Black IPA Recipe Critique

Hello all. I am pretty new at brewing beer, but not drinking it. This is my 5th batch and the first from a recipe that I'm making. Any kind of feedback would be appreciated. The info is from TastyBrew.com Thanks!



Black IPA
OG 1.076
FG 1.019
IBU 144
ABV 7.4 %
SRM 43

Boil Volume 3 gallons
Batch Size 5 gallons
Yeast 75% AA

lbs Grain
0.50 Dark Dry Malt Extract
0.75 Crystal 135L
6.60 Dark Malt Extract Syrup
3.30 Wheat Malt

Ounces Hop Form AA% Boil Time
2.00 Chinook Whole 12.0 60
1.00 Chinook Pellet 12.0 30
2.00 Cascade Whole 8.0 15
1.00 Cascade Whole 8.0 Flameout


Not sure of the yeast I'll be using yet. I have Safbrew S-33 and a Nottingham Ale yeast so maybe one of those. Any info/criticism would be helpful. Thanks in advance!

I've never used wheat in an IPA, so I can't comment on that. I will say that the crystal 135L will give a burnt raisin flavor, but the beer won't be a "black IPA". To get the black color, many people use an ounce or two of carafa III, the special dehusked grain that is very black in color but without roasty flavor.

All of that dark extract (which contains crystal malt) plus the crystal malt will give you a dark sweet beer. It won't be at all like an IPA malt bill.

For an IPA, simpler is usually better. Use light or extra light extract, and some grains for color and flavor.

More like this:

.25 pound crystal 60L
1 pound Munich malt (or Vienna malt)
3 ounces carafa III
10 pounds light LME (or equivalent DME)

Thanks for the help Yooper. Been reading a lot of your posts so I will definitely take your advice. Not sure how to figure out the sugar content of the extracts so I've got some more reading to do. Thanks again.

I have brewd this twice ...

8oz Debittered Black
4 oz C80
7lbs Light DME.

Hop to 62 IBU

Tastes great. Slight roast flavor balanced nicely with the hops.

That does sound good. I just assumed the more dark extract i could get the darker it would be. Never would of thought of using 7lbs of Light DME. Is the hop boiling time close anyway?

The hops sound good, I did my BIPA with a half oz of cascade in secondary.
As for the malt I had used 6.6 amber dme and a pound of black malt. This gave the beer about 5% abv and very refreshing on these summer days. The keg emptied very fast.
It had a nice head from the black malt but a pound of wheat would hold the head even longer.
Good luck on the brew day

clr231 said:

That does sound good. I just assumed the more dark extract i could get the darker it would be. Never would of thought of using 7lbs of Light DME. Is the hop boiling time close anyway?

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I almost NEVER recommend using dark extracts! The reason is actually pretty simple- when you make an all-grain beer, you use plain ol' two-row (pale extract). Then you use a small quanitity of other grains (roasted malt, crystal malt, chocolate malt) to get to your color and flavor. Well, it'd be the same with extract brewing. You have no idea what grains are already in the dark extract. Oh, probably some crystal malt but what color and how much? That makes it very hard to formulate a recipe.

The only way I"d ever use dark (or amber) extract is in a super simple recipe that is predictable (like in my English brown I"ve posted) and just for beginners. Crystal malt has lots of residual sweetness, which is ok in some beers but definitely NOT in an IPA.

So, get your "base" from pale/light/extra light extract, and then add the grains you need to get to your desired goal.

As far as hopping, I"m not much of a fan of 30 minute hops. They don't give up all of their bittering (which takes 60 minutes) but they don't have much flavor left, either. I'd move some of them to 60 minutes if you need more bittering, and then add the rest near the end of the boil. I use 30 minute hops if I want more bittering and want to "use up" some hops. Late hops are the hallmark of an IPA, rather than too much bittering.

For an IPA, I hop more like this:

1.00 Chinook Whole 12.0 60 (or up to 60 IBUs)
.50 Chinook Pellet 12.0 15 minutes
1.00 Cascade Whole 8.0 10 minutes
.50 chinook 5 minutes
1.00 Cascade Whole 8.0 Flameout

Dryhop with cascade and chinook.

I tend to like more aroma and falvor hops and not so much bittering.

I would move the 30 minute to 20.

I usually like. additions at 20,15, 5 and flameout, lot more flavor and aroma without big bitterness. I also dry hopped mine for more aroma.

I've NEVER been a fan of just using carafa to make the beer black, without any major flavor contribution. I just don't see the point at all. I'd up the roast grain, and add in a bit of chocolate malt. Not much, because you can certainly overdo it, but it will give it a nice background of roast character to match the hops.