Wilkos - Dark Velvet Stout

Set this away yesterday afternoon (3pm ish) and doubled it up (toucan) added just under 500g golden syrup and had a og of 1046 , says on tin temp should be 20 degrees but i struggled to get near that , at first it was 30 degrees so had to bring it down with damp cold towels and a fan finally got it to around 23 when i pitched both yeast packets and put in pantry cupboard with the fan on it at a steady 23 degrees , i checked at 10pm and the krausen was about 3 inches and looked like whipped ice cream lol , checked this morning and it had grown to around 7/8 inches and is still there now , initial taste was sweet with a bitter back taste quite nice really and seems to have plenty body to it so hopefully it wont change to much and as it states its very dark .

I did this previously with 1 kg brewing sugar and tin black treacle and wasn't far of the coopers version. I have just bottled another replacing the treacle for golden syrup and can't wait to try it.


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You say you doubled it up (twocan) and added 500g syrup, presumably raised to 23L or did you raise the brew length as well 40L? I'm surprised you only had an SG of 1046 if 23L.

Yes, I would have expected it to a little higher than that. I recently made a batch of this (single can and 1L sugar) and would have added a hop tea with 50g of Bramling Cross but didn't have any so added 50g of WGV instead. When bottling the other day it tasted rather nice, I'm hoping for good things once mature.

not sure why it would be lower , not gotten as confident to add things like hops as extras yet as its only my 6th kit

Yeah, I just checked, my Stout was 1056 at starting and has ended up at 1006, so its come out at 6.6%.

If you are interested in trying a hop tea, its not difficult. My approach is to take 50g of your chosen hops (different hops work well in different beers, for instance I really like Citra in a bitter or an IPA) then zap them with a stick blender. Boil up 1L of your beer towards the end of its fermentation at say around 1014 - 1012 then put the hops and hot wart into a large cafetiere and leave it for 30 mins, then press the plunger down and pour the infusion into your beer. Job done. Let it ferment out and see what you think, my Citra bitter is getting better and better, its now 6 months old. Trouble my kids like it as well so 5Gallons doesn't go far.

Last time I checked the malt miller had some interesting hops on sale for £1 per 100g. I got some of these with a view to making some hoppy beers.

Give it a go, I'm sure you will like the results.

i might of misread the hydrometer possibly i was in a bit of a flap with the heat and managed to smash swmbo,s flower vase whilst removing the fan from the living room lol either way it was a nice tasting brew from first tasting and if its a bit stronger than i thought im not to worried i do like a strong stout , ive just taken another reading there and its 1014 so its fermenting fast , i only drink stout so not sure what the hops would add to that but i do like a bit of bitterness

The recommended hop for a stout is Bramling Cross as mentioned above, the original suggestion came from Rob Walker. I plan to get some next time I put an order into the malt miller so I can try it.

Your SG now is just fine if you want to try a hop tea.

the plan for this one was not to mess to much with it just a small amount of golden syrup 450 g to boost the abv and brew short to 20lts but the heat meant i added more chilled water to bring the temp down , i was looking to see how the body was on the finished stout and from the sample it has plenty so far , then if i do this one again i can add extras i made a note of the hops you recommended i hoping to eventually find a stout kit i can make to 4.5/5% abv with a nice mouth feel and some bitterness , if i try this twocan again ill probably leave the syrup out and try the hops , must admit though this does taste spot on so far even if a little strong so might not want to mess with it

Got 2 cans of this was thinking of brewing both cans together to 23l I also have some cocao nibs and vanilla pods that I want to add but a bit unsure of when and how much nibs and vanilla to add any ideas chaps.

no idea on the nibs but a very nice stout mine fermented out really quickly in the heat and got down to 1013 so not bad , if you can leave to clear or rack off as there is some sediment in my bottles but needed the fv for my next one and as ive only one thats that lol , though im looking to get another fv next week some time unless wilkos have them in stock when i pick up my order on Saturday , its quite bitter this one which i dont mind and will prolly mellow over time tbh it very drinkable now hehe

started another today 2 cans of stout, 500g med spray, malt 500g golden syrup brewed to 20L sg 1.056 for secondary i have 150g of cacao nibs and 2 vanilla pods that have been soaked in 1/4 bottle of vodka for 4 weeks going to leave this in secondary for 10 days. hoping to have a nice chocolate stout for Christmas ??

A quick brewmate estimation puts your actual OG at 1.054.

i will go with that my hydrometer is 4 points out so may have miss calculated anywhere around the 5% - 6% mark will be fine what do you think of the cacao nibs and vanilla pods, will the chocolate taste be to intense

Where did you get the clear FV from?

Looks like a coopers to me.

yep its a coopers fv

Sounds like a great beer Stan. I must brew something similar myself soon!

Went mad for the first couple of days fermented out of the air lock brew fridge is a mess settled down now going to leave in primary for 2 weeks then add my concoction in secondary then clean up the mess

Brewed to 18l with 1kilo brew enhancer. Smelt like rotten eggs for a week until
I racked to a new bucket. Put it in PB with 120g sugar. Let's see what happens.

I started this off today and mine only had a starting gravity of 1042. Wort temp was around 78f thou.
I have done this kit before and must say it was fantastic.

I bought quite a few kits in the Wilko's sale . Amongst others I nabbed 2 cans of this D.V.Stout .
Finally got round to brewing it today . I didn't want to tweak it too much and end up with too high abv , wasn't sure what i'd end up with by using 2 cans . Steeped a small quantity of grains I had that wanted using up .
Some chocolate malt and caramel grains . Once steeped I boiled the liquor and lobbed in the 2 cans with a small jar of honey . Made a full 23 lts .
OG was 1052 so not too high I thought . Got temp to 22 c with some ice cubes then pitched some Wilko Gervin yeast .
I found previous stouts took longer to improve the more extras I lobbed in , black treacle in particular seems to take a good while to mellow out .
The aim with this one is to have a nice , full bodied stout that won't blow the families heads off like some others I've done that were imperial strength . I never forced it on them but got the blame for their hangovers none the less

Have had a Wilko's stout carbing and have just cracked an early one open, Mmmmmmm, think it could be far better with storage for a while.
Great head which was a nice nice mid brown and lasted right through,and a nice dark stout. Tasted a tad like bottled Guiness but not so bitter. Will be doing this one again for sure.

1 Wilko Dark Velvet Stout.
500 grm beer enhancer
500 grm Dk Dried Malt
Approx 1/4 tin black treacle
8 grms Goldings hops steeped in caffatiere for 15 mins and added to mix
100 grms Demerera sugar
Brewed short to 19 litres
Tea bag of willamette hops added for 5 days before racking
Batch primed.
Came out at around 4.40% or thereabouts.