Cheap Tooheys Dry lager Kits

[DUFF]

G'Day All
Firstly Thanks to all who contribute to this Forum. I have been cruisin it for a year now and find it a wealth of knowledge and great motivator to try new things. I have learnt so much and finally producing good home brew that I reckon is better than that slops sold by mega breweries,( not hard ay).
Picked up some Tooheys Classic Dry Larger kits at Kmart the other day for $ 4.70 each,(got 6 of em).I Was wondering if anyone could give me some suggestions as to what to do with them, Be kind please.
My mainstay is a coopers apa all malt and thought I could use this crap as the malt instead of the coopers light malt,($16.70), to go with the kit. The problem is I have no idea what type of hops are already in these kits and what will the boil do to them.
My usual recipe is:
(Found on this forum - 1 X COOPERS TRADITIONAL PALE ALE
somwhere) - 1.5 KG COOPERS Light liquid Malt
- re-cultured CPA YEAST- 1.5lt
25g BREWCRAFT “POR” HOP PELLETS
250g BEWCRAFT CRACKED CRYSAL GRAIN(STEEPED)

WATER TYPE : BOILED TAP(cooled) VOLUME : 23 LITRES
Method:Steep crystal grain in 2.5lt water for 30 min @ 70ºC stain and put husks back in pot and poor in 2.5lt boiling water, mix well,re-strain and boil all the liquid for 15mins to kill any nasties, crash chill to 25ºC poor into fermenter with 5lt water,Boil 4lt water with all Light liquid malt 45min, add 12.5g POR hops @ 30min, 12.5g POR hops @ 5min, crash chill with iced water down to 25ºC, Add to fermenter, malt boil, Coopers kit , mix well .
Top up to just 22.5lt mix, take SG reading, add mixed up yeast stir well, seal and ferment at 16.5ºC.

Any sugestions would be greatly appreciated

[Finnagann]

I don't know anything about these kits. You could try emailing the company. I think the info you're after is type of hops and how many IBU are in it. With that you could build a recipe. Coopers was very forthcoming when I contacted them.

[DUFF]

G'day Finnigan
Thanks for your reply mate, Ijust found this information on the Tooheys home brew site:



Product EBC EBU
Tooheys Special Lager max 8 16
Tooheys Real Ale 25 21
Tooheys Special Draught 9 17
Tooheys Dark Ale 60 16
Tooheys Classic Dry 8 10

Does it mean that the Tooheys classic dry is the lightest in colour, and least bitter?

[Bum]

Yes, it does (assuming EBU is supposed to be IBU?).

If you're boiling this kit for a reasonable amount of time the flavour and aroma added by the hops might be less of a concern than you think. Boiling kits will drive off the flavour and aroma of kit goop. If you take the IBU of the tin into account I reckon you'll be fine to use it as the equivalent of LDME (so long as colour is not your biggest concern).

Having said that, using a good, fresh LDME will most likely yield somewhat better results than an on sale kit.

[DUFF]

Thanks bum
Colour is not really a concern with me, and good to hear that the flavour from the hops in these kits will not pose much of a ploblem if I boil it up for say 45min.
I'll try one substituting the usual 1.5lt of light liquid malt, just to see how it goes.

Thanks for your help, DUFF

[Bum]

Looking back, I'm so sure sure i was entirely clear about one thing. The bitterness in the boiled kit will remain.

Another possibility is not doing a boil at all and just a straight toucan.

[DUFF]

Looking back, I'm so sure sure i was entirely clear about one thing. The bitterness in the boiled kit will remain.

Another possibility is not doing a boil at all and just a straight toucan.

Thanks Bum I will try that as well les work so sounds good