My Fellow Canadians. Help. Need Online Source

Rudeboy said:

Ya I eventually got that. Still cheap comparatively. What is it with Canada and DME?

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I think that no-boil, pre-hopped wort kits have taken over Canada. AG brewers might be the last ones to hold out. Relatively speaking, malt extract has become pretty expensive up here, and the no-boil kits are really easy to make and high quality, so I am not surprised.

I suspect the only places you can get malt extract reasonably fresh and cheap are the provinces that have brew-on-premises establishments, like BC or Ontario. Brad, did you say you get your supplies from a BOP establishment? If so, they probably move a lot of DME.

On a side note I was wanting to start an other thread, but now I have all the Canadians listening....

Does anyone have clone recipes for Big Rock beers? What I really want is their Magpie Rye Ale which for some reason they seem to have stopped brewing. But I'd also like their Traditional Ale (which Micheal Jackson once rated as one of the 13 best beers in the world). As I was typing this I also thought their Grasshopper Wheat Ale would be good for next summer....

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I haven't seen any Big Rock clones. Sorry. But if you EVER come across a Magpie recipe, I would love to have it. That used to my favourite Big Rock beer. I really wish they hadn't stopped brewing it.

FlyGuy said:

...Brad, did you say you get your supplies from a BOP establishment? If so, they probably move a lot of DME...

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Now that you mention it I think they use LME. In one corner of the brewery they have a rack with a couple of those huge food grade barrels with spigots; I bet that is LME. I never really clued in because I was already into AG when I started going there.

What does this magpie rye taste like? I'm drinking my first rye ale recipe now (see recipe dropdown for details) and I really like what the rye gives the beer. I'd love to know what some other rye ales taste like so I can come up with more recipes. I've never seen a single rye beer at LCBO or The Beer Store.

Have you tried your local pepsi/coke bottler to see if they will sell used
corny kegs?
That's where I got most of mine last couple of years. I paid $23 each and just had to buy new O rings and give them a good scrubbing.
You can get new kegs from Simgo in Ottawa, although they are expensive.

bradsul said:

Now that you mention it I think they use LME. In one corner of the brewery they have a rack with a couple of those huge food grade barrels with spigots; I bet that is LME. I never really clued in because I was already into AG when I started going there.

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I used to use a BOP place in Ottawa when I lived there. They used DME, so that's what I was basing my guess on. But those big barrels do sound like they hold LME.

What does this magpie rye taste like? I'm drinking my first rye ale recipe now (see recipe dropdown for details) and I really like what the rye gives the beer. I'd love to know what some other rye ales taste like so I can come up with more recipes. I've never seen a single rye beer at LCBO or The Beer Store.

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It has been many years since I have had a magpie rye, so I am basing this on a distant memory. It was basically a pale ale, probably more towards the English style, but it had a very characteristic flavour that you can only get from rye. I think I might actually try a rye pale ale in my next batch. I bought some malted and flaked rye a while ago, but never got around to using it. Time to dig it out!

I recently ordered some stuff from http://www.homebrewersretail.com and the guy running the place is super nice. They just opened, so there's limited supplies, but it seems like he's trying really hard to make sure people are happy, so I figure he's going to get more stock in soon.

FlyGuy said:

It has been many years since I have had a magpie rye, so I am basing this on a distant memory. It was basically a pale ale, probably more towards the English style, but it had a very characteristic flavour that you can only get from rye.

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That's the stuff. Nice, although you wouldn't want to sit down and drink 6 of them. But a nice kinda change of pace beer.

Good beer, good name, great label. I still see plenty of posters for it about. Maybe we should start agitateing Ed to start brewing it again.


Rudeboy