Oh the hunt for a Reschs clone so returning to the fold

[Three Sheets]

Hi All been away far too long, just punching out some tried and proven kits. Now I have reinvigorated my desire for the good old Aussie beer of my misspent youth, and happy to experiment in this quest. A cautious first attempt was a Morgans Golden Saaz, 500grams of light dry malt and 500grams of dextrose. A light layering of hops boiling 8gs Pride of Ringwood @ 30 mins, 8gs Hallertau @15mins and 8gs of Saaz for 1 minute , then steeping the lot for 30 minutes before adding this tea to the wort, topped up to 22 litres and added a Belgium lager yeast. Might not taste anything Reschs but if it appeals I will work with it. Not sure yet whether to dry hop with Saaz at the end. Would be interested in opinions on this and if anyone has a Reschs Draught clone please let me know.

 

[MHB]

I well remember the old silver bullet, back when it was one of the better commercial offerings. Then I discovered coopers, sort of lead me here.
I had a talk with an old "Master Brewer" (the MB from IBD carries the equivalence with a PhD in brewing from Birmingham Uni) about Reschs. The brewery picked up a very nasty infection and couldnt recover.
The "Pilsner" was probably closer to a north German Lager according to what I recall it was basically all pale malt (perhaps a smidge of light carra for colour adjustment) probably bittered with POR and just a smidge of Hallertau late in the kettle.
It was brewed in a classic 2 down 1 up German brewhouse, the process was classic north German Lager aimed at making a highly attenuateive wort, bittered somewhere in the 25-30IBU range, colour in the 10-12EBC range (I suspect a classic two hour boil contributed some of the colour)

If I wanted to get close using kits I would choose something very pale like a Cerveza kit, use 500g of Light DME and enough dextrose to hit my target gravity (1.048-1.050). Perhaps steep some CaraHell in hot water (~80oC) and simmer the liquor with some Hallertau before adding to fermenter (could be part/all of you hot water to dissolve the kit and LME - will add some gravity)
Choose a good Lager yeast and run a classic Lager brewing process (long slow cool) S-34/70 would be OK but if I recall correctly the Carlsberg strain was closer to the original.

Let us know how you go, in its day it was a great beer, nice to see it making something of a comeback
Mark

 

[Three Sheets]

Thanks Mark, I still have some kits to get through before I get to give your suggestions a whirl. When I retire I will move to all grain and up my enthusiasm. Over the years I have knocked out some impressive Kits, and some disasters, as I forever experiment. I turned into a hop head and the 3 x 8 gram additions I mentioned above is the lightest I have gone in years. Just fancied a change in a nostalgic direction for my taste buds. Looking forward to what I might find along the way. Will report back on the Morgan's tweak in five or six weeks.