advice, opinions, critiques on this weekends BIPA recipe

I received so much good advice for a future IPA recipe that I thought I better put my Black IPA recipe I am brewing this weekend out there for some tweaks before I get started on Saturday. I really am indebted to the wealth of information in this forum. Thanks for any help and suggestions.

This is a full boil recipe; however, I am adding half the LME late (5 min) for better hop utilization. Also, I am using a 2.5L starter that I will crash and decant.

Batch size: 5.5 gallons
Boil avg: 6 gallons

Boil 75 minutes
37% 4 lbs Briess CBW Golden Light LME
37% 4 lbs Briess CBW Golden Light LME (late addition)
5% 8 oz Cane Sugar (late addition)

Steeping Grains - 155F for 20minutes
9% 1 lb Briess Caramel 60L
6% 10 oz Chocolate Malt
6% 10 oz Carafa II
1% 2 oz Black (Patent) Malt

Hops
boil 60 mins 1.0 Centennial pellet 8.7
boil 20 mins 1.0 Cascade pellet 6.0
boil 20 mins 1.0 Centennial pellet 8.7
boil 10 mins 1.0 Cascade pellet 6.0
boil 10 mins 1.0 Centennial pellet 8.7
boil 0 min 2.0 Cascade pellet 6.0
dh 10 days 1.0 Cascade pellet 6.0
dh 10 days 1.0 Centennial pellet 8.7

IBU - 93.5 (Tinseth) NOTE: IBU results higher due to late boil additions
BU:GU -1.40

Yeast
Wyeast 1056 (2.5L starter, decanted)

Original Gravity 1.067 / 16.4° Plato
Final Gravity 1.015 / 3.8° Plato
ABV 6.9%
Color 41° SRM

OI don't make ipas so i can't speak for that but i would start with atleast 6.5 gallons of water. most burners will boil off 1-1.5 gallons an hour.

i like it! :rockin: it may be a bit roasty due to Carafa II, patent and chocolate, but i think it looks like a solid recipe. i wrote a blog here just this morning about CDA/Black IPA, gave some great ideas of how to brew a nice Cascadian Dark. it's a style i brew quite often and really enjoy. i also included my house CDA recipe, which i think is quite a stellar representation of the style. CDA Recipe and blog

Thanks NB! Great write up on CDA style. I have been thinking about hops for this style for a while. I have already brewed one batch with cascade and centennial and i did enjoy the contrast between the citrus and roast, but I am wondering if an earthy, minty, spicy hop profile might serve this style better.

I am already set for this weekend with my hops, but in the future I was thinking about using all Perle and Northern Brewer for this brew; form bittering through Dry hopping. It would be interesting to enter the two recipes with the same malt makeup and the different hop profiles in to a comp to see what remarks they get.

Any thoughts?

TorribleBrew said:

I am already set for this weekend with my hops, but in the future I was thinking about using all Perle and Northern Brewer for this brew; form bittering through Dry hopping. It would be interesting to enter the two recipes with the same malt makeup and the different hop profiles in to a comp to see what remarks they get.

Any thoughts?

Click to expand...

well, my first thought would be that sounds very different. most examples of CDA are quite citrus-y, so the minty flavor associated with northern brewers would be interesting. as far as how well that would work, i couldn't say, i've always stuck with the 'c' hops for a beer like this.
i think it would be really interesting to see how the same grain bill with different hops, one traditional 'c' hops, one with 'minty' hops, would stand together in comp. since it's not even really a style, and the comps that take CDA entries tend to take them in another category, with the beer described as a CDA/black ipa/india black ale, it would be neat to see what the judges say about the latter brew with NB hops.

NordeastBrewer77 said:

well, my first thought would be that sounds very different.

Click to expand...

Thanks for being diplomatic.

I am getting very tempted to make another starter today and try to brew two half batches with the different hops this weekend.

or i guess I could split my starter...duh

TorribleBrew said:

Thanks for being diplomatic.

I am getting very tempted to make another starter today and try to brew two half batches with the different hops this weekend.

Click to expand...

i'd actually be interested in that beer, man. i'm all for trying new things like that. having never tasted a CDA with hopping like you mentioned, it's hard to say if i'd like it or not. i do like the minty profile of NB hops in things like Anchor Steam, so it'd be worth a shot. i'm guessing it'd actually make a nice beer, it'd just taste very different from your average CDA. if you do try it, definitely update the thread with your results.