Innis & Gunn (Scottish) Lager Clone

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SethTheGreat

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If you've never tried this Scottish Lager, you're missing out. I was told that I pretty much nailed it on my first attempt by a friend who is currently going to school in Cardiff and brought a few bottles of the real stuff back with him last summer. It may not be exact, but it hits all the same notes.

I brewed 5 gallons of this for my sister's wedding and served it to the Texas Shiner/BMC crowd there, along with 10 gallons of Cream of 3 Crops.

I made 10 gallons of Co3C because I thought for sure that it would be the hit of the party (it turned out delicious), but I was either wrong about the beer, or wrong about the crowd. The keg of this stuff was kicked within a couple hours and I took home 6-7 gallons of cream ale.

This beer doesn't claim to be a Munich Helles, but its attributes pretty much match a Munich Helles, so that's what I'm going with.

This is my first time sharing a recipe, so please share suggestions if there is anything about my post that I could improve.


Munich Helles
Batch Size: 5 US Gal
Boil Time: 90 mins
Mash Efficiency: 92%
OG: 1.048
FG: 1.008
IBU: 18.4
Yeast: WLP029


58% 4.5 lb Floor-Malted Pilsner
13% 1.0 lb White Wheat
13% 1.0 lb Golden Naked Oats 1 lb
13% 1.0 lb Munich Malt 1 lb
03% .20 lb Melanoidin

Water Additions (Added to 7.48 total Gallons of RO, split between mash and sparge):
2g Gypsum
1.5g Calcium Chloride
1.1g Epsom Salt

Mash In @122 °F 1 min
Maltose Rest @147 °F 30 min
Dextrinization Rest @162 °F 40 min
Mash Out @169 °F 15 min

1.2 oz Styrian Goldings 3% AA 60 min - IBU 12.6
0.4 oz Styrian Goldings 3% AA 40 min - IBU 3.7
0.4 oz Styrian Goldings 3% AA 15 min - IBU 2.1
1/2 Tablet Whirlfloc at 5 minutes

2L starter of WLP029 pitched at 58F and held for 3 days
64F - 1 day
68F - 3 days and fermentation had ceased
Cold Crash to 34F then fine with gelatin and condition 4 days

Served 36F at 2.6 volumes
 
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I'm brewing this today. The only ingredient change is WY2565 instead of WL029. More seriously, I'm just mashing at a single temp, probably about 152F, and then fermenting without temp control in a basement that's consistently high 50s.

It's my first time brewing with Kolsch yeast so I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
 
I'm brewing this today. The only ingredient change is WY2565 instead of WL029. More seriously, I'm just mashing at a single temp, probably about 152F, and then fermenting without temp control in a basement that's consistently high 50s.

It's my first time brewing with Kolsch yeast so I'm looking forward to seeing what comes out. Thanks for sharing the recipe.
Look forward to hearing about how it turns out. One of my favourite beers!

Why not lager yeast, though?
 
Lack of temperature control is the main one. I haven't looked into what it would take beyond that to do lagering successfully, but maybe as I add new equipment and learn new skills it'll happen one day.

(Also, and maybe you know this already, the WL029 recommended in the recipe is a Kolsch yeast too.)
 
Lack of temperature control is the main one. I haven't looked into what it would take beyond that to do lagering successfully, but maybe as I add new equipment and learn new skills it'll happen one day.

(Also, and maybe you know this already, the WL029 recommended in the recipe is a Kolsch yeast too.)
Yes, sorry it was actually more of a general question.
I might actually suggest subbing in Escarpment Labs Krispy or Bootleg Biology Oslo for you having no temo control. Kveik yeasts can make this beer for you in about a week and are very temperture tolerant. Kolsch yeast like the basement temps you mention but will produce a less clean character(fruity) the warmer it gets or if there are swings.
 
Well actually, WLP029 is a lager yeast and not an ale yeast, at least according to some recent DNA sequencing.

If you're doing lagers then 34/70 is pretty robust at warmer temperatures, although the long-running thread on warm lagers prefers the better flocculation of Mangrove Jack M54 Californian. So I'd try those first before Oslo.
Haven't heard that about WLP029...
S-189 is a clean yeast as well for warm lager ferments. Recent used it when fermenting under pressure in a keg at 15psi.

Escarpment Labs Krispy is a new yeast that i believe they will be shipping in homebrew packs to the US soon. It is kveik isolates from Skare but apparently is the ultimate faux-lager strain.
 
All done bar the cleaning. The only hiccup was a Zoom work meeting that went longer than expected during the mash, so I mashed about 100mins rather than the 60 or so I was intending. OG: 1.045.

The basement has been at 57F all day, despite it being one of the warmer days of the year so far here, so that bodes well. The next couple of days should be even warmer, but I hope it stays below 60F at worst.

Thanks for all the extra info about yeast and lagering. Definitely good stuff to know if I push more in this direction.
 
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