Vb Clone

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Very interested to hear:
1) what beers VB beat?
2) who judged this?

Must check the HS I guess.

Result was for the Australian International Beer Awards.

AIBA awards, 2008

Page 12, Class 9.
It was up against Carlton Mid, Hahn Premium, XXXX, ....
A stellar line-up indeed, in the prestigious "reduced alcohol packaged" category.

...and it beat Crown!! So funny :lol:
 
Result was for the Australian International Beer Awards.

AIBA awards, 2008

Page 12, Class 9.
It was up against Carlton Mid, Hahn Premium, XXXX, ....
A stellar line-up indeed, in the prestigious "reduced alcohol packaged" category.

...and it beat Crown!! So funny :lol:

Not what i was talking about! First place was awarded to Little creatures pale ale, second place was Dogbottler dark lager and VB came in 8th place. May be it was purely because VB is the number 1 selling beer in Australia. We must love dirty socks. :D
 
VB hmmm,I'd rather drink it then many homebrewers attempts at a better beer.It may be cool to bag the commercials in here,but in truth I'd like to see those doing the bagging produce such a widely sold product.

I don't enjoy VB these days,but still did in my early attempts at craftbrewing.I'll not insult anyone offering me a cold beer after work .Imagine saying to a customer...no thanks"I don't drink it",its megaswill,a beer is a beer.

When people get into Homebrewing as opposed to craftbrewing,they think their beer cooked at 28c tastes better.But in reality it's foul tasting cider they think is beer.Give me a VB please.

So just because you add yeast to wort doesn't make better beer then the "megaswills", a few love to denounce.

I'm over people bagging a product many used for years without a complaint!


Sorry that this is added well after the horse has bolted but, well said mate, I've made shit myself and drank it, and I haven't drank anything but my own for a while, but, had a VB for the first time in a long time (Coolaroo Hotel, VIC) and it wasn't as bad as I remembered it.
That said, I have never tried to brew it and think I'm brewing nicer beer than it, but like it was mentioned before, a shitload of people are still proud to drink it :)

Swanny


Sorry I obviously like buts
 
Sorry that this is added well after the horse has bolted but, well said mate, I've made shit myself and drank it, and I haven't drank anything but my own for a while, but, had a VB for the first time in a long time (Coolaroo Hotel, VIC) and it wasn't as bad as I remembered it.
That said, I have never tried to brew it and think I'm brewing nicer beer than it, but like it was mentioned before, a shitload of people are still proud to drink it :)

Swanny


Sorry I obviously like buts
And everyone missed the vital ingredient. Someone to smack you in the head with a hammer while you are asleep... Well that's how it feels the next morning if i have a night on the VB.
 
without meaning to be unfairly harsh on VB, i always find VB has a 'mousey' taint.

http://www.aromadictionary.com/articles/mousey_article.html

It's caused by spoilage yeast and the easiest way to detect is to breath out through your nose after a sip of VB.
I wonder if they're going for a bottle-derived Lambic/Brett style?

Either way - I think a big part of the VB flavour profile is a serious lack of hygiene.

Chris
 
While I find VB fairly repugnant, I doubt the brewery has a hygiene problem.

Bet their hygiene makes most of us look like pigs who sup on caramelised Gange river cupcakes.
 
I haven't had a vb in years & hopefully won't for several more years but Manticle makes a good point. I've spotted mice munching on my spent grain & I'm fairly confident that wouldn't happen at cub.
 
My 2c worthy.

I have brewed a fair few lager type kits, and none really are like VB. I never tried to make it either.

But what I did find with kits is these basic principles will suit most VB drinkers.
1) Use Coopers Mex Cerveza Kit. This will give an IBU of about 20 for a 23L batch. This seems to hit the spot.
2) Use Coopers No 2 Box. Actually more body than VB, so could even go for the No1 box. I always used No 2.
3) Never add any hops whatsoever. You do not want any hop araoma or flavour, will be an instant turn off.
4) Try to get the beer as clear as you can. Appearance is critical, if it looks like VB, it just might be OK. If you can filter, they will love it.
5) Serve bloody cold. If you bottle, the serve off ice, if you keg then set the fridge to 0 Deg.C.

I have had VB drinkers knock themselves out on this stuff, literally. In fact, there are a couple of lads who I still make this for.

Fear_n_loath
 
Interesting way to revive a three year old thread,then not be interested in brewing a clone :unsure:
 
without meaning to be unfairly harsh on VB, i always find VB has a 'mousey' taint.

http://www.aromadictionary.com/articles/mousey_article.html

It's caused by spoilage yeast and the easiest way to detect is to breath out through your nose after a sip of VB.
I wonder if they're going for a bottle-derived Lambic/Brett style?

Either way - I think a big part of the VB flavour profile is a serious lack of hygiene.

Chris

That's odd, I found in a blind 3 way taste test that MB and VB were drinkable, not my first choice by a long shot, but drinkable. But Carlton Draught has a flavour I would say is "mousey." Or more accurately, for anyone who had them as pets or in Science class at school, like the spent newspaper at the bottom of the cage - doused in mouse piss. It's a hugely unpleasant aroma and really sticks in my craw. If a pub has CD or Pure Blonde on tap, I'll take a soda water thanks. But like manticle says, I very much doubt that any Australian Mega-Brewer has hygiene issues. Perhaps it's just their yeast strain?

Anyway, although it's been said a million and one times over in this thread and others, why anyone would want to clone VB is beyond me. It's like burgers. You can make a great burger at home, eat a wonderful fish'n'chip burger or pub burger out, but if you want a McDonalds burger, you have to get it at McDonalds. They use large scale processes which can in no way be recreated in the home kitchen, and for the price they sell their burgers, why even bother trying? And, much like homebrew v. microbrew v. macroswill, I know which I would prefer to put in my mouth...
 
That's odd, I found in a blind 3 way taste test that MB and VB were drinkable, not my first choice by a long shot, but drinkable. But Carlton Draught has a flavour I would say is "mousey." Or more accurately, for anyone who had them as pets or in Science class at school, like the spent newspaper at the bottom of the cage - doused in mouse piss. It's a hugely unpleasant aroma and really sticks in my craw. If a pub has CD or Pure Blonde on tap, I'll take a soda water thanks. But like manticle says, I very much doubt that any Australian Mega-Brewer has hygiene issues. Perhaps it's just their yeast strain?

Anyway, although it's been said a million and one times over in this thread and others, why anyone would want to clone VB is beyond me. It's like burgers. You can make a great burger at home, eat a wonderful fish'n'chip burger or pub burger out, but if you want a McDonalds burger, you have to get it at McDonalds. They use large scale processes which can in no way be recreated in the home kitchen, and for the price they sell their burgers, why even bother trying? And, much like homebrew v. microbrew v. macroswill, I know which I would prefer to put in my mouth...

Well said.
That mousy/mouse cage/mouse pee/ character is a spoilage yeast. It's probably *not* hygiene but indeed a part of their yeast strain in terms of the flavours it produces.
For me home/craftbrewing is about making your own tasty beer (even if it is inspired by a great beer already in production) rather than just copying something someone else's style exactly so that you can say you brew VB for half the price (not counting your own time).
C
 
Steve,
Too simple - just go and buy two cans of Homebrand lager, put them in the fermenter up to 23 litres and add both packs of yeast.

Should do the trick if you don't want to add any fancy stuff but still want a drinkable beer for your mates.

Just tell them you got the secret VB homebrew recipe off this website and I am sure they will like it.

Matt

What? just the cans of goop? no sugar? what alcohol strength will it be?
or was that post just a piss take?
 
What? just the cans of goop? no sugar? what alcohol strength will it be?
or was that post just a piss take?

Hes not taking the piss, just search for twocan (or toucan, whatever its referred to) and you can make an easy enough drink just from two cans of goop and their yeasts with nothing else



Sponge
 
What? just the cans of goop? no sugar? what alcohol strength will it be?
or was that post just a piss take?

I dont think it was a piss take. No need for the sugar as the extra can has all that in there for you. Basically called a two-can recipe, where you replace the 1kg of sugar for an additional can of goop. You'd get about 5.3% in the bottle using Coopers Lager cans.

EDIT: beaten to it...
 
I dont think it was a piss take. No need for the sugar as the extra can has all that in there for you. Basically called a two-can recipe, where you replace the 1kg of sugar for an additional can of goop. You'd get about 5.3% in the bottle using Coopers Lager cans.

EDIT: beaten to it...
The fun part is you can experiment by using different combinations of kits. 2x lager, 2x blondes, 2x cervezas.
Done a homebrand 2can once... with T58 yeast. It wasn't exactly nice.... my excuse was they were $1.50 each.
 
I decided to give the Twocan brew a go, put 4 cans of homebrand draught in my 50 litre fermenter with 46 litres of water, temp been pretty steady between 23 - 28C.
it has been almost 3 weeks and air lock has still been bubbling up to a day or 2 ago, all looked to be going well.
took a sample to see if it was ready to go into keg and found it to be still very cloudy and SG still on 1020.

Does this seem normal? does it just need longer in the fermenter?

Brew.jpg
 
what was the OG?? also what yeast did you pitch I would try get the temps down to 20c for the next brews aswell
 
what was the OG?? also what yeast did you pitch I would try get the temps down to 20c for the next brews aswell
OG was 1045, i used the yeast that was supplied with the goop.

should i just wait longer?
 
In your pix there it looks to still be fermenting.. ( has not dropped bright )

Cheers
 
Now 4 weeks in fermenter, still bubbling through airlock.
beer still cloudy but SG now at around 1012.
any thoughts anyone?
 

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