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

[Veinman]

1. I added the boiled syrup at about 30 minutes if I recall correctly. I don't think it matters a ton it's obiously been sanitized from all the boiling so whenever it's done I'd say add it in.
2. I ended up oaking for 12 days from my notes. I had originally assumed 2 weeks but at 12 days it was just a little bit "extra oaked" so I pulled it, it mellowed just enough to make it perfect. I'd start sampling it around 8-10 days and every day or so after that to figure out when the oak flavor is where you want it to be.

Good luck.

 

[Theis]

Has anyone tried making this recipe without the roasted barley? How does it affect the color and taste?

 

[mattpavone]

Thanks for the feedback! I had a sample and it's a very good beer right now, although the alcohol is a little on the hot side right now. Im very optimistic about the final product, the 'oak tea' I made to sanitize the chip smelled awesome.

As for not using the roast barley, I actually use black malt, not sure if it will really matter.

 

[Theis]

I'm going to give this recipe a try this weekend. I will probably drop the roasted barley. Just a couple questions prior to starting:

What temp did you primary at and for how long?
After you pulled the oak chips how long did you secondary for?

I was looking into oak chips versus cubes and while most sources claim a better flavor profile from the cubes they recommend placement for at least 2 months, so I'm sticking with the chips.

Thanks for all the updates on how your recipe turned out.

 

[Veinman]

I'm going to give this recipe a try this weekend. I will probably drop the roasted barley. Just a couple questions prior to starting:

What temp did you primary at and for how long?
After you pulled the oak chips how long did you secondary for?

I was looking into oak chips versus cubes and while most sources claim a better flavor profile from the cubes they recommend placement for at least 2 months, so I'm sticking with the chips.

Thanks for all the updates on how your recipe turned out.

I primary all of my ales in ambient temp of 62F.

I think I tertiared for 2-3 weeks, once the Oak is pulled it's ready to bottle IMO it can mellow in tertiary or bottles it's up to you.

Sounds good on the chips vs. cube debate.

 

[mattpavone]

I had my primary at 19c. I used chips and left them for thirteen days. right now it's been in a tertiary for 2 weeks. I'll let ya know what I think once it's bottled.

 

[jetlink1983]

I too had an inkling to try and brew this. Found this over on the northern brewer forum, pretty interesting.

http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=103018

 

[mattpavone]

I'd say that recipe to posted the link to is probably accurate, the only thing I'd caution against is the water salts, as they would be adjusting the 'house' water, you really don't know what you'd be getting. A better bet would be to adjust your water as needed to a Edinburg profile, then adjusting from there.

For the record, my recipe used 97% Maris Otter, ~2% chocolate and 0.8% roast barley. I bottled last weekend, tasted good, I'll update when I try it carbed and cold.

 

[Theis]

Veinman, bottled yesterday after 6 weeks in secondary. 10 days with the oak chips. Flavor is a bit overoaked which hopefully will mellow with aging. I used 1 oz of roasted barley and just as you said the final color is much darker than the original but the taste is spot on as far as I can tell without carbonation. Looking forward to trying it carbed in few weeks. Thanks for the great recipe.

 

[abrew2u]

I just tried crafting a recipe with the beersmith free trial (pretty nifty software, might buy that one...) and came up with the following.

Can anyone take a look at this and let me know if it sounds like it will be decent? I know it will be beer, I just want it to be a clone of I&G, and to taste like it.

Thanks

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - http://www.beersmith.com
Recipe: I&G clone
Brewer: James Harron
Asst Brewer:
Style: Strong Scotch Ale
TYPE: Extract
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 14.61 l
Post Boil Volume: 13.78 l
Batch Size (fermenter): 22.71 l
Bottling Volume: 21.20 l
Estimated OG: 1.067 SG
Estimated Color: 37.7 EBC
Estimated IBU: 20.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 72.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 0.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
2.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 18.7 IBUs
1.0 pkg SafBrew Specialty Ale (DCL/Fermentis #T- Yeast 6 -
0.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 5 1.4 IBUs
0.25 kg Chocolate Malt (689.5 EBC) Grain 2 4.8 %
4.00 kg Light Dry Extract (15.8 EBC) Dry Extract 3 76.2 %
1.00 kg Pale Malt (2 Row) US (3.9 EBC) Grain 1 19.0 %
2.00 oz Oak Chips (Secondary 7.0 days) Flavor 7 -

Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 5.25 kg
----------------------------

Sparge: Remove grains, and prepare to boil wort
Notes:
------
Soak oak chips in rum for 5 days. Add oak chips and rum to secondary and age for 7 - 10 days
(to taste).

Created with BeerSmith 2 - http://www.beersmith.com
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Has anyone tried this recipe?Or does anyone have an extract recipe for innis and gunn that they tried, thanks

 

[Matt723]

Hey Guys! Any updates on the carbonated finished beer?

I can't wait to make this!

 

[mattpavone]

Well months after bottling here's my results:
My beer didn't carb up enough. The oak was okay, but not enough vanilla in there. Also the bitterness of the roast is too high, it doesn't let the caramel come through.

Having said all that, it's still beer and it's still good. My abv is right on at 6.6%, and I do enjoy the beer.

I will give this another try, as I love the original. My recipe was the original poster's. I may try the alternate one posted from the factory next time.

 

[Theis]

Bottled mine on 10/5/2011.
The oak really mellowed with age. Wish I would have left it on the oak for a few more days but I never expected that the batch would last 3+ months. The taste was spot on for the first month but as others have mentioned the color was much darker.
Next time I make it I will probably omit the roast barley and leave it on the oak chips for 14-17 days or go all out and use oak cubes for a month.

Oh and I'll try not to have a boil over with that first gallon on the stove, man what a pain to clean up.

 

[iceroadbrew]

Hi Guys

Thanks for all the info on a very great beer! Innus and Gunn is definitly a wicked beer in my humble opinon. Has any one ever done this with the actual white oak barrels? I have two barrels 2.3 gallon and a 5.2 gallon on the way and would be thrilled to try this all grain recipe. Is there any updates on this or tweeks that I could do?

Thanks

 

[iceroadbrew]

would you do primary fermentation in a carboy for a week or two then rack over to the barrel afterwards?

 

[heliumbro]

Brewed an attempt at this clone 4/16, and it's just about finishing fermentation. going to leave it in primary then rack it onto 1.5-2oz of oak cubes for 1 month.

 

[hungry4hops]

Can't wait to hear how it turns out!

 

[jeffmesa369]

im a bit new to the game and am an extract brewer. with that being said im not familiar with the flavors certain grains impart. i may have missed it but where does the vanilla flavor come from? my thought was add vanilla? or the vanilla flavors come from the grain?

and the toffee notes?

 

[heliumbro]

jeffmesa,

In this particular beer, you get the vanilla notes from aging the beer on toasted oak.
Your toffee like flavors can come from medium english crystal malts, but in this beer it is associated with kettle caramelization of your wort

 

[jeffmesa369]

jeffmesa,

In this particular beer, you get the vanilla notes from aging the beer on toasted oak.
Your toffee like flavors can come from medium english crystal malts, but in this beer it is associated with kettle caramelization of your wort

ooooo gotcha ty sir

 

[heliumbro]

Glad to help jeffmesa, ur very welcome.

Recipe: Gunn Clone
Brewer: Heliumbro
Asst Brewer:
Style: Strong Scotch Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Taste: (30.0)

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 5.50 gal
Estimated OG: 1.069 SG
Estimated Color: 12.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 19.6 IBUs
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
7.0 oz Chocolate Malt, Pale (210.0 SRM) Grain 2 3.0 %
1.50 oz Fuggles [4.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 3 19.6 IBUs
1.0 pkg SafAle English Ale (DCL/Fermentis #S-04) Yeast 4 -
2.00 oz Oak Cubes (Secondary 30.0 days) Flavor 5 -
14 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (Thomas Fawcett) Grain 1 97.0 %


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 14 lbs 7.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 23.10 qt of water at 163.3 F 154.0 F 70 min

Sparge: Drain mash tun, Batch sparge with 1 steps (3.34gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
------
Take 1 gallon of first runnings and boil until reduced to about 1 quart/litre. Add this to wort for kettle caramelization. Primary for 1 month, then rack to secondary and age on aok chips for 2 weeks or oak cubes for 1 month.

It appears everyones assesment was to remove roasted barley from the grain bill, i went with that and upped my pale chocolate malt. It's been transferred to secondary to age on med. toasted american oak cubes for 30 days before i bottle 'er up.

Cheers! Let's see if this attempt helps get us any closer

 

[mattpavone]

Thanks for resurrecting this thread. A friend of mine tried the second recipe in the thread (I tried the first) and his version was much closer than mine, I'd say it was the same style of beer, if not an exact clone. Good luck with the latest attempt, I'll probably be trying this again in the fall.

 

[heliumbro]

Just tried a sample from the carboy after 2 weeks on cubes. Faint oak nose and a little boozy. Taste is still green! dark caramel but grainy malt flavor is still a little strong. Not bad, but not really reminding me of IG right now... too early though. definitely still too dark in color.

 

[Brewdhomme]

heliumbro - i'm guessing the batch has been bottled and probably sampled by now! Give us an update - how close is this batch to the real deal? This is gonna be my next batch, so I'm anxious to hear how yours went. thx!

 

[heliumbro]

Just did a side by side with the wife of my attempt and Innis and Gunn. They are similar taste wise... but only similar. Definitely not cloned. The color is, still, very dark, even with only the 7oz of pale chocolate malt. That and treating this like a traditional scotch ale, kettle caramelization. The main differences between the two is that Innis and Gunn has that distinct vanilla character that is more prominent than the clone. The pale chocolate has imparted a noticeable roasty/toasty flavor that is not in IaG at all. Maybe if this ages a while, that character could soften... i don't know. I am a fan of the oak cubes though!

In the end, my wife still loves the attempted clone and thinks it relatively close.
http://forum.northernbrewer.com/viewtopic.php?f=4&t=103018
I think this recipe will turn out a closer beer, and it will become my next attempt... once we come close to polishing off this batch.

Hope this is helpful. Cheers!

 

[Brewdhomme]

okay thanks for the update! let us know how that one goes too - I'm gonna see about merging that recipe with the previous one, but I'm a bit of a rookie so we'll see how it goes - may cheat and use a couple vanilla beans soaked in bourbon to pump up the vanilla flave. I'm gonna crack an I&G Canada Day 2012 tmro to kick off the festivities - Happy Canada Day!!

 

[aubiecat]

I am going to brew this recipe this weekend of next weekend.
I will follow the recipe heliumbro posted with a few variations.
I rounded the chocolate malt up to 8oz., 2 oz. Fuggles and using Wyeast Scottish Ale yeast.

I will use the boil method to get some of the tannins out of the oak chips. I want to make it similar to the rum cask version so I am going re-soak the oak chips in 2-3 shots of Zaya rum and I will add one split vanilla bean to the mix. I don't want the vanilla to be over powering but just barely noticeable.
I'll secondary that for a couple of weeks.
This sounds like a great winter time sipper.

 

[HopHoarder]

I love the Innis and Gunn beer as well and would love to make something similar. I'm wondering about the caramel/ toffee aspect of the beer though. What I've seen here is using a carmalization process of boiling down 1gal of wort to 1qt to get that rich dark flavour. I wonder though if a similar result could be achieved using malts that impart a caramel/ toffee flavour like CaraStan or CaraAmber?

 

[ace54062]

So out of all of these, which one would you guys say came the closest? Im getting ready to make my next batch (#3 total) and this is the beer i want to make. Ive already made a blue berry wheat beer and have a bourbon porter in rotation. The reason i got into brewing is to craft fantastic delicious (and affordable) beer. I have my sights set on this beer and i need a direction. Which clone attempt should i go with and why? (and what would you try doing a second time around to make it even better)

 

[mattpavone]

Well I tried the first version and it missed the mark. Way too dark.
A friend tried the recipe posted from the I&G brewery and I think it was much closer. Still too dark but it had more vanilla flavor from the oak.

If I try it again I'm going with the latter.