Black Ale?

I have a great recipe for a blonde ale which I have made twice now. I have also made a black IPA twice. One ingredient in the black IPA is Carafa Special II. Could I take my blonde ale recipe, and add Carafa Special II to gain the dark color but leave the same crisp light flavor? Will the Carafa Special II add roast, chocolate, or any other flavors? If so, what can I use to make this dark but not add any flavor?

 

Cold steep the carafa in water for a day or two. Strain it and add the water to the beer to get color out of it.
I believe you extract less color this way, so you might need to use more and add it carefully till you get the color you want.
You will get less of the flavors from the dark grains, but they will still be there. They will just be more mellow
You probably will not be able to make it black without adding a considerable amount of the roasty flavors.
Some people used to use sinamar, but I'm not even sure of where to buy that

 

You will get some roasted and chocolate flavors with Carafa II. But if you use it in small amounts, say 2-3 ozs, it does well to adjust color without adding much flavor. I know they make a carafa III, and it may be darker so you could look at that as well. Either carafa special is going to be the best grain choice to get a "dark" beer without too much dark flavors.

 

Try Sinamar.
http://www.williamsbrewing.com/4-OZ-SINAMAR-NATURAL-BEER-COLORING-P2651.aspx

 

If you Fly sparge grind 2-3oz carfa/debittered black malt through a coffee grinder, then after you begin sparging add the 2-3oz to the top of the mash. This should reduce flavor of black malt to almost nothing but giving you some good color. This should give you a good start and also give you more options to darken your beer through the rest of the process

 

There is a thread somewhere discussing the effects of adding dark roasted grains during the last few minutes of the mash to get color without getting the roastiness of the grain. A couple members have tried and had success with this method and I think it may even be discussed in Palmer's book too.