Mackeson Clone

Well, I had Mackeson XXX Stout for the first time and I must say, that was a great-tasting brew. I was wondering if anyone had a clone for Mackeson that they've actually tried and liked, or even just one that was from a book or something. I did a Google search for "Mackeson Clone" and a bunch of results popped up but they were all for the same recipe. I wouldn't mind trying that one but I wanted to go on you guys' personal experiences with it first. Here's that one I found:

7 pounds, Australian light syrup
1 pound, chocolate malt, cracked
1-1/2 pounds, black patent malt
12 ounces, crystal malt, cracked
12 ounces, lactose
2 ounces, Kent Goldings leaf hops
1 teaspoon, salt
1 teaspoon, citric acid
2-1/2 teaspoons, yeast nutrient
ale yeast

I know there's a ton of generic sweet stout recipes out there, but since I found a particular one I liked, that's mainly what I'm hoping for now. Thanks in advance.

captaineriv

I haven't made a clone, but I have made a 'sweet stout' that turned out great! The key to a good sweet stout is a sugar such as molasses or lactose powder.

There is a Macke's Son Stout erzats clone in Homebrewing For Dummies by Marty Nachel. You can probaly find it at your library.

Yep, I'm looking at Nachel's recipe right now in that book and it looked like a pretty good one. I think the molasses will be a unique touch, and even though it may not be used by Mackeson, I'm strongly considering putting that in there (in addition to the lactose) to see if I can make a good thing better. Unlike dry stouts, it seems that the sweet stouts tend to use chocolate malt more often than unmalted roasted barley, so I might take that into consideration too, and then make adjustments based on how everything turns out in the end.

captaineriv

I've seen that one but I have this one that you might find useful:

Black Milk Stout (Mackeson clone)

0.85 lb. Dextrine Malt (Cara-Pils)
1 lb. British Crystal 50-60°L
12 oz. British Chocolate
4 oz. British Black Patent
5¼ lb. Light DME
12 oz. Lactose in the boil
½ tsp. Irish Moss (15 minutes)
1.03 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 60 minutes)
1 pkg. Wyeast 1028 London Ale

Style: Sweet Stout
Type: Extract w/grain
Size: 5 gallons
OG: 1.055
FG: 1.020
SRM: ~39
IBU: 16
ABV: 4.5%

Steep: steep grains at 150°F for 30 minutes. Sparge with 170°F water to bring up to volume. Add DME and lactose.
Boil: 5½ gallons for 60 minutes to SG 1.050
Carbonation: 2.2 volumes
Corn Sugar: 3.73 oz. for 5 gallons @ 68°F

Good luck,
Wild

wild said:

I've seen that one but I have this one that you might find useful:

Black Milk Stout (Mackeson clone)

0.85 lb. Dextrine Malt (Cara-Pils)
1 lb. British Crystal 50-60°L
12 oz. British Chocolate
4 oz. British Black Patent
5¼ lb. Light DME
12 oz. Lactose in the boil
½ tsp. Irish Moss (15 minutes)
1.03 oz. Kent Goldings (5% AA, 60 minutes)
1 pkg. Wyeast 1028 London Ale

Style: Sweet Stout
Type: Extract w/grain
Size: 5 gallons
OG: 1.055
FG: 1.020
SRM: ~39
IBU: 16
ABV: 4.5%

Steep: steep grains at 150°F for 30 minutes. Sparge with 170°F water to bring up to volume. Add DME and lactose.
Boil: 5½ gallons for 60 minutes to SG 1.050
Carbonation: 2.2 volumes
Corn Sugar: 3.73 oz. for 5 gallons @ 68°F

Good luck,
Wild

Click to expand...

I gather that this is a full wort boil. When steeping the grains, what ratio of grains to water should I use? Also, will my 20 qt. brewpot be too small for a 5.5 gallon boil? The recipe looks good! I just hope my equipment will accommodate it.

captaineriv

20 quarts == 5 gallon. If you can figure out how to get 5.5 gallons into that, let me know!

For steeping, I tend to use the same amount of water that you would use for an infusion mash, and I rinse with the same amount of water you would sparge with in such a mash.

Since you are after the flavor of the grain and not the sugars, any amount of water is probably ok... 2 gallons... 3 gallons.... whatever.

-walker

Walker, I guess I'll have to bust out my pot stretcher (they just hit the market, for the uninitiated) I wasn't sure how much "extra space" might be at the top of the 5 gallon brewpot, if any. Is sparging really necessary in this case, or would steeping the grains in a grain bag, boiling the wort in about 2 gallons of water, and adding 3 gallons in the primary do just fine? It seems like most extract recipes that use specialty grain as the only type of grain leave sparging out since they have such low diastatic power and actual mashing would do little good.

captaineriv

that method is perfectly acceptable.

-walker