Dark Horse - Crooked Tree IPA Clone

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seehuusen

seehuusen

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Hey fellow brewers,

Some of you might also have seen that there's a TV show out on Foxtel called Dark Horse Nation with a bunch of bearded guys who love nothing more than brewing beer in their micro brewery in Michigan.
This prompted me to look up a clone to make up the next order from NHB.

I found a recipe over on HBT, which I've converted and tweaked a little, based on a bit of research and comments on the interwebs.
I'd be keen to hear some thoughts on it.

Cooked Tree IPA Clone
23L Batch
1.073 SG
1.016 FG
7.4% ABV
47.3 IBU

72% efficiency.

Grain
6.5Kg (85.5%) Pale Malt.
0.55Kg (7.25%) Crystal 20L.
0.55Kg (7.25%) Munich Malt.

Hops
40g Chinook @ 45min.
40g Cascade @ 45min.

35g Centennial @ 45min.

Fermented with Nottingham Yeast @ 18C.
I adjust my water profile to be dry and Hop promoting.

I'm also keen to hear thoughts on taste if someone has already tried this one.
Apparently the clone is pretty close to the actual product.

Cheers,
Martin
 
I've been watching that show. It's pretty funny. Loved the ice fishing cubby house!
 
LMAO, bacon hop back is certainly something I'd give a go :D
 
seehuusen said:
fixed up typos... :)

Cooked Tree IPA Clone
23L Batch
1.073 SG
1.016 FG
7.4% ABV
47.3 IBU

72% efficiency.

Grain
6.5Kg (85.5%) Pale Malt.
0.55Kg (7.25%) Crystal 20L.
0.55Kg (7.25%) Munich Malt.

Hops
40g Chinook @ 45min.
40g Cascade @ 5min.

35g Centennial dry hop.

Fermented with Nottingham Yeast @ 18C.
I adjust my water profile to be dry and Hop promoting.
Click to expand...
 
It kinda looks like this clone might not have been brewed down under yet, I'll give it a crack and report back :)

if anyone has tried the commercial sample, please share your thoughts.
 
Got the yeast spinning on the stirrer, waiting on my new S/S Immersion Chiller to arrive from NHB :)

I can't seem to get hold of any Chinook, so I'll be substituting that for Galena. Hoplist suggests that as a suitable substitute (amongst others), I figure that with it being in the boil for 45mins, I'm probably not going to notice a massive difference... Thoughts?
 
I haven't tried the beer in question but it seems to me that a hell of a lot of bitterness is early additions. Personally I would halve the 45min addition and make up the difference by adding a 10 minute addition. Or leave it as is and add a 10 min addition to bump the IBUs to around 60- with 7.2% alc. I think a bit more bitterness might balance it better.
I suppose doing that it will be less of a clone but if you have your figures right.
 
It is alot of bitterness from that 45min addition and that will balance the abc, without it your alcohol will be more present. My 2c
 
Still it is only 45IBU regardless of which addition it comes from. I dont think the balance will come from where the IBUs come from but rather the level of bitterness as a whole. I just think there should be more emphasis on the flavour additions in an IPA and possibly a few more IBUs for a 7% beer. Just my opinion but.
 
Thanks for the input regarding the IBUs, 47.3 is perhaps a bit lower than I'd normally do too, but this is meant to be a clone, so in that regards I'll follow the recipe.

My understanding is, if you want the same IBUs, but by adding hops at a later stage, you end up needing to use way more hops by weight. This in turn also adds more aroma to the beer, rather than just bitterness.
It would stand to reason that an earlier addition would then add predominantly bitterness, hence my assumption of a lesser importance on the hop variety, thoughts?

EDIT: Spelling
 
Yes and no. The bitterness additions still provide flavour but you are right, it will be less noticable if you substitute early additions compared to late additions.

The 0-5 minute additions will give you aroma whereas the 10-20 minute additions contribute the most to taste- which is why I think it would benefit from a 10 minute addition. Yes you will need more hops to get the same IBU but it will also provide more taste- which is pretty important in an IBU I reckon. Again, just my taste and way of doing things.
 
I just put this into secondary, with 40g of Centennial as the dry hop.
I'll let it sit for about 7 days and then CC/Gelatin for 2 days.

Flavour is nice already, great malt backbone and quite balanced bitterness.
Looking forward to the Nottingham yeast dropping out allowing me to taste a little less yeast/creaminess...
Will report back when I get a bit further in the process :)
 
I had a sneaky test bottle yesterday, it's only been conditioning for a week now.
Nice hop flavour, with a slight resinous pine spicyness, backed by a quite substantial malt backbone. It obviously still is a bit green, and there are still a bit of bottling sugar for the yeasties to eat through.
Very promising beer though :beer:
 
This is eerily similar to an IPA that I've been meaning to get across the line over the last few weekends.

Just for giggles I might do them both and have a side by side tasting.

My version has 750g of crystal, which I am yet to be convinced isn't over the top.

If I remember when I get home I'll try to get my version up on the site.

Fess.
 
Uncle Fester said:
This is eerily similar to an IPA that I've been meaning to get across the line over the last few weekends.

Just for giggles I might do them both and have a side by side tasting.

My version has 750g of crystal, which I am yet to be convinced isn't over the top.

If I remember when I get home I'll try to get my version up on the site.

Fess.
Click to expand...
Are you whispering?
 
shhhh - kids are sleeping :D

Sounds good Fess, this turned out to be a very nice beer in deed.
Very well balanced, and super easy to drink, I would have loved to compare it to the original, but this'll do nicely ;)
 

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