Black IPA grain bill -- thoughts?

Hey guys, looking to brew my first Black IPA. Going for something strong, in the 8-9 ABV range. Doing a 5 gallon batch. Does this look good? Any suggestions?

Boil:
-- 9 pounds light dry malt extract

Steep:
-- 8 oz American Victory
-- 6 oz American Black
-- 6 oz Carafa III
-- 4 oz American Crystal 40L
-- 4 oz American Chocolate

Not sure about the chocolate. My lhbs guy said that could put it in the porter category, but it's not a lot. What are you trying to do with it? Also the american black?
Most important... where are the hops!! I did a black ipa with debittered black, which is basically carafa III, since my lhbs doesn't sell that. I used a lot of chinook to get it piney/ resiny. It turned out real nice, and was in that 9% range i think also. A real good winter beer for sure. If going for a spring/ summer black ipa, I'd make it more citrus/ grapefruit, with a touch of pine. Peak Organic makes an awesome black ipa.

We use a little chocolate in our Black IPA -- I like it and feel it helps keep it from being just an IPA with black food coloring. I would reduce the black malt, though, and increase the Carafa III (keep the total of the two to 12 oz): too much roast and -- as sweed mentions -- you could end up with something that is more of a hoppy porter than a Black IPA.

Hops-wise, I prefer pine and resin in my Black IPAs, regardless of season. Citrus confuses my palate -- I prefer to save it for the standard IPAs. That said, we usually only make the Black IPA as a winter beer.

sweed said:

Most important... where are the hops!! I did a black ipa with debittered black, which is basically carafa III, since my lhbs doesn't sell that. I used a lot of chinook to get it piney/ resiny. It turned out real nice, and was in that 9% range i think also. A real good winter beer for sure. If going for a spring/ summer black ipa, I'd make it more citrus/ grapefruit, with a touch of pine. Peak Organic makes an awesome black ipa.

Click to expand...

This was just the grain bill.

ChrisMottram said:

This was just the grain bill.

Click to expand...

It's easier to critique the grain bill if we have the full recipe.