As an Australian, I can confirm a tinny of Very Best is awesome for nostalgia. Also as someone who fell down the craft beer well I can confirm it is horrible.
I'm from Tasmania Australia, you have got to use Pride of Ringwood to get that VB flavor, what you have just brewed is more like a Four X beer from Queensland, they use cluster hops, if you can get pride of ringwood give it a go, I brewed one up and used 15gm or pride of ringwood as flavor hops and got the VB flavor, mine also was paler though.
Victoria Bitter, VB, the veebs in Australia is good for cleaning the BBQ so we can throw more shrimp on it, when you return to Australia, grab a bunnings snag and wash it down with a VB while shirtless in the 35c+ heat, that is how a aussie sinks a veebs
Little bit of history, VB was originally an ale. Changed to a lager at some point but they didn't change the name. Pride of ringwood has a unique taste, it's just not the same without it
I'm from Victoria, you are 100% correct, it used to be a ale up until the 1950s I think, It was called Victoria Bitter Ale, about 20 years ago they decided to bring out a heritage brew and they sold it, I said to the bloke in the bottle shop it was nicer than the lager we buy, he said everyone was telling him that and you are right about pride of ringwood too it has a unique taste, I don't know why he used cluster it just won't taste anything near VB
I do a “VB/Aussie lager” Very similar to what you did, however, I add some crystal malt for the darker colour and carapils for head retention. Pride of Ringwood 20 grams 60 minutes, 5 grams 10 minutes. Saflager w34/70. It’s a great beer for a hot day.
90% of Aussies wouldn't even know what a fosters looks like let alone tastes like, I'm 40 & it's never been a big thing here. As for VB you're on the money in regards to USA & Bud, Australia is to VB & Tooheys, though I'm a Home Brewing craft beer nerd and once you go craft you never go back to the "MegaSwill" that is VB, Tooheys and/or Budweiser, I'll also add when it comes to 'MegaSwill" beers the Glass bottles taste better, much like coca cola tastes better in a glass bottle.
I can recommend the use of tetrahopextract to improve foam stability. Lot of breweries are using it. You know it for sure. Cheers and keep up the good work and vids!
Yes CUB use hop oil for their macro lagers and I've been told by one of their brewers there's a small amount of raw grain in the malt bill which helps with head retention.
I really liked this video. You made it personal, entertaining, fun, and informative. Been watching for along time, and you are getting really good at these videos. Thank you for your time and effort. Cheers!
It's funny you made this around the same time I tried a similar recipe. Differences were I used Pale malt 90/10 with Dextrose, Pride of Ringwood bittering hops and Lallemand Diamond Lager yeast. Turned out similar to your results - tasted great, ideal for a hot day, but a little pale. I thought about using a Carapils/Carafoam next time as a specialty malt to give a bit more colour, malt flavour and some better head retention. There's something about a simple beer that really goes down a treat that is so satisfying.
Another Aussie macro is XXXX Bitter and I believe cluster is/was the hop used in it. Being from Queensland, I have a soft spot for it and always seek a cheeky schooner of it when I’m back home.
Just saw this vid look into a product tetra hop its used by commercial breweries for head retention we dose at 60ml for 1200l and get really awsome foam stability You really need pride of ringwood aim for between 12-20 ibu but pick up abit from a flameout addition to get that unique flavour id aim half the ibus at 60 and half at flameout Hot cube works best for these styles Otherwise banging recipie
Love it! Thanks for taking a shot at it, great to see the side by side. My take? I preferred Melbourne Bitter. Crownies weren't bad but too expensive. I also liked Toohey's Old as an alternative. I was never into Coopers, or into Cascade, and 4X always left me swearing 🤪
Caramel colouring, aka "Parisian essence " is the key to get the colour without any extra flavour. I tried a VB again recently with a couple of other aussie lagers and it was definitely the worst. To me it had the "dirtiest" fermentation character and tasted like it was fermented warm and then conditioned for as little time as possible
I actually think if completely fresh, the VB may be more pale in color. Oxidation does deepen the color. I hypothesize the can of VB has a few months of sitting somewhere behind it, no?
I'm from the home State Victoria where this is from, VB is the Budweiser of Australia for sure and more popular than Fosters, nobody drinks Fosters, it is mainly a export beer, I'm brewing german all grain lagers under pressure, with hallertau hops and I can honestly say it is nicer than that Mega swill, when I see men walking out of beer shops with a box of 24 VB cans and paying $50 for them I can't believe it, a lot of the craft breweries mainly brew ales but a lot are doing lagers now, mostly German lager and it's given Lager a whole new life, the Lager 'Megaswill' down here all taste pretty much the same, another few are, Melbourne Bitter, which is identical to VB and Carlton Draught which is what you will get on tap in Pubs in Victoria as their main beer, I just can't believe people pay over $50 a box for the stuff when you can brew lager at $8 equivalent with grain
Every keezer build I've ever seen is a converted fridge/freezer so when e.g. the compressor goes it goes in the bin. I'd love to see someone build a modular keezer from scratch where the individual parts could be replaced as they break. I guess it would be a lot more involved but it would certainly be better for the planet.
Another Aussie here... I've brewed VB clones many times as a quick and easy brew for my Dad. I found that Pride of Ringwood and Super Pride (a higher AA version of Pride) did give it a distinct 'VB-like' taste. I seem to recall that whilst it's also a "lager" it's fermented at higher temps, so it's probably more in the steam beer category. Either way, good job with the brew... looks pretty smashable and reckon yours would taste better with that yeast! Well done.
Yay, VB! Here in Melbourne, Victoria, fresh on tap is better, but harder to find than carlton draught on tap, fresh crown lager (the all malt version) on tap for the short time we had it in pubs was pretty close to a passable beer. Still have to make clones of it though for the old people, I think using all pale ale malt (or maybe a mix) is better than pilsner and sugar and maybe just 34/70 for yeast. As long as you have pride of ringwood for flavour in there it gets you close I think.
Funny that mention Carlton. I brewed a VB clone a couple years ago for Aussie colleagues who were new to the US and longing for home and after they'd sampled the beer, one asked if I could figure out Carlton Draft next. And I would've; but the compressor gave out in my ferm chamber.
What's your carbonation process? I've read 3 different keg carb versions and tried 2, but never quite got the heavy fizz I get in a bottle. I've done the high pressure / rock and roll it, Another time was the set it and forget for 2 weeks and the last I was told to hit it 40psi and give it 36-48 hours. Going to try that on my latest batch in a few weeks.
Hello Martin! I am a big fan of your videos and I have been watching since the very beginning! While I usually do not question your brewing expertise, a couple of the decisions here I see potential areas to improve. While your brewing practices are pretty fine, the ingredient choice may have been a little misguided. Victoria Bitter if I am not mistake uses Australian malts which while German/American malts can get a close approximation, the terroir of the land can truly never be replicated. If you ever try brewing an Australian style again, I would encourage you to try and source Aussie malts as it does make the difference. As for the stark difference in colour, this can be chalked up to VB using pale malt more akin to standard 2-row or even pale ale malt than say pilsner malt. Also, I understand you could not get Pride of Ringwood for the video which is perfectly acceptable, as it is common practice for brewers regardless of region to use clean American bittering hops such as Galena or Cluster. However, if at all possible I also encourage you to try and use Ringwood for whatever Australian style you might brew next. It is an extremely unique hop in terms of its flavor attributes and cannot easily be recreated. I love your videos and will continue to support you in whatever content I made, however these are just some anecdotes for the future. Thank you so much for your years of quality brewing content.
You've got to have Pride of Ringwood! In Western Australia our beer is Emu Export, the recipe is very similar, but use ~3% Medium Crystal malt to get that gold EBC12 colour, which you didn't.
Good old VB. AKA "v*ginal backwash" or "very bad" beer. Know it well, cut my teeth on this until I discovered good beer ;-) Prefer it to Carlton Draught which is the other main ozy beer. Drink it sometimes for nostalgia.
German Pils? We have an aristocrat! I was told that when cloning an Australian mass-brewed beer to use lightly kilned 2-row as that's what Aussie brewers use (because they're thrifty). Also, its tricky to get Pride of Ringwood in the States and of the three beers I brewed with it, I honestly didn't like any of them. Maybe it was the batch I was able to find but the beers they made weren't good.
What you’ve made there is much closer to XXXX Bitter as others have said. A good VB recipe is 80% pale malt, 20% sugar and about 10-20g of roast barely to darken the colour, then 20-22ibu of pride of ringwood/ super pride as you’ve said. Good work though- your beer looks and sounds delicious
I though Great Northern had overtaken VB. Anyway the beer you made looks great but how a german lager tastes anything like VB I can't quite wrap my head around. What's with the twistee can? Never seen that before.
Hell yeah I love it and I’m a homebrewer and i like all beers im not a beer snob at all and at the right time and place nothing better then a cold VB 😂
Great Video! Can u please make a beer with spelt!? 😁 i made a belgian inspirated beer with a little amount of spelt and yeast from gozdawa, called belgian fruit and spicy, and it turned out great!😊 and i also brewed a porter with a little amount of spelt, and it was absolutely awesome! 😁 let me know if you want some Infos of my recipes :) greetz from germany🍻
Hi. As another Aussie has commented, this and ALL other Australian commercial beers are complete crap. We usually use it to top up our car batteries or degrease our engines. Avoid at all cost!!!!
the only place you will see fosters is like Northern territories. its crap. VB is fantastic. sometimes you just want a beer that does not taste like a sour warhead.
