Black IPA - tweaked Northern Brewer recipe

[Banjo-guy]

I was inspired by the Hat's IPA post and thought I could use up some of my ingredients before they go stale.

I used a Northern Brewer's Black IPA recipe as a guide and subbed ingredients that I had on hand.
I have Falconers flight as the main hop with Citra for dry hopping.
For the 60 min addition I threw in every loose hop that I had to get the IBUs up to where they matched the bitterness from the suggested Summit hops.

Maris Otter is the base. I didn't have Weyermann Caraf III so I put in black patent malt.

How does it look?
Here is the original and the tweaked version.

[BigPapaG]

Looks prety solid overall...

One thing that jumps out at me is the Black Patent...

It's pretty acrid stuff... Doesn't really fit in an IPA, even a black or Cascadian...

If you have nothing else like roasted barley, dark caramel or crystal, then use it...

But I would reduce it to an ounce or less for a 2.3 gallon batch...

Or remove it and up the chocolate malt a bit...

Best yet would be to remove it and pick up some Midnight Wheat or Carafa III...

- Just afraid you would get to much of an acrid taste when you were maybe thinking roasty...

[Banjo-guy]

I was worried about the Black patent. I have 12 oz of Crystal 40. How much of that do you think I should use? I don't want to get overly sweet.
I'm not really familiar with Weyermann Caraf III and am not sure what I am losing by not using it.

[Beer-lord]

I think NB has done a great job with many of their recipes and though I've never tried their black IPA, it's pretty well reviewed. And I totally agree with BigPapaG, take out the black. There'd be too much going on there.
I make lots of blacks and I use Carafa III and Midnight Wheat in one of them and Carafa III and Chocolate in another. Both are ready good though if you want a bit more roasty flavor, the chocolate would be my choice. If you want just a tad bid of roastiness, Midnight Wheat is what you want. Either way, you have a good Black IPA.

[Banjo-guy]

Can I substitute cane sugar for corn sugar? What percentage of cane sugar = corn sugar?
For a 2.5 gallon batch Northern Brewer recommends 1/2# of corn sugar.

i think I would need 95% sugar instead of corn sugar. That would be .475 lbs of cane sugar. I think that's correct. Seems like half a pound is close enough.

[brewin bull]

I have used Black patent in an CDA, it can get a bit overpowering at times. I have switched to midnight wheat since I went to all grain and it is much smoother. The first CDA I was trying to clone was Discord by Pyramid, they use Black patent. The key to patent is using VERY little of it.

[jimjohson]

I agree with the general sentiment about black patent I used it twice. didn't like the bite, now I use chocolate malt in place of BP.

[Banjo-guy]

Maybe I should just do a straight up IPA with Maris Otter, Chrystal 40, Falconer's Flight and Citra instead of going for a black IPA.

I have enough chocolate malt to use all of that grain if I want to make a version of a Black IPA but most recipes I find have Weyemann Caraf III in them. I wonder how it would be with that much chocolate.
From what I have read the Weyerman III is mainly for color.

I can't get out to a LHBS because of the snow. I want to make this tomorrow.

[Beer-lord]

I almost have to have something black in my pipeline. I like Black IPA's so much, I could do nothing but them. I think you should do a black unless of course, it's not your cup of tea.

[BigPapaG]

While it may not be a Black IPA, adding a fair amount of Chocolate malt (targeting an SRM that would be in between copper and brown) would put you into Red IPA territory... Kind of like a Red Rocket or other California Red...

Just sayin' since you already have it...

[jimjohson]

Maybe I should just do a straight up IPA with Maris Otter, Chrystal 40, Falconer's Flight and Citra instead of going for a black IPA.

I have enough chocolate malt to use all of that grain if I want to make a version of a Black IPA but most recipes I find have Weyemann Caraf III in them. I wonder how it would be with that much chocolate.
From what I have read the Weyerman III is mainly for color.

I can't get out to a LHBS because of the snow. I want to make this tomorrow.

I don't taste chocolate with the choco malt. I mostly taste coffee. 8 oz of crystal 80L and 8 oz of chocolate malt we hit a srm of 24 in philm00x and my Dirty Dereby Drank.

[Banjo-guy]

I plan on brewing this tomorrow unless someone on the borg sees something that doesn't look right.

Maris Otter 83.8%
Chocolate Malt 4.8 %
Crystal malt 80 3.8 %
Table sugar 7.6 %

1.00 oz Hallertauer 60 Min
.70 Liberty 60 min
.50 Fuggles 60 min
.15 Willamette 60 min
.50 Falconer's Flight 15 min
.50 Falconer's Flight 5 min
Us 05 yeast
.50 Citra Dry hop (# of Days ? )

OG 1.074 IBU 91.9 Color 22.8 SRM ABV 8.2


One thing I can decide later is the dry hop. I Have and oz of Citra and an oz of Falconer's Flight that I could use for dry hop.

Any comments would be appreciated.

[Beer-lord]

Maybe just reduce the sugar to 5% but that's up to you.
Since it's an IPA, you certainly should dry hop with both. But, I would stick with only 1 oz at 60 minutes and move the Liberty to 15 minutes with the Falconers, move the Fuggles 60 minutes to the 5 minutes with the Falconers and use the 1/2 oz of Citra at flame out. Then you can use the Citra and FF at dry hop for 5-7 days.

[Banjo-guy]

Maybe just reduce the sugar to 5% but that's up to you.
Since it's an IPA, you certainly should dry hop with both. But, I would stick with only 1 oz at 60 minutes and move the Liberty to 15 minutes with the Falconers, move the Fuggles 60 minutes to the 5 minutes with the Falconers and use the 1/2 oz of Citra at flame out. Then you can use the Citra and FF at dry hop for 5-7 days.

I used all of those hops to get the IBU up to where it is.
I'm not sure if I was clear but after brewing the recipe that I posted I will still have more citra and FF hops for dry hopping. Does that change what you are suggesting?

[Beer-lord]

My main concern was that for a 2.5 gallon recipe, the 2 plus oz of hops you show at 60 minute is going to impart a lot of bitterness. The dry hop will add the aroma that an IPA needs. Actually, for 2.5 gallons, 1 oz of Citra should be sufficient for the dry hop. It's a matter of personal taste on the flavor/aroma times and amounts.