Specialty IPA: Black IPA Darth Vader - Black IPA

Thank you for the info. I will do exactly what you stated.

Although i am confused by your firSt sentence. Do you use a bag or not for dry hopping?

This beer is awesome, I am on my second time around with it but the LHBS didn't have cascade in 1oz and since I have a half pound of citra around I used it for the second version. Obviously I love citra with 3 zombie dusts kegs being brewed. Should turn out good.

So....I screwed up! I accidentally bought Special B instead of Special.

Well, gonna brew it anyway! Anyone use this instead, by chance?

I did a variant of this, I will post up the recipe if it turns out decent.

Just bottled my second go around with this recipe. Turned out just like my 1st try at it! 55 bottles of 7.3% ABV, 1.070 down to 1.014

I am getting results that are pretty consistent which has me thinking I might try going with a larger boil volume the next go around. Even if the finished product drops down into the 6% ABV it don't matter to me cuz I end up with more finished product ( ;

Incoming message from Lord Vader....

Bottling this tomorrow (second of three brews ive done). Super excited!

Michigan_Wolfman said:

Incoming message from Lord Vader....

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Yeah....bout that.....

beernbourbon said:

Yeah....bout that.....

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LOL! Well played.

Just bottled my variant of this. Dark Sails BIPA. Can't wait to try it in a couple of weeks

Bottled last weekend and it was awesome. Can't wait!

I have about half a corny left of this, 1st attempt and I love it. Will be a usual around my parts.

So, my FG at bottling time was 1.020. How would you further lower the gravity? Add more yeast?

That could be due to several things, yeast is one. If you pitched the right amount of healthy fresh yeast then the cause could also be your mash temperature...
Have you tried rousing the yeast?
How about raising the fermentation temperature?

I went waaaay too roasty with mine. The initial bit is somewhat pleasant, but the aftertaste is almost like burned coffee or something. Goes to show too much of a good thing can be bad...

I'm not dumping the batch, but not really going to enjoy it as much either. I think I will let it mellow a few weeks. The bottle I tried was one week old..

seehuusen said:

That could be due to several things, yeast is one. If you pitched the right amount of healthy fresh yeast then the cause could also be your mash temperature...
Have you tried rousing the yeast?
How about raising the fermentation temperature?

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Well, I pitched 2 smack packs. Not sure if that's the culprit, but out of the 5 batches I've brewed, I seem to have to most luck with rehydrating dry yeast. I get much more active fermentations, so I think I will stick to doing that from now on.

Ferm temp is already high. The house is anywhere from 73-76. The last brew I made is currently sitting in a big 'ball bucket' with water and frozen water bottles to lower Fermentation temps. There is no possible way for me to keep a temp lower than mid 70s (no basement). I need to keep better documentation of my mas temps as well. Thanks for the help!

grrickar said:

I went waaaay too roasty with mine. The initial bit is somewhat pleasant, but the aftertaste is almost like burned coffee or something. Goes to show too much of a good thing can be bad...

I'm not dumping the batch, but not really going to enjoy it as much either. I think I will let it mellow a few weeks. The bottle I tried was one week old..

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Mine has that roast characteristic as well, although it doesnt seem as bad as what youre describing. Is that from the carafa? Its only been carbing in the bottle for about a week and a half, I cracked one a couple of days ago to see how it was holding up and the hops are almost non existent. Still drinkable, but not what I intended (second batch ive brewed)

I was at the local home brew store a week or two ago and the guy was kind enough to share some of his black ipa. He mentioned something about mashing the carafa separate, in a different manner. He said he wanted the color, but to keep the roast flavor down to a minimum. I don't remember the details, but if anyone has some insight to as what I am talking about, please share! When I go back, I will make sure to ask him again.

mesooohoppy said:

Mine has that roast characteristic as well, although it doesnt seem as bad as what youre describing. Is that from the carafa? Its only been carbing in the bottle for about a week and a half, I cracked one a couple of days ago to see how it was holding up and the hops are almost non existent. Still drinkable, but not what I intended (second batch ive brewed)

I was at the local home brew store a week or two ago and the guy was kind enough to share some of his black ipa. He mentioned something about mashing the carafa separate, in a different manner. He said he wanted the color, but to keep the roast flavor down to a minimum. I don't remember the details, but if anyone has some insight to as what I am talking about, please share! When I go back, I will make sure to ask him again.

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I think if you cold water steep it you get less roast/bitterness.

Well I tweaked this too much?
It's now an India Stout Ale?
Not bad for my bridge into trying to drink stouts

Has anyone experimented with the hops on this?
I'm planning on brewing 3 beers on the weekend but want to keep my cascades for the other two beers.

I have the following available:

Summit
Galaxy
El Dorado
Mosaic
Falconer's Flight
Chinook
Centennial
Willamette

Or you know another good Black IPA recipe that these would work in?

Thanks!

Shenanigans said:

Has anyone experimented with the hops on this?
I'm planning on brewing 3 beers on the weekend but want to keep my cascades for the other two beers.

I have the following available:

Summit
Galaxy
El Dorado
Mosaic
Falconer's Flight
Chinook
Centennial
Willamette

Or you know another good Black IPA recipe that these would work in?

Thanks!

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I like to focus on piney and resinous flavors in my black IPAs. My last one featured simcoe, chinook, mosaic, and a comet for dry hopping. So I would recommend chinook, galaxy, mosaic, and summit

This is what I did
9 lb 2 row
2 lb flaked barley
6 oz aromatic malt
1 lb midnight wheat (only mashed half, other half at mashout)
1 lb cane sugar

@60: 1 oz columbus
@15: 1 oz simcoe / 1 oz mosaic
@0: 1 oz simcoe / 2 oz mosaic / 1 oz chinook
@+15: 1 oz simcoe / 1 oz mosaic / 2 oz chinook
@dry: 1 oz simcoe / 1 oz chinook
@dry2: 1 oz simcoe / 2 oz comet
@keg: 1 oz simcoe / 1 oz chinook

m00ps said:

I like to focus on piney and resinous flavors in my black IPAs. My last one featured simcoe, chinook, mosaic, and a comet for dry hopping. So I would recommend chinook, galaxy, mosaic, and summit

This is what I did
9 lb 2 row
2 lb flaked barley
6 oz aromatic malt
1 lb midnight wheat (only mashed half, other half at mashout)
1 lb cane sugar

@60: 1 oz columbus
@15: 1 oz simcoe / 1 oz mosaic
@0: 1 oz simcoe / 2 oz mosaic / 1 oz chinook
@+15: 1 oz simcoe / 1 oz mosaic / 2 oz chinook
@dry: 1 oz simcoe / 1 oz chinook
@dry2: 1 oz simcoe / 2 oz comet
@keg: 1 oz simcoe / 1 oz chinook

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Hi m00ps thanks for your reply.
Food for thought there.

I forgot to add Columbus to the list of hops I have available.

Made another batch of this today (my 3rd time). It is quickly becoming a house fav... 6gal of post boil volume at 1.066 bwaa ha ha! (hope it don't get the air lock messy!)

Bottling up my 3rd batch of this recipe today, it finished at 1.013

Making another batch tomorrow

Brewed my 4th batch of this recipe today and it went well ( ; Decided to bump up my pre-boil volume a touch, so my post boil volume ended up being 6.5gal @ 1.065. S.G. numbers are looking good now, think I will start trying to dial in the IBU's. Last few batches have been in the high 40's low 50's per Brewtarget's IBU calculator. Great simple recipe and that Kolsch yeast just chew's through the sugars!

(oh man... I just realized why the IBU's are 66! LOL...)

OMG... I've GOT to figure out a way to sneak this into a movie theater! Naturally carbed using brown sugar this time ( ;

Just brewed a 5.5 gallon batch of this yesterday! I followed the recipe exactly so far but am looking for some input. I have about an oz of Williamette and oz of Mt. Hood left over from a batch of BM's Cof3C. What would the implications be of adding these to the 1 oz of cascade suggested for dry hopping? Good idea, bad idea? If I try it, do I mix all three oz's together at once, or stage?

Also, has anyone tried this recipe subbing in Chocolate (350L) for Carafa Special II? Hoping this won't make my brew to roasty...

Making this tomorrow!
How many packets of US-05 are people using for the 5g batch? Also I accidentally got Extra Special roast (130L). What are people's thoughts on how this will change the beer? Good or bad??

GrimCityBrewer said:

Just brewed a 5.5 gallon batch of this yesterday! I followed the recipe exactly so far but am looking for some input. I have about an oz of Williamette and oz of Mt. Hood left over from a batch of BM's Cof3C. What would the implications be of adding these to the 1 oz of cascade suggested for dry hopping? Good idea, bad idea? If I try it, do I mix all three oz's together at once, or stage?

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GrimCityBrewer said:

Also, has anyone tried this recipe subbing in Chocolate (350L) for Carafa Special II? Hoping this won't make my brew to roasty...

Click to expand...

nunnlife said:

Making this tomorrow!
How many packets of US-05 are people using for the 5g batch? Also I accidentally got Extra Special roast (130L). What are people's thoughts on how this will change the beer? Good or bad??

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If you wander from the original recipe you will be... experimenting ( ;

If you don't like the end result I wholeheartedly recommend you try it again as per the original post ( ; you won't be disappointed!

Make sure you guys drink this once its ready(very good). I have 2 bottles left from brewing this in March and they now taste like a stout/porter. I had about 10 people try this about 2 weeks ago and it was split. 5 said it was a porter 5 people said it was a stout with hops. I was thinking I had them taste the wrong beer.

Update on the batch I brewed back on 11/28/15. O.G. was 1.065 it finished around 1.010... a SOLID 7%ABV home brew. I have been using brown sugar to bottle condition this recipe the last 2 batches and I really like it! Smooth, roasty, delicious! And I still haven't hit the IBU's called for in the original recipe. Can't thank @Scooby_Brew enough for developing this recipe, it has become a house favorite in my neck of the woods!

Hey guys,

I wanted to brew this one and was wondering if there were any changes to the first post? I will be doing 5.5 gallon biab.

thanks again for recipe!
Josh

Just brewed up another batch of this yesterday, 2/15/16. I hit just under 7.0 gal @ 1.068 O.G. IBU's were targeted to 66.6 LOL!

I've just started monkeying around with water chemistry and this will be my first dark beer with water adjustments, really looking forward to the end results

Last bottle I have. This is over 8 months old now. Still a good good beer. It has changed a lot as I said in my last post. Its on the stout side now with a hop kick.

I did do an 8th month old review on this check it out.
[ame]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy9lzmDhFYc[/ame]

I will be making this in the summer. All grain this time.

Thanks for the recipe

Brewing this recipe right now. Had to swap in 1lb of chocolate malt for the Carafa II special. And used 1lb of Special Roast since it was available in 1lb packs. Getting ready to start the boil/hop schedule. Looking forward to trying this in a couple weeks.

I'm planning to primary for 2 weeks, then secondary for 2 more weeks, and adding doing the dry-hopping during secondary.

You can save some time, and the clean up necessary when transferring to a secondary. I've made this batch 4 times now and leave it in primary for 4-5 weeks before adding dry hops. Always turns out great ( ;

What are people's thoughts on putting charred oak in this?

Resurrecting this thread because I'm doing a black IPA that is well, similar to this one. Using some of what I had on-hand and LHBS was out of a few things. Here's my proposed GB for 9.75g batch:

15lbs Pale
2lbs Pils
1lb C77
0.75lb Crisp Chocolate (600-700L)
0.75lb Weyermann Carafa Type 3 (490-560L)
2lb. Brown Sugar

OG around 1.061
Mashing dry, looking to finish 1.012 or slightly less

Using Nugget and Cascade, achieving around 73 IBU

My main question are the specialty malts. I don't make very dark beers often. I'm wondering if the malts I have will be overly roasty/ashy or if I'm in good shape. There aren't many styles I don't like, just don't want an ashtray taste.

Edit: I'm thinking of adding the (Non-Special, Non-Dehusked) Carafa T3 at the end of the mash as some have suggested to cut down on astringency. The Crisp chocolate is stated to be "much mellower than black malt", so I may mash that the entire time.

What are easy substitutes for the following:

1.0 lbs (0.45 kg) Carafa II Special
0.5 lbs. (0.22 kg) special roast

I haven't seen these at my homebrew shop