Enhanced Wherry

[wiredcharlie]

I have a Woodfordes Wherry 2 can kit and want to make it a little stronger but without spoiling it. I also have a bag of Geordie Beer Kit Enhancer (Spray Malt + Dextrose).
Is adding a bit of Enhancer a good idea and if so how much?

Thanks,
Tony

[richc]

You could add enhancer or just sugar, beer enhancer will add some maltiness as well as strength, sugar will just add strength.

Off the top of my head 100g sugar in 20l of beer will add about 2 points to the OG, this should allow you to work out how much to add.

If you are doing this I would strongly suggest replacing the yeast with a larger pack of something suitable from your local shop, an 11g pack of a decent ale yeast would make sure the yeast can handle the fermentation.

[antinomy]

About to do my second wherry, first one done according to the packet - very nice tipple, after 6 - 7 weeks in the keg.

Any suggestions for a hop tea or dry hop to compliment it and get a bit of fresher hop aroma? Presumably cant go too wrong with EKG, but can anyone else think of anything a little bit more interesting??

[wiredcharlie]

richc - when you say 2 points to the OG, what does that mean in terms of per cent alcohol?

[Old Speckled Ben]

Very roughly, 2 points on the hydrometer (when fermented) would equate to 0.2717% abv.

[wiredcharlie]

So 100g in 20litres --> +2 OG --> +0.2717% abv

If I add 333g of enhancer to the 24l brew that would increase abv by just less than 1% ?

[richc]

You're in the right ball park there, these are very estimated numbers. I'd suggest adding a few hundred grams, making sure it dissolves and then rechecking the gravity. Repeat the process until you get to the starting gravity required for the abv you are aiming for. Here is a calculator that will help (http://www.brewersfriend.com/abv-calculator/)

[wiredcharlie]

To be honest, I'm not really aiming at anything specific. I just don't want to mess up a batch. Anything under 6% would be OK so I guess I could just try a third of a bag of enhancer and see what happens!

Tony

[wiredcharlie]

OG came out at 1.039 with a third of a bag of enhancer

[masterosouffle]

A bit late now but the best way of making a kit stronger is to make less volume, drop it by 5 pints or so...

[antinomy]

I'm a bit worried about your gravity calculation. My brewing spreadsheet records that my last wherry brewed according to the instructions, without additional fermentables, started at 1044 temperature corrected. Have you calibrated your hydrometer?

[wiredcharlie]

Once I'd worked out what it meant, that puzzled me too. Unusually I decided to bottle this batch instead of using a barrel. It became clear that the volume calibration on my primary fermenting bucket was well out and I was making too bigger volume! This explains why all my beer to date has been pretty weak stuff. The next batch I reduced the volume and used the rest of the bag up - 666g. But I didn't take a hydrometer reading. The next batch I'm going to use half a bag.