Whistler Black Tusk Ale (English Dark Mild Ale) - Clone Recipe Request

[KlausUndFriends]

Hello everyone! Long time reader, first time poster! I've been looking for a clone recipe for this beer, but haven't been able to find anything, so I was hoping someone could help me craft an extract recipe please and thank you!

I'm definitely willing to experiment and post back on how each recipe turned out, but need a starting point! Reviews are here https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/14349/46127/ so if you have a good palette, feel free to take a crack at it!

I like that it's a dark ale, but very easy drinking, not as harsh as a porter/ stout can be. Some reviews say it's not true to style...

 

[RoGuE_HAHG]

Ever get any info on this?

 

[KlausUndFriends]

I did! It'll have been in the bottle for 4 weeks on 11/16, so I'll let you know how it is!

 

[JKaranka]

Hello everyone! Long time reader, first time poster! I've been looking for a clone recipe for this beer, but haven't been able to find anything, so I was hoping someone could help me craft an extract recipe please and thank you!

I'm definitely willing to experiment and post back on how each recipe turned out, but need a starting point! Reviews are here https://www.beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/14349/46127/ so if you have a good palette, feel free to take a crack at it!

I like that it's a dark ale, but very easy drinking, not as harsh as a porter/ stout can be. Some reviews say it's not true to style...

I can see the not-true-to-style. It's stronger than a modern dark mild and sounds maltier and more roast driven.

 

[2trout]

In the bottle 4 weeks?! God sakes man! Taste it already!

 

[KlausUndFriends]

In the bottle 4 weeks?! God sakes man! Taste it already!

Every beer I've made has been WAY better after 3-4 weeks vs 2! I thought home brewing was all about patience?

In other news currently brewing a Hef and love the fact that everyone says to drink those young

 

[KlausUndFriends]

p.s Recipe -

7.2 lbs Maris Otter LME
1.0 lbs Brown malt (UK)
0.5 lbs Victory Malt (or biscuit malt)
0.5 lbs Double roasted crystal malt (made by Simpsons)
0.3 lbs Pale chocolate malt
0.25 lbs Black Malt

1 oz Target (60 mins)
1 oz Fuggles (10 min)
1 oz Fuggles (5 min)

S-04 Yeast

 

[2trout]

But how do you know if this beer follows that time line unless you taste one or two right along?

 

[KlausUndFriends]

It's practically the 16th, I'll pop one in the fridge tomorrow it didn't take much arm twisting!

 

[RoGuE_HAHG]

Awesome! Black tusk may be my favorite beer ever. Haven't had the original in nearly a decade.

Drinking my first Black IPA now. Has some of the same dark malts. Cheers for the knowledge!

 

[KlausUndFriends]

'

 

[KlausUndFriends]

Pretty damn close, if not spot on, but my memory is hazy too! I think I might add another ounce of Fuggles at flameout and/ or dryhop next time... needs a tad more hop flavor.

 

[RoGuE_HAHG]

Thanks for the update!! Appreciate you sharing. I think this This is going to be my mid-winter brew.

 

[eelgerg]

from the Whistler Brewing website....

Hops: Willamette and Challenger
Grains: says they use imported crystal and chocolate specialty malts

Not sure, but my guess is that the grain bill is slightly different. I've had this many times, and when I insert your grain bill into Beersmith, the color is much lower than what I would expect.

My first stab at this recipe:

Target ABV = 5%
Target IBU = 17
Target Color = 30

Grain Bill
9 lbs Gambrinus ESB (or pale malt)
0.5 lb Crystal 60
0.5 lbs chocolate
0.5 lbs carafa III
0.5 lbs Special B or Biscuit
S-04 Yeast
0.5 oz Wilamette @ 60 min
0.5 oz Wilamette @ 10 min
0.3 oz Perle @ 5 min (not sure when it's best to add this - this is a guess)

I am hoping to try this as my next brew within the next 2-4 weeks. I'll let you know how this turns out.
Greg

 

[RoGuE_HAHG]

Excited to hear how it goes! Please keep us updated

 

[eelgerg]

Emailed the brewery and this is what they replied with:

Barley/Malt: Pilsner, C-60, Black Malt
Hops: Nugget, Challenger, Willamette

Now for the fun of trying to figure the ratios out.

Note: I was not close with the dark specialty grains.

 

[RoGuE_HAHG]

Ha! That's brilliant. Great of them to share info with you. And thanks for sharing it her!

 

[eelgerg]

Also would have never guessed that the base malt is Pilsner. I don't own any - but may just invest in a sack of this at my local LHBS next month. I'm sure that using 2-row pale malt wouldn't make that much of a difference - would it?????

 

[KlausUndFriends]

Very interested to hear how yours turns out. I'll pop another growler this weekend and see if it's any better. I did just invest in beersmith and my IBUs were pretty low... can't wait to try again!

 

[eelgerg]

Finally got around to brewing this one. Here's my recipe:

- 9 lbs 2-row pale malt
- 1 lb crystal 60
- 0.75 oz carafa III
- 0.25 oz chocolate pale malt

Mashed at 156

Hops:

- 0.75 oz homegrown Nugget leaf hops
- 0.75 oz homegrown Cascade leaf hops
- 0.3 oz Willamette leaf
S-04 yeast

This recipe differs a bit from what I envision is the exact recipe for this beer:

- carafa III instead of black patent malt
- added a touch of pale chocolate for flavour and bitterness
- cascade instead of challenger for hops

Also ended up with way more liquid than I needed after boil: still had 1.0 gal wort extra that I may save for starters. Or maybe I'll have fun with it fermenting as a small batch. TBD.

Gonna ferment at 68 deg F for three or four weeks and then see how she is.

 

[eelgerg]

Day 1 and it's rocking along. OG sample tastes pretty close. It might be a tad light/mild but that's ok.

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A few notes:

- was not sure how the carafa III would taste compared to black malt, and I also wondered whether they maybe cold-steeped the black malt to reduce the bitterness. The flavour of mine tastes pretty good. I remember when I last had this that the beer tastes very much like eating uncrushed pale malt. I think this tastes quite close to this.

- I also have no idea how good the lupulins in my homegrown hops are, so to err on the safe side I added 1.5 times more than what beersmith told me to add to get a IBU of the real thing (17). My guess is that I'll end up a bit higher, which is OK. Shouldn't be much higher and if it is, then at least I know my hops are OK! (First time brewing with them).

 

[KlausUndFriends]

Thanks for the update! Looking forward to hearing how it turns out!

 

[eelgerg]

Kegging this weekend!!!!! Then the initial taste test after a force carb. Thinking this is gonna be pretty good! Excited!

 

[eelgerg]

FG sample tastes a bit weak or thin. Definitely not the same "barley" flavour that the original has. But it's pretty early. Might crack a bomber of the original so I can compare. Force carbed my keg and am just letting it equalize so I can take a carbed sample. I am optimistic that after a month in the keg this will improve in complexity.

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[NoIguanaForZ]

My first stab at this recipe:

Target ABV = 5%
Target IBU = 17
Target Color = 30

Grain Bill
9 lbs Gambrinus ESB (or pale malt)
0.5 lb Crystal 60
0.5 lbs chocolate
0.5 lbs carafa III
0.5 lbs Special B or Biscuit
S-04 Yeast
0.5 oz Wilamette @ 60 min
0.5 oz Wilamette @ 10 min
0.3 oz Perle @ 5 min (not sure when it's best to add this - this is a guess)

Those aren't very similar....

Do you possibly mean Special Roast?

 

[eelgerg]

Not really.

This wasn't the grain bill in the end - that is later in the thread. I believe I omitted the Special B but my version is definitely missing something and I'd say it's in that nutty or biscuity area, so probably will add that next time after this keg is done (definitely gonna improve the recipe)

 

[KlausUndFriends]

For what it's worth lads, I think my grain bill was pretty spot on. It just lacked the hoppiness, so will up that "next time"... when I eventually get around to brewing things for a second time! I'm still only on #16 life brews