So what is a dank ale anyway? I've been hearing about it more these days, 'dank' hops or in reference to beer. If you smoke weed, you know exactly what it means, don't you?! With marijuana, people often refer to the buds as 'dank' and that can be best referenced as having a pungent, odoriferous smell, which is a good thing. These connoisseur's of bud are transferring the lingo to hops now and referring to the hop characteristics in beer as 'dank'. I think there's a bit of interpretation to the 'dankness' in beer and I'll give you my take on what makes a dank beer, and follow it up with a few recipes below. While some may say a west coast style double IPA can be dank, I'm more leaning to the east coast style of IPA, and some of my favourite hops to make this with are Galaxy, Simcoe, Amarillo, and Citra. These smells to me bring out tropical flavours for me of mango and papaya, and a bit of a piney smell, which, well, reminds me of bud.
This first recipe is 'dank' lite. It's a pale ale, and touches on a bit of dankness in your brew. The hop additions are light, and you can always double up the whirlpool and dry hop additions if you're looking for more oomph. I love how the aroma comes before the taste, and like it just how it is myself.
I find the oats really help in creating that smooth juiciness in the east coast style and we've added them in both recipes.
One quick note about whirl pooling, it's something you want to do when you've chilled the wort to around 160º F. I personally have been whirlpooling a bit longer at between 120º-130º just to get more aroma into the beer, but that's another blog post. Experiment, that's what it's all about!
I need to thank Chris from Dan's Homebrewing in Vancouver, BC. He's the one who helped me craft these recipes, and I trust his instincts when it comes to creating really good beer!
Hazy Tropical Pale Ale
Estimated OG of around 1.049
10lbs Pale Malt (2 row)
1lbs Oats, Malted
8oz Crystal Malt 20l
1oz Simcoe Hops - boil
2oz Amarillo Hops - whirlpool
1oz Galaxy Hops Dry Hop 5 days
1 package of Safale 05 yeast
This next recipe kicks it up a notch, and is more of an east coast IPA in style. I love the dry hop additions and feel that it's heavy, and aromatic, but has more of an approachable character due to the tropical hops. It's become my new favourite. While it ranks at nearly 84 IBU's, I find this number misleading, as there's very little boil hop additions, and it's mostly back loaded in whirlpool and dry hops, which don't carry the same bitterness.
SuperDank IPA
Estimated OG of 1.069
13lbs Pale Malt (2 row)
1lbs Oats, Flaked
1lbs Oats, Malted
8oz Crystal Malt 20l
2oz Amarillo Hops - Boil 10 min
6oz Amarillo Hops - whirlpool
4oz Galaxy Hops - dry hop 5 days
1pkg East Coast Ale (white Labs #WLP008)
I hope you enjoy these recipes and feel free to leave your comments below. Brau on! 🤟🏼
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