Black IPA (IBA) Recipe Please critique

This is my first attempt at a Black IPA, so if you could please give feedback, I'd be appreciative. It's going to be all grain (76% efficiency) and all fresh '09 leaf hops used. I'm going for a nice malty back to a pretty bitter/hoppy bite. I chose Columbus and Simcoe for the earthy/pine tone and Centennial towards the end to balance out some citrus flavor to the spicy/pine tone.

11.5 lbs Maris Otter..........80.70%
1 lb Crystal 80............7.02%
.75 lb Aromatic Malt.......5.26%
.5 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine...3.51%
.5 lb Carafa III.............3.51%

1 oz Columbus @ 60 min
1 oz Columbus @ 30 min
1 oz Cetennial @ 15 min
1.5 oz Simcoe @ 7 min
.75 oz Columbus Dry Hopped 14 days in secondary
.75 oz Centennial Dry Hopped 14 days in secondary

Wyeast 1056 American Ale from starter

OG = 1.067
FG = 1.016
SRM = 26.5
IBU = 84
ABV = 6.7%

Looks good, Carafa III seems to work better for this style than anything else. You might consider backing off a bit on the Aromatic Malt, it's powerful stuff.

If you will be using fresh hops for the dry hopping, don't leave them in the beer for more than 3-4 days.

You're right about the Aromatic Malt. This is an altered version of an Imperial IPA I made a few months back that was amazing, and I only used .25# with that recipe. Here is the revised version...


12 lbs Maris Otter..........84.21%
1 lb Crystal 80............7.02%
.5 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine...3.51%
.5 lb Carafa III.............3.51%
.25 lb Aromatic Malt.......1.75%

1 oz Columbus @ 60 min
1 oz Columbus @ 30 min
1 oz Cetennial @ 15 min
1.5 oz Simcoe @ 7 min
.75 oz Columbus Dry Hopped 14 days in secondary
.75 oz Centennial Dry Hopped 14 days in secondary

Wyeast 1056 American Ale from starter

OG = 1.067
FG = 1.016
SRM = 26.0
IBU = 90.6
ABV = 6.7%

looks good to me man, I am almost out of my black IPA that was done with all Simco and Amarillo, and it was fantastic.

david_42 said:

If you will be using fresh hops for the dry hopping, don't leave them in the beer for more than 3-4 days.

Click to expand...

I'm interested in your theory here - so why do you suppose Vinnie at Russian River uses fresh undried Chinook and Cascade hops in his HopTime Harvest Ale for 7-14 days.

I also heard you tell another brewer the other day not to use fresh hops at all as a dry hop. Are you basing this on a bad experience or something else you have heard?

Several bad experiences.