Black IPA draft recipe

Take a look at this and let me know what you think - my buddy and I are building this from scratch, so this is the first idea...

We'll be mashing at 150F and pitching a nice starter of 001

Recipe Specifications
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Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 7.00 gal
Estimated OG: 1.070 SG
Estimated Color: 29.6 SRM
Estimated IBU: 65.2 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
12 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 78.69 %
1 lbs Munich Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 6.56 %
12.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM) Grain 4.92 %
8.0 oz Carafa III (525.0 SRM) Grain 3.28 %
8.0 oz Pale Chocolate (200.0 SRM) Grain 3.28 %
8.0 oz White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) Grain 3.28 %
1.00 oz Magnum [14.00 %] (60 min) Hops 40.2 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (10 min) Hops 10.4 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (10 min) Hops 5.7 IBU
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (5 min) Hops 3.1 IBU
1.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (5 min) Hops 5.7 IBU
2.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] (0 min) Hops -
2.00 oz Centennial [10.00 %] (0 min) Hops -

I'd leave out the chocolate malt, no need for it in this style IMO. I'm assuming the wheat is for head retention?

Might be fun to bitter with something other than Magnum, maybe Chinook?

id leave out the chocolate unless you want the extra roast. its mostly a matter of preference, but the extra roast can take away from the hops.

i've doen a few Black IPA's and I preferred the one I did with out the chocolate malt. I found it the chocolate malt added too much roast flavor. I also used crystal 120. I agree with recommendation to switch up the bittering hop with one that adds a bit more flavor, chinnok or simcoe would be great.

you can try "Chocolate Wheat malt" to sub both the wheat and pale choc,

personally I don't think you should make an IPA black just for the sake of color...what is the point of that? Roastiness should be evident, but somewhat restrained. I think pale chocolate is perfect for this purpose, and in mine I actually used straigh up chocolate malt and it was very good. I think your recipe will be great.

permo said:

personally I don't think you should make an IPA black just for the sake of color...what is the point of that? Roastiness should be evident, but somewhat restrained. I think pale chocolate is perfect for this purpose, and in mine I actually used straigh up chocolate malt and it was very good. I think your recipe will be great.

Click to expand...

Ever had a black IPA with just Carafa III? Your comment is exactly how I would describe it: "Roastiness should be evident, but somewhat restrained". Precisely. No need to muck it up with chocolate malt.

90% 2 Row
5% Carafa III Special
5% Crystal 60L

I've found this to be a great combo. The Carafa III adds a little more roastiness than one might expect - it's not just color. Luckily it doesn't add much body so it still maintains that IPA mouthfeel.

DrinkNoH2O said:

Ever had a black IPA with just Carafa III? Your comment is exactly how I would describe it: "Roastiness should be evident, but somewhat restrained". Precisely. No need to muck it up with chocolate malt.

90% 2 Row
5% Carafa III Special
5% Crystal 60L

I've found this to be a great combo. The Carafa III adds a little more roastiness than one might expect - it's not just color. Luckily it doesn't add much body so it still maintains that IPA mouthfeel.

Click to expand...

Here is the grainbill that I have used and enjoy...I consider 4 oz of chocolate in a five gallon batch to be a restrained amount. However, everybody is different and likes different things.


13 pound two row
1 pound C40
12 oz debittered carafaa II
4 oz chocolate malt

I mash low and use WLP001 or Pacman, and the beer drys out just fine.

I'm doing a beer like this with a wee bit of pale chocolate, as well. Haven't done the final calcs, but the advice I'm getting is ~4% of the Carafe Special, about 3% chocolate (I'm using the pale choc to back off the roast a wee bit), and then I'm adding a small amount of C120L for some more complexity.

Question; has anyone else done this type of beer as an English style? I'm doing a Fuggles/EKG combo, I just think the English hops should pair well with the light roast. All I've seen have been domestic, citrusy hops, interested to know if anyone else has taken this type of beer back in an English direction.

Thanks everybody for the great feedback - it's much appreciated. This is really my first shot at building a recipe from scratch, and it's nice to hear that I'm not way off base...

I've used moderate amounts of carafa III in a dunkel and a wheat beer (failed experiment...), and I didn't really get any noticable roast from it in either case, so I'm leaning towards keeping the pale chocolate in. That having been said, my friend that I'm brewing with really wants to make sure that we get that roasty character, so we're probably erring on the side of more roast than less...if it turns out too roasty, we'll dial it back and re-brew.

Thanks again, y'all.

If it's too roasty... well, just call it an American Stout. We won't tattle.

I really like your recipe, looks good. I think I'm gonna try it, or something very similar for my first - Cascadian Dark - as I call it. :fro:

permo said:

Here is the grainbill that I have used and enjoy...I consider 4 oz of chocolate in a five gallon batch to be a restrained amount. However, everybody is different and likes different things.


13 pound two row
1 pound C40
12 oz debittered carafaa II
4 oz chocolate malt

I mash low and use WLP001 or Pacman, and the beer drys out just fine.

Click to expand...

Good points.

I made my first batch of BIPA/CDA with Pacman cultured from bottles/stirplated and it was awesome. Went from 1.084 to 1.018. Wish I would have had the sense to wash/reuse that yeast!

permo said:

personally I don't think you should make an IPA black just for the sake of color...what is the point of that? Roastiness should be evident, but somewhat restrained. I think pale chocolate is perfect for this purpose, and in mine I actually used straigh up chocolate malt and it was very good. I think your recipe will be great.

Click to expand...

I found it gave too much of a stout like flavor when i used it, off hand i don't remember how much i used, maybe .8oz or there a bouts.