Tooheys real ale

[Damfoose]

Has any one done the Tooheys Real Ale ?

I have just finished brewing this used 1kg enhancer but the brew seems weak and watery even though it started at 1045 and droped to 1008 the instructions said 1006 it should drop to but a point or 2 either way is close enough for me.

The brew seems to be generally lacking in .... well everything taste, body any resembelance of even having alcohol in it.

I have it in a barrel and will leave it for 4 weeks before I go near it which will be easy as im away from home during the week for the next few months, But to be honest if its still rubbish after the 4 weeks I will give it 2 more and bung it down the drain if it is still rubbish , As much as would hate to throw beer away but it will be a chore to drink due to its lack of actual taste I would prefer water to that in its current state. It is currently like dark brown water but no real anything to it. My first bad brew I suppose well not bad as in infected or off just generally bad if you can understand that.

[Tequilla6]

Damfosse,

I was looking for info on the Tooheys Dark Ale and found your comments. Did it improve any

I bought a tin as part of my kit brewing experiments and this is the only kit I have left. Got my AG bill from H&G yesterday so ready to do a Oatmeal Stout as soon as I have built my Brewery up. Got most of the FV and plumbing bits just gotta put it together and thought having the grain sitting there would spur me on a bit. However as I have an empty FV I thought I could at least get this one and get all my kits out of the way ready for my AG adventure.

Would it improve do you think with the addition of some Spray Malt or some other DME

Cheers

[Tequilla6]

Well, as I had an empty FV I couldn't resist.

Went to the LHBS to buy some Dark Spray Malt to replace the 1KG of Brewers Sugar on the Tooheys dark ale kit, only to find that they had sold out and I had wasted a journey.

Ended up buying a 1.5KG tin of dark malt extract instead and used this to replace the sugar. Knowing I had added a little more that the 1Kgs of sugar in the recipe I increased the amount of water to take the wort from the 23L level suggested to the 26L level.

OG was 1044, and used a SAL04 yeast packet. Bubbling away already so lets see how it turns out.

The though arose though about the costs of the budget kits. This kit cost me £12 and if brewing sugar was added at £2.30 for a kilo it's £14.30 for a brew. If I replace the sugar on these kits with Spray Malt 1Kg is around £7 so we are looking at £19.00 for the kit. The way I did it was DME at £9.30 making a whopping £21.30. As a premium Brupak with hop pellets comes in at £19.95 which I am drinking and enjoying as we speak . I really cannot see why anyone would even think of buying the cheaper kits. If they were to add Malt instead of sugar as is always recommended on this site to improve the standard budget kit to an acceptable pint of beer, the costs throw out the proposition. Or am I missing something

PS The Tooheys and brewers sugar was purchased before I found this site AG setup in bits waiting to be built as I type.

Cheers

[lollypopp]

Tequilla6,
I've just bought the cheaper kit, Tom Caxton Real ale, 1.8kg, and a kg of Demerera* sugar, guess that going to turn out, like a turn out!!! the kit cost £11.99, the Nog I'm doing at the moment cost £19.99, 3kg, just add water, blah blah!!!!, What do you think I should put/add to make this taste better, any ideas would be welcome! thanks a newbie, cheers Lawrence...

[Tequilla6]

Think that the point I'm trying to make or the question I guess I'm asking,

I am reading on the forum and certainly from my previous experience brewing that using just plain sugar can give a weak and bodiless beer. The general consensus seem to be to replace the sugar with equal amounts of spray malt. My recipe called for 1kg of sugar so same as yours, but if we replace with spray malt (I guess yours would be to used Light Spray Malt) we end up at a similar price to the just add water premium kits. so what's the point in buying the budget kits in the first place

[lollypopp]

Yes, I see, and hear you loud and clear, I might just go ahead and use the sugar this time, make a note of it, or I may start a beer diary, then I can try the spray malt next time, and see how they compare? But I see your point, what ever you do for the better you end up at about 50p a pint!

[Tequilla6]

It would be interesting to see your conclusion to both a sugar version and a spray malt version of the same kit to see if you think the extra money is worth it.

I did the sugar thing when I was in the middle east and found the differences that the type of sugar used can create already so I wouldn't want to waste one of my kits to prove something I already know. We used to take alcohol free beer and referment. I used to improve my beer by substituting the granulated sugars usually used for more unrefined and invert sugars such as demerara, golden syrup and anything else that I could get at the time including one time a malt based powdered baby food. It did improve my beer no end from the general dross I got in other ex-pat households, although there were some real good brewers out there at the time.

Although saying that from what I have learnt in the forums this time around, the other issue I would have had but not realised when I was brewing before, was the chlorine in the tap water and the TCP taste it gave to the beer. That may just make the difference to the budget kits and resolving the chlorine issue by adding half a Campden tablet to the wort and using Demerera sugar will actually give an acceptable brew for you.

Reading the forums yesterday, I seem to get the impression that the use of a one can kit as opposed to the two can kits was one of choice as it allowed more flexibility with the adjuncts when creating the kits and it was not for a number of people a cost exercise. That reasoning I can agree with.

Still at 50p a pint it's still at least £1.60 less than a pint from the local pub and cheaper than my usual bottles of brew from the supermarkets which range from £1.50 upwards a bottle.

Cheers

[bigbob]

£1.60 less than a pint in the pub? its been a while since i saw a £2.10 pint in anywhere other than wetherspoons! i'm normally looking at ish 3 quid a pint round here. infact i'm off to the pub tonight and i know the timmy t landlord is £2.90. what a disgrace! where abouts are you based then tequila6? i may have to consider a move!!

[Tequilla6]

Was trying to be as pessimistic as I could get away with really. Our local has been serving a "Credit Crunch Ale" at £2.10 which was quite good really. Smelt and tasted of chocolate and was a dark ruby colour. Had a pint of that and then went back to my favourite which is the Black Dog, but I think that's only £2.30 a pint. It's just the wife's insistence on a small bottle of crap rose wine that puts the price beyond the fiver mark. But yes the other pubs in the village are around the £3.00 mark for a pint, but I don't frequent them as often as one of them only has a Pedigree which I sometimes drink, I'm not that into the Adnams that are also on offer and the brews never change. The other pub is OK and I must admit that the selection of real ales on offer is always changing so I am always nipping in to check what's on offer on any week. Getting to know the landlord there and pushing him to get some of the darker ales. Had a great Porter there only last week. Had to stay for a pint or three during a lunchtime session last week before he ran out....

Thanks for pointing out the bleedin obvious that my location is not displayed ( I missed that little detail...sigh), I always like to know where people are in the world so have now gone to my profile and added my location as Cambridge.

Cheers

[Tequilla6]

Seem to have Hijacked this thread a little bit from Damfosse (Hope you don't mind )

Thought I would post an update on my Tooheys Dark Ale.

It's been in the fermenter for 14 days now and after the initial explosion of activity with SAL-04 it died a death after 4 days at the dreaded 1020 SG reading...sigh

Tried stirring it to no avail and thought that it maybe the yeast as I had not used the yeast that came with the pack. After 8 days started a yeast culture and after making the culture up to a 1 litre start againer using lite spray malt added that to the brew. Again after 24 hours some reasonable activity but over the last 4 few days it went back to no movement again and still at 1020 SG. It tastes OK (tried the sample) but still sweeter than I needed or want. So yesterday I ordered some Dry Beer Enzyme to see if that will bring it down some more.

If the addition of the DBE works, will it attenuate down so much that I was better off with the sweeter brew. Never used this stuff before so what can I expect?

Cheers

[urbantreemonkey]

Totally off topic but whats the name of your local and what village tequilla6? May have to pop in for one if i'm ever passing.