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I've just started a single can Geordie Winter Warmer kit and having read some negative reviews about this kit turning out "weak" and "watery" and like "beer flavoured soda water" I'm naturally having doubts about it.

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Steps taken so far

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Can of Geordie Winter Warmer 1kg dextrose (wish I'd used dme) 300g black treacle (I've read this can improve the body of a brew)* 100g honey* 100g muscovado sugar* 1tbsp ground cinnamon 1tsp ground ginger (*=whatever sugary stuff I had left in the cupboard, basically - thought by adding this I could improve the OG which came out at 1038 @ 22litres...final OG was 1042)

Yeast is off to a flying start and has around 3-4cm krausen on top about 7hours after pitching. Temperature is around 23 degrees celsius. In hindsight I would have brewed it much shorter at around 18 litres.

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Potential improvements?

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An OG of 1042 is lower than what I would want for a full bodied winter warmer (first try - but having done some reading this does seem low) so I was wondering whether I could add some extra dark DME + yeast starter in stages as the fermentation subsides to try to raise the ABV and hopefully improve the malty body of the beer.

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My question

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Are there any suggestions of how else I could improve this potential Grinch of a winter warmer? Ideally I would like an ABV around 5-6% but more importantly a sweeter beer with plenty of malty body. Is it too late to do anything about this now?

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It's too late for this beer in my opinion.

Adding DME+water could work at a really high concentration. I have never done this, but there's no reason why that wouldn't work. But that seems more trouble than its worth to me. A new starter should not be necessary.

To be honest, you should have left the extra sugar out. That's just going to thin it out and take away what little malty qualities you had.

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  • I think I may try adding some dark spray malt and hope for the best. I hate to give up on a brew so just for the sake of experimentation, I think I'll try it.
    – user1083734
    Commented Nov 21, 2014 at 13:32
  • Well, it's beer in the end, right? :) It'll be fine. Try stuff out and learn from it. That's what the hobby is all about.
    – kellanstec
    Commented Nov 22, 2014 at 4:47
  • Try adding maltodextrin, no guarantees this late in the process.
    – rlshep
    Commented Dec 15, 2014 at 16:52

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