Homebrewing a (Modified) Goose Island IPA Clone

I know enjoying IPAs is the “in” thing right now but I seriously love IPAs. They’re by far my favourite style and, while I still enjoy other types of beer, there is just something about the hoppy goodness of an IPA that keeps calling me back. My previous experience homebrewing an IPA, the OBK West Coast IPA, was a pretty big success and while I did really enjoy the taste of it, it still wasn’t hoppy enough to quench my… hop thirst? Anyway for round two (pun completely intended) I decided to seek out a clone recipe for one of the commercial IPAs I enjoy, Goose Island IPA.

The original recipe can be found here but I made some slight… err on-the-fly tweaks to the Goose I brewed. Yes, we’re two paragraphs in and this post has just as many bad puns… it’s one of those days!

The first change I made was to put in a full ounce of Cascade hops at 30 min, instead of the recipe’s called for 0.5 oz at 30min and another 0.5 oz at 1 minute. To be perfectly honest this change was far less by design and far more by accident. But hey it did boost that lovely IBU value up somewhat!

The only other change I made was to top up my volume so that I ended up with 6 gallons / 22.7 litres instead of the recipe’s 5.5 gallons / 20.8 litres. My main reason for doing this was to make up for some more than expected boil loss and to ensure that the ABV remained somewhat in check.

Recipe Source: Brewer’s Friend

Beer Specifications

Beer Name: Goose Island IPA Clone
Beer Style: English IPA
Recipe Type: All Grain
Batch Size: 6 gallons / 22.7 litres
Estimated SRM: 9.47°
Estimated IBU: 52
Estimated OG: 1.065
Estimated FG: 1.015
Estimated ABV: 6.6%

Grain Bill/Fermentables

Amount Fermentables
11.5 lbs United Kingdom – Maris Otter Pale
0.5 lbs American – Carapils (Dextrine Malt)
7 oz United Kingdom – Crystal 40L
3 oz United Kingdom – Crystal 80L
2 oz United Kingdom – Munich

Hops

Oz Time Hops
1 60 min Centennial
1 30 min Cascade
0.5 15 min Styrian Goldings
0.5 5 min Fuggles
0.5 1 min Fuggles
1 Day 4 Cascade

Yeast

# Yeast
1 Wyeast – British Ale 1098 (or SafAle S-04)

Fermentation Schedule

21 days Primary
7-14 days Bottle Conditioning
Optimal Fermentation Temperature: 64-72°F / 17.8-22.2°C
Place fermenter in stable temperature, out of the light.

Directions

Mash Temperature: 152°F / 66.7°C
Mash Time: 60 min
Strike Water Volume: 5 gallons / 18.9 litres
Sparge Water Volume: 5 gallons / 18.9 litres
Boil Duration: 60 min
The recipe called for Wyeast – British Ale 1098 but my LHBS didn’t have any so I swapped it out for SafAle S-04

After fermentation was complete I took my final specific gravity measurement which gave me an actual OG of 1.062 and FG of 1.008 for an ABV of 7.09%. I aimed to prime with 2.4 volumes of CO2 but forgot to compensate for the half gallon that didn’t make it into my bottling bucket so I ended up with 2.6 volumes… ah well. RDWHAHB amirite? The bottles sat at room temperature for about 2 weeks to carbonate. Finally the long wait was over and the beer was ready to drink!

Beautiful colour and delicious hoppy aroma

The first thing I noticed about this beer, even back on bottling day, was the awesome hoppy aroma. It smells like an IPA but not to the extent that it burns out your nostrils, just something that really makes your mouth water in anticipation. The taste is well balanced, yet somewhat complex with ever so slightly different up front, ending and lingering tastes. It’s very drinkable and actually quite refreshing which is a dangerous combination with the higher than average alcohol content. I foreseen some unintended hangovers in my future with this brew 😛

I’m actually quite pleased with how this turned out! It definitely has more of that that earthy hop flavour than the previous West Coast IPA I made did and, even though it came in at ~50 IBU, I wouldn’t say it has that ‘punch you in the face’ bitterness that some people either love or hate. Based on my first impression I would recommend giving this one a shot if it sounds at all interesting to you.

P.S. – we called this brew “Dog Day Afternoon”

3 Comments Add yours

  1. Nick says:

    The rich and deep colors really makes this IPA look delicious. Thank you for the recipes. I am definitely going to be brewing this IPA:)

    I like your website. Great recipes and great reviews too!

    1. Brewers Journey says:

      Thanks Nick!

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