Brown IPA / Black IPA

I'm thinking of expending my library of homebrews and adding either a Brown IPA or a Stout IPA.
As a first step I just brewed an American Brown Ale using Centennial hops (just a small amount of hops, though). I wanted to see if the taste of chocolate malt, roasted malt and Centennial hops would balance each other (a big "if") or fight one another. If this Brown turns out OK I will brew a Brown-IPA hybrid and see how that will turn out.

I wonder if there are any commercial examples of Brown IPAs or Stout IPAs?

Any thoughts on this recipe project would be appreciated.

 

Go for it

I brewed mine without ever tasting a Black IPA

Roast and hops go together beautifully

 

Commercial examples: Bitch Creek ESB, Terrapin India Brown Ale, Dogfish Head Indian Brown Ale.

Popular homebrew recipe: Mike McDole's Janet's Brown Ale

 

They're also known as "Cascadian Dark Ale" if they're black, not brown.

Rogue, Hopworks, Iron Horse, Deschutes, Laurelwood, Walking Man, Three Creeks, and Laughing Dog are all Pacific NW breweries that make the same style either under the name CDA or Black IPA.

Stone, of course, makes the Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale.

They all typically involve taking an IPA recipe and adding roasted black malts. Most use Weyermann Carafa III Special. Carafa III is basically the darkest malt out there. The "Special" means it's been de-husked, which results in a smoother flavor.

I usually just take my normal IPA recipes, then steep about a pound of black patent and a pound of chocolate malt for 10 min at 160 degrees. The short steep gives me very dark color and a little bit of roasted flavor.

 

Victory Brewing just released Yakima Twilight that falls in this category. I had it at a tasting the other week and it was by far the best beer I had that night. I'm not sure if Victory is is Michigan, but keep your eyes open.

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/images/smilies/offtopic.gif

Oh, and I met Greg Koch from Stone at the tasting and talked with him for a few minutes. He was a really cool guy and very down to earth.

 

I've had a number of commercial and homebrew CDAs. The best tasting ones used Carafa III or Chocolate Wheat. I find the 3Cs clash rather badly with the roast and coffee flavors of typical stouts.

 

I found this on youtube:

At 3:05: "Carafa, Chocolate, Caramel, Pilsner".
Does anyone have more specific recipe for that? Or should I do what Alexgrate is suggesting:

 

There is one problem though. I heard once that once you go black, well... You know. Its quite difficult to go back.

 

I'd say this would be a good recipe to use if you can get your hands on the Carafa III Special:

http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/stone-xi-anniversary-clone-51521/index2.html#post558277

 

IPA= india PALE ALE There is no such thing as a Black or Brown IPA. ESB means Extra Special Bitter, Brown means just that. Stout is a whole other catagory.

Why don't you make another catagory like real bitter black dookie

 

There are several breweries that make IPAs that are black or brown in color. Many of them are using the new category called Cascadian Dark Ale for Black IPAs.

Dogfish Head calls its darker beer an India Brown Ale.

IPAs have little to do with color in the USA now. Think of how dark many IIPAs are.

 

that's fine to creat a different name as long as you don't use IPA with a dark color

germans have the wordage dunkel or schwarz as dark or black.

I saw the wordage india brown or indian brown that would fit the profile much better then using india black pale ale

Cascadian dark sounds like a winner for a heavily hopped dark ale/lager using cascade as the primary hop.

 

I would have to say that they are referring to the Cascade Mtns which are a range of mountains on the West Coast that runs from California to Washington. So any of the hops that are grown in that vast area are suitable.

 

even though cascade hops are usa in nature they are accepted into all versions of the ipa's, so I would think that cascadian dark would give you the hint of that dark beer being a hoppy one. just my take on the name

 

that is my point.. they are not IPA's. Try to enter one under the IPA catagory

Appearance: Color ranges from golden amber to medium reddish copper; some versions can have an orange-ish tint. Should be clear, although unfiltered dry-hopped versions may be a bit hazy. Good head stand with off-white color should persist

 

So I went beer hunting and I got some beers I thought may fit the profile. First one is the Southern Tier "Iniquity", Imperial Black Ale (IBA). It's sweet, fruity (like if they used the Chico yeast "fruity") slightly chocolaty, but it lacks the bitterness and the hop aroma of the IPA. There is no IBU's level listed on the bottle, but they hint it is similar to an IPA:

http://www.southerntierbrewing.com/beers.html
Actually this beer reminds me of a bigger, stronger (8.9 ABV), fruitier type of Pete's Wicked Ale