Anyone do a Guinness they're really happy with ?

[hoppingMad]

One of my favourite tap beers and I'd like to brew another batch as my first could do with some improvement. I've been reading up a bit on various methods of souring and I'm about ready have another go, but does anyone brew this beer regularly and have down pat ... ?

[Whorst]

Adjust this recipe to your mash efficiency:

* 7 lb. British 2 row pale malt
* 1 lb. flaked barley
* 1 lb. roasted barley
* 1/2 oz. gypsum (in mash water)
* 1 oz. Bullion whole hops (10.3% AA, 60 minutes)
* White Labs Irish Ale Yeast

[hoppingMad]

Whorst, thanks for that. Have you "arrived" at that amount of flaked barley by your own experimenting ?
I brewed my first ( and only) Guinness with about 1.7 lbs and I felt to use a bit less next time. Yours seems about right.
Also your IBU's seem a bit less than mine, I get 20 approx when I feed your recipe into BeerTools, but I think I would like about 28 -30 IBU's. I know its personal taste.

Anyway looks like I will be doing my second ever Guinness shortly.

[steve_flack]

An AAU is alpha*ounces so one ounce of 1% alpha acid hops contains 1 AAU. So if you were using 10% alpha hops, 18AAU is 1.8 ounces.

Strange that Line used AAUs. It's always struck me as a more American sort of unit.

[nobby]

I have brew this a few times and its alway good

3.5Kg Pale Malt
1Kg Flake Barley
500Grams Roast Barley

60 Grams Northan Brewers

Nottingham Yeast

Bottled and about 4-6 weeks to mature.

[Whorst]

I would think that 20 IBU's is about right for a Guinness clone. Adding another 10 IBU's should be fine. The stuff in bottles is totally different that the widget, draught stuff. I haven't brewed this in years, but my notes indicate that it's a very nice beer. I would use a liquid yeast, preferably White Labs Irish Ale.

[russt1969]

Dave Line's Guiness is reported to be one of the best recipes around for this clone.

OG1045
7lb Crushed Pale
1lb Cracked Roast Barley
1lb Flaked Barley
1oz Bullion Hops + 1 1/2 oz Norther Brewer (or Keyworth Mid season if available)

I've done this one a few times and have been very happy with it. Apart from when I returned back from Africa after trying their Guinness which is 7.5% and very very nice. Instead of just very nice
Go with the above recipe. Tiz a good un:)

[Bru4u]

If your looking for the ultimate Guiness the Foreign Extra Stout is hard to beat but they blend it with old to get the sourness. the following is taken from Beer and Cider in Ireland by Iorwerth Griffiths which is a mine of information and I hope it may be of some use to you.

"Guinness Foreign Extra Stout : 7.5%
Aka FES made at St James Gate, used to be a blended beer, fresh stout would be blended with stout aged for about 3 months in oak tuns over 100 yrs old. During its stay in the tuns it would be infected with wild yeast and lactic acid bacteria living in the tuns, giving it a musty, leathery aroma and a sour, lactic charicter. The sour, aged stout would be the perfect foil for the rich, young stout, insuring that the final beer would not be too rich and cloying. After blending, it would be matured for a further month in bottle. The oak tuns are probable no longer in use, and it is not clear if this is still a blended beer.
FES is almost jet black in colour, with a dense orange foam. The nose is so complex that it is hard to know where to start when it comes to describing it. There are aromas of coffee, dark fruit and roasted grain, with a possible hint of musty leather from the wild yeast. The beer is rich, assertive, oily and full bodied in the mouth, and the finish is drying, with notes of burnt currants, expresso coffee and sour fruit and an intense, long lasting bitterness. This beer can accommpany the richest deserts but is probably best as an after dinner drink or nightcap. It may or may not be made in the traditional way, but the St. James's Gate FES remains a classic beer, rich, fully favoured and supremely complex. The ultimate Guinness. "

There is lots of info on Draught and Extra Stout, and all other comercial buews of Ireland, the bottled Extra Stout is my preference, CO2 rather than nitrogen.
regds
Bru4u

[hoppingMad]

thanks chaps for that info. I can see my experience of Guinness is very meagre when reading Bru4's excerpt.
I confess to only trying the on tap nitrogen stuff so far although I am partial to a fairly robust roasty, chocolatey ale of my own at times.

I'm new to this forum as you can see and its nice to get such willing feedback on my posts so soon.
You're all undoubtedly Gentlemen and Scholars, sir's, and more than likely, frightfully decent with it

[SteveD]

Kind words, sir. I could swear that Dave Line's Guinness recipe is 7:2:1 pale, flaked, roast. He gave it in lbs. And 20IBU? Not a chance. - 40 is nearer the mark. Have you not noticed that Guinness is..er..bitter?

Northdown and Goldings are also hops to investigate - apparently, it's what Guinness use...

The last bottles of FES I tasted were absolute Sh1te. Either something went wrong with that batch, or the homebrewed strong stouts it was tasted with were much better. Both, I think.

[SteveD]

I could swear that Dave Line's Guinness recipe is 7:2:1 pale

It depends on what edition you are reading I believe, iirc the recipe in the later edition is considered the better of the two. David Edge raised it a while back so it's in the archive somewhere.

Oh ok. My edition is an old one, likely to be the first. Same as Graham Wheeler's Home Brewing. First edition there as well. Funnily enough Dave's book didn't inspire me to jump to AG - Graham's did that. All we had then were books...the internet hadn't been invented, never mind this forum

[hoppingMad]

Kind words, sir. And 20IBU? Not a chance. - 40 is nearer the mark. Have you not noticed that Guinness is..er..bitter?

ahh yes, thats it. Hence my 28-30 IBU's reply above.
Cheers.

[SteveD]

Kind words, sir. And 20IBU? Not a chance. - 40 is nearer the mark. Have you not noticed that Guinness is..er..bitter?

ahh yes, thats it. Hence my 28-30 IBU's reply above.
Cheers.

......plus another 10

I brew mine at 40 IBU and it comes out just right.

[MARMITE]

Dave Lines recipe differs according to which book you read. The Big Book of Brewing gives 7lb pale 1lb roast barley 1lb flaked barley 1oz bullion 1.5 oz keyworth mid season or northern brewer.Brewing Beers like those you buy says 2lb flaked barley and 3oz northen brewer

[SteveD]

Dave Lines recipe differs according to which book you read. The Big Book of Brewing gives 7lb pale 1lb roast barley 1lb flaked barley 1oz bullion 1.5 oz keyworth mid season or northern brewer.Brewing Beers like those you buy says 2lb flaked barley and 3oz northen brewer

Ahhh.. From BBLTYB (1985 vintage) = the recipe is as the above 7:2:1, but don't forget the 1Oz Bullion together with the 3Oz Northern Brewer. OG 1045. Can we still get Bullion? Horrible hop. I made a beer after the Guinness and used the left over Bullion - Straight down the sink