Black IPA Help!

Extract/Partial Mash Brewing
1

I recently brewed a black IPA. The problem is that my OG was 1.042. Much lower than what I wanted (1.070-1.080). Here is the recipe:

Black IPA Recipe
6 weeks

Specialty Grains: 1.50 lbs total
• Briess Organic Chocolate (0.50 lbs)
• Weyermann Carafa III (0.25 lbs)
• Briess Caramel 80 L (0.25 lbs)

Fermentables: 13.0 lbs total
• 3.15 lbs NB Dark Malt Syrup (60 min)
• 6.0 lbs NB Dark Malt Syrup (15 min)
• 1.0 lbs Briess Light Malt Extract (Dry) (15 min)

Hops: 8 oz total
• 1.0 oz Warrior (60 min)
• 2.0 oz Cascade (15 min)
• 2.0 oz Cascade (10 min)
• 2.0 oz Cascade (5 min)
• 1.0 oz Australian Galaxy (Dry hop)*

Yeast:
• Wyeast 1318 London Ale III

*Add dry hops 1 week before bottling.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

2

Full boil or partial boil? What is the ending volume?

3

full boil. end volume is 5gal. had around 2.3 gal of wort.

4

I don’t understand. You can’t have a full boil, with an ending volume of 5 gallons and only have 2.3 gallons of wort?

You would need to have 5+ gallons of pre boil of wort to end with 5 gallons in the fermenter.

Or you boiled 2.3 gallons of wort. And topped up to 5 gallons.

5

Sorry, i started with 2.5 gal wort and boiled for 60 in, topped off to 5 gal with water. 2.3 estimate due to evaporation

6

You did a partial boil with top off water. It is difficult to get the water to mix completely with the wort. Even with lots of stirring/shaking. You sample is not an accurate reading.

If you used all the extracts in a recipe and had the correct ending volume, you will have the OG you were seeking. The yeast will find all the sugar and convert them.

7

I’m drinking the ever-loving crap out of that black IPA now. I personally don’t take OG readings because I do extract, and conventional wisdom says that it’s impossible to be off on OG with extract. Relax and let it do its thing for a while. You’ll be rewarded by a super tasty beer.

8

Like others suggested, you must have gotten a bad sample reading. It’s impossible to miss a gravity by that much when using extract.

When I did brew with extract, I never had a problem with this but see that a lot of people do. Make sure your shaking or mixing your wort and water real well before taking a reading. Also, try to take the reading from lower in the fermentor. Don’t take the reading right from the top. I would sit with the bucket between my legs in front of the tv and shake for 3, 4, 5 minutes or so. I now use a mixing stick attached to a drill.

http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/revi ... t/id/2161/

The reviews are terrible, but again, I never had problem. Been using the same one for over 2 years now.

9

black IPA - interesting - never had that and never thought about doing that - a lot of hops in there eh??? wow!

10

I learned to love beer by drinking Porters, and later killed my palate with hop bombs, so this style is right up my alley.

Try some commercial examples, first, to see if you like it though… it’s a little odd for some folks.

11

i have been drinking porters for 35 years now - that is mostly what I make and some pale ales.

I am a big porter fan - and have quite a few of my own recipes and variations.

12

Okay thanks guys! I was thinking that may have been the problem. I had the same problem with my wee heavy kit as well, except my OG was 1.114 (oofta!).

I sampled the black IPA after I transferred it to the secondary. one word is HOPS! It’s definitely not for the faint of heart. Thanks for the input guys, much appreciated.