Carafa Special 3 in Black IPA

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dan125

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I was planning on brewing a black IPA tomorrow with the grain bill below, using the carafa special for the first time, but after trawling the forum/web for info on this I'm a bit concerned that I might be using too much.

I've used the same amount of Dingemanns de-husked roasted barley in a recent oatmeal stout with good results, so thought the CS3 would be similar - but what do you think?

24L batch
MO - 6KG
Carafa Special 3 - 500g
Wheat malt - 250g
 
I've never made this style but my Greg hughes book recipe for black IPA has 170g for 23L

Here's a recent thread discussing the GH black IPA

http://www.thehomebrewforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=60200

Thanks MyQul I saw this thread and its one of the reasons I'm not sure.
GH has the choc malt as well which I reckon will have a stronger flavour than CS3.
Trouble is if I reduce the amount of CS3 too much the beer's gonna be dark brown rather than black (according to software)
 
I followed the Greg Hughes grain bill to the letter and it was as black as ink. I don't think you'd need any more cs3 in there. What I would say is that it doesn't impart that much flavour so I wouldn't use it as the only roasted malt in a black IPA, it'll end up tasting more like a regular iPa, just black. Which kid of defeats the point (in my opinion, others may disagree!). I'd add a bit of chocolate in. Or for something different a bit of chocolate wheat or choc rye. I'm going to try both of those in a black IPA sometime in the future.
 
I used the following for my Black IPA;

Final volume - 32 litres
Pale malt - 6kg
Cara 3 - 200g
Wheat malt - 800g

The above was all in the mash for 90 mins.
I also cold steeped 100g of cara 3 for 30mins and added to the boiler (to give extra colour)
Not jet black but black enough...:smile:

I reckon BIPA is difficult to get right as too much roastyness does not go well with the US hops (if making an American version
 
I followed the Greg Hughes grain bill to the letter and it was as black as ink. I don't think you'd need any more cs3 in there. What I would say is that it doesn't impart that much flavour so I wouldn't use it as the only roasted malt in a black IPA, it'll end up tasting more like a regular iPa, just black. Which kid of defeats the point (in my opinion, others may disagree!). I'd add a bit of chocolate in. Or for something different a bit of chocolate wheat or choc rye. I'm going to try both of those in a black IPA sometime in the future.

Ta Gareth, I only want a mild flavour from the grain, keeping the brew hop dominated. so think I'll stick with just the CS3 for this brew and adjust next time I brew the style if its not roasty enough - just a case of how much to use.
 
Ta Gareth, I only want a mild flavour from the grain, keeping the brew hop dominated. so think I'll stick with just the CS3 for this brew and adjust next time I brew the style if its not roasty enough - just a case of how much to use.

Yeah, the choc will definitely add more burnt notes. I really liked those in mine though, which was made with a lot of citra and cascade. As always it's a matter of personal preference.
 
GH recommends no more than 5% mate, your current bill comes in at just over 8%.

Yeah I think I might be overdoing it a bit.
If I knock it down to 400g (6%) the brew comes in bang in the middle of the colour range for the style - according to beersmith, so I might compromise with this.
 
It'll start to get really roasty as you get over 5%. I usually went something like 5% with half of it only added at the sparge stage.


Thanks Rodabod - what I don't understand is; as the CS3 is supposed to be smooth, de-bittered, etc, and I would need to add all 500g (approx. 8%) to make the beer really black. If I substitute any other dark grains (that aren't de-husked) won't the beer be even roastier than it would if I use just the CS3?
Should I have just stuck with de-husked roasted barley, is this less intense?

Suppose I could increase the amount of MO until my 500g of CS3 only makes up 5% of the grain bill - but would end up with an OG above 1.080 :drunk:
 
What software are you using? Is the EBC in it correct? The only reason I ask is that when using beersmith I always check the stored ingredients say the same as the real thing. If they don't (which has happened, especially with hops) then I change the figures.
 
I've just checked beersmith - it has cs3 as having an EBC of 1034.3! All suppliers list it as 1300 - 1500. That would certainly change the percentages.
 
I'm about to brew this next weekend but I'm mindful of some of the comments from those that have already brewed it. I was going to follow Gregs recipe to the letter although I had to get Black Malt rather than Carafa 3 to order from the one supplier!

I am wondering about adding around 2% crystal malt to add a little sweetness. What does everyone think (it's my first AG!)?

Also, in brewers friend if my supplier lists the crystal as 145 EBC what do I enter under UK Crystal Malt as there are loads of numbers for it?

Thanks

Paul
 
What software are you using? Is the EBC in it correct? The only reason I ask is that when using beersmith I always check the stored ingredients say the same as the real thing. If they don't (which has happened, especially with hops) then I change the figures.

I'm using Beersmith on my phone, and yes I've changed the EBC to 1300 for the carafa
 
I'm using Beersmith on my phone, and yes I've changed the EBC to 1300 for the carafa

Every site I've looked at gives the EBC as 1300 - 1500. Have you tried upping the EBC to see what it does to the percentage? Maybe to 1400?
 
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