I read this post today at work and didnt really have time to post the reply i wanted. I initially thought..... oh your joking, because im a bit of a beer snob these days but i also remembered back to when i started brewing.
I was a Tooheys new boy and aols liked Tooheys Old. I knew nothing about the beers or styles outside what was on tap at the pub! I started brewing cause i was saving for a house and thought i could do it cheaper. When i tried my first effort i wasnt impressed and me being me...... looked for ways to make it better, as most of us on here have. I then found the old Grumpys Fourmm then here and the rest is history.
After taking out a state championships and Gold at Aus national level.... i recon ive come a long way from the tooheys new i used to love, as, again, most of us on here have.
NOw i still go to the club abd enjoy a tooheys old now and then but i do like returning home to my beer and going......... Ohhhhhhh thats better
So i guess im a beer snob and im not, because i will say, start trying to make something familiar, but i will also say the worst hangovers i ever had were from Tooheys red and i wont touch the stuff ever again.
If your brewing AG...... better beer can be made easily.
For a start i would make a beer with 100% pils at 65 deg, 1.046, bitter it to 27 ibu with POR and ferment out with US-05. You wont go back to Red i can assure you. It wont be axact but wou will smile when you drink it.
So it shouldn't be a surprise that new brewers join here with the idea of copying something they already drink,
at least they know it's drinkable and they like it. The route to home brewing is always going to be
"How do I make this or that"
When I started brewing my 'dream' was to make my own Coopers Sparkling Ale. After 4 years on this site
I now would rate the commercial beer as about 4/10 on my personal beer scale. I have been introduced to the
huge and wonderful world of craft beer.
As Donald Rumsfeld said,'There are unknown unknowns, that's to say things that you don't even know that you don't know.'
Now that I've joined this site I know that there's a whole heap I don't know about making beer.
Thit quote above is one of the best things i have read on here in a while and i comend the author.
I grew up with a dad that told me anything i liked was ****.... just because he didnt like or agree with it. I may not like Tooheys red but i wont tell someone to not have a go because of it.
I will say.... here is something close that i recom will be better
Happy brewing.