Help me create South African Carling black label,yep...

[Rudibrew]

Hi guys so id like to recreate the mass consumed beer here in my beloved/frustrating south africa....
This is the beer(one of the culprits) that roused out leaders in government to stamp the alcohol ban on our nation during the covid lockdown
im sitting here ,sipping on one of my glorious homebrewed creations,still marvelling at the utter complexity of these little carbonated bubbles drifting up to the foam that i created
Cannot believe these little buggers carbonated and gave me a carbonated beer from bottling,lol.
And it actually tastes good.
But,i want to try my hand at creating Carling black label beer,the south african one.
The only ingredients listed on the bottle are

Water, barley malt (gluten), maize extract & hops.
abv 5.5
IBU 16Brewed by SAB - South African Breweries (AB InBev)
Style: Pale Lager - International / Premium
COMMERCIAL DESCRIPTION
Recognised as being a beer that’s full bodied, well rounded and truly rewarding, Carling Black Label is strong and full flavoured, with a low bitterness and a distinctive fruity aroma.

distinctive fruity aroma is nonsense,low bitterness is true,from my experience.
definitely some maize(?) hint offering sweetness(?)
i have included some pics of the bottle and its label.

Yes,i currently have a nice pilsner brewing and an experimental choc beer,but help me to figure this clone please,its my first love
thank you guys


aargh,i know thats not much to work with,but im hopin to hear some good advice,thanks.

 

[Rudibrew]

 

[Nosybear]

It's an International Light Lager. Basically, it'll be malted barley, likely two-row, maize up to 30%, as labeled, 5.5% abv (around 1.055 OG), hops - as I just read, "noble-esque", think Sterling, Willamette, whatever grows locally and doesn't taste like a pine branch or a fruit cocktail, just enough of said hops to offset sweetness. Probably not telling you anything new but it's really very little different than a Stella Artois, a Heiniken, in fact, the label ingredients look a whole lot like American Budweiser. Nothing special, just find a decent international light lager recipe and it'll get you close enough unless it has a signature off flavor: American Budweiser is great training for acetaldehyde, Miller features prominent DMS, etc. If it does, brew to create that off flavor.

 

[Rudibrew]

It's an International Light Lager. Basically, it'll be malted barley, likely two-row, maize up to 30%, as labeled, 5.5% abv (around 1.055 OG), hops - as I just read, "noble-esque", think Sterling, Willamette, whatever grows locally and doesn't taste like a pine branch or a fruit cocktail, just enough of said hops to offset sweetness. Probably not telling you anything new but it's really very little different than a Stella Artois, a Heiniken, in fact, the label ingredients look a whole lot like American Budweiser. Nothing special, just find a decent international light lager recipe and it'll get you close enough unless it has a signature off flavor: American Budweiser is great training for acetaldehyde, Miller features prominent DMS, etc. If it does, brew to create that off flavor.

Great,so 2 row simpsons golden promise as base malt?
maize,still a newbie,are we talikin flaked maize?
hops in that line i can get

 

[Nosybear]

Great,so 2 row simpsons golden promise as base malt?
maize,still a newbie,are we talikin flaked maize?
hops in that line i can get

Normally I'd say no, use just generic base malt. Since it's a South African brew, if you can get some malt from closer to home, you'd get a more close representation of the style; otherwise, I don't see anything wrong with Golden Promise, although it's likely drifting the beer away from Carling. Based on the recipe, I'd say they're using some kind of corn syrup but flaked maize will do just fine. It's a lager so pitch it cold, around 10 degrees C, ferment it at that temperature for three days, ramp up to 15.5 for two days, then 20 for three. Lager near freezing for three to four weeks and voile! International light lager!

Me, I'd just make an all-barley pale ale at or near Carling's specs and call it good, fermenting cool to restrain esters (hey, we're now talking about a Kolsch!).

 

[Rudibrew]

i

It's an International Light Lager. Basically, it'll be malted barley, likely two-row, maize up to 30%, as labeled, 5.5% abv (around 1.055 OG), hops - as I just read, "noble-esque", think Sterling, Willamette, whatever grows locally and doesn't taste like a pine branch or a fruit cocktail, just enough of said hops to offset sweetness. Probably not telling you anything new but it's really very little different than a Stella Artois, a Heiniken, in fact, the label ingredients look a whole lot like American Budweiser. Nothing special, just find a decent international light lager recipe and it'll get you close enough unless it has a signature off flavor: American Budweiser is great training for acetaldehyde, Miller features prominent DMS, etc. If it does, brew to create that off flavor.

think abinbev owns the artois heneken and bud brands.
maybe some generic base for all brands ,including carling and then the hops to differentiate the respective beers?
obviously not that simple,but ballpark?

 

[Nosybear]

i

think abinbev owns the artois heneken and bud brands.
maybe some generic base for all brands ,including carling and then the hops to differentiate the respective beers?
obviously not that simple,but ballpark?

Ballpark, yes. SA Inbev owns at least half of the beer world. Budweiser is distinctive for its green apple flavor - acetaldehyde. I think most of the rest are effectively the same beer just without the signature flaw.

 

[Rudibrew]

in

Normally I'd say no, use just generic base malt. Since it's a South African brew, if you can get some malt from closer to home, you'd get a more close representation of the style; otherwise, I don't see anything wrong with Golden Promise, although it's likely drifting the beer away from Carling. Based on the recipe, I'd say they're using some kind of corn syrup but flaked maize will do just fine. It's a lager so pitch it cold, around 10 degrees C, ferment it at that temperature for three days, ramp up to 15.5 for two days, then 20 for three. Lager near freezing for three to four weeks and voile! International light lager!

Me, I'd just make an all-barley pale ale at or near Carling's specs and call it good, fermenting cool to restrain esters (hey, we're now talking about a Kolsch!).

Interesting is that i just checked and our brew shops offer the ABinbev company base malts!
wonder if thats too good to be true

 

[Nosybear]

in

Interesting is that i just checked and our brew shops offer the ABinbev company base malts!
wonder if thats too good to be true

Go for it - can't be too far off what they use.

 

[sbaclimber]

I think most of the rest are effectively the same beer just without the signature flaw.

+1

 

[Rudibrew]

im very sceptical,thats kind o like KFC giving out their foundation,lol

 

[Mark Farrall]

The recipes don't really contain the 'secret sauce'. If there's any secrets it'll be in their facilities and processes. But there's not really any secrets with light lagers, just lots of ways to screw it up.

 

[J A]

Here's something that will get you started: https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1052099/basic-international-lager

Ingredients for virtually all commercial lagers of this style are pretty much the same. To brew a beer that's close just start with the basic ingredients, pay attention to the water chemistry profile, pitch a lot of yeast, control the fermentation temp and lager for a suitable period to really clear things out (keg/secondary finings help).
Most beers, as noted, get their unique flavor from slight (intentional) flaws. You may not nail the peculiarities of your beloved beer but if you do a good job, you'll get something that stacks up very well in comparison.

 

[Ward Chillington]

Here's your ad campaign... but the ladies might take issue...

 

[Zambi]

i

think abinbev owns the artois heneken and bud brands.
maybe some generic base for all brands ,including carling and then the hops to differentiate the respective beers?
obviously not that simple,but ballpark?

But no. ABInbev does not own heineken.

Little tit bit of off-topic info:
Zambian Breweries brew Carling Black Label in bombers. We also get th South African black lab in bombers, but the Zambians and Zimbabweans seem to really prefer the Zam product

 

[Rudibrew]

Here's your ad campaign... but the ladies might take issue...

oh man,you get 178 points for that,lol,great stuff!

 

[LTS1681]

Hi Rudi

Have you brewed it yet.

I would recommend using SAB products, the ones you get from BeerPlus in Capetown.

Basemalt : SAB maltings' pale malt. About 1/4 the price of imported pale malts. As far as I know, it's a two row.

This is an example of its analysis

https://www.beerplus.co.za/upload/95_160307135445.pdf

For Hops, I would guess the T90 blend from SAB malting Hops also from Beerplus. As far as I can tell it is a Blend of Hops in T90 pellet form for Inbev's major beers in South Africa. And so it must be for Castle or Black Label.

Regards
Happy Brewing

 

[Brewer #406975]

im sitting here ,sipping on one of my glorious homebrewed creations,still marvelling at the utter complexity of these little carbonated bubbles drifting up to the foam that i created
Cannot believe these little buggers carbonated and gave me a carbonated beer from bottling,lol.

LoL anything happens in life