First Black IPA recipe thoughts?

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ghast

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All grain, boil: 7gal... batch: 5gal

2-row malt (11lbs)
caramel 40L (1 lb)
blackprinz (1lbs)
carafa III (1lbs)

centennial (1oz) @60
centennial (1oz) @20
galaxy (1oz) @5
galaxy (1oz) @0
el dorado (2oz) @dryhop (5days)

yeast: safale us-05

any comments?
 
I've never brewed a Black IPA but a lb of Blackprinz seems like too much in a 5 gallon batch. I probably wouldn't use much more than .5 lb.
 
I "cold steeped" the dark grains in my last CDA and thought it turned out really good. Smooth and toasty with no ashy, burnt roast bitterness.

I put the grains in a half gallon pitch of room temp water and let the steep on the counter for 24hrs then added the water towards the end of the boil
 
I don't think you need 1lb of Carafa III, and 1 lb of Blackprinz. Maybe half them each, and I would probably even just sub Carafa III for Carafa II. The last BIPA I did had 1lb of roasted malts total of 15lb total.

What IBUs are targeting? Never used El Dorado hops, but I always thought they were more of a bittering hop. I love centennial as a dry hop, and so if it was me I would swap those additions (El dorado at 60m, and dry hop - Cent.). But I know what I like so that's just my preference...
 
IMO you don't need both carafa III and blackprinz. You only really need about 0.5lb of roast malt, blackprinz is a great choice.

You might find el Dorado a little lost, you need a strong hop in a black IPA more so than that a straight up IPA. Galaxy is a great choice for that reason, maybe a citrus focused hop would go well, especially against the roast constrast.

I would also double the hop additions in the dry hop and 5 & 0 mins.
 
That's definitely a bit too much roasted malts. You want it dark, but not overly roasty, as it will dull the hops. De-husked versions of roasted malts are nice to use, as they will add colour and a more subtle roasted, coffee presence to the beer.

Citrussy, piney and resiny hops go well with dark malts. Galaxy and Centennial are good choices. El Dorado, from experience and threads read on the Internet, is not as potent as other " known " varieties, which is why IU would swap it for something else and save it for an IPA/Pale ale.

From experience, Chinook, Simcoe, Mosaic, Citra, Galaxy hops work well in Black IPAs.

This is an IPA, so I would, especially because it is dark and the malts will add lots of flavour and complexity, add more hops for late additions and dry hopping. A whirlpool done at a lower temp. ( 160F - if you can cool the wort ) will add lots of flavour and a bit of aroma to the beer, with minimal bitterness. For me, whirlpool hops add an intensity and depth of flavour I cannot replicate without. Dry hopping is a must - so add a bit more there, like 4-6 oz hops.

Cheers!
 
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