), or sell w-34/70 seperately. It would be superb to be able to brew true lager with out having to go 17 miles to buy a kit or yeast.

You could also think about vacpacked hop and grain teabag packs to suit different styles of beer, they take up little space and give an opportunity to enhance the brew.

Swing top bottles at reasonable prices would be a bit of a coup.
Regards
Nick.

Hi Nick,

Thanks for the feedback. Again, lots of info for me to take back to the team and suppliers. Let us know how the Pilsner turns out.

Cheers
Steve

[Steve@Wilkos]

Well Done Steve for sticking your head over the parapet!
I got all my beginners set up at Wilko's and do occasionally pop in for basic essentials such as airlocks as there are no Homebrew shops anywhere near me.
Could I suggest stocking a decent book for beginners along with your gear as the instructions in those kits aren't always particularly clear or accurate (which is how I ended up finding Jim's Beer Kit in the first place)

That is a great idea. Thanks for the tip.

Cheers
Steve

[Steve@Wilkos]

My local Homebrew shops in Newcastle are now Tesco and Wilko. I think your range and general prices are great, what I would like to see is one off promotions at reasonable prices. For instance you could have a "Guest" brewpaks beer one month, A "Guest" 2 can kit the next ( other than Wherry or St Peters Ruby red). It would give us a chance to try something different without paying through the nose on 'tinternet or having to include such experiments as part of a bulk order every now and then.

It is quite difficult to change the store layouts that often, but would you be interested in guest beers via our online offer? Changing the online offer is much easier and fast paced for us.

Cheers
Steve

[Steve@Wilkos]

Hi Steve.

I only popped into Wilkinson to get an emergency Hydrometer (I know I should have more than one in kit!) and came away with lots of goodies (Thank you!!!!).
(Local store used was Bexleyheath, is that one of the bigger range stores?)
Everything has worked very well so far and i am just about to pour this weekend an AG I made with the Gervin Ale Yeast that has worked very well so far.
I fully understand that your range will we more aimed and the kit brewers but it would be great to see a few more general AG consumables and maybe a bit of kit.

I liked the look of some of the wine kits and might well give that a go later in the year.

Hi rval
Thanks for the feedback. Let us know the how it turns out. The Bexleyheath store stores our full 3m range, which is the biggest in-store range we do. More is available online.

Cheers
Steve

[Steve@Wilkos]

Steve. My local store is in Lincoln and carried a decent range of kits and other items such as caps and brew kit enhancer, all of which was much cheaper than my local home brew shop. Sadly someone decided to stop stocking brew kits etc and it all disappeared overnight (so it seemed).
If the Lincoln store was to start carrying brew kits again I would be more than happy to try out your own branded ones.
(fingers crossed but not overly optimistic).

Hi redimpz
The lincoln store has the 2 metre range which is our mid sized range. So there will be some products missing from the full range. However you can order the full range online and have it delivered to your local store in Lincoln for free.

cheers
Steve

[Steve@Wilkos]

Hi Steve, My local wilkos in Wrexham now has a cracking range of kits, though i was sad to see that the EDME kits dissapeared. Simple request for you really, could you include Dark and extra dark spraymalt in your range? - it would be great for making stouts... whenever i have been in i can only get light or medium spraymalt, i'm sure it would sell. .

Hi wxmexile
We had dark spraymalt as one of the option when we decided the range. But we only had limited space and it did not make it. Again, this is something we could do online. I am glad you like the range of kits we have.

Cheers
Steve

[Simo72]

Hi Steve
I am in Nottingham and have a few stores locally and have just brewed the newkie brown in your range and i must say from early tastings that it is a cracking brew and a proper bargain at £10 which begs the question Why are the 2 can kits £22 when i could get 2 normal kits for £20 which weigh the same? 1 thing I would like to see in stores is bigger packs of bruclens as i go thru a lot cleanliness being next to godliness and all that lol .I've also brewed the forest fruit er for the wife which is good especially if you prime with hi juice cordial.Also got a wherry for£15 Is this because you are planning to cease stocking and are selling off the last of your stock?
Regards
Mark Simpson

Hi Mark

Thanks for the feedback. Lots for me to take back to the team on price and range. Watch this space. The Wherry is not on the way out. It is just a price promotion we have running at the moment. It wont be at that price perminantely, so make the most of the bargain.

Hi Steve
since i gave great feedback and am a bit dubious about the two can kits price and quality, how's about a sample so i can make a measured assessment ? Well if you don't ask lol
cheers
Mark Simpson

Cheers
Steve

[soupdragon]

Hi Tom
A little bit more information from our supply on this.....
Gervin yeasts are selected from the active dried yeasts that are currently available to the commercial winemaker and commercial brewer. They are only released under the Gervin name once they have been fully tested to ensure that they will perform well under home conditions. The ale yeast is currently the Nottingham strain.

cheers
Steve

Hi Steve

Great news

Cheers Tom

[fatdoris]

Are you going to stock all of the silly little bits and pieces - such as spare 2 inch O rings for the basic barrel - once you have killed off all of the local homebrew shops with your stupid pricing policy? If not, where would you suggest we shop when our local specialist shops are gone, and you guys have only cherry picked the most profitable items?

p.s. my lhbs tells me you are selling the Wherries for less than she buys it !!

[fishplate]

What about the people that don't live near a LHBS,do you want us to pay through the nose for postage.I'm only 5 mins from Wilkinsons but 40 mins from an Homebrew shop and I don't have access to a vehicle.

[cellone]

I think it's all those bits and pieces, the hops/grains/wide range of kits/various fermenting and conditioning equipment and everything else that will keep the good LHBS open. Their Council's, Landlord's and Supplier's have a much bigger impact on the proffit than chain stores supplying a basic selection, more so if said chain store is trying to establish a range of their own.

[cellone]

Hi Nick,

Thanks for the feedback. Again, lots of info for me to take back to the team and suppliers. Let us know how the Pilsner turns out.

Cheers
Steve

Will do Steve.
Look forward to hearing how it goes your end.
Nick.

[fatdoris]

[quote="fishplate"]What about the people that don't live near a LHBS,do you want us to pay through the nose for postage.I'm only 5 mins from Wilkinsons but 40 mins from an Homebrew shop and I don't have access to a vehicle.[/quote]


Most online store do free postage over £45