Boags clone brews
FOR THOSE of us either lucky or unlucky enough (depending on how you look at it) to remember the local beer in the 70s and 80s, I was convinced Boags Draught was the best beer in Australia.
After a working holiday circumnavigating the continent, it appeared I was correct. The only beer I could obtain in every state that was at all sessinable was Victoria Bitter.
It wasn’t just my opinion. Every third carton sold in the country in the late 80s was VB.
But even that paled in comparison to a good old Jimmy.
And I also remember the fierce loyalty that Taswegians showed supporting their local brand. With Northerners and Southerner divided over which brewery made the best beer, many an argument escalated into a drunken brawl with Tassie’s best drinkers defending their beloved beer.
The Ross pub was always the first port of call on the way to Hobart, as it was the last pub to have Boags Draught on tap.
These days I would prefer a can of Cascade Draught to a Boags Draught
As time went by and the big multinational conglomerates swallowed up all the Aussie commercial breweries (except Coopers), the first thing they had to do was start showing profits to shareholder.
Something had to give! The one thing that made them all special in the first place – the recipe!
Boags release the commemorative cans every AFL finals season, but it sure isn’t the same beer inside the tin as when they were making the white cans years ago.
Thank goodness for the modern age of home brewing and author Peter Symons.
For those of us that just want to reminisce, or simply don’t like the hop-driven IPAs and APAs we are bombarded with nowadays, or just want a better drinkable clone of what we are served at the local – have I got something special for you!
Bronzed Brews and 6 O’CLOCK Brews (a reference to the six o’clock swill) are two books containing recipes and anecdotes from most larger breweries in Australia going back as far as the late 1800s.
Peter Symons has gained access to all the old brewers’ notes that were still available, then did the painstaking task of condensing, testing and refining the recipes down to an average home brewers batch, with ingredients that can be purchased from a home brew store and supermarket.
Out of the half a dozen or so recipes I have tested and tinkered with so far, the standouts are the 1937–1942 Boags Special Bitter and the 1942 Boags Draught (pages 344 and 345, 6 O’CLOCK Brews).
Some ingredients can be a little tricky to obtain (i.e. White labs 830 German Lager Yeast), but substitution still gives overwhelmingly positive results.
Some of the recipes call for white sugar. I suspect the breweries at the time calculated this as a cost cutting measure, when all-grain brewing
Sugar isn’t quite the enemy here, unlike when extract can brewing. It actually helps give the beer that crisp and dry mouth feel that Aussie lagers are renowned for
With the author’s full permission, I am able to share my version of some of the recipes I’ve made so far, in particular, the 1942 Boags Draught.
Note that back in 1942, hops were simply called ‘straights’ which in layman’s terms were either East Kent Goldings or Fuggles, before Pride of Ringwood dominated the Australian hop scene
I chose EKG for my first 1942 and Fuggles for my first 1937-42 special bitter with exceptional results. I believe the hop timings to be somewhat more critical with these two recipes than is typical.
The yeast for the 1942 was simply Saflager 34/70, fermented at lager temperatures.
On a warm early March day, I pitched US-05 for the 1937–42 bitter. Well if we didn’t get that early snow on the Tiers late that night, I could have used a dedicated lager yeast.
Too late! The 05 chugged away at 15°c and produced a wonderful dry, crisp and clear beer, that I didn’t have to lager or wait for anyway.
So, without further rambling, here is my version of Peter Symon’s 1942 Boags Draught.
1942 Boags Draught
Note that I added the wheat malt, as it is not called for in the recipe. Also, I made no water additions, but do carbon filter the Deloraine tap water. Mash temp 67°c for 1 hour
Fermentables
3.5kg pale ale malt 81% EBC 6.0
0.105g wheat malt 2.4% EBC 2.6
0.655g white table sugar 15.1% EBC-1.5
0.060g crystal 0.60 1.4% EBC 141.8
Hops 16g EKG @70min IBU 9.9
11g EKG @50min IBU 6.7
6g EKG @35min IBU
3.2 3g EKG @7min IBU 0.5 TOTAL IBU 20 ABV 5.1%
Yeast Fermentis 34/70
My efficiency suffered when making this particular batch and only acquired 74% at an OG 1.044, FG 1.005 EBC (colour) 8.2.
This is for a 23 litre batch. Sugar and whirlfloc were added 15 minutes toward the end of a 70 minute boil.
Ferment for 14 days. I also added finings for the last two days (Brewlosophy method).
Book details
tritun.books@gmail.com Posted in Australia – Signed copy of 6 O’CLOCK
Brews $35.00 Signed copies of 6 O’CLOCK
Brews and Guile Brews $65.00
Bottles for sale
Since I have been primarily kegging these days, I will be selling my 750ml bottle collection for $10.00 for a bakers dozen.
Interested buyers – please leave your contact details at the Deloraine Online Access Centre, 21 West Parade.
