Innis and Gunn clone

I really fell in love with Innis and Gunn, but at $3.50 a bottle where I am, it was a great one to try to clone. I had a lot of the necessary ingredients laying around, and a sack of (at least) 5 year old 2 row Harrington malt to use up, so I used that. My total cost, estimated, was $25 to $30 including yeast.

Brewer:	John Ferguson		Email:	canuck_j@yahoo.ca
Beer:	Innis and Gunn clone		Style:	Scottish Export Ale
Type:	All grain		Size:	23 liters
Color:	20 HCU (~12 SRM)		Bitterness:	22 IBU
OG:	1.066		FG:	1.018
Alcohol:	6.1% v/v (4.8% w/w)
Water:	Straight RO water from the store, 2-18 L bottles for mash and sparge. No other treatment
Grain:	14 lb. American 2-row 1 lb. British pale 1 lb. American crystal 20L 1.5 oz. American black patent 1 lb. Rolled oats 2 oz. Belgian biscuit 1.5 oz. carastan
Mash:	49% efficiency
	Since I was using such old malt, I decided to try mashing overnight for a higher efficiencey, also to try and gain the creamy mouthfeel that this beer has. The Britsh pale malt in the recipe is peated malt. I left the rolled oats out of the overnight mash, fearing a stuck mash, and put them in the next day before sparging Total mash time was 9 hrs. Single infusion started at about 170 deg F, ended at 130 deg F in 4-tine picnic cooler setup.
Boil:	60 minutes	SG 1.054	28 liters
	.5 lb. Honey 1.5 lb. Brown sugar
	added cascades,honey and brown sugar as soon as I had a rolling boil. Tasting suggestion for next time.. throw in a bar of McIntosh's creamy toffee. 1/2 tsp Irish moss to aid in clearing.
Hops:	1 oz. Cascade (6% AA, 60 min.)
Yeast:	Only yeast locally available on short notice was Wyeast 1338 European Ale yeast. Worked great. No starter, straight from the package.
Log:	Primaried 12 days in glass on transfer to glass secondary, added 20 Tbsp of "Dark French roast" Oak sawdust (for winemaking) which had been soaked in Grant's Scotch whisky, equal to one cup with the sawdust in it. This is to emulate the 33 days the brewery ferments the real thing in oak barrels. Secondary for 30 days. All fermentation done at room temp. Whole scotch/sawdust slurry went in, lowering my final gravity to 1.008 Bottled 15 bottles for competition, using primetabs. The rest went in my Keg for forced carbonation.
Carbonation:	Bottles use natural carbonation. I swear by Primetabs. Keg force carbonated.
Tasting:	This beer is VERY very close to the real thing. Tasting comparison reveals a bit more toffee note and a finish hop in the commercial product that I don't have in mine. Suggest 1/2 oz Tetnanger finish hops and 1 bar McIntosh's creamy toffee in the next one.. should be near dead on. If I was to use (new)Hugh Baird 2 row and get a decent mash efficiency, I would back off 1 lb of malt, I think. Mouthfeel is perfect in comparison. The color is dead on, even the buttery flavour I mistook for diacetyl is there. I think it comes from the Scotch. Overall, very happy for first crack at a clone beer. I don't think I could've done better.

Recipe posted 12/18/05.