Brown IPA??

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Kjm06

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I tried making a black IPA and I think I may have used a little too much crystal malt and it isn't black it's more of a brown color. Is this a thing or is it just a hoppy brown ale?
6lb DME
1lb corn sugar
8oz midnight wheat
14oz crystal 80
4oz Columbus hops

Thanks
 
unless your entering it into a competition, close your eyes and imagine it being a black ipa, now take a sip. Does it taste black? Are you using a kit or is this a recipe you made? May I reccomend if you do not have it try beersmith 2.0. It has a 30 day trial for free. I love how it shows you everything from ibu to srm to alcohol content. It could help you decide what ingredients to use next round.
 
What and how much did you use to get it black? Also how many gallons did you brew? I just did a 3 gallon black ipa, and 8oz. of debittered black was all it needed to get it black. I was worried it was going to be a very dark brown, and that worried me because I did want it black, like my stouts, lol. Brown ipas are fine, Lagunitas brown sugga is amazing.
 
I used 8oz of midnight wheat for a 5 gallon batch and close to a lb of crystal 80.
 
I used 8oz of midnight wheat for a 5 gallon batch and close to a lb of crystal 80.

IMO that is a lot of crystal, I like to use about 5% or so, 4-8oz and yes, it sounds like you made more of a brown IPA.
 
It could be how long you steeped the grains.

I just brewed a BIPA as well if you were to look at the grain bill you'd say I made a stout. I was shooting for something along the lines of New Glarus Black Top, which uses chocolate malt and molasses.
 
You need midnight wheat or debittered black malt (Carafa III) for a black IPA since these malts give you darkness without too much roast or malty taste.

I do enjoy a bit of Munich of Crystal in my IPA's though for some body and malt presence.
 
Agreed with Jay, also like others echoed you might want to use Carafa 1, 2, or 3... and more hops :)
 
One of my favorite recipes for an IIPA gets me in the brown catagory. I only consider it a hoppy brown ale if I use an english yeast. But like some of the posters have said, who cares unless you are entering it into a comp.
 
Thanks for the replies. I did use a calc and it gave me a srm of 44

my calculated srm was 39.8 and my bipa is black. My Imp Stout I brewed has one that the srm is 75.2!:D That one is super black hole.

Btw, throw up some pics
 
sweed said:
my calculated srm was 39.8 and my bipa is black. My Imp Stout I brewed has one that the srm is 75.2!:D That one is super black hole.

Btw, throw up some pics

Will do when I get home. I'm hoping it darkens up once everything settles a bit but I'm not counting on it
 
Will do when I get home. I'm hoping it darkens up once everything settles a bit but I'm not counting on it

This was my last stout that measured 40 SRM. If yours is truly 44 SRM you should be black as night!

SoCoOakStout2012_2.jpg
 
So your's looks more of a brown color in the glass? Might you have pics? Is it possible you diluted it more than you meant too?
 
8 oz of Midnight Wheat in a 3 Gallon batch should give you "Black"! If it isn't Black I'd guess the 20 minute steep wasn't very effective
 
Hopper5000 said:
So your's looks more of a brown color in the glass? Might you have pics? Is it possible you diluted it more than you meant too?

Its a 5 gallon recipe and I topped off to 5 gallons here's a pic


image-3817749053.jpg
 
depending on what extract you used...the color looks about right. I ran the recipe numbers through hopville and the color ranged from 29 -31 with light or amber DME....looks about like what you have. If you used dark DME the color should have been in the high 30s...which would be true black.

Either way....it should taste good. Perfect option to use the "alternate" names for Black IPA...call it a Cascadian Dark Ale, Brown IPA...or a India Dark Ale.
 
pwkblue said:
depending on what extract you used...the color looks about right. I ran the recipe numbers through hopville and the color ranged from 29 -31 with light or amber DME....looks about like what you have. If you used dark DME the color should have been in the high 30s...which would be true black.

Either way....it should taste good. Perfect option to use the "alternate" names for Black IPA...call it a Cascadian Dark Ale, Brown IPA...or a India Dark Ale.

Yeah I'm not too worried I just thought it was strange. I did use a dark DME too
 
pwkblue said:
8 oz of Midnight Wheat in a 3 Gallon batch should give you "Black"! If it isn't Black I'd guess the 20 minute steep wasn't very effective

This is the only thing I can assume
 
I just did a black ipa with carafa II. It looked brownish while it was still fermenting but then became significantly darker as the yeast dropped out... It looks like you're seeing the same thing happen to your batch

Cheers!
 
dickproenneke said:
I just did a black ipa with carafa II. It looked brownish while it was still fermenting but then became significantly darker as the yeast dropped out... It looks like you're seeing the same thing happen to your batch

Cheers!

Oooohh this is good news. Was your hydrometer sample dark brown?
 
Kjm06 said:
Oooohh this is good news. Was your hydrometer sample dark brown?

Mine was definitely BROWN when I took a hydro sample at 2 weeks. But by 4 weeks the yeast had dropped out and it revealed it true color - dark dark brown, almost black. I'm guessing that because the yeast is a creamy color, it influences the color of the dark wort. Again, just a guess. I've also seen it work the other way around with my lighter colored brews... Here's a pic of my black ipa. Beer Calculus puts it at 33*SRM.



image-212228388.jpg
 
dickproenneke said:
Mine was definitely BROWN when I took a hydro sample at 2 weeks. But by 4 weeks the yeast had dropped out and it revealed it true color - dark dark brown, almost black. I'm guessing that because the yeast is a creamy color, it influences the color of the dark wort. Again, just a guess. I've also seen it work the other way around with my lighter colored brews... Here's a pic of my black ipa. Beer Calculus puts it at 33*SRM.

Awesome thanks for the info!!
 
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