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chewie

Landlord.
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Hi folks, just getting into the home brewing and i'm curious if anyone has any experience of kits that are close or very similar in taste/flavour to a satzenbrau or holstein pils (other half drinks this, so anything to get her onside is a bonus:).

Also looking for something close to Bass special pale ale (bottled) of around 30 years ago, around my area it was usually called blue bass due to the label colour and cap foil though i have read that the different Bass breweries (Belfast) around the country back then had there own labelling.

Thanks in advance for any insight:)
 
I have a coopers irish stout on the go atm, so far it seems to be behaving as it should, planning a woodfordes admirals next and the other half picked up her ears when i mentioned trying out a rose wine so the lager may never get to happen :).

I would like to find something close to the old blue bass though, so if anyone has any recommendations i'm all ears.
 
To be brutally honest you won't find anything terribly close to any commercial beer in kit form. My advice would be to buy some dried malt extract, some crystal malt, some Challenger hops and a suitable yeast. Ideally a liquid yeast. White Labs WLP023 is the closest I believe. It will give a beer pretty close to Bass. If you insist on dried yeast, use Safale S04.

Heat some water in a big pan, steep the crystal malt in it (in a mesh bag) for 20-30 minutes, take the crystal out and stir in some of the extract before you reach the boil, put the hops in once it's boiling, boil for half an hour, cool the pan in a sink of cold water, mix this in the FV with cold water and stir the rest of the extract in, and top up to required level. When it gets down to 20C pitch the yeast.


For 23 litres you want:

3kg of light dried malt extract
200g of crystal malt
30g of Challenger hops
I pack of WLP023 or S04 yeast
 
Are you wanting to stick to kits or would you venture into extract brewing ? Extract means a bit of stove top boiling is involved.

I've got the camra brew your own book. It has two bass recipes - mild and draught bass. There are similarities in both recipes. 'Special' would have meant a certain strength, probably around 4.5 to 5 %abv.

I'm sure between us we could come up with an extract recipe that matches the style, can't promise to bring the memories flooding back though.
 
I was thinking that for a pale that you'd only need the pale ME. It would make it simpler too as a first foray into extract. I'm guessing you are beefing up the flavour ?

Deffo the challenger hops as they are used in both of the byora book bass recipes.
 
Bass uses Crystal malt, it's a vital component, and steeping it is very simple.
 
I would use Crystal malt in most English beers, it adds that chewie malty quality that you need. Even a Theakstones clone (I can't think of a bitter that is much paler than Theakstones) has a some in the grist.
 
Kits for the meantime i think till i get a feel for the whole process though all grain is something i might look into later on. Was just hoping there would be something in kit form that would be close to it though i'm not opposed to trying out multiple brews to find one :) Thx for the replies.
 
chewie said:
Kits for the meantime i think till i get a feel for the whole process though all grain is something i might look into later on. Was just hoping there would be something in kit form that would be close to it though i'm not opposed to trying out multiple brews to find one :) Thx for the replies.
Click to expand...

In that case the closest you'll probably be able to get is, 'kits in the beer style of''...bass. Unless anyone knows of a kit that is uncanily like bass
 
Sorry Clibit you won't turn chewie to the dark side... I have seen all 6 films several times and you won't come even close

(unless the force awakens in him later this year and he brews AG for thr first time this December..)
 
Covrich said:
Sorry Clibit you won't turn chewie to the dark side... I have seen all 6 films several times and you won't come even close

(unless the force awakens in him later this year and he brews AG for thr first time this December..)
Click to expand...

Lol, hopefully it will be better than the last 3.
 
Chewie back in April I did my first Wherry and at lunchtime on the day I was to try my first bottle I saw it on tap in a pub where I work. So I had a pint at lunchtime of the Wherry Woodfordes had brewed and when I got home I had a Wherry that I'd brewed. The difference was monumental, happily my one blew theirs out of the water, shockingly so. We brew for quality and because we love to brew, the big companies brew to make money and it shows in their beers. After a few brews you'll see the difference between your beer and bought beer and you won't touch bought beer with a barge pole.
 
My irish stout seems to be at the end of fermentation, tasting a half glass as i write and i must say its very like a bottled of the shelf guinness for taste. Gravity is at the 1020 mark down from 1052 iirc (may of been 1048), i think it may be a higher gravity due to what i put in it rather than stalled. Will give it a few days and see where i stand with another gravity reading.

@Larry, i'm really looking forward to trying the woodfordes admirals reserve though i've still a bit of reading up to do Re it.
 

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