Help with Late Hopped Black IPA Needed

OK so I'm looking for feedback here. Particularity with the Hop Bill and the amount of Carafa Special Needed.

The grain bill is very similar to Jamil's "Hoppiness is an IPA" then I added the Carafa Special for Color. I don't want roast character so I'm not using chocolate malt or roasted barley.I'd like to use Columbus and Amarillo late hop editions all the way through. I figured I'd use twice as much Amarillo as Columbus because Columbus has so much flavor. I want the Amarillo to be prominent. I want a British ester profile but I want a yeast that will still attenuate in the 75% area.

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12 Gallons All Grain
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OG 1.065

24# Two Row
2# Munich
2# Crystal 15L
1# Crystal 40L
2# Carafa II (de husked)

Hops:

This gave me 42 IBUs Rager in Beer Calculus

Boil 20 mins 2.0oz Amarillo pellet 7.5%
Boil 20 mins 1.0oz Columbus pellet 14.0%
Boil 10 mins 2.0oz Amarillo pellet 7.5%
Boil 10 mins 1.0oz Columbus pellet 14.4%
Boil 1 min 2.0oz Amarillo pellet 7.5%
Boil 1 min 1.0oz Columbus pellet 14.0%
Dry 7 days 2.0oz Amarillo pellet 7.5%

Yeast: Wyeast 1028 London Ale w/ starter.

I'm going to plan on Mashing low around 150 degrees F. I'll pitch the yeast around 60 degrees F and let the fermentation rise to the 65-68 degree area. I'm hoping to get the FG in the area of 1.015.

Let me know what you think.

Thanks,

Mike

This is my recipe (5 Gal)... see how it compares to yours.
I add the Carafa III in last 10 mins of mash. My hops profile is much higher on the IBU since I consider this an Imperial IPA, but I used early Magnum to achieve the high bitterness.

Heavenly Scourge Black IIPA

I think yours is a great looking recipe. The diff is between Carafa II and Carafa III is mainly SRM so I would try for the III if you can get it. You won't have to use as much to get the black, which likely will mean less roast flavor brought into the beer.

Yeah I saw your recipe. It looks really good. At the 154 mash temperature and the high gravity do you ever have too much residual sweetness in the beer? Or does it finish pretty dry?

In my recipe with the WY1056 it dries out just enough for me, with just a small hint of residual sweetness. If I were to use a less attenuating yeast like WY1099 then I would drop mash temp to maybe 151F.

Also I have 112 IBU so I like to leave that little bit of sweetness to balance the bitterness. If I were to make it a smaller IBU beer like yours I would drop mash temp to 152F or so.

That all said - Even though it came out amazingly well, I have only brewed my recipe once. So I am still new to the style (or lack thereof). I think mine turned out as more of a unique beer as opposed to an IPA that was black.

The Black IPA/ Stone XI Clone recipe calls for equal parts crystal 60L and Carafa III at 14oz each for five gallons. That means that for a 10 gallon (or 12 gallon) you would be looking at 28oz each. 16lbs per 5 gallons of Two Row also. Adding Munich might help, but something to keep in mind here is that the blackness and the hops are the key to this beer. You want it to scream hops (IPA) and you want it to be as dark as possible. I tested some carafa III in water and found that 15min mashing and then the full sparge gives enough color, but I am lazy and just throw it in at the beginning of the mash.

Hops are hops are hops. Use what you like. I find that I try to get about 60% of my total IBU's in the bitter addition and the rest throughout. I typically will FWH as well for an added texture of hops, so to speak. If you mash at 150*f with an OG of 1.065, you will easily reach 1.016. You might want to look into mashing another couple of pounds of 2 row to get at least 1.070 though. Then you will have a nice clean 7% beer that has lots of flavor and is unique to your friends.

Cheers,

Matt

::BUMP:::

So it turned out great. I used the recipe above.

Nice looking beer.

BTW how do you like that New Belgium glass?

I had those New Belgium glasses. They are condom thin glass and break super easy. I bought some unbranded ones since I broke all four new belgiums and they haven't broke yet (and I've had them at least twice as long). I like the nucleation graphic at the bottom of the glass but they break way too easy. I actually had two break upon shipment to me but NB was cool and replaced the two broken ones without question.

danculwell said:

Nice looking beer.

BTW how do you like that New Belgium glass?

Click to expand...

I love the glass. I just hope I don't break it....