Brewing a black IPA

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yeastforbrains

yeastforbrains

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Black IPA


Recipe specifics:



Style: Black IPA
Batch size: 6.1 gal

Boil volume: 7.7 gal

OG: 1.056

FG: 1.014

Bitterness (IBU): 47.0

Color (SRM): 30.6

ABV: 5.5%



Grain/Sugars:



9.48 lb Maris Otter Malt, 72.3%

1.10 lb Munich (Castle Malting), 8.4%

0.66 lb Crystal 50-60L (British), 5.0%

0.66 lb CaraPils, 5.0%

0.44 lb Chocolate Malt (British), 3.4%

0.44 lb Café Light (Castle Malting), 3.4%

0.33 lb Roasted Barley, 2.5%



Hops:



0.35 oz Cascade (AA 6.0%, Pellet) 60 min, 6.3 IBU

0.35 oz Cascade (AA 6.0%, Pellet) 50 min, 6.0 IBU

0.35 oz Cascade (AA 6.0%, Pellet) 40 min, 5.6 IBU

0.71 oz Cascade (AA 6.0%, Pellet) 30 min, 9.7 IBU

0.71 oz Cascade (AA 6.0%, Pellet) 20 min, 7.7 IBU

0.71 oz Cascade (AA 6.0%, Pellet) 10 min, 4.6 IBU

0.71 oz Columbus (AA 15.4%, Pellet) 5 min, 6.5 IBU

0.71 oz Cascade (AA 6.0%, Pellet) 1 min, 0.5 IBU

1.41 oz Cascade (AA 6.0%, Pellet) dry hop



Yeast/Misc:



Safale US05, 1.0 unit(s), Yeast 2 packs, (22 grams)



-----
 
Being a new brewer I'm not the best to give comments. With that said, I would say there's going to be a lot of roasty/chocolatey/coffee flavors for even a black IPA, as well as being sweet and malty with the given base grains. Seems to me to appear as more of a hopped up stout. Not that that's a bad thing, actually sounds really good!

If you're going more for the color without the stouty characteristics, I say use a bit of midnight wheat or blackprinz.

To me the hop schedule looks good.
 
JakeSparrow said:
Being a new brewer I'm not the best to give comments. With that said, I would say there's going to be a lot of roasty/chocolatey/coffee flavors for even a black IPA, as well as being sweet and malty with the given base grains. Seems to me to appear as more of a hopped up stout. Not that that's a bad thing, actually sounds really good!

If you're going more for the color without the stouty characteristics, I say use a bit of midnight wheat or blackprinz.

To me the hop schedule looks good.
Click to expand...

Good observation! I am actually just trying to reproduce the "spirit" of a beer I tasted in Paris, using ingredients in my inventory. The original is called Tha Wack, black IPA, by a parisian brewery called frog beer. From memory, it was really malty and sweet with a fair amount of roast and chocolate going on, but the bitterness and fruitiness from the hops balanced that out. Not at all the most sessionable beer I ever tasted, but it was really nice! I'm avoiding flaked barley to try and stay clear of stout territory. Also, I would at least triple that amount of roast barley in a stout (note that it's not a 5 gallon batch). Cheers & Thanks for your input!
 
No prob! And yah I didn't really pay attention to the amounts, seems like that'll all just add a touch of chocolate and roast. But if you're trying to replicate a beer you tasted, I say do whatever you think is right for it and looks like you are well on your way to achieving your goal. Do you think ~50 IBUs is enough to stand up to the malty sweetness? Perhaps the perceived bitterness from the roasty malts will help back up the hops. I am interested to see how this turns out, good luck brewing today!
 
Just speaking from recipies I have seen... I don't think I would add munich in there, it seems a bit out of place. Other than that, it will definitely be one roasty ale! Echoing the comments above, it will be more like a stout than and Black IPA. I have also noticed that dark beers that have a lot of hop character also tend to seem more roasted. Other than that, I think it looks really good!
 
From my quick search on Tha...Wack it looks like you might want a bit more Columbus, they say on frogpubs.com - "Deep, dark and complex, the mysteries of the Columbus hop unravel in this glass of earthy black IPA.". Otherwise the grain bill looks good assuming your efficiency is on. Cheers!

EDIT - Let us know how it turns out!!
 
cyberbrew said:
From my quick search on Tha...Wack it looks like you might want a bit more Columbus, they say on frogpubs.com - "Deep, dark and complex, the mysteries of the Columbus hop unravel in this glass of earthy black IPA.". Otherwise the grain bill looks good assuming your efficiency is on. Cheers!

EDIT - Let us know how it turns out!!
Click to expand...

Thanks cyber, I agree 100% with you! So this is where I need to say that I actually talked with the frog beer brewery and probed them for some input. Based on that input, I created a clone recipe. BUT... My actual clone recipe looks completely different to what I'm brewing tonight, and contains only Columbus hops. What I'm brewing tonight, is that recipe, but tweaked to my current inventory. I don't have any Columbus, so the addition you see in the posted recipe is nothing but a typo... Or rather just a reminiscence from from the original clone recipe, that I forgot to change to cascade, which is the only american hop in my inventory. Phuh, that were some long sentences...
 
JakeSparrow said:
No prob! And yah I didn't really pay attention to the amounts, seems like that'll all just add a touch of chocolate and roast. But if you're trying to replicate a beer you tasted, I say do whatever you think is right for it and looks like you are well on your way to achieving your goal. Do you think ~50 IBUs is enough to stand up to the malty sweetness? Perhaps the perceived bitterness from the roasty malts will help back up the hops. I am interested to see how this turns out, good luck brewing today!
Click to expand...

Awesome!
Yeah, you are right, I need to up my ibu's slightly.
So, here's the recipe modified; ibu's increased and the Columbus/Cascade mistake corrected, so this is what I'm brewing tonight with help from my hbt friends;

Black Ipa, hbt mod #1


Recipe specifics:



Style: Generic Ale

Batch size: 23.0 l

Boil volume: 29.0 l

OG: 1.056

FG: 1.014

Bitterness (IBU): 60.9

Color (SRM): 30.6

ABV: 5.5%



Grain/Sugars:



4.30 kg Maris Otter Malt, 72.3%

0.50 kg Munich (Castle Malting), 8.4%

0.30 kg Crystal 50-60L (British), 5.0%

0.30 kg CaraPils, 5.0%

0.20 kg Chocolate Malt (British), 3.4%

0.20 kg Café Light (Castle Malting), 3.4%

0.15 kg Roasted Barley, 2.5%



Hops:



20.00 g Cascade (AA 6.0%, Pellet) 60 min, 12.7 IBU

20.00 g Cascade (AA 6.0%, Pellet) 50 min, 12.1 IBU

20.00 g Cascade (AA 6.0%, Pellet) 40 min, 11.1 IBU

20.00 g Cascade (AA 6.0%, Pellet) 30 min, 9.7 IBU

20.00 g Cascade (AA 6.0%, Pellet) 20 min, 7.7 IBU

20.00 g Cascade (AA 6.0%, Pellet) 10 min, 4.6 IBU

20.00 g Cascade (AA 6.0%, Pellet) 5 min, 2.5 IBU

20.00 g Cascade (AA 6.0%, Pellet) 1 min, 0.5 IBU

40.00 g Cascade (AA 6.0%, Pellet) dry hop



Yeast/Misc:



Safale US05, 1.0 unit(s), Yeast 2 packs, (22 grams)



Recipe Notes:







-----
 
BreezyBrew said:
Just speaking from recipies I have seen... I don't think I would add munich in there, it seems a bit out of place. Other than that, it will definitely be one roasty ale! Echoing the comments above, it will be more like a stout than and Black IPA. I have also noticed that dark beers that have a lot of hop character also tend to seem more roasted. Other than that, I think it looks really good!
Click to expand...
Yeah! You're right! The brewer let me know they use cara-munich in the original, and I don't have it. So I suppose I' m trying to compensate by mixing cara-pils and Munich light...
 
OK, so I ended up with a stuck sparge yesterday and things took time, eventually I just let it drip very slowly through during the night, and will boil today.
No idea why it stuck with that type of grainbill, I have had far worse grainbills with wheat and flakes going through no problem...
Anyway, I did collect my total volume, all 29 liters is in the kettle. Here with the hop bag in place. Simple and cheap, but very effective. The rigid copper wire keeps the bag open, where I want it and prevents it from twisting, bending or collapsing.

View attachment 1423923712153.jpg
 
Bottleday! I used these tea-filters for dry hopping. Soaked them in star-san and filled them with 20 grams cascade pellets in each filter. Worked a treat, huge hop aroma during transfer! I picked these up at my local grocery store for 2€ a piece.

View attachment 1426107693026.jpg
 
So, you all pointed out this was gonna be too roasty for a bipa, and you were of course correct... Indeed turned out more like a hoppy/cascadian stout. It's tasty now but not too balanced, there are spikes of booze and hop/roast astringency so it needs some lagering to have those mellowed out.
 
Also realized I don't have the right type carafa to do it properly. It should be the dehusked type (carafa special 111). Anyone tainted their bipa with something else than grain? Could one not just brew ones regular house IPA and simply add any sort of flavourless, food grade colorant?
 

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