Black IPA Help

I'm going to make my first Black IPA in the next few weeks. Here is the recipe that I have put together (for a 4 gallon batch), and would appreciate any comments. Thanks in advance.

Grain Bill

8.25 lbs Briess 2-Row Brewer's Malt
1.0 lb Crystal 10L
9 oz Weyermann De-Husked Carafa III ®
8 oz Briess Special Roast Malt

Hops
Simcoe Pellets .7 oz @ 75 mins
Summit Pellets .5 oz @ 20 mins
Amarillo Pellets .5 oz @ 20 mins
Summit Pellets .3 oz @ 5 mins
Amarillo Pellets .3 oz @ 5 mins
Simcoe Pellets .3 oz @ 5 mins
Summit Pellets 1 oz @ Dry (7 days)
Amarillo Pellets 1 oz @ Dry (7 days)

Wyeast 1056 - American Ale

Single infusion mash @ 150 degs for 60 mins.
90 min boil

Here is an estimate of the finishing numbers:

OG = 1.065
FG = 1.016
IBU = 67
SRM = 32
ABV = 6.42%

Looks pretty good to me. On my next round of a similar beer, I will be mashing closer to 160 as well. I think you will be happy with that temp for this beer.

Is there a particular commercial brew that you were inspired by for this recipe?

Oops, the mash temperature is supposed to be 150 for 60 mins (I have edited the original post to reflect that change). I am looking for a fairly dry beer. Do you think that is too low?

@Haputanlas. Widmer's Pitch Black IPA inspired this recipe, but I am using completely different hops (Widmer uses Warrior and Cascade) and a different hop schedule. I am using Summit, Simcoe and Amarillo because I have some I need to use, and I like the three in combination with each other.

Really? 160º? I've been using 152º with great results. But I'm starting to see more and more folks use a higher temp with this beer. Interesting. My only other comment is to maybe up the dry hops a little. I've been using 2oz for my DH, but it needs more. This style needs to have a nice in your face aroma. 2oz is almost there, but I suggest more.

Minus the hops, this is quite similar to a recipe I'm using. I use less roast though. Closer to an ounce. And there's still plenty of roast in there.

And like you I based my recipe off the W'10.

Well, I should say closer to 156-158 for what I am going to try next time. I'm not going for the dry version of this.

160 may be too high

Chuckus95 said:

Oops, the mash temperature is supposed to be 150 for 60 mins (I have edited the original post to reflect that change). I am looking for a fairly dry beer. Do you think that is too low?

@Haputanlas. Widmer's Pitch Black IPA inspired this recipe, but I am using completely different hops (Widmer uses Warrior and Cascade) and a different hop schedule. I am using Summit, Simcoe and Amarillo because I have some I need to use, and I like the three in combination with each other.

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I've had that too and I was surprised at how good it was. I'm a huge fan of Sublimely Self Righteous, but the Widmer was fantastic.

You'll be fine at 150 if you want dry.

@Kilted Brewer. I made a mistake in my initial post, which I have now corrected. The mash temp is supposed to be 150 degrees.

I will have to check to see if I have enough of the Summit to do a 2 oz DH. If so, I will up the amount to 2 oz.

If you can, I'd actually suggest upping the Amarillo if you can. But I'm a fan of Amarillo. And that 2oz was total, which is where you are now. Maybe just up to 3 and see.

I would leave out the roast all together. You'll get more than enough roastiness from the Carafa Special.

152* is medium, 154* is getting sweet. Most go 150*, I like 149*, but I am not anal on holding exact temps. I just shoot for 149-150, and err to the low side, because I prefer dry.

+1 on leaving out the roast. I would up your carafa amount, instead. I believe Stone Sublimely Self Righteous uses only pale and carafa malt and all centennial hops.

I get 25SRM in BS using pale malt, without the roast, and it's mighty black.

If you're going to have crystal, why not something with more hints of toffee--something like crystal 40 or crystal 60. If you want something more raisin-like, go with an even higher crystal. I would also do away with the roast malt. The dehusked carafa is plenty.

I'll go against the grain and say DO NOT TAKE OUT THE ROAST. Just reduce it a little. For me a CDA (BIPA, IBA, etc) needs to have roast. More than the carafa will get you. This is my grain bill and this beer, to me, is tastier than the W'10 and has done very well for me in comps.

12.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 90.25 %
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 5.42 %
0.50 lb Carafa III (500.0 SRM) Grain 3.61 %
0.10 lb Roasted Barley (300.0 SRM)

I use Nugget for bittering and Cascade/Citra for flavor/aroma/dry hop.

I am also in favor of having a bit of roast in there. Either leave in the roast or up the amount of Carafa Special.

+1 on using Citra for dry hopping.

I made a CDA with lots of Simcoe and it was pretty damn good. Give it a shot sometime once you think you've got your grain bill dialed in.

Has anyone tried de-bittered black malt for this? I am making my second Black IPA (I won't call it Cascadian because that is not a "region") and simplified my grain bill to this:

11lbs 2-row
1lb Debittered Black Malt
.75lb Caramel 60L
.25lb Roasted Barley

Last time, I used one of those ridiculously long grain bills to achieve the black color without being overly roasty or caramelly I think it was unnecessary.

Airborneguy said:

Has anyone tried de-bittered black malt for this? I am making my second Black IPA (I won't call it Cascadian because that is not a "region") and simplified my grain bill to this:

11lbs 2-row
1lb Debittered Black Malt
.75lb Caramel 60L
.25lb Roasted Barley

Last time, I used one of those ridiculously long grain bills to achieve the black color without being overly roasty or caramelly I think it was unnecessary.

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I'm brewing my Black IPA this weekend. It's ~90% 2-row, ~6.5% de-bittered black and ~3.5% crystal 60. I mash all the grains for 60 mins.