Recipe

Guinness Draught clone

Guinness Draught clone

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.038 FG = 1.006
IBU = 45 SRM = 36 ABV = 4.2%

Ingredients
5 lbs. (2.3 kg) English 2-row pale ale malt
2.5 lbs. (1.1 kg) flaked barley
1 lb. (0.45 kg) roasted barley (500 °L)
12 AAU East Kent Goldings hops (60 min) (2.4 oz./68 g of 5% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1084 (Irish Ale) or White Labs WLP004 (Irish Ale) yeast (1 qt./1 L yeast starter)
0.75 cups corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step
Heat 2.66 gallons (10 L) of water to 161 °F (72 °C) and stir in crushed grains and flaked barley. Mash at 150 °F (66 °C) for 60 minutes. Stir boiling water into grain bed until temperature reaches 168 °F (76 °C) and rest for 5 minutes. Recirculate until wort is clear, then begin running wort off to kettle. Sparge with 170 °F (77 °C) water. Boil wort for 90 minutes, adding hops with 60 minutes left in boil. Cool wort and transfer to fermenter. Aerate wort and pitch yeast. Ferment at 72 °F (22 °C). Rack to secondary when fermentation is complete. Bottle a few days later, when beer falls clear. If beer is kegged, consider pushing with a nitrogen blend (see the Jan-Feb 2005 issue for more information on this).

Guinness Draught clone

(5 gallons/19 L, partial mash)
OG = 1.038 FG = 1.006
IBU = 45 SRM = 40 ABV = 4.2%

Ingredients
3.3 lbs. (1.5 kg) Maris Otter liquid malt extract (late addition)
1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) English pale ale malt (3 °L)
1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) flaked barley
1 lb. (0.45 kg) roasted barley (500 °L)
12 AAU East Kent Goldings hops (60 min) (2.4 oz./68 g of 5% alpha acids)
Wyeast 1084 (Irish Ale) or White Labs WLP004 (Irish Ale) yeast (2 qt./2 L yeast starter)
0.75 cups corn sugar (for priming)

Step by Step
Place crushed pale ale malt and flaked barley in a steeping bag. In a large kitchen pot, heat 4.5 qts. (4.3 L) to 161 °F (72 °C) and submerge grain bag. Let grains steep for 45 minutes at around 150 °F (66 °C). Add the crushed roasted barley in a separate grain bag and steep another 15 minutes. While grains are steeping, begin heating 2.1 gallons (7.9 L) of water in your brewpot. When steep is over, remove 1.25 qts. (1.2 L) of water from brewpot and add to the “grain tea” in steeping pot. Place colander over brewpot and place steeping bags in it. Pour diluted grain tea through grain bag. Heat liquid in brewpot to a boil, then add the hops and begin the 60 minute boil. With 15 minutes left in boil, turn off heat and stir in liquid malt extract. Stir well to dissolve extract, then resume heating. (Keep the boil clock running while you stir.) At the end of the boil, cool wort and transfer to fermenter. Add water to make 5 gallons (19 L), aerate wort and pitch yeast. Ferment at 72 °F (22 °C). Rack to secondary when fermentation is complete. Bottle when beer falls clear.

Wang, Dang, Sweet Guinness Tang
To get that “Guinness tang,” try this. After pitching the yeast to your stout, siphon 19 oz. of pitched wort to a sanitized 22 oz. bottle. Pitch bottle with a small amount of Brettanomyces and Lactobacillus. Cover bottle with aluminum foil and let ferment. When beer in bottle is done fermenting, pour it in a saucepan and heat to 160 °F (71 °C) for 15 minutes. Cool the beer and pour and pour it back in the bottle. Cap bottle and refrigerate. Add to stout when bottling or kegging.

Issue: May-June 2005

Guinness Draught, the kind found in widget cans or bottles, is an Irish dry stout. Guinness has a sharper roast character and more hop bitterness than Murphy’s. The key to making a great clone is using roasted unmalted barley (or black barley) with a color rating around 500 °L.