Ode to Guinness

It's true what they say, Guinness really does taste better in Ireland. I didn't believe it at first either, it must be an affect of the experience. While that may be part of it, the saying becomes abundantly clear when you taste it over there - it's fresh. We all know fresh hoppy beer is king but who knew that even applied to the old reliable, creamy and quaffable Guinness. When I first visited Ireland, the brewery was the first stop, right from the airport. After what was probably the most well put together museum and self-guided tour I've ever been on, I poured my very own pint of the black stuff. It hit me immediately, it was the hops! To my amazement, I could taste fresh, grassy and bright hops. This is why Guinness, like every beer, tastes best fresh.

It is hard to go a meal without that lovely brew while I'm in Ireland so when I'm home, I definitely miss it. Although I don't have a nitro setup, I feel the recipe below emulates that lovely brew nicely and it always satiates my need for a glass of the good stuff. I won't call it a clone, let's call it an ode to a classic.

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Style & Target
Irish/Oatmeal Stout
5.5% abv @ 5 gallons

Ingredients
Mash Grains:
7 lb US 2-row
2 lb flaked oats
1 lb flaked barley
8 oz biscuit malt
Sparge Grains:
2 lb pale chocolate
12 oz roasted barley
Everything Else: 1 oz East Kent Golding hops (60 minutes)
1 oz East Kent Golding hops (0 minutes)
8 oz Lactose (5 minutes)
1 pkg Safale US-05
recipe calculated with BeerSmith 2.0 - The best brewing software around!

Procedure
Mash in with only the "mash grains" listed above (save the roasted stuff for later) with 20 quarts of 158 F water, shooting for a target mash temperature of 148 F for 60 minutes. Once the 60 minutes are up, add in your "sparge grains," mix and then add 1 gallon of 170 F water. As usual you want to vorlauf (drain and re-add to the mash) a couple quarts until you see particulate free runnings, then start draining the tun. Once the grain bed is completely drained, add another 4.25 gallons of 170 F water, let sit for 10 minutes and drain in to the boil kettle with the first runnings. Use the following boil schedule:

Boil Schedule:
60 minutes - 1 oz East Kent Golding hops
5 minutes - 8 oz lactose
0 minutes - 1 oz East Kent Golding hops

As usual, cool your wort to 65 F, transfer to a sanitary fermentation vessel, pitch the yeast and let it go! What makes this delicious beer so much like Guinness, despite the lack of nitro, is two-fold. First, the addition of the dark malts during the sparge process helps to eliminate an astringent flavors that would otherwise be over extracted during a full 60 minute soak. The second is the addition of a body from both the oats, flaked barley and the lactose.