Black IPA critique

[mschoeffler]

I thought that I would post this for you review prior to moving forward. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

12lbs pale malt
2lbs sugar
1lb flaked oats
1/2lb caramunich III
1lb midnight wheat
1lb carafa III special
The latter two cold steeped overnight

2oz Centennial @ 60
2oz Cascade @ 20
1oz Citra @20
2oz Cascade @ FA
1oz Citra @ FA

San Diego Super Yeast
OG 1.080
FG 1.010
IBU 72

I know the dark malts seem excessive, but the last time I did 1lb total (chocolate and carafa III) it wasn’t dark enough.

Thank You in Advance

 

[specharka]

Way too much roast malt for the style. You can get away with just 5% of the grist as debittered black malt. If you’re concerned about the black malt affecting your mash pH and resulting in astringency, feel free to cold steep, but you shouldn’t need to if you’re only using a modest amount...especially the debittered varieties. I would also limit the sugar additions to 10% or so to prevent the beer from drying out too much.

I would move more of your hops to whirlpool and dry hopping additions. It’s a bit wasteful to use Citra in the boil, IMHO. Personally I would leave 25-35 IBU as a bittering charge, whirlpool 1/3 of the remainder at 160F for 30 minutes, and dry hop with the final 2/3 of the remaining hops. They’re all good dual-purpose hops so it should be fairly balanced.

 

[Comfort_Zone]

Yeah, I'd do either the carafa or the midnight wheat, but not both. It'll be plenty dark regardless.

 

[mschoeffler]

So, I’ll back the carafa III to 1/2lb. What about moving the centennial to FWH, the 20 min to FO and the FO to 170 hop stand?

 

[Comfort_Zone]

So, I’ll back the carafa III to 1/2lb. What about moving the centennial to FWH, the 20 min to FO and the FO to 170 hop stand?

That hop schedule looks great.

 

[shigadeyo]

I made a Black Rye IPA earlier this year with the following grains and it was plenty dark enough and had a slight chocolate/roasty flavor to it. It was one of the best beers that I have ever made if my 17 years of brewing!

11# Pale
2.75# Rye
1# Chocolate Wheat
0.75# Crystal 60

Grain notes:

• Adjust amounts as necessary for your equipment/efficiency.
• Swap out the rye for more pale malt/sugar and mash the chocolate wheat.
• Skip the Carafa III Special all together as it's flavor is too roasted and bitter. I don't really use Carafa anymore and almost always use Midnight/Chocolate Wheat instead since it has a really great flavor.

Other info for comparison:

• Hops: Columbus (1.5 oz for 60 min = 52 IBU), Amarillo+Cascade+Centennial: 0.5 oz each at 15 min and 0 min; 0.5-1 oz each dry hop
• Yeast: Safale US-05
• OG: 1.074
• IBU: 72
• SRM: 32