Grain bill for a black IPA

[sparks]

So I visited the Partizan brewery at the weekend and had their black IPA and it was really lovely. Got me thinking about some of the other black IPA's I've tried and how much I like them so I think I should probably have a go at making one myself.

I've got my hops sorted (chinook, citra and mosaic) but I'm a bit unsure about the grain bill. From what I've read, a good bet is to take a normal IPA grain bill and then sub in some carafa iii so I was thinking of going for

90% Marris Otter
5% Munich
5% Carafa iii

I have some crystal and biscuit malts knocking about too so could add them in there but I'm not certain if they'd compliment the hoppiness or if it would become too cloying.

Also, does anyone have any advice about when to ad the carafa? I've read that adding it towards the end of the mash yields the best results.

Anyways, any input would be really appreciated

 

[naturals]

Partizan's BIPA is indeed very good! I live just round the corner from them so I've tried it many times.

Alas I have no brewed a BIPA yet but it's next on my list to do. I found this recipe which was very helpful in pulling together the grain / hops for a batch. I can't vouch for how good the recipe is (yet) but they certainly seem to know what they're talking about.

 

[sparks]

Cheers, that does look like a good recipe. If I lived by Partizan I'd be a very poor man, fortunately for my wallet (and liver) trips to Bermondsey are pretty rare for me.

I actually e-mailed Partizan to try and get some hints but they weren't giving anything away about their recipes unfortunately. I have had a look on the Beavertown website and found this: http://www.beavertownbrewery.co.uk/Black-Betty

Which lists their grain bill and hops for Black Betty but without any amounts or timings. I really really rate BB but don't want something quite that strong, I'm going to aim for around 5-6%.

So what I'm thinking now is

85% Marris
5% munich
5% crystal
2.5% chocolate
2.5% carafa iii


Then hop additions at 60, 15, 10 and 5 (which are my usual IPA timings based on some advice I got from the guys at the Kernel) to bring it up to around 55 IBU. Then I'll dry hop it to oblivion. I'm considering just using the citra and keeping my mosaic for a straight up pale ale too in case this doesn't work out.

Think I'm going to do a 1 gallon brew to try the recipe out.

 

[naturals]

Please let us know how you get on. I'd be really interested in getting a decent BIPA recipe in my repertoire. I'll be brewing one this weekend / next so I'll pop up some comments when its ready to drink.

 

[sparks]

Will do. I've decided I'm going to cold steep the chocolate and carafa overnight and add the steepings (is that even a word?) at the start of the boil to keep the flavours really subtle and avoid too much acidity.

Hope yours comes out well, definitely keep me updated:

 

[sparks]

I'm not certain when I'm going to get to try brewing a BIPA now but I had a can of this yesterday: http://ruhstallerbeer.com/beer/capt-california-black-ipa/ and it was real nice and pretty much exactly what I would like to brew myself so I'm going to try to get some tips from them.

Have you had a go at yours yet?