Dark Star APA

[Jason]

Hi, peeps, hope you all doing well.

My all time favourite beer is the Dark Star APA.

I know from Dark Stars website it contains Maris otter, Cascade, Chinook and Centennial and a US imported yeast.
I would absolutely love to brew this one at home. There are lots of Dark star Hophead recipes out there, but not for their APA.

Has anyone had a go at brewing this or any ideas of how to?

Cheers
Jason

[Ben711200]

From their website

"The yeast strain used for the brewing of this American style pale ale is specially imported from the USA, along with Cascade, Centennial and Chinook hops. The low colour Maris Otter malt provides a perfect light colour and dryness to complement the crisp taste and full aroma of the hops. SERIOUSLY FULL OF HOPS"


I've never tried it, but I'd wager that their 'specially imported' yeast is good ol' US05 and the grain bill isn't going to have much else other than low colour MO (maybe a touch of wheat malt?). Sounds tasty and I'm sure someone will be able to fill the gaps.

[Clibit]

My first AG was Maris Otter, Centennial and Cascade with US-05. I happened to go into the pub while I was working my way through the bottles and unwittingly had a pint of the Dark Star APA and exclaimed, wow, that's just like my home brew! Very similar. Nothing complicated, single malt, Centennial bittering, Cascade and Centennial aroma. The Chinook is probably used for bittering, I suspect.

[Jason]

Hi guys,

I've got all the ingredients in now, apart from the US-05 (ordering today).

I don't have a clue as to when to add which hops and how much for how long. Only used Chinook once and completely messed up.
It was more potent than I thought and ended up pine toilet cleaner taste.

Any ideas to a bit of a novice. (Just worked out why some people are sober and some are piss heads )

[Clibit]

Lots of ways to do it. But I bet the Chinook are for bittering, and you could just use Centennial for bittering instead, I probably would. I'd keep the hop schedule simple, others would have all sorts of additions:

20 litres approx 40 IBUs
15g Chinook 60 mIns
20g Cascade 10 mins
20g Centennial 10 mins
25g Cascade 0 mins 80C Steep
25g Centennial 0 mins 80C Steep

[Jason]

Thanks for your advices Ben and Clibit.

Clibit, I will give your recipe a go as soon as the yeast arrives.

Thanks again and I will post here to let you know how close to Dark Star APA it got.

Jason

[Clibit]

I'm all nervous now

Good luck!

[Jason]

All in the F.V now.

[Jocky]

Might be worth dry hopping a little too - just for a day or two - to complete things.

[barry44]

Might be worth dry hopping a little too - just for a day or two - to complete things.

Its always worth dry hopping IMHO!!

[Clibit]

Is it too late to ask how this one went down?