Wherry Questions

Discuss making up beer kits - the simplest way to brew.
SiHoltye

Post by SiHoltye » Fri Jan 11, 2008 10:50 pm

Hi racingclub,

Woodefordes Wherry is a lovely pint, but quite a few other popular kits make a lovely pint without the threads you've seen griping about the process. Good luck and report in for support and recognition!
It depends what your tastes are, I like Best Bitters, London Pride, Harvey's Sussex, and found Fixby Gold from Brupaks to be nice. It wasn't
long though before I went all grain so my experience of the kits is limited.

The bit of advice I can offer though is brew lots, or if you're like me nothing will have a chance to reach it's peak!

BrewStew

Post by BrewStew » Sat Jan 12, 2008 5:30 pm

Hi RC

the Wherry was my first ever brew, and even though i've gone all grain, i'm still partial to it and have one on the go atm.

personally i've taste tested the different between the brewery version and the kit version and i have to say the kit version shines alot brighter than the brewery version :)

my first kit i messed up because i followed the wrong intstuctions (ie i added 1kg brewers sugar :shock: ) but for my personal tastes, that thinned down the hoppyness to exactly what i like and it was lurvely :D (not to mention rocket fuel!)

the second one i did i left as standard, no added sugar. and it finished fermenting 2 points high on the hydrometer. this one was too hoppy for my liking but that's personal taste, and so onto my third and current Wherry...

the third i've got on the go is with 1KG of Beer kit enhancer (a 50/50 split of brewers sugar/dextrose and spraymalt) so hopefully it'll be stronger but more malty, as my personal tastes prefer. This one got stuck at 1.020 and so i added yeast nutrients, which took a further two days to sort out but it did the trick and reached it's target :)

wherry's are lovely :) a bit hoppy for my liking, and the commercial version way too hoppy. but if you like full bodied hoppy beers, then go for it :) but keep a pack of yeast vit or something similar on standby just incase (but i'd say keep one on standby for any kit you do, just to be sure).

hope this helps :)

gareth90

Post by gareth90 » Sat Jan 12, 2008 6:55 pm

Checked mine this morning and it had settled out at 1.020 so i gave the sediment a gentle rousing and bubbling has started again and its now down to 1.016 so hopefully mine has fermented out ok but ill give it another day or so before barrelling.

MightyMouth

Post by MightyMouth » Sat Jan 12, 2008 8:13 pm

Just though I would mention that after adding Dry beer Enzyme to my wherry a few days ago along with yeast-vit it has now gone down to 1.002 :shock: Have put some finings in and am going to keg/bottle on Monday.

scarer

Post by scarer » Sun Jan 13, 2008 12:11 pm

:shock:

Getting a bit twitchy 'cos I checked my Colne Valley yesterday which was after 9 days in the fermenter and it was at 1020....oh no not again!

I will check it again today and tomorrow to see what the play is, might need a stir :roll:

racingclub

Post by racingclub » Wed Jan 16, 2008 1:54 pm

well I went with the Brupaks kit in the end (the Wherry is still sitting there), but it seems to have stuck around the 1015 mark....

Ill give it a few more days anyway :)

Minus The Bear

Post by Minus The Bear » Wed Jan 16, 2008 2:24 pm

scarer wrote::shock:

Getting a bit twitchy 'cos I checked my Colne Valley yesterday which was after 9 days in the fermenter and it was at 1020....oh no not again!

I will check it again today and tomorrow to see what the play is, might need a stir :roll:
This was the first kit i did and it finished at 1014 if i recall rightly.

At the time i was really worried, but after 6 weeks in the keg its tastes decent and is getting better and better. the alcohol content was a bit lower than stated on the kit due to the higher final gravity, mine ended up around 3.2%.

DEV

WHERRY

Post by DEV » Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:28 am

Hi
Did a Wherry kit as per instructions, all went well, finnished at 1006 so it was about 4.5, barrel and condition for 5 weeks, it just gets better after that. I know its along time to wait but if you stagger other brews you always have something to drink while you're waiting.
cheers

scarer

Post by scarer » Thu Jan 17, 2008 11:45 pm

scarer wrote::shock:

Getting a bit twitchy 'cos I checked my Colne Valley yesterday which was after 9 days in the fermenter and it was at 1020....oh no not again!

I will check it again today and tomorrow to see what the play is, might need a stir :roll:
It is as I feared, stirred it on Sunday, checked the reading yesterday and it's still 1020. I will add more yeast tomorrow and more yeast vit and see where it goes...... :cry:

scarer

Post by scarer » Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:12 am

yeah, that's what I was going to do. The yeast vit won't do any harm will it? I already added some with my initial starter when I started the kit.

booldawg

Post by booldawg » Fri Jan 18, 2008 9:33 am

I've made up 8 brews since September and not had one that didnt need assistance to get past the 1020 mark :oops:

Minus The Bear

Post by Minus The Bear » Fri Jan 18, 2008 10:34 am

booldawg wrote:I've made up 8 brews since September and not had one that didnt need assistance to get past the 1020 mark :oops:
Do you think there is any particular reason or do you reckon it's just bad luck?

scarer

Post by scarer » Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:19 pm

I'm glad it's not just me!

The reason has been speculated in other topics but i'm just a beginner at this !

I follow the instructions not just in the kits but information found here and on other sites. I have a steady temp of 20 degrees which is ideal and use a yeast starter.

What is strange is that a lot of people have had no problems with the Wherry kit and the Brupaks kits, so is it regional water?

I'm going to move onto extract brewing soon so it will be interesting to see how that goes...... :?

booldawg

Post by booldawg » Fri Jan 18, 2008 12:34 pm

Minus The Bear wrote:
booldawg wrote:I've made up 8 brews since September and not had one that didnt need assistance to get past the 1020 mark :oops:
Do you think there is any particular reason or do you reckon it's just bad luck?
I'm fairly confident its not the temperature, maybe inefficient aeration? Cant be the quality of the malt on every kit and I always make a healthy looking yeast starter. I do aerate for a full 10 minutes but maybe my technique needs working on! I've toyed with the idea of buying a wort aerator, they're less than 20 quid.

Post Reply