Black IPA

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rodwha

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I used 9 oz of Midnight Wheat in a 5.25 gal batch to make this beer. But it’s a bit roasty like a Schwarzbier. I’m wondering were I to use say 3 lbs of wheat making it a bit hazy could I reduce the dark grains a bit and give the perception of darker (black)? This beer was figured to be 28 SRMs.
 
You can add the dark grains really late in the mash (maybe with 10 min left) and it will cut down on the roastiness but keep all the color. Weyermann dehusked carafa II is a good choice for a dark late addition
 
You can add the dark grains really late in the mash (maybe with 10 min left) and it will cut down on the roastiness but keep all the color. Weyermann dehusked carafa II is a good choice for a dark late addition

Curious how that messes with the pH. Would you look to adjust the pH so that it falls between your target (I shoot for 5.4) so that it’s +/- in the middle (say 5.2/5.6)?
 
Adding Roasted grains late in the mash will still affect your pH, but you can adjust right after or in the kettle.

I am surprised that you call or better said, perceive 9 oz of Midnight Wheat, roasty. I usually need 1 lb Black Malt and 1 lb Roasted Rye/Wheat to get pleasent roastiness and I don't add any of those late in the mash. I mash normally and adjust pH somewhere between 5.1 and 5.4, without adding too much Baking Soda.
 
I'm not overly familiar with the style, but isn't the benefit of midnight wheat supposedly it's mostly color and not roasty?
Did OP use other dark malts?
 
This tastes much like a Schwarzbier. Maybe not what we think of as roasty but I wanted an absence of it as I’ve often seen. There were no other roasty grains.
 
In that case, you can lower the Midnight Wheat for next time and maybe add just a tad of Crystal 140-160L ( Extra Dark ) to get some colour, without overly roasted notes. You can maybe try to get Weyermann Sinamar, which can be used for this purpose.
 
Whats the grain to glass time? I find my dark brews are more homogeneous after 8 weeks, before that the're roasty and hoppy. And I second the carafa malts.
 
I fermented at 65* for a week, pulled it to sit for two weeks at 73* before bottling and having it sit for a week and a half before I put the odd numbers of beers in the fridge. Usually I give 3 weeks conditioning time before chilling, but many feel this is longer than necessary.

I was told long ago that Midnight Wheat is actually just a bit better than the various Carafa grains.
 
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