Burnt Offerings....

[jonewer]

My next AG will be in a fair while yet but I got the idea of Burnt Offerings when looking though so called "Black IPA" recipes (Black IPA? WTF?)

So I'm thinking of doing something along the lines of 3.5kg of pale, some crystal and a whole load of black malt. Say 250g in a 20 litre batch.

Small amount of bittering hops, then hopped to feck and back with late addition new-world hops (Amarillo/Columbus/Chinook/Green Bullet)

What do you think of this? I'm thinking of a beer with the malt character of a pale ale with a charred/ashy tang and a smack of citrus hops. Bit like some lemon marinaded meat thats been burnt on the BBQ....

 

[puravida]

Gut feel is that's too much black malt.

I've made a couple of black IPA's and you need to be super careful with the black malt. It just dominates with strong burnt coffee flavours that overpower everything including all the late addition hops.

If you are making a black IPA, you want the hops to be the star but with a dark colour and a hint of the burnt flavour. I took some advice and steeped the black malt in cold water overnight and then added that to the boil rather than adding the malt to the mash. Made for a good dark colour and a subtle flavour without it taking over.

I used 100g in a 20L batch if that helps.

 

[jonewer]

Thanks puravida, but will 100g actually make it black?