Possible to make a realistic Guinness clone?

[Man-O-Leisure]

Hey guys, i'm wondering just how good a Guinness clone are home brewers able to create? I know that they get their creaminess from injecting nitrogen into the beer, and that they have a special Stout tap.. has anyone come close to a great creamy head Guinness style clone?

I mainly ask cause i am getting close to brewing my first beers, and coming from Australia i used to basically live on Guinness.. i now live in Brazil where there are a couple Irish bars that have it on tap but nothing within at least 1000km from where i live! i would love to be able to make something similar. Thanks in advance!

 

[TopherM]

It's relatively easy to make a good dry english stout, and once you have it on nitro, it's easy to get that creamy mouthfeel. If you have all of that proper equipment, it's fairly simple to make a good guiness clone.

 

[QuercusMax]

Yeah, this will get you pretty close:

70% English Pale Ale Malt
20% flaked barley
10% 500L roasted barley
Shoot for around 1.040-1.045

40 IBUs of something british at 60 minutes
Irish Ale Yeast

Either carbonate it fairly low (1.5 volumes or so) and give it a very aggressive pour, or put it on beer gas with a stout faucet. Drink in Imperial pints.

 

[TopherM]

You can pretty much make a Genesee taste like Boddingtons if you put it on Nitro

 

[Man-O-Leisure]

Thanks for the replies guys, i definately don't have the equipment yet, but its good to know for the future that its possible!

 

[QuercusMax]

Even if you don't want to go with a nitro setup, you can make a very delicious dry stout. You won't get quite the same creamy texture, but aside from that you can get pretty darn close.

 

[DaNewf]

For my homebrew stout (and porters and english ales) I use a syringe (type for orally administering medicine to babies) to kick up a Guinness style head and flatten (smooth out?) the beer by degassing it a little.

Six packs of bottled Guinness used to come with a syringe (called an initiator) for this purpose.

 

[dkeller12]

Even if you don't want to go with a nitro setup, you can make a very delicious dry stout. You won't get quite the same creamy texture, but aside from that you can get pretty darn close.

Can I ask how exactly you do this? I may be interested in trying this.

 

[QuercusMax]

Can I ask how exactly you do this? I may be interested in trying this.

See my first post in this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/possible-make-realistic-guinness-clone-492442/#post6393754

I've made basically that same recipe half a dozen times with various yeasts and sometimes adding some late hops, and it never fails to please. It's not exactly like Guinness (partly because I haven't used Irish Ale Yeast), but it's delicious.

Mash at around 146-148F to ensure good attenuation, carbonate at a pretty low level, and serve fairly warm (around 50F).

 

[dkeller12]

Thanks. Appreciate the info. I will have to try this out.

 

[Man-O-Leisure]

For my homebrew stout (and porters and english ales) I use a syringe (type for orally administering medicine to babies) to kick up a Guinness style head and flatten (smooth out?) the beer by degassing it a little.

Six packs of bottled Guinness used to come with a syringe (called an initiator) for this purpose.

Syringe to do what sorry? What are you injecting into the beer? Just Air?

 

[Man-O-Leisure]

See my first post in this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f14/possible-make-realistic-guinness-clone-492442/#post6393754

I've made basically that same recipe half a dozen times with various yeasts and sometimes adding some late hops, and it never fails to please. It's not exactly like Guinness (partly because I haven't used Irish Ale Yeast), but it's delicious.

Mash at around 146-148F to ensure good attenuation, carbonate at a pretty low level, and serve fairly warm (around 50F).

Would your recipe work out fine if i tried it and did use Irish Ale Yeast?

 

[mrboz]

You can definitely make a Guinness clone. Aside from a nitro setup to get the creaminess you want, you would technically have to reserve and sour a portion of your wort (unfermented beer). This makes the process a bit complicated for someone coming out of the blocks, but you can certainly make a very tasty stout with relative ease. What you'll discover if you start brewing is a full range of styles and variations that you will come to like - especially as you brew to your tastes and the seasons.

 

[QuercusMax]

Seeing as my recipe is basically the same as Jamil's, and he recommends irish ale yeast, I'd say definitely.

 

[QuercusMax]

I don't think this is true; Guinness Foreign Extra has a sour component, but the rest of their beers are very clean. I've compared mine side by side with bottled Guinness and the only real difference is the yeast character - real Guinness is a bit more estery.

 

[DaNewf]

Syringe to do what sorry? What are you injecting into the beer? Just Air?

Suck up a couple of mls of the beer and then "inject" it forcefully back into the glass. Do this over the sink the first couple times you try it. I made quite a mess on my computer desk the first time I gave it a go.

 

[mrboz]

I don't think this is true; Guinness Foreign Extra has a sour component, but the rest of their beers are very clean. I've compared mine side by side with bottled Guinness and the only real difference is the yeast character - real Guinness is a bit more estery.

Ahh - this is one of the great debates among beer drinkers as Guinness has been intentionally coy about this issue. No matter, as a home brewer, I find the joy in it all is to gather various insights and craft my own flavors. What really tickles is when you design with a characteristic in mind, then get to a final product that actually nails it.

 

[Man-O-Leisure]

Ahh - this is one of the great debates among beer drinkers as Guinness has been intentionally coy about this issue. No matter, as a home brewer, I find the joy in it all is to gather various insights and craft my own flavors. What really tickles is when you design with a characteristic in mind, then get to a final product that actually nails it.

Exactly what i hope to do.. I dont want to create a 100% clone of Guinness, but i love Guinness so i want to be able to make my own version of something very similar

 

[brewbama]

The Best of Brew Your Own 250 Classic Clone Recipes has a cpl nice Guinness recipes.


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