The Arkham Pale Ale was designed to be a gateway beer into the world of home brewing. I set out to design a first beer to be simple, but with a theme worthy of attention. While this is actually more of an American Amber Ale, it pales in comparison to the dark nature of Cthulhu, for whom we hope to summon with all of our friends with this beer.
Status: Beta. My first pass got some pretty good reviews. An experienced home brewing friend of mine suggested swapping the hop editions, so next time, I think I will try this. Everything else will remain the same.
Arkham Pale Ale (American Amber Ale)
OG: 1.052, IBUs: 33.4, SRM: 13.3, ABV: 5.2%
.5 lbs. American 2-row
.5 lbs Crystal 10
.5 lbs CaraPils (Dextrine)
3 oz. Black Patent Malt
5 lbs Light DME
2 oz Willamette [4.7%] (bittering hops)
1 oz Cascade [6.4%] (aroma hops)
1 tsp Gypsum
1 tsp Irish Moss
Safale American US-05, Dry Yeast Addition
5 oz Corn Sugar (for bottle conditioning)
When designing a beer for first-time brewers, I wanted to go with something that was pretty widely accepted. I chose the American Pale Ale at first because it is a pretty widely accepted beer. It was clean and simple. I also just liked the sound of the name. Arkham is American, and you need something refreshing to drink when you’re not chasing around the city closing extra dimensional rifts.
As I started researching ingredients, I couldn’t help but to add something dark. I expect the black patent malt to add just enough character to represent the dark ones. With as little as I added, I don’t expect to notice a lot more than just the color, but we will see. The rest of it is just good American beer. I may experiment someday by increasing the Black Patent Malt to how its roasted darkness impacts the beer.
The real characteristic of the American ale is the American hops. Cascade hops should add a citrus character to the beer that you would expect of this style. An addition of brewing salt (the gypsum) should add crispness to the bittering hops. American yeast tends to ferment cleanly. The malts were chosen to give the beer a little body, some head, and just a bit of sweet in an otherwise dry beer. It should also have enough kick to it to help you unwind very quickly.
Don Dehm 