Dark Ale

[burrster]

Hi Guys I'm gonna put down a dark ale soon. I would like some ideas as to what else I might add and what hops(and when) people recommend to add.


I Currently have :

1 x black rock nut brown ale can
1 x Coopers Wheat extract.
200g pale chocolate gain
1 x Nottingham yeast

Possible hops:
Fuggles
East Kent goldings
both bought for this recipe anyway...

I also have

Citra
Hallertau

Thanks everyone in advance for your input.

 

[mosto]

Depends what you're after. I can see that recipe producing a nice malty flavour which would be to my liking so, personally, I wouldn't like to over hop it and have that conflict with the malt. I'd maybe do a 10 min boil with say 20g of Fuggles, then dry hop with another 20g once fermentation has slowed. I'm a bit partial to Fuggles and haven't had much experience with EKG, but from what I've read/heard, it would go well too.

 

[bmarshall]

Why not try an american brown with some US hops.
If you ever get you chance to find bridge rd/mikekller dark harvest, is almost the best beer ive ever had.

 

[menoetes]

I recently made a similar slap together dark ale kit that turned out to be bloody beautiful drop.

I steeped less chocolate malt than you (50g of chocolate malt) but added 150g of crystal malt for the caramel flavors. I also used 1kg of wheat malt like you have but added 400g of brown sugar + 200g of honey to give it some delicious toffee tones to complement the chocolate malt. Finally I used Willamette hops (quite similar to fuggles) and cascade to give it an earthy floral nose and aftertaste.

All in all a great brew which I call my 'Dodgy Codger's Dark Ale'. I highly recommend the use of brown sugar and honey.

 

[rheffera]

Care to share your measurements of hops? I'm interested in your recipe, menoetes

 

[menoetes]

18g of both Willamette and cascade hop pellets at 5 - 10 minutes (it was a hurried slap together brew so I wasn't super exact) and dry hoped 15g of cascade on day 4 of fermentation. I leave the hop matter loose in the wort when I pour it into the FV as I secondary fermentation then use finings so I'm not too worried about getting it in my bottles.

I should probably amend my earlier comment while I'm about it; I've double checked my notes and it was 210g of crystal malt and 40g of chocolate malt that I steeped in 5 litres of hot water with 400g of dry LME. My LHBS sells steeping grains in pre-cracked packs which is helpful for newer brewers like me, I added the brown sugar and honey at flame out (0 minutes). I also made it a 25lt brew and I don't regret it. The kit I used was just a basic coopers dark ale, the whole thing was cheap as chips.

I hope this is helpful.

Edit: I can't spell apparently.

 

[burrster]

Thanks for your reply guys. this is all good stuff. I like the idea of brown sugar and honey. I think I shall have to add these two. the increase volume to 25L ( vs 23 or less) is interesting too.

 

[menoetes]

Not everyone agrees with increasing the volume, some believe it's 'watering down' the beer. My thinking behind my increased volume is that with the kit + 1.4kg of added malt + 600g of fermentable sugars (brown sugar and honey) I can add 2lts to the usual 23lts and still have a reasonable strength session beer. I drink a lot of beer so getting smashed on the first two or three glasses in a sitting isn't my style. It's all a matter of opinion and how you drink really. Just do whatever works for you.

 

[burrster]

Ok guys so I put this one down today.

The recipe is as follows

1 x black rock nut brown ale can
1 x Coopers Wheat extract.
200g pale chocolate gain
400g brown sugar
200g Beerenberg blue gum honey
1 x Nottingham yeast

Hops:
10g Citra @ 35 minutes
10g of Fuggles & East Kent goldings @ 10 minutes
10g of Fuggles & East Kent goldings @ 0 minutes
I will dry hop 7g of all 3 hops on day 6 of fermentation.

Will brew @ 17 degrees C for 2 weeks with 1 week additional of cold crash.

OG 1.052 in 24L

Now begins the waiting!

 

[menoetes]

Looks good Bursster, it won't be the same as mine but it shouldn't be too far off either.

Citra hops are a a bit fruitier than Cascade (which are quite floral rather than fruity) but you are boiling them much earlier than I did which will change the overall flavor and outcome. Also the Fuggles and EKG hops combo looks promising too, I like the look of that mix a lot, though I have never tried it myself. As for dry hopping your hops combo looks good and adding the hops any time once your SG is under 1020 (and after 6 days I expect it should be a bit lower than that) is good practice.

I'm very interested in hearing how this brew turns out. You are using different hops and kit from me and I am tempted to ask, wanna try a swap? Bottle for bottle? PM me if you are interested...

 

[burrster]

Just an update. Day 14 and Gravity reading is 1.014. Have dry hopped for a week now as listed above. Nice hoppy flavour, from the hydrometer sample. Let the cold crash begin!

 

[menoetes]

Sounds awesome sir, how long since the SG stopped dropping?

1014 sounds about right given what's in it, the brown sugar and honey could account for the slighty higher FG. Does it have lotsa chocolate & toffee tones in the flavor?

 

[burrster]

Overall I would say the Chocolate/toffee over tones are a bit low for what I might be expecting(might be expecting too much!) My previous dark ales have finished at around this FG reading too, so I'm not worried. As for when it stopped dropping I've only taken the one reading at the 2 week mark so I'm not sure.

If this one turns out well, I might do it again, but with the addition of some cold brewed coffee(I'm a coffee nut too!) I've done this before and it was pretty darn good!