Black IPA critique

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hoplobster

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I was bored at work today and I dreamed up a little Black IPA extract recipe for my next batch:

5.00 lb Amber Dry Extract (12.5 SRM)
2.00 lb Amber Dry Extract (12.5 SRM)
1.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Carafa II (412.0 SRM)
1.00 oz Simcoe [11.90 %] (60 min) Hops 15.6 IBU
1.00 oz Simcoe [11.90 %] (30 min) Hops 12.0 IBU
1.00 oz Williamette [4.60 %] (5 min) Hops 1.2 IBU
1 Pkgs US-05 (Safale) Yeast-Ale

I may sub Chocolate for the Carafa, I dunno.

I've never used Carafa before, but I've had black beers made with it and I think it's safe to say that I love it.

Questions? Comments? Concerns?

It looks pretty good to me, Beersmith says ~70 IBUs... mmmm :D
 
If you're making your own recipes, why not move up to all-grain? You can get a lot more mileage from your non-base grains. It's worth the bump in quality. Reference your recipe, I'm thinking it's a bit bitter for most but if that's what you are into go for it. I'd personally give secondaries a second thought and dry hop. Overall, there's not that much hop here just alot of IBU (IMO). Also, I'd add some wheat malt (1/4 to 3/4lb) and a liquid ale yeast (calif/american)...my thoughts for what it's worth.
 
I'd say move the 30 min addition to something like 15 or 10 minutes, and add a flame out addition, as well as thinking about dry hopping.

As is, i think it would be overly bitter while lacking in the hop flavor/aroma department.

Also i'd leave the Carafa in for this beers purpose. Chocolate would add to much of a roasty flavor for a black IPA.
 
Ok, thanks for the replies. I re-did this a bit, lowered the IBUs... how's it look? I think the smaller bittering addition should town down on any potential "harshness" and the larger later additions should contribute to more flavour and aroma.

I'll likely dry hop with an ounce of Simcoe, but I'm just posting the brew day ingredients.

5.00 lb Amber Dry Extract (12.5 SRM)
2.00 lb Amber Dry Extract (12.5 SRM)
1.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 40L (40.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Carafa II (412.0 SRM)
0.50 oz Simcoe [11.90 %] (60 min)
0.50 oz Simcoe [11.90 %] (30 min)
1.00 oz Simcoe [11.90 %] (15 min)
1.00 oz Simcoe [11.90 %] (5 min)
1 Pkgs US-05 (Safale) Yeast-Ale

Thanks!
 
Carafa II is awesome for black IPAs. It give the color without making it taste like a Stout/Porter. Stay with Carafa II. DO NOT sub for Chocolate. I made an amber colored IPA with Simcoe and i didn't like it. The Simcoe doesn't go well with the amber extract & the C-40. I think you should use light extract, let the carafa do the coloring and probably cut the C-40 in half or maybe go down to C-10. 70 IBUs is fine. No need to cut it down. If it's too bitter just let it wait an extra month and it will calm down. also when I did extract I had trouble with stuck fermentation so I put about half a pound of table sugar into the boil and that seemed to solve that problem. if you have trouble with getting stuck at 1.020 or something you may want to give it a try...
 
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