Guinness style clone

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cheapbrew

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I'm thinking of doing a Guinness style Irish stout clone for a future AG brew.
I have found several recipes and the common ingredients seem to be

70% pale malt
20% flaked barley
10% roasted barley
The hops used seem to vary

I would like to hear folks thoughts on mash temp and mash time and hop types and amounts of hops to use please?
Once I get a base brew done I can then tweak it to my taste?
 
I don't think the hops really matter that much as they're just for bittering. Whenever I make a stout I never put any late hops in and just use whatever's in the freezer (stouts are very useful in this way to use up those half packets of hops everyone has). IBU's 40-45 for an OG of about 1.049
 
I won a HBC kit last may in a forum giveaway and chose the peters perculiar stout

http://www.thehomebrewcompany.co.uk/hbc-particular-peters-stout-mashkit-23-litres-49-p-1927.html

As you can see it has the same grains as Guinness plus choccy. It made an exeptional brew so I had a go at doing a clone

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=54647

I've also done the Dry stout receipe from Greg Hughes book a number times which is basically guinness plus chocolate malt.

The carapils in the clone you linked is for head retention and mouthfeel and the Acid malt is to get that "bite" you get from Guinness/Dry Stouts although I'm not sure whether you need it or not as I've never used Acid malt and find roasted barley has a good astringent bite anyway
 
Cheers Leon, and MQ I saw your PP stout clone already, it was one of the ones that I saw that had the chocolate malt added.

I'll have to do a few experiments then it seems, one standard 70/20/10 and another with some chocolate malt substituted for the roast barley and dependent on the outcomes, maybe one with some acid malt.

This seems to be the standard amounts for 5 gallons so I'll just divide by whatever brew size I want

3.5Kg Maris Otter
1kg Flaked Barley
500g Roast Barley
40-50g Target
 
I love my stouts!

Most dual purpose hops will do ie. those suitable for bittering and aroma. EKG is perfect even though I think I use Northdown as a surplus. There is an Irish Stout grain but Maris Otter is fine.

I have a basic recipe like you that I tweak (I added vanilla last brew). I try and mash around 68° and sparge at 71° but I rarely hit my numbers.

Great thing about my house stout is the quantities:

For a 23L brew:

3kg Irish Stout Malt
1kg Flaked Barley
500g Black (Roast) Barley

50g EKG
Safale US 05

All the sizes are what the shops sell them at so no wastage. This produces a 4% brew (but I never hit my numbers!)

When it's time for bottling do another brew and pitch onto the trub of the last one. That's why it's my house stout :)

It's been a while since I done a stout so I'll have to get one going again. Might brew tomorrow although I fancy a wheat beer and I've a kit slowly going out of date to do as well.
 
Mark, Is there any noticeable difference in the brews using Irish stout malt and maris otter?



The final decision that I need input on is the yeast, do I splash out on Irish ale yeast, or will the yeast I got from the brewery be ok, or should I use another yeast?
 
I've never tried MO as my LHBS has a ready supply of Irish Stout Malt and it's cheaper than MO.

Stouts are a mellow flavour with no strong hops. I'd suspect it would make very little difference TBH but maybe I should try it to compare.

Leon, Original Guinness is sold in bottles with CO2 so not necessarily but I understand where you're coming from. A nitrogen set up is a bit more expensive but can be got around by a min keg (with CO2 bulbs adapted) or a Tap-Draft System.
 
I tried the Liquid Irish Ale Yeast but I made many mistakes in that brew and didn't notice anything special. Safale US-05 works just fine. My palate can't distinguish slight changes in a brew and probably why I like stouts so much. Remember to harvest the yeast whatever you choose (or re-use the trub for your next brew)
 
I read WLP004/Wyeast 1084 is the actual Guinness strain?

but S04, US05 and Nottingham also seem to be the popular choices, but I may just try my brewery yeast.

I can only seem to find Irish stout malt in 25Kg sacks so far, so Maris Otter will have to do!
 
I read WLP004/Wyeast 1084 is the actual Guinness strain?

but S04, US05 and Nottingham also seem to be the popular choices, but I may just try my brewery yeast.

I can only seem to find Irish stout malt in 25Kg sacks so far, so Maris Otter will have to do!

I didn't know that but I see Irish Ale Yeast is 1084 on the Geterbrewed site.

I'll probably go up tomorrow and stock up on a few things. If you can wash or re-use the yeast it makes for a good saving.
 
I've never tried the irish ale yeast but I detect a slight fruity note in guinness which might be the yeast I've used. I always go for a high attenuating strain to get the dryness. I've used nottingham, US-05 and over the summer I used mauribrew 514 english ale yeasy which gave my dry stouts a lovely dark fruit flavour and aroma
 
I read WLP004/Wyeast 1084 is the actual Guinness strain?

but S04, US05 and Nottingham also seem to be the popular choices, but I may just try my brewery yeast.

I used S04 [neutral, very nice] and roasted barley when I tried my clone.. It had a stronger chocolate taste than desired. And I also used EKG only on it. But you'll never get that smooth taste of it unless you use Nitrogen :nah:
 
being a fan of stouts ive brewed quite a few over the last few years...

just checking my notes and as time goes on they seem to be getting simpler..

last batch which was nov

was 10kg pale malt
kilo roasted barley
500grms flaked barley (must get some none in supply)
70grms challenger

in that version used wlp004

simple and tasty.

would do again .....and that would be a first.

have a habit of tinkering and changing things at last minute mind...
 
Here's a nice recipe....drinking one as I type! The treacle gives it a hint of sweetness.

Screenshot_2016-02-13-19-52-13.png
 
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