Anna,
Whilst I said my neighbour (a VB drinker) liked it I was not suggesting that the beer tasted like VB. However, as posted earlier it suits the megaswill drinkers well. It is a pseudo lager with a better flavour (malt wise) than most commercial beers. I aggree with Doc on most kits probably too highly hopped, however, I will add that the Kolsch is meant to be a low hopped beer(as Doc said) and the yeast itself masks the hop profile and promotes the malt. Hence my comment earlier that I would not have guessed the CPA base.If you asked me to name a similar commercial style I would say that had it been brewed with a yeast nutrient then it would be close to Calton Dry.
To clone your VB I would go a lager yeast as suggested if it's cold enough in your parts and you could be bothered. I live in the tropics and don't have a fridge to do lagers so the Kolsch yeast is one of the many ale yeasts that can create a pseudo effect.
If I wanted to do a quick pseudo VB I would try this recipe from the morgan's site and replace the lager yeast with the Kolsch for simplity:
Can Kit Morgan’s Australian Bitter
Beer Style Victoria Bitter
Ingredients Adjuncts: 1kg Brew Cellar #10 Body Blend + 250g Dextrose
Hops: 12g Pride of Ringwood
Yeast: Premium Lager
Details: Temp: 12-18 °C
%ABV: 4.9
I've heard good things about this kit as it too is meant to be aimed at VB drinkers. I know that you're toying with extra hops etc already, but for extra simplity you could use the kit with BE II and a pseudo lager yeast.
Cheers
PS. Thinking of starting a new thread on quality yeasts strains with various kits. We all read about safale, saflager, 04 and US05 but I would like to generate some further discussion that goes beyond these staples. To get the ball rolling I'm currently doing drsmurto's Timothy Talyor's Landlord with 1469 and I'am thinking of throwing Cooper's recent English Bitter onto the yeast cake when it's finnished(I can feel others cringing with the abuse of such a great yeast)
Hirns