Innis & Gunn Clone- I'm Going for it!

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I had to delay the brew about a month. I brewed it on 12/21. It was a lot bigger than I anticipated. So while the recipe originally started as a clone I can only say it was inspired by my favorite Oaked Age Scotch Ale.
I do BIAB and everyone kept telling me to increase my grain bill by 15 to 20 percent to make up for the boil down of the first runnings. Because I only had a single vessel I decided to make a mini 1.5 gallon beer with 4lbs of grain that I boiled down to about a pint. It looked like a cross between maple syrup and honey in consistency and color. I tasted it and all I can say is that if I had a bowl of ice cream it might not have made it into the final beer. It was mighty tasty malt syrup. I added that to my boil right before adding hops. My ending gravity was 1.097 after a 90 minute boil a wee bit heavier than expectected. I am giving her 30 days in the primary and then another 30 days over bourbon soaked wood chips in the secondary. So I won't get a good taste until the end of February. But honestly I have read that it needs to condition 2 months at 40 degrees so that's sometime in April.
 
I brew an extract based recipe for my customers at the u-brew I work at. Our die-hards called it "better than the real" thing, maybe it's partially because of the pricepoint but obviously flavour has alot to do with it as well. This is for a 10g batch (48L). I realize that willamette is not the typical hops used, we chose to use willamette cause our goldings wasn't fantastic and our fuggles wasnt that great either at the time, and well....Willamette seemed like the next best choice. And really, hops aren't the main factor in this recipe anyways, merely there for balance. Also, we age ours for half as long as Innis & Gunn, 32 days on 2 oak spirals soaked in 125ml of Bourbon. We had to use adjuncts to help keep the body and maltiness at the appropriate level and keep the price in the range our customers appreciate. But this is the basic idea for what I brew on a consistent basis for this style.

Whiskey Oak aged Ale

IBU: 19.9
OG: 1.056
TG: 1.010-12

4L Pale LME
2L Amber LME
1.5L Dextrose
1L Glucose

Hops:
60 min: 60g Willamette
30 min: 30g Willamette

Steeping grains:
400g Maris Otter
200g Bairds Brown
100g Melanoiden
50g Oatmeal

2x11g sachets of Nottingham + yeast nutrient

Added once TG is reached:
2 oak spirals vacume sealed in 125ml bourbon.
 
So, I did a modified version of Veinmans recipe.

5.5 gallon batch
13 lbs Marris Otter Malt
1 lb caramunich 80
2 oz of Fuggles 1/3 at 60 mins 1/3 at 30 mins, 1/3 5 minutes
Scottish 1728 Wyeast
OG 1.065

My question is this though: I didn't make a starter because of scheduling. I contemplated making a starter out of my wort and adding cooled boiled water to a quart until i got a starter wort of 1.020....but in the end I didn't want my main wort sitting in the carboy for 2 days unpitched. Instead I just poured the inflated smack pack in. I&G is a little sweet so possibly an under-attenuated beer might be a good thing.
 
Has there been any activity on this since 2013? I&G is, hands-down, my favorite oaked beer, and I'd really like to clone it. I've gotta say I am surprised that roasted barley is in the original recipe. Maybe at 0.2% of the grain bill it really doesn't add any roasted flavors but...I&G tastes like toffee+vanilla+wood+lager to me.
 
This was my go at a clone https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/innis-and-gunn-knockoff

Came out a little too sweet and I'd leave out the vanilla extract next time, the oak gives plenty of notes. Boiled the oak chips and dumped the water before soaking in booze to get rid of some of the harshness of the wood, worked really well. Had to taste every day after oaking to get the right flavour and not overdo it.
 
What would you attribute the sweetness to? Underattenuate your batch? too high gravity? Too little hops to balance?
 
I was a tad over efficient so og was higher and probably threw it out of balance a tad.
 
I had to delay the brew about a month. I brewed it on 12/21. It was a lot bigger than I anticipated. So while the recipe originally started as a clone I can only say it was inspired by my favorite Oaked Age Scotch Ale.
I do BIAB and everyone kept telling me to increase my grain bill by 15 to 20 percent to make up for the boil down of the first runnings. Because I only had a single vessel I decided to make a mini 1.5 gallon beer with 4lbs of grain that I boiled down to about a pint. It looked like a cross between maple syrup and honey in consistency and color. I tasted it and all I can say is that if I had a bowl of ice cream it might not have made it into the final beer. It was mighty tasty malt syrup. I added that to my boil right before adding hops. My ending gravity was 1.097 after a 90 minute boil a wee bit heavier than expectected. I am giving her 30 days in the primary and then another 30 days over bourbon soaked wood chips in the secondary. So I won't get a good taste until the end of February. But honestly I have read that it needs to condition 2 months at 40 degrees so that's sometime in April.

Just ran across this thread
So how did this turn out. Would you change anything.
 
I went back and looked at my first post and realized that after further research I had changed the recipe quite a bit and I better update this before people try and copy it.

The recipe I ACTUALLY used was a part-gyle with a Scottish 70 coming in the second runnings. To do just 1 batch the recipe would be:
5.5 gallon batch at 78% efficiency
13 lbs Marris Otter Malt
4 oz Chocolate Malt
2 oz Roasted Barley
1.5 oz of Fuggles (4.5%) at 60 mins for 19 IBUs
Scottish 1728 Wyeast

OG 1068
FG 1016
ABV of 6.7%

Take the 1st gallon of runnings and boil it down on the stove to about 1 quart (or litre) of liquid, add this to the boil, this provides the caramel flavor and color for the beer.
Because of this you want to calculate your water as if you were producing enough wort for 6.25 gallons of beer.

After a month long primary rack the beer onto 2 oz of medium toasted American oak chips that have been boiled in a cup of water for 10 minutes. You can probably alter the flavor a good deal by swapping this for chips soaked in: whiskey, rye, spiced, dark or navy rum etc.

I ended up brewing this on the weekend. I used Nottingham yeast though instead. Hoping it turns out well. I'm fermenting at about 60F also.

My OG was 1.067 so I was happy seeing this is my first try at all grain. It was fermenting so crazy had to split it between 2 caboys unfortunately

Bruce

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I made this beer on January 1 of this year and kegged it on February 4 at which time I also added the oak. The beer was enjoyable, but certainly did not taste like Innis & Gunn. I think this recipe still needs some work.

I'm letting it age a little longer, and then planning on comparing it to an I&G side by side.
 
Thanks, I am not looking for an exact match... heck different setups with the same recipe can produce different tasking beer.

B
 
Thanks, I am not looking for an exact match... heck different setups with the same recipe can produce different tasking beer.

B

No, I agree, but I was looking for something close. Oak does take some time to mellow, so I'm hoping that it will improve with a little more aging.
 
If you find a better version please let me know. But based on how the wort tastes, this should be pretty decent beer to drink.

B
 
If you find a better version please let me know. But based on how the wort tastes, this should be pretty decent beer to drink.

B

My apologies. I was simultaneously following a very similar thread on Innis & Gunn recipes some time ago, and used that recipe, not this one. After reviewing this recipe again, I think that this might be much better. I'll try this one next time.
 
Fermentation is done. Racked things into secondary and added about 1oz of whiskey soaked JD oak chips.
Og was 1.067
Fg was 1.015

so basically .001 under on both readings. Will leave it on secondary.. thinking maybe using the gelatin trick to make it clear nice and fast.

B
 
I LOVE Innis & Gunn, we have it on tap at our local German place.
I searched everywhere for a clone.
Brewed this in August.
I followed the first ingredient list in the thread using the Caramel & Chocolate Malt but changing the yeast to WLP028 Edinburgh Scottish Ale Yeast.

It wasn't until I was a week into primary did I see in the thread the original brewer changed the recipe.

It was an incredible brew. A little darker that the original but so close. Needless to say the 2 cases are gone.
Making this Gem again but will try it with the Roasted Barley to see the difference.

Original Recipe
12 lbs. Chateau Pilsner Malt
2 lbs. Caramel 60 L
.25 lbs. Chocolate Malt
.25 lbs. Carapils
WLP028 Edinburgh Scottish Ale Yeast
.5 oz. EKG First Worth
1.5 oz. EKG 10 Min
2 oz. Medium Oak chips (2 weeks)

Pre-boil Gravity 1055
OG 1070
FG 1014

Only change I am making is I will be using the Roasted Barley.
Thanks for a GREAT recipe!
 
Clearly bumping an old thread....I'm making a version of this similar to the O.P.'s altered recipe...
Just wondering though, it seems desirable to ferment this a month in the primary.....I'm concerned about a month on the yeast cake.
Is it not better to run to a secondary to rid yourself of the yeast, and then sit the rest of the month, and then go the tertiary path for the oak chips....I've just hit the primary today, so any help is appreciated...thanks, Doug.
 
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