Black Hop Monster

With discussion in another thread concerning naming the "Black IPA" style, and Prymal suggesting "Why not just call it Black Hop Monster?" I've decided to do just that. Spent today dicking around with a couple different recipes for a (insert style name here) and came up with:

10# Extra pale LME
1# Crystal 60L
8 oz Debittered black malt
8 oz caramunich

2oz chinook @75m
1oz of Amarillo and Warrior @20m
1oz of Amarillo and Warrior @ flame out
1oz of Amarillo and Warrior dry hopped (7d)

WLP001, not planning on a starter.

5g batch
shooting for a 1080 OG, 1019 FG
hopville has me at 28* srm), and 98 ibu

Weigh in for me? Any moves to the hops additions?

Anything?

Thanks for the nod If you are going to make a beer that is 1.080 make a starter or use 2 packets of safale us-05 dry yeast. This is the yeast I use in my "Black Hop Monster" it is ferments like a ...well Monster. I honestly us it or s-04 in everything that isn't wheat or belgian. Also look into Briess Midnight Wheat. It was developed specifically for the style and when I used it I loved it. I local Nano Brewer used it in his as well and was impressed.

Kickass!

I ordered the debittered black from AHS, but will look into the Breiss malts. They look tasty. That Blackprinz has me particularly intrigued. My mouth actually started to water, and I wanted a sandwich made of it..

I was hoping I could get away without a starter using a liquid yeast, but can cook one up easily enough.

Any thoughts on the hops?

I think the hop choices are great, pretty much any american hop variety works. I personally don't care for warrior hops outside of bittering so I would switch the Chinook and Warrior but that is my preference. I love the piney slightly grapefruit aroma from Chinook.

I almost can't remember what chinook smells like. When my stuff gets in, i'll sniff it and make adjustments. If this works out, I may end up entering it into some contests. I haven't done that yet, but am excited to have someone judge me

+1 on making a starter. Even for small beers one vial of yeast is not enough. 5 gallons of 1.080 needs a rather big starter: 4 liters if you are not going to aerate it continuously or use a stirplate. Check for yourself at mrmalty.com.

PoorBoy said:

I almost can't remember what chinook smells like. When my stuff gets in, i'll sniff it and make adjustments. If this works out, I may end up entering it into some contests. I haven't done that yet, but am excited to have someone judge me

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Sounds awesome, keep us up to date on the progress.

Mmmm looks good I might try this!

I'm brewing it next Saturday, so I'll keep you all posted.

Another quick question...

If I am going to enter this into something, what do I classify it as? Special / Other?

Yeah, There is no BJCP guideline so it is a specialty beer category 23. If I remember right the next bjcp guideline revision isn't planned for a few years so sadly we wont be able to end the CDA,BIPA,IDA,ABA debate for a while.

Cooked it up this past Saturday! OG sample was way bitter, so we'll have to see how the chinook mellows and blends with the aroma / flavor hops. Fermenting smells like a hop-bomb went off in my bathroom. All in all, I don't know that I've been this excited about a brew since my first one.

How is this brew coming?

I've got it bottle conditioning as we speak. it was pretty damned good as it was going in, but i was already a couple deep. great aroma and color, but i seem to remember thinking it didn't seem balanced real well. i'll let you know in a couple more weeks!

pulled one out last night, a bit premature, but i simply had to know.
while still a bit green, it's not a bad beer. It does still feel unbalanced, like there is too much bitterness, and not from the hops (though i think i'm going to bring the chinook down to 1.5). Maybe take the chocolate down to 6oz, and add some amber, or maybe a biscuit?

ok, just pulled a 1L flip top that had been conditioning for a month, and sitting in the fridge for 3 days.

this is a good beer. not my pinnacle of achievement, but a good beer. I'm still changing the recipe up a bit, as it's not a great beer, but damn. it's good.

That is awesome to hear. What do you think needs tweaking?

On a whim, I tossed 2oz of roasted barley in there, and it gave it a burnt toast taste. i think i like where it was headed, but it was too much. I'm going to try to toast 2# of two row for the next one. I think when i have it nailed, this is going to be the one I always have in the house. 4 years of cooking beer, and I don't have a house beer yet