My First Try at a Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA Clone - Suggestions Please!!

I want to start on an IPA so that it will be ready when it starts getting warm out again...cause I like IPAs when it's warm out! It also might be my first draft beer if I'm able to build the kegerator that I want to!

The kind of "base" of this recipe is something like Dark Horse Crooked Tree IPA (from Marshall, MI). It doesn't give specifics of what is used on their website so I totally went at this one blind. It's a darker cloudy IPA. Big grapefruit citrusy hop aromas. Also some pine aroma. So I went after Simcoe, Amarillo, Cascade, and Centennial Hops.

The recipe is for a 5 gallon extract brew. I don't have a secondary but might pick up a bucket to use for primary instead of my carboy so that I can secondary with dry hopping. Is there anything wrong with just doing a primary and dry hopping after fermentation dies down? Anyways...here is the recipe:

BeerSmith 2 Recipe Printout - BeerSmith Home Brewing Software, Recipes, Podcast and Blog
Recipe: IPA
Brewer: Geoff
Style: American IPA
TYPE: Extract


Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.068 SG
Estimated Color: 15.4 SRM
Estimated IBU: 69.7 IBUs
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amt Name Type # %/IBU
1 lbs Caramel Malt - 120L (Briess) (120.0 SRM) Grain 1 11.4 %
4.0 oz Peat Smoked Malt (2.8 SRM) Grain 2 2.9 %
7 lbs 8.0 oz DME Golden Light (Briess) (4.0 SRM) Dry Extract 3 85.7 %
1.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 12.9 IBUs
1.50 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 5 30.6 IBUs
1.25 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 6 19.6 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 15.0 min Hop 7 6.6 IBUs
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Boil 0.0 min Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
2.0 pkg American Ale (Wyeast Labs #1056) [124.21 Yeast 9 -
1.00 oz Amarillo Gold [8.50 %] - Dry Hop 10.0 Da Hop 10 0.0 IBUs
1.00 oz Simcoe [13.00 %] - Dry Hop 10.0 Days Hop 11 0.0 IBUs


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Please let me know what you think. I did this totally on a whim and am not experienced at all in recipe building. I just thought I could give it a try and match somewhat of what I want. THANKS!!

I also want to add a very subtle smokey flavor to it...hence the smoked malts.

I would cut down on the 60 min additions and add more hops during the last 15 minutes. Just my 2 cents

Thehopguy said:

I would cut down on the 60 min additions and add more hops during the last 15 minutes. Just my 2 cents

Click to expand...

Those don't really add too much bitterness to the beer though...am I right? They add more aroma. So do I compensate by adding just more to the aroma/flavor hops and just take away a little of the bittering hops?

Late hops do add a little bitterness, but not as much as a full boil. They add more flavor and aroma than anything else. Hop flavor is more than just IBU's though, perceived bitterness can be helped by a high hop flavor and aroma. My "mistake" IPA was only 35 IBU, and it was pretty hoppy to the tastebuds.

That said, I'd use a different, high AA% hop to bitter with, and save the Simcoe and Centennial for aroma/flavor use. I'd look into getting some Columbus or Magnum and using one of those for bittering duties, something like .5oz Magnum @ 60 minutes, and then .5 of Cascade, Centennial, Simcoe, and Amarillo @ 15 minutes, then another .5 of each @ 5 minutes, and then do 1+ oz of each for 7 days of dry hop. Bet that'd make a hell of an IPA

Thanks for the help. Since you gave those suggestions I've been doing more research on aroma hops and different types of hop additions at different times in the boil. There was some good articles on byo.com that were pretty informational.

Will there be any different flavors imparted if I use Columbus or Magnum? I know not a lot of the flavors are extracted from the bittering hops but am not familiar with hops enough to know what flavors they may or may not impart. I'm going for the citrusy piney spice IPA.

Does anyone think the caramel malts are going to conflict with the hop flavor? And what do you think about the yeast for this one? Still looking for some help! Thanks!

Here's a descriptor of Columbus from Brew Dudes:

Columbus Hops | Brew Dudes


I think they'd be a good idea for you, since they fit what you are looking for.