Specialty IPA: Black IPA None More Black IPA (Cascadian Dark Ale)

Keep me informed, guys!

In the bottle two weeks. Drank a few of them last night. Interesting is the best way to describe mine. I changed the recipe up a little. It's good. Really good. But it's hard to describe. It taste like a hoppy stout almost. Roasty flavors with bitterness. Next time I would lower the amount of dark munich malt and up the bittering hops a tad. Overall I'm happy with it and I think it will get better with a little more time. Thanks for the idea and recipe OP.

Been enjoying this all fathers day! Dark, very strong roast flavor, real bitter, lots of hops!

Lives up to its name.

Brewing this again today! The first 5-gallons went quick. It was a hit with about 5 other beer drinkers I shared it with.

Glad you enjoyed! I'm brewing up a raspberry hefeweizen tomorrow then I'm doing another batch similar to this one myself.

Brewed this again a few weeks ago and just kegged it 2 days ago. I can see myself brewing this regularly.

This batch so far is a bit weaker in the chocolaty/roasty flavors than my first batch, which I think has to do with me not weighing the Carafa III I had left over from the first batch. The LHBS must have put more than a 1/2 of Carafa III in for me the first time leaving me with a bit less in the bag this time. It's just not as "soul suckingly black" this time. But still edible!

Brewed again! This is definitely becoming a staple in my keezer.

Tweaked the recipe slightly today. Bumped the Carafa III to 3/4 lb., did a FWH with 1 1/2 oz of the hops, and also added an .oz of coffee grounds during cool down at around 190 deg.

I was browsing recipes to brew a Black IPA, and came across this. I would double the volume of the batch, and I happen to have 3 oz. of Sorachi in the freezer. I usd the Sorachi in a Saison and it was quite lemony. How does that flavor go over in this beer? Does it taste like a lemony Black IPA?

You don't really get a lot of that lemon flavor in this beer, more spice notes than anything else. I'd go for it.

I noiticed due to a lack of cold beer and power outage that this is an EXCELLENT brew at higher temps. My wife and I drink a few at around 75 and we both loved it. She hates it cold. The flavor profiles seem to really jump out when its warm.

Try it.

The version I brewed with a coffee addition was real good. The coffee works well with the base recipe.

Now I have another version fermenting where I mashed (2) cans of pumpkin in!

Let me know how they turn out! I need to brew this again soon.

Did this brew two days ago and it is happily bubbling away in the fermenter as we speak. Lhbs had no sorachi, so I subbed in citra because the alpha acid content was similar. Not too sure how this will affect it? I did biab with a sparge and ended up with extra wort so I did a 75 min boil and spaced out hop additions. Og was 1.072! Can anyone explain how I might have overshot by .01?

CrystalShip said:

Did this brew two days ago and it is happily bubbling away in the fermenter as we speak. Lhbs had no sorachi, so I subbed in citra because the alpha acid content was similar. Not too sure how this will affect it? I did biab with a sparge and ended up with extra wort so I did a 75 min boil and spaced out hop additions. Og was 1.072! Can anyone explain how I might have overshot by .01?

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Not sure about your overshoot, but the Citra should be fine. Sorachi is spicy and lemony, but the citrus notes should still complement the brew well, especially since the beer is already full of other similarly citrusy hops.

Picked up everything for this brew today. Plan on doing it up next weekend. Can't wait, drinking a New Glarus Black Top as I type this. Love these beers.

I tasted the brew today and I think that my use of citra instead of sorachi was a bad idea. It doesn't taste bitter at all. It's still a really good beer, I guess I could pass it off as a more assertively hopped porter lol.

I read the recipe again and the warrior hops were for bittering, so I can't explain why mine is lacking the bitterness

boiling this one right now to the exact receipe of the OP. Smells great and down to the last hop at the five minute mark.

I moved this to a carboy last night and it tasted really good. I really liked the hop flavor. I think I'm going to make this again after I get finished making my planned holiday beers.

Glad you guys are enjoying! I'll be making this soon when I get a free fermenter!

bottled it tonight. Taste great can't wait for it to carb.

captainoverspray said:

bottled it tonight. Taste great can't wait for it to carb.

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same thing here...does taste really good, nice looks on the recipe :rockin:

Thanks! Enjoy it, one of my favorite recipes for sure!

I just ordered the ingredients for this brew today, hopefully they will show up by Saturday for a Sunday brew day. I ended up making a couple of changes. I subbed the Carafa III for Briess Midnight Wheat, the Amarillo Gold for Hop Union Zythos Blend, and added a pound of 2 row. I am looking forward to seeing how this is going to turn out! I love the CDA style, especially Hop in the Dark and Sublimely Self-Righteous ale. This will be my first attempt. Thanks so much for the recipe.

Brewed a variation of this again 11 days ago. Allowed me to use up all the 1/2lb if this, 1/4lb of that I had left over from previous brews.

This was really a "kitchen sink" recipe loosely based on the original that I like so much. Cocoa, vanilla beans, and malto dextrine made it in there!

down to my last bomber of this and need to bre this again. I love this beer.

How do you think this would be with some pepper in it? I've been tossing around the idea of a Chipotle pepper IPA, and I think a black IPA would be better for that. I'm thinking about brewing it as is, and splitting it after the primary fermentation with half peppers, half not. Ideas?

Ehhhhhh I think it's too hoppy for that. I'm sure you could keep a similar malt profile but you'd probably want to adjust the hop schedule. I think all the citrus would clash hard.

I was thinking that. I'm gonna plug it into beersmith when I get home from work today and see what tweaks I can make, shoot for about half the IBU's

brew this one as is and then make some tweeks to it if you think it needs it. I know that i will brew it again but maybe mash a little higher to bring out some more sweetness.

I think that the malt base for this beer is awesome but after using sorachi ace for the first time in the brew i cant say that i am a fan of its lemon pledge flavor.

Brewed this 4 weeks ago. It is in the keg carbing up right now.
Very pleased with the way it turned out!
I will for sure brew this again!

I haven't checked in on this thread in awhile so I thought I'd give my updates. Since the first batch I brewed (April 2011 I think) I have made it more than any other beer. I must say I have absolutely perfected my take on this recipe. It is one of 2 or 3 recipes that I will no longer tinker with. It needs no tweaking! Can't thank OP enough for the base to start with. This is probably the best beer I make and I can't keep enough of it. Thanks again for turning me onto this style!

Glad you guys have found so much success with this recipe! I just brewed a variation of it on Sunday and it is turning out great so far. I used some Simcoe hops I had lying around this time and the combination has been great so far.

Thanks for the compliments!

Simcoe just laying around. Must be nice my simcoe have a sole purpose in life and that is the stone SSR clone I am working on. Wish I could order more at one time.

captainoverspray said:

Simcoe just laying around. Must be nice my simcoe have a sole purpose in life and that is the stone SSR clone I am working on. Wish I could order more at one time.

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I had been saving them for my next IPA but I brewed this first :cross:

I just found a bottle of this that was brewed on March 3, 2011. The aroma hops had mostly faded but bittering and some of the flavor remained. It was fantastic, just like the day it was brewed! Kyle

Just brewed this with sorachi and simcoe instead of Amarillo ,, wort smelled amazing and using American ale II will report back when it's kegged and carbed.. I have done the og recipe but used north west wyeast and it came out amazing..

AleFred said:

Just brewed this with sorachi and simcoe instead of Amarillo ,, wort smelled amazing and using American ale II will report back when it's kegged and carbed.. I have done the og recipe but used north west wyeast and it came out amazing..

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Awesome! Lucky for you to have some Simcoe for this brew. I think I'll probably be brewing this again soon with some combination of Columbus and Centennial. Enjoy the brew!

Looking for a good BIPA or SSR clone recipe and this came up...

Without looking through the whole thread, is the original recipe on page 1 still the go-to?
Has anyone tweaked it or is it good to go?

dunnright00 said:

Looking for a good BIPA or SSR clone recipe and this came up...

Without looking through the whole thread, is the original recipe on page 1 still the go-to?
Has anyone tweaked it or is it good to go?

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Malt base is still spot on but you can probably add a pound of base. Hops are totally up in the air on this one, but the original combo is tasty!