This will be my 5th full-size (5 gal.) extract recipe, so I'm definitely still in the beginner phase. I purchased the Ace of Spades Black IPA kit from Northern Brewer, here are the ingredients:
>9.15 lbs. Gold LME
>0.75 lbs. Midnight Wheat malt (steeping)
>0.65 lbs. CaraMunich III (steeping)
>1.0 oz. Magnum - 60 min.
>1.0 oz. Chinook - 20 min.
>0.5 oz. Centennial - 20 min.
>1.5 oz. Centennial - 5 min.
>1.0 oz. Citra - dry hop
>1.0 oz. Centennial - dry hop
I thought the kit would be a great base to adjust slightly. One thing is I want to get the color slightly darker - some reviewers say it tastes great but ends up being more brown than black. Another is that I want to increase the IBUs close to 100 (Brewer's friend calculator gives me about 80 as is) while also increasing the ABV to 8-8.5% to compensate for the hop addition (brewer's friend calculator gives me 7.15% as is).
My thoughts were to add the following:
>1-2 oz. Midnight wheat
>1-2 lb. light DME
>some combination of bittering, flavoring, and dry hops that fits the recipe profile.
Any advice on how to get the results I want without throwing the recipe way out of balance? Thanks.
>9.15 lbs. Gold LME
>0.75 lbs. Midnight Wheat malt (steeping)
>0.65 lbs. CaraMunich III (steeping)
>1.0 oz. Magnum - 60 min.
>1.0 oz. Chinook - 20 min.
>0.5 oz. Centennial - 20 min.
>1.5 oz. Centennial - 5 min.
>1.0 oz. Citra - dry hop
>1.0 oz. Centennial - dry hop
I thought the kit would be a great base to adjust slightly. One thing is I want to get the color slightly darker - some reviewers say it tastes great but ends up being more brown than black. Another is that I want to increase the IBUs close to 100 (Brewer's friend calculator gives me about 80 as is) while also increasing the ABV to 8-8.5% to compensate for the hop addition (brewer's friend calculator gives me 7.15% as is).
My thoughts were to add the following:
>1-2 oz. Midnight wheat
>1-2 lb. light DME
>some combination of bittering, flavoring, and dry hops that fits the recipe profile.
Any advice on how to get the results I want without throwing the recipe way out of balance? Thanks.