Specialty IPA: Black IPA Darth Vader - Black IPA

Darth Vader (Cascadian Dark Ale), 11 gal AG

24.0 lbs (10.9 kg) 2-row pale
2.0 lbs (0.9 kg) crystal 10L
2.0 lbs (0.9 kg) Carafa II Special
1.0 lbs. (0.45 kg) special roast

2 oz. (57 g) Centennial 60 min.
2 oz. (57 g) Cascade 45 min.
2 oz. (57 g) Willamette 15 min.
2 oz. (57 g) Cascade 0 min
2 oz. (57 g) Cascade dry hop

2 tsp. Irish Moss

Yeast: US-05

Mash: 152*F (66.7*C), 60 min

Efficiency: 72%




Darth Vader (Cascadian Dark Ale), 5.5 gal AG

12.0 lbs (5.5 kg) 2-row pale
1.0 lbs (0.45 kg) crystal 10L
1.0 lbs (0.45 kg) Carafa II Special
0.5 lbs. (0.22 kg) special roast

1 oz. (28 g) Centennial 60 min.
1 oz. (28 g) Cascade 45 min.
1 oz. (28 g) Willamette 15 min.
1 oz. (28 g) Cascade 0 min
1 oz. (28 g) Cascade dry hop

1 tsp. Irish Moss

Yeast: US-05

Mash: 152*F (66.7*C), 60 min

Efficiency: 72%




Darth Vader (Cascadian Dark Ale), 5.5 gal Extract

8.0 lbs. (3.63 kg) LME
1.0 lbs (0.45 kg) crystal 10L
1.0 lbs (0.45 kg) Carafa II Special
0.5 lbs. (0.22 kg) special roast

1 oz. (28 g) Centennial 60 min.
1 oz. (28 g) Cascade 45 min.
1 oz. (28 g) Willamette 15 min.
1 oz. (28 g) Cascade 0 min
1 oz. (28 g) Cascade dry hop

Yeast: US-05


Note: This beer was my attempt to clone Widmer Brothers W'10 Pitch Black IPA , only for convenience I used Fermentis US-05 yeast instead of German Ale (Kolsch) yeast wich I believe Widmer Brothers are using in most of their brews.

I am officially stealing this name.

Go for it. Come to the Darkside my son!

If I want to make this recipe for 5 gallons, should I just cut everything in half?

BWK900 said:

If I want to make this recipe for 5 gallons, should I just cut everything in half?

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If I were brewing it, that is not the way I would do it. I would put the recipe in a calculator and have the calculator scale it down for you. It might work out to half anyways though.

BWK900 said:

If I want to make this recipe for 5 gallons, should I just cut everything in half?

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Yep, to make this recipe into 5.5 gal, just cut everything in half. To make it into a 5.5 gal extract recipe, use 8 lbs. LME instead of 2-row. The rest of the grains and hops remain the same, just cut the amount in half.

PS. Actually, I'm going to edit the OP right now and add a 5.5 gal AG version plus a 5.5 gal Extract version.

So how did this beer turn out? Has any one else made it? Is it worth making a batch? I have never had a black Ipa till last week. It was amazing. I can not remember who made it but it sure was good. And do you have any pics of a pint of this. I would love to see the color.

I'm planning on brewing this one in a week or two. Love the style.

Bubbling away in the Carboy now, I upped the hops a bit, just cause I had extra.

Let me know how it turns out and how much extra hops was added

Eight pounds of what extract?

8 lbs. of generic Liquid Malt Extract. Or any brand light liquid extract. Of course, if you do a partial boil add half at the beginning of the boil and half at the end (5-10 min).

That's what I thought. Thanks for the clarification!

Could I sub Magnum for the Centennial?

I haven't brewed this before, and actually added it to my list of planned brews yesterday. However, since the Centennial is being used here primarily as a bittering hop, I don't see why not. If the Centennial was a late addition, I wouldn't do it, because Magnum doesn't impart any aromas. However, after 60 minutes in the kettle, neither will the Centennial. If you are concerned about the aroma due to this replacement, you could increase the flameout Cascade addition by a half ounce.

Magnum typically has about 25% more alpha acid content than Centennial, so you might want to check the IBUs to make sure it's still in a range you want, or adjust accordingly.

Im pretty sure im going to brew this beer this weekend or next, and it will be my first AG brew, BIAB method. What was the OG? Where did you finish? And yes, I will be stealing the name as well

Just pickep up the bill for this... it doesn't look like the pound of special roast is enough to make it "black" but we shall see... my LHBS had it roasted at 300L

I meant carafa was the 300L... im boiling it as we speak. Alas I wont be calling it Darth Vader. The lb of of 300L was only enough to make it dark brown. So im thinking of calling it Lando Calrissian Ale lol

bottlebomber said:

The lb of of 300L was only enough to make it dark brown. So im thinking of calling it Lando Calrissian Ale lol

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Oh dang, that's funny.

I'm lurking around for a Black IPA recipe myself

I'm brewing this up as my first non-kit beer. Been in the primary about ten days now. I'm planning on racking it to a secondary this weekend, letting it sit for a week, and then bottle. Ahhh, I'm super excited.

bottlebomber said:

I meant carafa was the 300L... im boiling it as we speak. Alas I wont be calling it Darth Vader. The lb of of 300L was only enough to make it dark brown. So im thinking of calling it Lando Calrissian Ale lol

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As far as I know Carafa II has a color of 412 SRM. According to the Brewzor the color of the beer is 30.3. And it's definitely dark. But you could make it darker, even now if you want to. Just cold-steep some Carafa II, boil the "wort" and add it to the secondary.

JakeSpooky said:

I'm brewing this up as my first non-kit beer. Been in the primary about ten days now. I'm planning on racking it to a secondary this weekend, letting it sit for a week, and then bottle. Ahhh, I'm super excited.

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Let us know how it went...

Scooby_Brew said:

As far as I know Carafa II has a color of 412 SRM. According to the Brewzor the color of the beer is 30.3. And it's definitely dark. But you could make it darker, even now if you want to. Just cold-steep some Carafa II, boil the "wort" and add it to the secondary.

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I want to try to make this again, but I am definitely going to add more carafa, but im going to do it late in the mash. It had way too much roasty flavor to be reminiscent of an IPA. I really just want the black color and a little roasty flavor

Are you sure your LHBS actually sold you Carafa II or just substituted it with something else? Carafa II is only manufactured by Weyermann and has a color of 412 RSM. I can't see how someone can get it in a lighter color. Also if you got a lot of roastiness, that makes me think that maybe they sold you something else instead...
And yes, if you like less roastiness and more color, I would add more Carafa II but only in the late mash, or just the sparge, or cold steep it separately from the mash. after all that's why we home brew - so we get exactly the beers that we like

Just took a sample to check the gravity (1.016, down from 1.068) and wasted not. Pretty delicious for a warm, flat, fairly green beer. Great malt character, still a little harsh on the alcohol. SWMBO loved the aroma. So, a winner all around so far.

so going to try this!

This is my first attempt at All-grain. Doing the 5.5 gallon batch.. Hope it turns out good..

We started cracking bottles of this about a week ago. It's delicious! This is only the second beer I've ever made, and I love it. The colour is black in the glass, but a really deep, woody red when you hold it up to the light. The stout flavour is really there, the hops aren't too overwhelming, but nice in the aftertaste. It's wonderful! Very drinkable, too. Will definitely make again.

bubbling away in the carboy now. did the extract version and wow is this stuff dark!

the sip i took pre-yeast was a nice hops tea but it could be something people have to drink on fear factor or something.

looking forward to six weeks from now!

i'm impatient :[

I've had this recipie on tap for about 3 weeks now. It has become my new favorite brew. I played with the recipie a little using Magnum hops for my bittering and the hop aroma really comes out in the head. It has a nice roasty upfront flavor and a suprisingly light mouthfeel, but it is nicely balanced with a slight hoppiness at the back end. BrewPal says its at 74 IBUs, but it honestly doesn't seem that hoppy. Maybe its because it is also so roasty and malty. Any way, its good and I will be making it again soon.

now i'm really impatient >< good review jake!

Anyone know what I might be able to substitute the Carafa with? My LHBS doesn't have it.

kbuzz said:

Anyone know what I might be able to substitute the Carafa with? My LHBS doesn't have it.

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Im making this beer this weekend, and last time I made it with the carafa it wasn't quite dark enough. Im going to use 12 ounces of belgian debittered black malt 515L late in the mash. That'll make it nice and dark, but not too roasty

bottlebomber said:

Im making this beer this weekend, and last time I made it with the carafa it wasn't quite dark enough. Im going to use 12 ounces of belgian debittered black malt 515L late in the mash. That'll make it nice and dark, but not too roasty

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Is the Carafa II just purely for taste, aroma and color or does it provide fermentables? Not really too familiar with it...I was thinking maybe 12 oz to 1 lb of Meyermann's Roasted Barley listed at 432+L as a replacement. I would add it for the full mash cause I'm looking for heavier roasted notes. Or would black patent be a suitable replacement perhaps??

kbuzz said:

Is the Carafa II just purely for taste, aroma and color or does it provide fermentables? Not really too familiar with it...I was thinking maybe 12 oz to 1 lb of Meyermann's Roasted Barley listed at 432+L as a replacement. I would add it for the full mash cause I'm looking for heavier roasted notes. Or would black patent be a suitable replacement perhaps??

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Id go with the RB out of those 2. It would probably add more flavor if that's what your after. There will be some fermentables of course from the dark malt but that's not why its in the recipe. If you do make this with either one of those be sure to check back in to tell us how it was

bottlebomber said:

Id go with the RB out of those 2. It would probably add more flavor if that's what your after. There will be some fermentables of course from the dark malt but that's not why its in the recipe. If you do make this with either one of those be sure to check back in to tell us how it was

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I brewed a variation of this yesterday. I pretty much switched up the entire hop schedule. Trying to use up the high AAU hops that I had in my freezer, I ratcheted up the bitterness by going with Citra and Simcoe intermittently - additions of various amounts of each at 60, 20, 15, 10, 5 and flameout (will also be dry-hopping). I also used 8 oz of Roasted Barley in place of the Carafa II. Brewtarget gave me an IBU total of 79, so a significant increase there. Due to the change in fermentables, my recipe gave me an estimated OG of 1.061, which I nearly hit at 1.062.

Definitely not as dark as I would have liked it to be, but it's dark enough. I am actually more interested in what sort of roastiness I get from the roasted barley than I am about the color. Tasted my post-boil gravity sample and it had a solid bite to it. Looking for this to be one last hoorah of a hop bomb before I move on to fall and winter styles (already have my pumpkin ale fermenting and a couple stouts in the works).

Will report back with tasting notes...

Sounds like my next brew

Just cracked open my first beer from this brew.. turned out great, will def. do brew it again.