Murphy's Irish Stout Clone

I'd like to make a clone of murphy's but can't find a good recipe. Anyone have one? Right now the plan is to basically brew the typical guinness recipe (70% british pale, 20% flaked barley, 10% roasted barley, 1.040 OG, 38 IBU) but replace a bit of the pale malt with something like melanoidin, aromatic, special b, or even just british crystal malt. Say 0.25 lbs. Murphy's has that really nice little floral or estery flavor on the tail end that really makes it for me. I'm thinking about throwing in about a quarter oz of EKGs with either 15 minutes left or at flameout, can't decide, to replicate that little essence. Any suggestions?

BYO had a recipe for Murphy's a while back, I will see if I can find it when I get a chance.

I brewed the BYO Beamish clone a while ago, after tweaking the recipe to hell (less sugar/roasted barley, no wheat malt, and more flaked barley/chocolate malt - and used EKG and fuggles in lower amounts.) Though both Murphy's and Beamish do use a sizable proportion of sugar in their recipes.

The beer turned out great, though it tastes a lot more like Murphy's than Beamish. Probably b/c I used S-04 yeast, and that gave it a slight estery/sweet flavor that is not present in Beamish.

If you want, check out the BYO Beamish recipe and you will have a good base to start from.

The BYO 150 Clones edition has Guinness, Beamish and Murphy's. I'm not sure the legality/morality of the posting the recipe so I'm not going to. But I will say that for the $6 it costs to buy and get the issue shipped to you it's a great back-issue to order!

That said I've not tried the clone so I have no idea if it's any good. But BYO is usually pretty close so it's probably a safe bet. The recipe looks pretty solid to me though.

Well, I've found several recipes around the web and kind of conglomerated a few of them to come up with the following recipe:

5.5 gal batch
OG 1.039
IBU 36
SRM 33

5.25 lbs. British pale malt (68%)
1.5 lbs. Flaked Barley (19%)
0.75 lbs. British Roasted Barley (9.7%)
0.25 lbs. British Chocolate Malt (3.2%)

1.11 oz Northern Brewer hops (60 min.)

Nottingham yeast

Mash with 1.25 qts/lb at 152 degrees F for an hour.

I'm also planning on buying RO water from the store and adding salts to replicate Dublin water. We'll see how it goes.

Mashing this one right now. I was half an ounce short of roasted barley so I subbed an additional half ounce of the chocolate malt. I was also short on Northern Brewer hops so I used Bramling Cross to get the other half of my bitterness. It's my first time with Bramling Cross but I've heard it contributes some neat fruity flavors to the beer when used to bitter so I'm happy with the substitution. I'm not using any rice hulls so I hope I don't get stuck!

This one is really turning out nice. It's got enough age on it that the roasted character is very smooth and tastes very similar to Murphy's, although I'll need to compare the two side-by-side to really check for the similarity. I think I'll bottle up some of these for the longshot contest.

sorry to reanimate this zombie thread (it is the halloween season though, right?), but how did this murphy's clone end up compared to the real thing? Have you made any adjustments to the recipe? I would like to get something like this going next after my edwort's apfelwein is outta the primary

I wanted to chime in too.

For the bierhaus 15 Beamish brew,

I've got the BYO mag with the recipe for Beamish, and ALSO a Sep 2008 VOl 14 No 5 issue that discusses the style and the big three Stouts from Ireland. The recipes for the Beamish "style" stout in the Sep 08 article is WORLDS apart from their 150 classic clone recipes magazine that is supposedly the actual Beamish recipe.

I WAS going to brew this tomorrow, but I think it bears some further consideration...

I'd like to hear more details on the major tweaking stuff that went into making the Beamish clone.

Of the big 3 I'd say Murphy's was prob my favorite, but they're all quite nice. Also, anyone got a Murphy's RED clone? I've heard this exists but have never actually seen it, even in Ireland.

TD

TrickyDick said:

I've got the BYO mag with the recipe for Beamish, and ALSO a Sep 2008 VOl 14 No 5 issue that discusses the style and the big three Stouts from Ireland. The recipes for the Beamish "style" stout in the Sep 08 article is WORLDS apart from their 150 classic clone recipes magazine that is supposedly the actual Beamish recipe.

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Unfortunately, the 150 clone recipes for Beamish and Murphy's are NOT the actual ones. They are worlds apart from the real thing. I have a soft spot in my heart for Beamish as I lived in Cork near the brewery for some years, and have spent a lot of time trying to clone this great beer.

The grist for the real "Beamish" or at least what the recipe was before Heineken bought it, is: Pale Malt, roasted barley, wheat malt, and sugar for 10% of the grist. The grain is mashed at 152 and the wort is diluted to 1.040 from the kettle. Hopping rates are higher than Murphy's and Guinness.

I have tried to clone this beer quite a few times and although I have come close, I can't say I've cloned it entirely. I think the key to this beer is to not use too much roasted barley and using one with a lower srm. There should be some roast flavors with some underlying smokey-chocolate ones too. This is my latest clone attempt and probably the best so far (93% cloned).

78% Pale Malt, UK
10% malted wheat
7% roasted barley (300L)
5% chocolate malt

1.042// EKG for 28 IBU// 35 SRM// Ferment with Pacman @ 66-68F//

I probably will brew this again here soon, though this time I might include 3% of crystal 80L to help round out the flavor profile a bit. Also, I have tried cloning this beer using a more authentic grist - sugar included, but found that it was a bit too watery and the addition of chocolate malt really helps add some of that bitter-chocolate complexity that is found in the real stuff.

Lastly, the stuff in nitrocans is NO WAY similar tasting to the stuff on tap. For one, they had to ship their beer from Cork to England to have it bottled, as they lacked a bottling facility, and then had to have it shipped back. Even when I was living in Ireland I would never touch the stuff in cans, as the two tasted like completely different beers.

Hope that helps!

Also, I have tried Murphy's Red. Not worth drinking... I was told it was brewed for export to the Netherlands/Germany only. Though that may not be the case anymore.

AWESOME!

Feels like you guys on this forum are like brothers almost.

Recently visited Ireland and toured about, sampling the big 3. Liked them all,but Murphy's is my fave. Beamish I didn't have as much of, as it is not as commonplace.

Have you read the Sep 2008 issue I mentioned about the Irish Dry Stouts? The author recommends grinding the roasted barley in a coffee grinder to PULVERIZE it. I brewed a Guinness Style stout with this and it turned out pretty darn good - though I must say that in judging stouts, it is hard to draw conclusions without comparison tastings...

No flavor hops? and PacMan Yeast?

Agreed that the nitrocans SUCK! AND the Ireland Guinness DOES taste TOTALLY different than what you get in America.

Maybe I will give up my quest for Murphy's Red and try a Smithwicks instead? Any good recipes for that one?

Thanks for the tips! I think I will ultimately brew the AS IS formulation for my "Beamish" clone, if for no other reason than to have a comparison for when I can "get it right" and also so I don't have to buy any more NitroCans...


Thanks!!!!

TD

TrickyDick said:

The author recommends grinding the roasted barley in a coffee grinder to PULVERIZE it.

No flavor hops? and PacMan Yeast?

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I've tried doing the coffee grinder thing on the roasted barley. Works great if you are looking for a really intense, roasted barley flavor that wont fade over time.

Flavor hops were 1.0z goldings at flameout. Pacman is a superb strain from Wyeast, supposedly it's Rogue's proprietary strain. Regardless, it makes an excellent beer and is perfect for a Beamish clone as it provides great maltiness without a lot of esters and it attenuates very well. Also, I think it gives the beer a softer mouthfeel, which helps to counteract some the astringency from the roasted barley and low finishing gravity. I prefer this yeast over both wyeast and whitelabs "Irish yeast" for my stouts.

Cheers.

Thanks TONS!

I've got a couple of choice for my planned brew-day tomorrow. I am desperately wanting a nice Stout - even if it isn't a perfect clone of Beamish.

My other choice is a nice Amber Ale - and I DO happen to have some PacMan Yeast!

Maybe I will just brew the Stout as originally planned, then brew # 2 can be the Amber Ale with the PacMan as originally intended.... with some planning, I might be able to pull off a 3rd brew racked onto the PacMan Yeast Cake after refining the Beamish Clone recipe.

When you last mentioned adding 3% grist as Crystal Malt (or was it Chocolate Malt) - where does that push the other grist parameters?

Thanks again!

After a night's rest I came up with the following ideas.
Thanks for the tips (AND SORRY FOR THE THREAD HIJACK! well not really..)

So fiddling with the data you've given..

6# 2-row
.8# wheat malt
.6 roast barley
.4 chocolate malt
.2 crystal 80
Is getting pretty close to the specs you listed for a 5.0 gallon batch

I plug this into promash and try to tweak the %. the addition of crystal knocks the 2-row contribution to 75%.

What SRM on the Chocolate and Roasted Barley? I can't to 35 using 300L roast barley.

No Flaked Barley in the Grist eh?

I'm thinking I might try brewing this up.

I only have 1 oz EKG hops had planned to add half for aroma at 15 minuites.
I was going to subtitute Perle for Challenger hops that I couldn't find without shelling out extra $8 for shipping a pack of hops - ridiculous.
Also have to substitute some Torrified Wheat for the Wheat Malt, and 90L crystal instead of 80L.

You do a single infusion at 152?
Thanks!
TD

Just finished the BYO Beamish clone and realized that I forgot to add the 6oz sugar during boil, how much do you think this will change the beer? Could I boil some sugar down and put it in the wort or should I just let it be. Its fermenting really well now after sitting 24hrs.
I used the London ESB yeast for this batch.
Thanks for any help,
-T

You'll get a lower starting gravity, though other than that it won't change it much in way of flavor. If you want, you can boil up some water with the sugar, let it cool and add it to the already fermenting beer. Though, not really necessary.

I brewed mine (Beamish clone from a couple posts higher) on my new Brutus style rig.
I subbed some torrified wheat for the wheat malt, but didn't quite had the full amount I thought I did. (Few oz short).

Second time using it. First time I realized an 18% evaporation rate. I plugged that into my software for this batch but ... DOH!!! All my propane tanks were empty, and there wasn't enough in the one good tank to really finish the job OR to get a sufficiently strong boil to boil off the water I added. I ended up with about 6-6.5 gallons int the primary and wasting some on the order of 3-4 quarts!!!

I should've delayed my brewing to run out and pick up more propane - lessons learned.

That is ANOTHER way to get a lower gravity beer as well... I think its going to be a little lighter colored too...

TD

My starting gravity is@ 1.060. Its was supposed to be around 1.040-045, did i cook to long? If the sugar wont change the taste im just going to leave it. What gravity did you guys finish at?
Thanks,
-T

Anyone got a beersmith file yet ,,,,,for a Murphy's.... pacman is the one to use or prefer,
water calibration I am on a well and it is very good as far as tatse and ph is 6.8 with hardness at 190 to 200 points
do ya think it would work?
I want to have a water test done ,I have to find a lab , the water plant across the street dont want to do the test ,told me to send it to a lab , bone heads i guess
I did to 1554 New B that turned out petty good it had a tad of eartyness from the choc. added at the end which is a little differate the the real deal ...But I liked it

Trying another stab at Beamish, this time with a full propane tank!

So to again, reiterate the previous posts, and also to ask if there has been any more progress on cloning beamsih (this is probably the worlds most awesome thread hijack!!) I'm throwing together another try at beamish.

Bittering hops = EKG, (or Challenger?)
Aroma hops = none, or EKG?
Yeast : pacman
No sugar
No flaked barley

Add in 3% crystal 80 to previous posted grain bill

Ordering stuff on Monday. This is my second try. First one was OK, but running out of propane screwed up the gravity and basically the entire brew.

TD

Reply to self two years later..

Brewing hiatus due to faulty burners that needed a swap out, and mods to rig, then propane burn quality problems. Seems solved now..

That last crack at beamish I crushed the roasted barley in a coffee grinder, and it gummed to mash up on the new rig, and scorched the wort. Yuck.
Big time propane problems getting good boil.

Trying another crack at beamish clone. So back to beirhaus, have you cracked the final secrets to cloning yet? Any other tips? Gonna post my recipe one I finalize it and get my ingredients all rounded up...

What L on the chocolate malt? UK supplies a darker roast compared to the US chocolate malts.
Also the base malt, UK yes, but what about marris otter pale malt?

BYO recipe calls for some hallertauer flavor hops but you say goldings.
Sad that beamish is no longer available in USA

TD

Also, saw a post online some blog, with specs 1.040 OG, 35 SRM, 30 IBU ( from challenger at 60 min and EKG at 15 min)
Grist was 77.5 golden promise, 10.1 roasted barley, 7 wheat malt, 5.4 chocolate, the number is % weight in grist. Pacman yeast.
These specs are very close to beirhaus 15.

Ok

Yet again replying to the dead thread that only I am posting in anymore??

I made the brew. WOW! Its not carbed up yet, and this was a hydrometer sample from the pre-keg, post-secondary beer. WOW! It flipped a switch and I was in Ireland for a moment! I think its SPOT ON!

I will post my recipe soon but its basically whats in this thread (for Beamish).
Can't wait to try it on the nitro tap, cold, and carbed!

Thanks for the help, and YES PacMan seems to be great! my FG readings I think I do not trust (1.013) but even still, it is highly drinkable and tastes (from my 2-1/2 year memory) nearly exact to Beamish drafts....


TD

Wow, old thread... hey, glad to hear your Beamish clone is coming along well! While it might be impossible to 'truly' clone Beamish, we can get pretty close, and that's good enough for me.

I'll be brewing another one sometime this spring, I figure I'll go back to the original recipe (no chocolate malt) and see if I can get a similar roast character with just using RB. Sucks I won't be able to compare it to the real thing though.

It is tough to compare with a side by side tasting, and going only on memory,


Not at my main PC now, so I can't give you %, but here was my grist for 11g -target for two full cornys
Maris otter 13lb9.7oz
White wheat malt 1lb11.9oz
Roast barley 1lb3.5oz (I used the "English" roasted b from northern brewer, L given only as a range.
Chocolate malt 14oz
Crystal80 8oz
I used pacman in a starter, one smack pack was a bit funny, arrived already smacked! I made a starter, hit 1.043 target OG, but measured from one carboy, I got 1.013 FG. Might be from the dissolved CO2... Dunno. Seems to be a great recipe. The subtle finishing hops are refreshing change up from Drinking Guinness.

I don't anticipate this lasting very long.

TD

TrickyDick said:

Ok

Yet again replying to the dead thread that only I am posting in anymore??

TD

Click to expand...

Thought I'd put in my experience so far with this recipe ! I started a 5 gallon batch of this on Sunday. The wort tasted really good, can't wait for the finished thing! Thanks to you and bierhaus15 for the recipe & experiences!!
I was able to find a smack pack of Pacman & it definitely lives up to it's reputation, started really quick & was going strong until this afternoon & now it's starting to settle out already. Definitely going to recover as much of it as I can for other brews.

I'll update after I'm able to try it.

Thanks again!!!

Mike

McRoth said:

Thought I'd put in my experience so far with this recipe ! I started a 5 gallon batch of this on Sunday. The wort tasted really good, can't wait for the finished thing! Thanks to you and bierhaus15 for the recipe & experiences!!
I was able to find a smack pack of Pacman & it definitely lives up to it's reputation, started really quick & was going strong until this afternoon & now it's starting to settle out already. Definitely going to recover as much of it as I can for other brews.

I'll update after I'm able to try it.

Thanks again!!!

Mike

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Great!

So since I originally hijacked this thread to a Beamish Clone thread, did you brew the Beamish or the Murphy's ??

My second stab at the Beamish is SPOT ON, as best my taste buds and memory can recall. The first attempt, I used a coffee grinder to crush the roasted malts and it clogged my recirculation mash and ended up scorched to a minimal degree (not enough to prevent drinking it). Wouldve ruined a lighter beer but a stout was able to soak it up and I was lucky I cought it FAST before it TOTALLY ruined the brew.


Love the Beamish.


TD

Oops, forgot this was a Murphy's thread! I used the recipe in your last post, just cut in half. Glad your scorched batch was still OK!

McRoth said:

Oops, forgot this was a Murphy's thread! I used the recipe in your last post, just cut in half. Glad your scorched batch was still OK!

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great! From my taste bud recollection, I think this is pretty dang close to real beamish. This time I didn't scorch it and is really nice!!

Hi, I came upon this thread during a search of "Beamish clone". Good work. thanks.

Bottled this yesterday. The gravity sample tasted great!! Can't wait to try the finished brew!!

Well, I couldn't wait any longer so I cracked one open tonight. It is WONDERFUL! Thank you both for this recipe!!! I think it's my favorite that I've brewed so far. Here's a quick pic of it.

McRoth said:

Well, I couldn't wait any longer so I cracked one open tonight. It is WONDERFUL! Thank you both for this recipe!!! I think it's my favorite that I've brewed so far. Here's a quick pic of it.

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Awesome! Beamish or Murphy's, its great to see people showing some love for Ireland's other "dark stuff."

Anyone know what category this would go into for a brewing competition? Thinking of entering it in one this fall but Irish Stout isn't a category.

Thanks,

Mike

Enter it under dry stout. Good luck!

Great thread. Thanks for posting tasting notes and final product. Too many threads just discuss the brewday and never get around to how it tastes and how the recipe can improve. I am going to brew this up for my new nitro setup. I'll try to remember to post results!

The holy trinity

No teasing allowed!


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew

TrickyDick said:

Agreed that the nitrocans SUCK! AND the Ireland Guinness DOES taste TOTALLY different than what you get in America....



TD

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I know this thread is ancient but I wanted to point out that despite Guinness's tricky misleading "brewed in Dublin" statement Guinness is made by multiple different breweries around the world.... for example Labatt brewing company makes it in canada for export into the states... I doubt they ship the famous native water over to make it from and who knows how well they are matching the mineral content.
I went on a cruise last year and the cans they had on the ship were from japan and they had a higher alcohol% on the can...

Not sure which country it's brewed in gets exported to US, but I think it is Ireland.
Nice article in a recent fall zymurgy issue about brewing that I was going to try this spring, but my propane QD was leaking so I couldn't brew. Now I may not brew it until fall doing the two step split mash.

TD


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TrickyDick said:

Not sure which country it's brewed in gets exported to US, but I think it is Ireland.
Nice article in a recent fall zymurgy issue about brewing that I was going to try this spring, but my propane QD was leaking so I couldn't brew. Now I may not brew it until fall doing the two step split mash.

TD


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Click to expand...

IVe been told by two separate distributors that it comes from an hour and a half from me over the border...
Edit* see my comment below

Plus this came up in a vegan article my girlfriend showed me (she is a vegetarian) that the guiness made by labatt in canada for export to the US is vegan friendly while the stuff from ireland uses the fish stomach byproduct for filtering..
here an article from a quick search.

http://www.chicagotribune.com/sns-stpatricks-guinness-good-for-you-012,0,1165019.photo

http://www.vegan.com/blog/vegan-friendly-guinness-does-no-mean-yes/

EDIT somehow I missed the fact that they are only referring to the extra stout brew.... I know what I had on the cruise ship was the draught... i even took a pic of the can because I thought it was odd at the time.