"Dank" IPA recipe

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Queequeg

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I am looking at making a "dank" IPA for my next brew.

By "dank" I mean something that has a aroma that resembles marijuana, i.e herbal, spicy, piney, woody with a gentle sweetness and mild citrus quality as opposed to dampness/earthy/dirty smell. As for flavor I would be looking for something oily and resinous and citrus with some spice.

I don't want tropical fruits or a grapefruit bomb, unless they are supporting flavors. The same goes for stones fruits and berries.

Researching hops that can provide these qualities I found

Dank

-Apollo
-Comet
-Columbus
-Nugget

Some Dankness, but with other qualities associated with Dankness

-Simcoe
-Summit
-Chinook

I am thinking a large dry hop with Apollo and Comet with possibly third variety.

I want to include a hopstand, but other than that I am open to suggestions. Most of the commercial Dank IPA's seem to use Columbus and Simcoe.

Any advice on the hop bill is welcome
 
I brewed the Triple Rock - The Dankness a few years ago from 'Can You Brew It' on the Brewing Network and it was awesome.

http://www.thebrewingnetwork.com/post1655/

At the time I had a lot of fruity, citrusy, floral and piney IPA's available and it worked perfectly on giving me something different.
 
I just did a 'Dank' double IPA and used the following hops and schedule:

Magnum @ 60
Simcoe / Mosaic / Columbus @15
Simcoe / Mosaic / Nugget @10

Dry Hopped with Simcoe / Mosaic / Nugget and Galaxy

Turned out pretty well and was in line with what I was looking for. I'd probably try to utilize more Nugget as I really like the earthy flavor and smell from it. Maybe try to use some more whirlpooling instead of hop bursting.

Grain Bill was
Marris Otter
Crystal 60
Crystal 120
Wheat Malt
Carapils
 
I've been recently turned on to Apollo, and found it to give me what I wanted in a Dank beer. Apollo with something more Piney (Simcoe, Chinook) would be my go to for a Dank Beer. Mosaic in the Dry Hops goes good with it for me as well. I use a little crystal in my fruitier IPA's but don't use them at all if I'm going Dank. That's what I do, but my goal is to make to different house IPA's that are very different from one another (one Juicy, one dank).
 
I just did an all columbus ipa looking for the ripp your face off dank and I got it. Its not for everyone but i like the change from the sweet and citris ipa's of the east. This 10 gallon batch was also split and used citra for the dryhop for 5 gallons which came out awesome.

Columbus @ 60 3 oz
@ 5 6 oz
@ 0 6 oz
@ hopback 1 pound homegrown leaf
dryhop #1 5 ounces 4 days
dryhop #2 5 ounces another 4 days
 
Thanks folks for the input, its proving really helpful.

When I result flavours/aroma for comet I often see the phrase "american wild". What does this mean, who would you describe that flavour
 
I just dry hopped an ale with UK Pilgrem hops. This is a seriously dank hop. Food for thought.
 
Apollo is a must IME if you want a resin pungent dank IPA. Some other hops I dont see mentioned that can be dank depending on harvest year are Galaxy and Nelson Sauvin. But a decent amount of fresh Apollo and columbus in a hopstand and dry hopping will definitely get you there

"american wild" is the term I see thrown around to describe Comet. You have to take it with a grian of salt because Comet debuted a while ago, before aggressive dankish hop chracter was acceptable. That beign said, comet is a very pungent hop, especially used in dry hopping
 
I have read in side by side taste comparison that it is significantly more dank than Columbus
 
Also when I did my own dry hop tests with Columbus I didn't get marijuana, got more of a earthy quality
 
OK, so I think I am going to go for a pairing of Apollo and Comet for uber dank.

Normally my IPA strategy is to go for hops that compliment with another variety of a contrasting quality to make the main hops "pop".

Given that comet is dank and grapefruit and Apollo dank and orange. I want to avoid another heavily citrus hop especially grapefruit.

I would really like to include some pine, so I was initially thinking simcoe. However I that can be fairly grape fruity, so instead I think I will go for mosaic. You get some pine, some fruit, some herb.

A provision hop bill might look something like

Apollo@ 60 main
1 oz Apollo@ 10 min
2oz each of Apollo, mosaic, comet in the stand
2oz of each in the dry hop

Input on ratios would be welcome. Thanks
 
I got more of a resinous character from Apollo. I was hoping for a musty green dankness. As someone mentioned earlier there is some of that funky pot character in some batches of galaxy and Nelson. I definitely got it from one of the Enjoy By bottles back when they were using that combo, and I've gotten it a bit at home. I love simcoe but have never gotten the pine everyone talks about. More catty grapefruit. I'm currently working on a chinook/Nelson combo. Interested to hear how yours turns out!
 
What's the most strong pine one? I go for that over dankness, although they're definitely intertwined usually. Havent ever tried Apollo and some others mentioned.
 
Quick update. This afternoon I set up a dry hop experiment using Coors light and the following hops:

Apollo
Comet
Mosaic
Chinook
Simcoe
Galaxy
Summit

Of all the hops Apollo smelt the most dank.

Galaxy and Chinook were also quite dank.

Comet did not smell that dank.

I will report back the results of the tasting after they have add a few days to infuse.
 
Last time I did it I put 3 grams per bottle, this time I just put 3 pellets, which I thinks about the same. This equates to roughly a 5-6oz dry hop. You need to cold crash them and poor quickly through a strainer but its a pretty informative test overall.
 
Quick update. This afternoon I set up a dry hop experiment using Coors light and the following hops:

Apollo
Comet
Mosaic
Chinook
Simcoe
Galaxy
Summit

Of all the hops Apollo smelt the most dank.

Galaxy and Chinook were also quite dank.

Comet did not smell that dank.

I will report back the results of the tasting after they have add a few days to infuse.

I can't wait to hear the results!

:mug:
 
Quick update. This afternoon I set up a dry hop experiment using Coors light and the following hops:

Apollo
Comet
Mosaic
Chinook
Simcoe
Galaxy
Summit

Of all the hops Apollo smelt the most dank.

Galaxy and Chinook were also quite dank.

Comet did not smell that dank.

I will report back the results of the tasting after they have add a few days to infuse.

Curious what harvest year the summit was. Ive had it pretty clean orange and entirely garlicy mess of a dank bomb
 
So time to feedback from the Coors light hops experiment.

Just to recap on the method. To each bottle I added approximately 3 pellets of a single variety and resealed. I then stored them at room temp for 2 days periodically inverting to mix and re-suspend to hop material. I then cold crashed each bottle in my fridge for 24 hours.

For two varieties I had to use leaf (simcoe and galaxy) and because I was too lazy to weigh the leaf I just guessed what would be similar to three pellets in terms of mass. The limitation with leaf hops is the what you can get in the neck of the bottle without it foaming and overflowing.

Oxidation is not a issue with this method because the head space is immediately purged by escaping CO2 when the hops are added.

14 bottles where prepared in total, 7 hop varieties each performed in duplicate.

The hops were poured into a plastic pint glass through a tea strainer one at a time and each inspected for aroma and then tasted. Before preceding to the next. After which combinations which seemed appealing where then blended, the objective of which was to produce a drinkable "dank" style IPA.

I did the testing with a friend, I would say my pallet is reasonably educated as I can quite easily pick out off flavors in beers but it is by no means expert. My friend is not a brewer but he is a experienced real ale and craft beer drinker.

Two things I need to highlight from the start, the first is not all the hops were as fresh as others. Summit, Galaxy and Chinook had been stored in my freezer for some time, although in Mylar bags with the air squeezed out. The second is that 7 hop varieties is too many to try, by the end of tasting and smelling 7 varieties and then mixing them your senses are pretty tired and things can be hard to distinguish.

Below is a picture from the day

So for the results;

Comet

Aroma: pine, grass, marijuana, pineapple, citrus
Taste: pineapple, grapefruit, pepper, light resinous quality, overall quite clean

Definitely comet is dank, but not the super dank monster that some people claim. Did taste delicious though, especially the pineapple quality.

Apollo

Aroma: Onion/savory, marijuana, earthy, herbal
Taste: Sweet Orange flavor predominates, resinous, quite bitter, apricot and stone fruits

Very Dank on the nose, I think mainly because of the very muted citrus aroma makes the other qualities standout. The onion quality was not distracting at all, more savory than specifically onion.

Chinook

Aroma: Very resinous and oily, mild citrus, herbal, mild pine
Taste: grapefruit, pine, herbal, resinous, passion fruit, long lasting residual bitterness

Not particularly pleasant, at least on it own.

Simcoe

The dose was too low to make a fair comment here, very muted flavours

Galaxy

Aroma: Marijuana, pine, grassy, fruity ( couldn't discern any specific)
Taste: Resins, pine, fruits (mango and passion)

Very strong flavor overall, "dank" qualities where second to Apollo and probably on par with comet.

Mosaic

Aroma:Grass, herbal, savory, resins, tropical fruits.
taste: Very clean, virtually no resinous flavor, lots or berry and tropical fruits

Complex and beautiful tasting, but not dank.

Summit: Marijuana, grassy. No onion. Very muted aroma overall.
Taste: Clean but with a little resin, Orange and pine. Again not very strong

This could be a crop or storage issue but it was a poor mans Apollo in this test. My suspicion is the age of the hop.

Combinations;

1:1 Apollo Comet

You could taste both, but overall unexciting

2:1 Apollo Comet

Again a good balance of flavors but more drinkable than a 1:1 ratio

1: 1: 1 Apollo, Comet, Galaxy

The tropical fruits from the galaxy distracted significantly from the overall flavor they did not compliment or make the over hops pop.

2: 1: 0.5 Apollo, Comet, Galaxy

No real improvement on the above

2 : 1 : 0.5 Apollo, Comet, Mosaic

pleasant, well rounded but muddled. The mosaic was again distraction.

1: 1: comet chinook

The chinook was completely drown out and over powered by the comet, again didn't add anything


Conclusion

So my conclusion is that Apollo has by far the best aroma and by far the most dank qualities. My theory is this is because of the lack of fruit aroma and strong aroma of Marijuana along side over woodland qualities really promotes the dank qualities. Its still very IPA style and still very american.

Comet and Apollo are a great combination, they work ok at 1:1 but better at 2:1, adding a fruity hop does not make the others pop. My experience is the reverse is true for fruit hops.

I will probably go for a massive dry hop of a Apollo only, with a big hop stand combination of Apollo and Comet probably at a 2:1 ration in flavor of Apollo. Apollo in the boil.

IMG-20160216-WA0000[1].jpg
 
Target is very very dank as well. I've bought some to do what you are aiming at and I'm going with Columbus, Target and just a bit of Fuggles in a supporting role.
 
This what I went with in the end.

Units are slightly off because its converted from metric

Boil Size: 8.68 gal
Post Boil Volume: 7.36 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 6.80 gal
Bottling Volume: 6.30 gal
Estimated OG: 1.063 SG
Estimated Color: 10.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 56.6 IBUs
Est Mash Efficiency: 73.4 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Malt Bill
------------
Amt Name
8.8 oz Barley Hulls (0.0 SRM) 3.1 %
15 lbs 12.6 oz Low colour maris otter (2 Row) UK (1.0 SRM)90.1 %
10.9 oz Amber (Crisp) (27.5 SRM)3.9 %
8.1 oz Wheat Malt, Pale (Weyermann) (2.0 SRM)2.9 %


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 17 lbs 8.4 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 6.16 gal of water at 162.4 F 152.0 F 60 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (0.62gal, 4.69gal) of 168.0 F water
Notes:
First step is used a mash out and not sparge

Kettle Addtions
----------------------------
0.99 oz Warrior [16.70 %] - Boil 60.0 min43.5 IBUs
0.99 oz Comet [10.20 %] - Boil 15.0 min13.2 IBUs
1/4 tsp whirlfloc
1/2tsp yeast nutrient
30ml weyerman sinamar [5.0 SRM]
2.96 oz Comet [10.20 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30 Min @ 162F pump on recirc 0.0 IBUs
0.99 oz Apollo [18.70 %] - Steep/Whirlpool 30 Min @ 162F pump on recirc 0.0 IBUs



1 min of O2 @ 1L/min flow rate via a 0.5 um stone.
WLP001 1.4 L starter
Actual SG 1.062

Pitched at 62F, starting fermentation temp 65F ramp after 2 days to 70F by day 5

Dry hop due for approximately day 14

6.07 oz Apollo [18.70 %] - Dry Hop 3.0 Days with hop torpedo
 
I've never seen such a huge dryhop of Apollo. Very interested to hear how this turns out.
 
I wonder if anyone has tried intentionally skunking their hope to make it taste more like marijuana. I recently gave my girlfriend a skunked bottle of Weihenstaphaner original that I'm pretty sure was skunked and she said it was pretty good but smelled and tasted exactly like weed. Unfortunately I was very congested and couldn't smell it very well.
 
I've never seen such a huge dryhop of Apollo. Very interested to hear how this turns out.

I go pretty heavy on late and dry additions of apollo with one of my IPAs and it definitely has a almost sticky pungent resinous character to it while its young. Smooths out and becomes more orange as it conditions
 
Day 14: FG 1.012. Tastes great.
Curretly cold crashing to clear the yeast out before dry hopping
 
Nelson Sauvin seems to be pretty "dank" when used in the dry-hop. The Alpine Golden Rye made with Nelson is dankity-dank-dank.
 
Nelson Sauvin seems to be pretty "dank" when used in the dry-hop. The Alpine Golden Rye made with Nelson is dankity-dank-dank.

Yeah, depending on harvest year and just how fresh the actual beer is, Nelson can be super dank IME. I've had several commercial nelson based (or maybe all nelson, I dunno, it was in the title) beers that were very resiny and stanky mmmm
 
I bottled earlier this week, didn't get much dank aroma, lots of pineapple and citrus. Had a quick taste, it nice but I'm not sure about amber malt in a IPA.
 
So time to feedback from the Coors light hops experiment.

Just to recap on the method. To each bottle I added approximately 3 pellets of a single variety and resealed. I then stored them at room temp for 2 days periodically inverting to mix and re-suspend to hop material. I then cold crashed each bottle in my fridge for 24 hours.

For two varieties I had to use leaf (simcoe and galaxy) and because I was too lazy to weigh the leaf I just guessed what would be similar to three pellets in terms of mass. The limitation with leaf hops is the what you can get in the neck of the bottle without it foaming and overflowing.

Oxidation is not a issue with this method because the head space is immediately purged by escaping CO2 when the hops are added.

14 bottles where prepared in total, 7 hop varieties each performed in duplicate.

The hops were poured into a plastic pint glass through a tea strainer one at a time and each inspected for aroma and then tasted. Before preceding to the next. After which combinations which seemed appealing where then blended, the objective of which was to produce a drinkable "dank" style IPA....



Hope my questions aren't off topic, but how do you recap the Coors Light Bottles? Aren't they twist offs? And for the 2 days at room temp, does the beer go flat with the inverting to mix up the hops?


Thanks. Interesting topic to read too!
 
Just as a general addition to this thread (not having read it all):

I recently attempted a "Dank" IPA. Of the hops considered "Dank", my LHBS really only had Columbus and Apollo. My recipe was something like:

2.5 Gallons, partial mash:

Malt:
3 lb Pilsener LME
2 lb Pale malt
.25 lb Victory
.25 lb Munich 10L

Yeast: US-05

This ended up being ~6% ABV, though I don't have the measurements on me.

Hops:
60m Bravo, bittering to ~45 IBUs.
Flame Out: Columbus, 1 oz
Flame Out: Apollo, 2 oz
Dry Hop: Columbus, 1 oz - 7 days
Dry Hop: Apollo, 2 oz - 7 days

As you can see, I used over 6 ounces of "Dank" hops for a 2.5 gallon batch, so the equivalent of 12 ounces for 5 gallons.

The result? A totally drinkable beer that reminds me nothing of "Dank". The beer is definitely herbal, but in a spicy/earthy/generically hoppy way, not at all like the smell of marijuana. I can also see some people reading this smell as oniony or garlicky, though I found this to be quite pleasant. From what I can tell, there are absolutely no fruity flavors, though there may be a slight hint of citrus.

The aroma of the beer is also pretty subdued for what I would expect out of 12 ounces of hops. If you had said that this beer had three ounces of hops, or less, I would believe you. I think, in general, Apollo seems to be a fairly mild hop for aroma/flavor.

Anyway, it did turn out to be a pretty damn tasty beer, regardless, just not at all what I was shooting for. The beer itself is something good enough to brew again, but I can't see myself spending all that cash on hops for such a muted aroma and flavor.
 
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