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Eliterunner1

Eliterunner1

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So I have a basic recipe formulated but I'm not sure if I want to use a combination of the Carafa III and some chocolate malt, or just one or the other.

I haven't made many darker beers so here is my proposed grain bill:

9# Marris Otter
1# Caramal/Crystal 60L
13.5 oz Carared
4 oz Carafa III
1 oz Chocolate Malt
3 oz Flaked Oats
12 oz Sugar

I really like the style of this beer but I don't want too much dark chocolate malt flavor. I prefer this style when it allows the hops to be forward and then create complexity with some of the darker malts. I'm very picky :cross:

I am set for the hops (Galaxy, Citra, Columbus) and the yeast (White Labs Dry English Ale). Any suggestions or changes?

p.s As for my preferences I've tried Deschutes Hop in the Dark and didn't care for it, but I've had Boneyard's Armored Fist which was probably one of the best beers I've ever tasted.
 
Recipe looks good to me but I like more roasted flavor (I'd actually add some roasted barley), I guess it depends on if you're mashing the carafa and chocolate for the entire mash session or if your adding them later like at 15 minutes left or some such, etc. There is alot of caramel there but I can't comment since I dont know how much hopping you will be doing, I assume you will be adding enough to create some balance.

So much of beer formulation has to do with personal taste, I would say try it as is, then adjust to your tastes on the next one.
 
Yeah this is going to be pretty aggressively hopped.Beersmith has it calculated at around 99ibu's
 
Eliterunner1 said:
So I have a basic recipe formulated but I'm not sure if I want to use a combination of the Carafa III and some chocolate malt, or just one or the other.

I haven't made many darker beers so here is my proposed grain bill:

9# Marris Otter
1# Caramal/Crystal 60L
13.5 oz Carared
4 oz Carafa III
1 oz Chocolate Malt
3 oz Flaked Oats
12 oz Sugar

I really like the style of this beer but I don't want too much dark chocolate malt flavor. I prefer this style when it allows the hops to be forward and then create complexity with some of the darker malts. I'm very picky :cross:

I am set for the hops (Galaxy, Citra, Columbus) and the yeast (White Labs Dry English Ale). Any suggestions or changes?

p.s As for my preferences I've tried Deschutes Hop in the Dark and didn't care for it, but I've had Boneyard's Armored Fist which was probably one of the best beers I've ever tasted.
Click to expand...

I would add some more chocolate or maybe a touch of black malt. Carafa is debittered, so not much roastiness coming from here. Will you use columbus for flavor? I figured you are using for bittering only, but it has such a nice flavor that will play real nice with Citra.
 
Just a heads up. I brewed an IPA with Citra. three weeks of aging it was terrible ! 5-6 weeks of aging made it delicious!
 
MG1602 said:
I would add some more chocolate or maybe a touch of black malt. Carafa is debittered, so not much roastiness coming from here. Will you use columbus for flavor? I figured you are using for bittering only, but it has such a nice flavor that will play real nice with Citra.
Click to expand...
How much more chocolate do you think would give it a nice subtle roast without being too much? And I initially was going to just use columbus as bittering but I too thought it would be a nice counter point to the citra and galaxy! So ill be using it as a flavor and dry hop.
 
bmunos said:
Just a heads up. I brewed an IPA with Citra. three weeks of aging it was terrible ! 5-6 weeks of aging made it delicious!
Click to expand...

Ill be sure to keep this in mind! In what way was it terrible though?
 
COLObrewer said:
I thought only the three de-husked carafas were considered de-bittered?:mug:
Click to expand...

I don't understand your question. CIII is dehusked and debittered.
 
Just to toss in a differing opinion, I like my CDAs or Black IPAs or whatever you call them to be as much like an IPA as possible so I like a Carafa III or Breiss Midnight Wheat without any roast barley or chocolate malt. But, again, depends on what you want.

That said, I like where you're going but I think it could be simplified. I would drop the Carared entirely, or drop the combo of that and the C-60 down to 10% total or less. With less Crystal malt you can drop the sugar too if you mash low. Also, not sure three ounces of flaked oats is going to do much. They won't hurt, but at that small of an amount it might be tough to determine if they are actually contributing anything to your beer. Just a few thoughts.

Also, Galaxy is one of my new favorite hops! I like it with Cascade but Citra will do pretty much the same thing for ya.
 
inhousebrew said:
Just to toss in a differing opinion, I like my CDAs or Black IPAs or whatever you call them to be as much like an IPA as possible so I like a Carafa III or Breiss Midnight Wheat without any roast barley or chocolate malt. But, again, depends on what you want.

That said, I like where you're going but I think it could be simplified. I would drop the Carared entirely, or drop the combo of that and the C-60 down to 10% total or less. With less Crystal malt you can drop the sugar too if you mash low. Also, not sure three ounces of flaked oats is going to do much. They won't hurt, but at that small of an amount it might be tough to determine if they are actually contributing anything to your beer. Just a few thoughts.

Also, Galaxy is one of my new favorite hops! I like it with Cascade but Citra will do pretty much the same thing for ya.
Click to expand...

I have made an IPA with a touch of roasted barley, and it was real nice. Personally, I would use c120 instead of 60 with either roasted barley or some black patent. I agree with the galaxy/ citra comment. Little redundant, but whatever works. Maybe sub some centennial for the galaxy. Cen/citra/columbus combo
 
I'd probably drop the carared too. I find it to be very sweet tasting - but not really malty. If you're looking for a little complexity in the crystal malts, you could split the 1# of 60 into .5 of 10 and .5 of 60 or something like that.

ETA - if you want a touch or roasty, but don't want that acrid taste that dark malts give, you could cold steep the black malts and then add that to the boil. From what I've read (haven't done this yet personally) you roughly double the black malts, and steep em in cold water for a couple hours. You get the flavors without the harshness.

Let us know how it goes - whatever you decide.
 
The thing is I ordered some of my grain bill and tried to supplement it with what I had on hand. I have plenty of base grains, chocolate malt, carared, crystal 60, some crystal 10, flaked oats, flaked wheat, i think some munich as well. If I can avoid ordering more specialty grains I will.

As for the hops I can mix things up a bit. I have some chinook on hand, a ton of cascade, lots of citra, nelson sauvin, columbus, galaxy, and willamette.

Ill have to do some reading on the steeping of the dark malts in cold water, it definitely sounds worth while. I will probably spend some time tonight tinkering with it on beersmith and let you guys know what I come up with.
 
Eliterunner1 said:
The thing is I ordered some of my grain bill and tried to supplement it with what I had on hand. I have plenty of base grains, chocolate malt, carared, crystal 60, some crystal 10, flaked oats, flaked wheat, i think some munich as well. If I can avoid ordering more specialty grains I will.

As for the hops I can mix things up a bit. I have some chinook on hand, a ton of cascade, lots of citra, nelson sauvin, columbus, galaxy, and willamette.

Ill have to do some reading on the steeping of the dark malts in cold water, it definitely sounds worth while. I will probably spend some time tonight tinkering with it on beersmith and let you guys know what I come up with.
Click to expand...

Stick with chocolate and 60, and throw in that willamette! I love that hop!
 
Eliterunner1 said:
The thing is I ordered some of my grain bill and tried to supplement it with what I had on hand. I have plenty of base grains, chocolate malt, carared, crystal 60, some crystal 10, flaked oats, flaked wheat, i think some munich as well. If I can avoid ordering more specialty grains I will.

As for the hops I can mix things up a bit. I have some chinook on hand, a ton of cascade, lots of citra, nelson sauvin, columbus, galaxy, and willamette.

Ill have to do some reading on the steeping of the dark malts in cold water, it definitely sounds worth while. I will probably spend some time tonight tinkering with it on beersmith and let you guys know what I come up with.
Click to expand...

Gordon Strong on the Beersmith Podcast.


They start talking about it around 18:00.
 
Last edited by a moderator:
So this is what I think I'm going to do:

9# Marris Otter
1# Crystal 60l
.50# sugar
.75# flaked oats
.25# Carafa III

Cold steep 4 oz chocolate malt 12 hours before I brew.

FWH .5 oz of citra and columbus
1oz columbus@60 min
1.5 oz of columbus and citra at flameout-whirlpool

Mash at 148 f for 75 minutes. Single infusion batch sparge.
 

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