14% Carafa II Special in Black Ale test batch

[nrjones89]

Take a gander at the attached grainbill. I hit all the numbers spot on. Before pitching yeast it had a strong hoppy smell, now it is a strong roasted smell. It doesn't smell overdone. I wasn't looking at grainbill percentages when I decided to brew this, just color. So I hit the 27.1 SRM, but didn't notice the 14% bit until today. Obviously, over 5% is going to dominate the beer. This was just a test run though because I have never brewed with it and I am planning on making a Schwarzbier and wanted to get a good feel for the malt. Hopefully I didn't make it undrinkable though? I steeped it for 25 minutes at 155-160F.

 

[BigEd]

Sorry but 14% Carafa II is insane. It's more that just "hitting the numbers". The numbers on many of the brewing programs do not relate in a linear fashion to what the beer will actual taste like. 2-3% of dark malt is usually sufficient to make a Schwarzbier. YMMV, hopefully it will be drinkable.

 

[Manufacturedevolution]

My house porter has ~10% dark malts. I'm sure you could drink it. Just call it a porter or stout instead of schwarzbier.

 

[nrjones89]

Sorry but 14% Carafa II is insane. It's more that just "hitting the numbers". The numbers on many of the brewing programs do not relate in a linear fashion to what the beer will actual taste like. 2-3% of dark malt is usually sufficient to make a Schwarzbier. YMMV, hopefully it will be drinkable.

Hey now, it's not like I used it for a base malt. However...............

 

[nrjones89]

Here to post an update. I lagered it for well over a month, having completely forgot about it sitting in the keezer. I bottled it a week ago, and it's already carbed enough. It has a mild hoppy tangy aroma (centennial hops for bittering and aroma); the roast aroma has almost completely dissipated from the beer. There is definitely a roast character in the flavor, but it is balanced out - but I don't know how! There is almost no yeast character... perhaps it's the bitterness balancing out the roast.