Specialty IPA: Black IPA Heavenly Scourge Black IIPA

[brrman]

awesome! hope you like it.

 

[opteek]

Racked this onto my second dryhop addition of 1.5oz Centennial/.5oz Amarillo today. I dryhopped with 1.5 oz Amarillo in the primary. It tastes absolutely awesome right now!! I cannot wait to bottle this in 5 days. This was my first time with such a large grain bill and I got around 60-65% efficiency rather than my usual 70%. My OG was 1.073 and it finished a little drier than expected at 1.014 for an ABV of 8.17%

I made a partigyle brew from some of the 2nd and 3rd runnings but it only ended up being 1.027 and finished really low at 1.004 so I think it's infected. I let it sit in the fridge overnight before boiling but that shouldn't be a problem? I was shooting for a dark mild and hopped around 4 gallons with an ounce of willamette. I'm debating on whether or not I should bother botteling it. Since the OG was so low, is there a chance that the yeast took it down that low or am I probably looking at an infection?

 

[chapa]

I've never brewed a beer that small, but I wouldn't think theres a problem at all. Likely it's just because your og was so low. You could maybe blend it if you want, or even boil up some dme and add it in to get some more flavor. The ultimate question tho, is how does it taste? Maybe a little watery?

Sounds like your black iipa is going to come out good though! Congrats on that!

 

[winvarin]

Brewed this on Friday. Had to change the hop bill up a little to account for what the LHBS had on hand. It's fermenting at 66F now. Hit my mash dead on at 154F. My system is not quite as efficient on bigger beers and I didn't boil off as much as I'd hoped. Gravity was a little lower, (about 1.070), which is OK because I'd also scaled back on the hops by about 15 IBUs to make it a little more palatable for my wife.

However, with the more dilute beer and the lower than expected efficiency, the fermenting beer is more of a dark, dark brown than a true black. With my experience on volume and SRM, it is only likely to lighten up once it's in the glass.

In order to keep the color on target in terms of what I am shooting for, I am considering trying Sinamar. I've never used it before so a couple of questions:

1. Is it OK to use after ferment? Most of what I've read sounds like this would be an "end of the boil" additive. If I use the entire amount from an unopened bottle (cleaning the rim with rubbing alcohol of course), infection should not be an issue should it? I was considering just adding it to my secondary when I rack the beer over for dry hopping.

2. How much? One ounce is supposed to give a 6 SRM color shift. It looks like morebeer.com sells it in 1 ounce increments. I would think at a dark brown, 2 ounces should get me into the black range without issue.

3. Should I just not worry and let this fall out where it will. Even at deep, reddish-brown, this is still going to be a hop buffet.

 

[brrman]

I would leave it and drink as is. It doesn;t have to be black. Just call it a Dark IIPA... I have to brew this again... damn I miss having this on hand.

 

[winvarin]

I would leave it and drink as is. It doesn;t have to be black. Just call it a Dark IIPA... I have to brew this again... damn I miss having this on hand.

I actually went that route. I drank the black ipa from laughing dog over the weekend and held to the light it is also more a dark brown than black. Plus I was pleased with the color of my hydrometer sample when poured into a glass. Darned close to black.

Dry hopped it Monday and will split half into bottles and keg the rest this weekend. One other question though. Should I expect a marked increase in hop aroma after dry hop? I am going with 2.5 oz of centennial, an ounce of Amarillo, and an ounce of Liberty at 68f for about 5 days. I went with what I had on hand for the dry hops.

I don't dry hop often and I know the only hop additions after the 60min addition were essentially knock out. I tasted and smelled my hydrometer sample. Nice, smooth bittering (I love magnum for that). But my hop aroma was very subdued. Hoping the dry hop will straighten that out.

I also like a prominent citrus flavor in an ipa. Thinking about moving a portion of the Amarillo to 15 or 20 min.

 

[brrman]

Dryhop should help the aroma... It's been two weeks - have you tried it since dryhopping?

 

[winvarin]

Dryhop should help the aroma... It's been two weeks - have you tried it since dryhopping?

I have it on tap now. It's not quite garbed but the aroma is a little better. I only dry hopped a week before kegging and have not had good luck dry hopping in the keg. I can get mostly pellets around here and have noticed that I don't care for the flavor as much when I hop in the keg in a tea diffuser.

Thinking about hopping a little longer and maybe with some whole flowers from an online shop. What's a good amount of time to dry hop without getting grassiness?

 

[brrman]

Grassiness will depend more on the hop type than the length of time. Usually one weeks is sufficient though.

 

[JLW]

Getting ready to order ingredients for my second round of brewing this. Will Carafa II work just as well and Carafa III?

 

[redXstripe]

Getting ready to order ingredients for my second round of brewing this. Will Carafa II work just as well and Carafa III?

Carafa II would be fine.

I used Carafa I-but steeped for the whole mash (by mistake) and the brew turned out great.

Carafa II is a little less roasted than Carafa III-if following the original recipe posted-you may want to add the Carafa II for the last 20 mins of the mash as opposed to last ten minutes.

 

[redXstripe]

I have it on tap now. It's not quite garbed but the aroma is a little better. I only dry hopped a week before kegging and have not had good luck dry hopping in the keg. I can get mostly pellets around here and have noticed that I don't care for the flavor as much when I hop in the keg in a tea diffuser.

Thinking about hopping a little longer and maybe with some whole flowers from an online shop. What's a good amount of time to dry hop without getting grassiness?

Dry hopping with pellets for more than 7 days can extract unwanted flavors. Swap out the hops if you want to dry hop longer.

I'm with brrrman on the type of hops making a big difference. Also consider the amount you are using.

 

[redXstripe]

I actually went that route. I drank the black ipa from laughing dog over the weekend and held to the light it is also more a dark brown than black. Plus I was pleased with the color of my hydrometer sample when poured into a glass. Darned close to black.

Dry hopped it Monday and will split half into bottles and keg the rest this weekend. One other question though. Should I expect a marked increase in hop aroma after dry hop? I am going with 2.5 oz of centennial, an ounce of Amarillo, and an ounce of Liberty at 68f for about 5 days. I went with what I had on hand for the dry hops.

I don't dry hop often and I know the only hop additions after the 60min addition were essentially knock out. I tasted and smelled my hydrometer sample. Nice, smooth bittering (I love magnum for that). But my hop aroma was very subdued. Hoping the dry hop will straighten that out.

I also like a prominent citrus flavor in an ipa. Thinking about moving a portion of the Amarillo to 15 or 20 min.

If you really want that citrus To stand out I would be generous with using the Amarillo at 5, 1, or at 0 minutes. 15 or 20 is going to burn off that aroma.

 

[Brewitt]

Beersmith File HERE[/URL]

Can someone please save this as a BeerXML file for me. You can PM me or post it to the list. I have BeerAlchemy and it doesn't seem to take BeerSmith files directly.

Thanks in advance and thanks for the amazing sounding recipe. This will probably be my next brew.

 

[Brewitt]

OK, just entered it in by hand, converted it to a "partial extract" to make up for my compromised capacity for mashing (12.5 lb grain, 3 lb DME). I ordered the goods so this is my next brew. Can't wait!

 

[dankev]

I just brewed this on Saturday. It was my 2nd all grain, but everything seemed to go OK, and I ended up at 1.08. I used Carafa 3 with the husks (I didn't realize the recipe was for dehusked), and I added it at the same time as the rest of the grain. My LHBS was out of Amarillo, so I used Simcoe that I already had. It's been bubbling away happily for 2 days. I can't wait for fermentation to slow down so I have an excuse to sample it.

 

[Brewitt]

I wouldn't be a bit concerned about your hop choice. Should be great. This is my favorite beer I have made so far. I did tweak the hops a little bit but mostly as indicated. I did use the dehusked Carafa III and added it at 15 min so I can't speak to that. From what I understand it might be a little harsher and more roasty. It's reasonably roasty as written but sounds like you will be fine.

Enjoy

 

[brrman]

I am finally getting back to this recipe. I haven't brewed it in over a year now. Going to brew 5 gallons this weekend.

 

[JLW]

I am finally getting back to this recipe. I haven't brewed it in over a year now. Going to brew 5 gallons this weekend.

I'm brewing it the last week of December. I have friends asking when I will brew again. So tasty.

 

[brrman]

I have to admit it is one of my most memorable tasting beers. I have brewed lots that I can't even remember but this one sticks in my head.

 

[Jersh]

This beer has been on my list of planned brews for a long time but I've never gotten around to brewing it.... I just found out this morning that a buddy of mine who works for a spirits distributor has a 5 gallon whiskey-aged oak barrel that he's going to give me... I'm thinking I might brew this up and dry-hop it in the barrel... Do those of you who have made this think the whiskey and oak will be too much for this beer? I'm expecting more of the whiskey to come through than the oak, and I only plan to hold it in the barrel for a week or so.

 

[brrman]

I think it might be just fine - if you like whiskey flavor. The hop presence is strong enough that it should not get overpowered. Do it and let us know how it turned out, man!

 

[brrman]

Anyone brew this lately? I have the yeast on the stirplate right now, hopefully ready for a Sunday brew!

 

[Brewitt]

I brewed this about 6 months ago with a few hop changes. Fantastic. Still my favorite brew.

 

[buzzbean]

nice how old is the beer in the pic? that is really nice foam!

 

[brrman]

I do believe that beer in the picture was about 6 weeks old (3 week ferment + 3 week bottle carb). The head on the beer was definitely very heavy and stuck around a long time.

 

[brewski08]

Brewing her up as I write this...looks and smells delicious! Can't wait for this guy to be ready.

 

[hopdropper]

nice kettle shot! headed to the garage shortly to mill up the grain for tomorrow's brew...been eye-balling this recipe for a couple months now. going to ad 8 oz of chocolate malt and mash the carafa III for the whole hour. will let you know how it turns out.

 

[brrman]

Chocolate malt will change the taste considerably. Will be interested to see how it turns out.

 

[brewski08]

Brewing her up as I write this...looks and smells delicious! Can't wait for this guy to be ready.

just tried this guy out today, and let me tell you, it is absolutely incredible. hoppy, refreshing, smokey, and big...all at the same time.

great beer. will absolutely be presenting this to the beer snobs at my local craft beer bar next week.

thanks for the great recipe.