I'm embarrassed to ask, but what about Fosters Special Bitter?

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badun

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I know it's not really a quality beer, but I love Fosters Special Bitter oil cans. 99% of it is probably the novelty and tactile sensation of sipping from that big ass can, but a guilty pleasure can't be denied! That said, does anyone have a reasonably close clone recipe? It can definitely be an improvement over the Fosters, but I want it to be reasonably close in taste and body.
 
I can't help on the recipe, but I will agree with you that it is kind of a nice beer on a hot summer day. I too like drinking out of the big ass can.
 
I don't know when they started selling Bitter in the US, but they started showing up in my NE Florida supermarkets within the past year. They're right next to the regular Lager oil cans, about $2 a pop. I agree that it will take a real Aussie with access to real Aussie bitter and this Fosters variant to know what style it really is. I've had plenty of English bitters, but never had a real one from Oz. :drunk:
 
This is another beer sphere to me. I think I'll stay on the outside.

Seriously isn't this BMC stuff or is it better than that?
If it is that type of beer then I seriously doubt any brewer would of attempted to formulate a recipe.
 
Austin Homebrew has a kit for the Fosters' Lager... I've never seen the Fosters' Bitter in person, nor tried it, so I can't make an educated guess by taste.

But by simple style, I can take a wild in-the-dark guess. First, it's Australian. I've always heard that the "best" hops for an Oz beer are Pride Of Ringwood. Second, I'm guessing it's lighter in SRM than most, but not quite to the level of BMC. I'll take a wild guess and say about 6-7 SRM, that is, a nice darker straw, golden color.

Base malt, primarily. If it has any specialty malt in it, I'd say maybe 8 oz of Cara-Pils and 4 oz of .. uh, I dunno. Aromatic malt. Maybe not even that, maybe it's all base malt. I'd use Pilsner malt if I had to guess, but Pale 2-Row or 6-Row or whatever you have should be fine. This is all guessing, so it's not like it's going to be spot-on the first time.

OK so at this point I'm starting to stretch for ideas, so I popped open our friend BA and had a look. Lots of talk about how it's "darker than they expected" so at this point, I'd say home-toast about 1lb of base grain, and use straight base grain for the rest of the bill. Target 1.037-1.040 tops. BA says 3.5% abv.

(If you're doing extract only, then you could probably safely stick to just pale DME or LME. If you want to pursue "toastiness", steep 4 oz - 8 oz of Victory malt or Aromatic malt, I would guess.)

Back to the hops, Pride of Ringwood is probably a good first bet. Pacific Gem could be interesting too, since tasters noted some very mild fruitiness. I've played with Pac Gem a bit, but not enough to really "get to know it". People call it "tobacco-y" and "woody" when used for bittering, and report that it's like blackberries when used for aroma hopping. Another interesting one could be the new NZ Green Bullet hops, they're supposed to be Saaz- or Styrian-esque in their subtle spiciness. I would probably go for about 20-25 IBUs? This is a low-ABV, low-OG beer, you don't need a lot of hop in it.
Edit: Further reading, someone called it a "citrusy" aroma. Try NZ Riwaka hops. Austin Homebrew has them. They're Saazer-bred but have a citrusy nose to them. Again, keep the IBUs down to an appropriate level for your OG.

I realize this isn't exactly a recipe, as more of a guide. But it might get you close. That said, you might just brew up a standard English Bitter, see how you like it, and go from there.
 
Foster's bitter? I would never knock it without trying it, but if I were to try it I would have my blech! face primed and ready. ;)
 
I cannot believe that people actully drink Fosters. Then again I have a mate who says Budweizer is the go. I tried a Bud at the Expo in 1988 and I did not like it. Some of the Brits beers are good provided they are drank cooler.

If you can get it go for the Coopers range they stock beers to die for.

What ever you do do not go for the Tooheys kits. They are horrible and you should steer away. They are true blue Aussie styles and there is not enough for us so keep your hands off.

Seriously the Coopers, Brigalow, Tooheys and numerous other types are all after the style of the beer favoured by Australians. If you go in a pub you would ask for a Schooner of New or Old. Both generally Tooheys. New is a slightly maltier Draught Old is a Dark ale. There are other choices one of my favourites is a Carlton Cold. Aussie beer is consumed cold and I mean cold about 3 deg c max.

Australians prefer on the whole a sparkling slightly dry tasting Draught which is approaching a Lager style served Brrr Cold.

Nothing like a Cold Cold beer to wash down a plate of Prawns. You know the ones a cross between a Lobster and a large Crayfish.

I only brew beer because I cannot buy better plus I am a tight wad pensioner.
Ahhh! Beer.
 
I cannot believe that people actully drink Fosters.

Remember, this is not their Lager and I did say I wasn't proud of the fact! I remembered that I can get Coopers Bitter locally. At least we could at the beginning of the year; I haven't been to the liquor store in many months. I will probably try their bottled Bitter to see if it's even close to the Fosters (with the assumption that the Coopers is WAY better). It's been a long time since I brewed from a canned extract, but just for quick and dirty fun I may also try the Coopers Bitter extract kit. It will at least give me an inexpensive baseline from which I can experiment.

Thanks for the suggestions!
 
Say what you like. I'll drink an oil can of Fosters Lager before I voluntarily drink Bud Light or Bud Select. It's not *bad*. I just wouldn't call it fantastic, or authentic. God I wish I could get VB in Nebr.
 
Now you are talking. VB (Victoria Bitter) is getting there. Not as good as Tooheys Draught but it is a popular beer. Queendsland's 4X XXXXGold is a great beer but they do not do a kit.

One thing it is easy to compare full brewed recipe types at any of the micro brewers or yuppy pubs that toute their own brewery but the mainstream beer drinkers in Australia would prefer the beer that is on tap at pubs and clubs.

I think everyone who brews should compare their results with a profesional brewery just to judge that their results are highly maintained.

I have had workmates come with their recipe beer for comparison and the beer they thought was great when they compared it to the beer I made with simple kits suprised them they marveled at the cleaner taste.

The best test for an excellent homebrew is that a guest does not know they are drinking homebrew. If they comment that it tastes different then you have not created a good beer.

Brewing beer is not a hobby for me its a means to an end. Thankfully the end result is most satisfying.

In the end each to his own. The main thing I learnt from this forum is the use of a Secondary. Speeds up my production and ngives me less sediment.
 
OK so I went down to N Street, and lo and behold, they have oil cans of Special Bitter. I never knew. Well then, on to correcting my statements!

First up. BA said 3.something% abv? Can says 5.5%. So screw the "1.040" part of what I was saying earlier. Malt bill is pretty right. I'd call it 95% or more pilsner malt, and just a touch of Cara-Pils, with maybe some Caramel 80 in there too for color - but nothing else. Side of the oil can says "Ale with Carmel color added" (misspelling intentional, that's what it says).... So they're darkening it intentionally.

Flavor is very clean, no real noticable notes. A little bit of breadiness, so the 4oz of Aromatic might be right in this.

Based on this, I've come up with:

9 lbs Pilsner (2 Row)
1 lbs Toasted Malt (27.0 SRM)
4.0 oz Aromatic Malt
4.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine
4.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L
0.75 oz Pride of Ringwood [9.00 %] (60 min)
0.25 oz Pride of Ringwood [9.00 %] (15 min)

That gives 1.055 OG, 1.014 FG, and 28 IBU.

What do you think?
 
Nobody in australia actually drinks Foster's. It just gets exported to the rest of the world as an "australian" beer.. you can buy foster's at places where there are lots of tourists but I have never seen a foster's bitter anywhere here. I think it must be an export brand.

That said, most "bitter" made by the big breweries in australia is actually lager.. I am betting that this one is something like Victoria Bitter or Melbourne Bitter, which are also made by Carlton & United Breweries, the owner of the Foster's brand. Try searching for a recipe for Victoria Bitter (VB).
 
Sorry I'm late to this thread, most interesting.

To the best of my knowledge, this beer doesn't exist in Australia. There used to be a Fosters Special Bitter brewed yonks ago, but this was a light beer (2.8% or so). What you are getting is a Canadian made something for the international market. Keep drinking it boys so lots of dollars make there way down under.

Without tasting it, if its an Australian style bitter, its traditonally bittered using Pride of Ringwood, which is a much maligned hop cos homebrewers can't get fresh hop flowers. The pellets really can't do the flavours good. The Oz heavyweight brewers have weened our drinkers off the tit onto beer that has not much hop flavour or aroma, just subtle bitterness and without significant malt overtones. Its quenching stuff, meant to be chucked down your gullet. Its good stuff, just not in the same league as the hand crafted beer we HBT forumers make.

So if you want to clone it, low malt profile (use sugar to boost the alcohol) low hop profile (you want 25IBUs or so but not much aroma). Serve cold, drink fast.
Easy.
 
This was one of the first other than lager beers I had, and I still find it in my shopping cart from time to time.

I've tried several other ESB's and I still find this one my favorite, and I've had Fuller's, Speckled Hen, and Red Hook, among several others.

I recently brewed up my own ESB using British grains, but Briess extract. I was looking to create that awesome biscuity flavor that I love so much! I'm hoping I'll have time to pop some in the fridge for a try before it's time to move. The math is against me though…

I'm wondering if a good recipe was ever created?
 
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