Innis and Gunn Extract Clone

[Crawfordid]

Hiya folks, this is my first proper extract beer with a heap of new kit so unsure how it is going to turn out!

Ive decided to brew a innis and gunn extract clone as it is one of my favourite beers, recipes online are really varied and there seems to be very little online about people making the original, loads on the rum variation etc however

I found a recipe on

https://www.brewtoad.com/recipes/innis-and-gunn-extract-clone

20 litre batch size:
1.064 OG
1.019 FG
18 IBU
10 SRM
6.0% ABV

Fermentables
Amount Fermentable Use
3.0 kg Dry Malt Extract - Light Boil
500.0 g Caramel/Crystal 60L (US) Steep
500.0 g Dry Malt Extract - Wheat Boil

Hops
Amount Hop Time Use
35.0 g Styrian Golding (SI) 60 min Boil
Yeasts

Name Lab/Product
Scottish Ale Wyeast 1728

Extras
Amount Name Time Use
50.0 g American Oak Spiral (Medium Toast) 10.0 days Secondary

Im making a few changes. Im using goldings hops instead of styrian golding (fuggles) as have read on another forum that this is what the use in the original innis and gunn. Ive also tried two different approaches for the oak chips and splitting the beer into two batches for the secondary fermentation vessel with one set of oak chips soaked in grants oaked reserve whisky and the other in havana club 7 year old rum - both soaked for two weeks before being added to secondary

During the process I unfortunately added too much water in my haste and my specific gravity started at 1.054 instead of 1.064 with a total volume of 23l, and on transferring to secondary was sitting at 1.015 after a week.

Taste on transfer is quite sweet and lots of caramel so will see how the oak changes the flavour

I also found various conflicting information on how to add the oak chips, as above i soaked in rum/whisky for two weeks, which should have sterlised it as well, I drained the excess liquid off before adding to avoid overpowering the beer with whisky, some people recommend adding this liquid to as it will have soaked up the oak flavour but my thinking was that the flavour will still come out of the oak chips, it just may take a bit longer without adding the 'tea' and worst comes to worse I can add some plain steam sterlised oak chips later on, but i dont think this will be necessary

Will update you on how it is progressing, will start daily tastings from weds which will have been a week since oak chips added

Any comments/criticisms/advice welcome, will also try and post the photos of what I have been doing once i get it to work

 

[cheapbrew]

Nice one and good pics :thumb:
I hope it turns out well for you.

 

[Crawfordid]

Have now bottled all of the brew!
The one with whisky soaked chips tastes bang on like innis and gunn, the one soaked in rum tastes perhaps unsurprisingly completely different!
FG 1.014, will be left to mature for the next month then will let you know the outcome!

 

[Crawfordid]

Just opened the first bottle today! and its awesome, about the right colour, still needs a little time to clear and most importantly it tastes bang on! lovely toffee, caramel and vanilla flavours with a slight alcohol tinge at the end! Hopefully it will continue to improve with age! :)

 

[Crawfordid]

Has just gotten better and better with age! Will definitely be making this again!

 

[VillageBrew]

Is there still a noticeable difference between the whisky and rum versions? Also, I don't normally use a secondary, and leave the beer in the fermenter for 2 weeks. I wonder if just dropping the oak/ whisky in after a week and then leaving for 10 days would work or would I need to rack to secondary?

 

[Crawfordid]

There isn't a huge difference anymore it's quite subtle but saying that I prefer the rum one it's more ... Smoother and richer for want of a better description.

You probably could add it in the primary a few Oaked beer kits I've seen do it that way! Saying that though if you put it in a secondary you can leave it in there as long as you like without having to get worried about off flavours from the yeast.

Also I mention in my original method that I decanted off the excess whisky/rum before pitching in, which I don't do anymore, I just throw the whole lot it get more flavour that way and it will mellow out over time!