I decided to bottle the organic India Black Ale from 10:00 pm to 1:00 am last night/this morning, since, appropriately, the brew is as black as midnight. Final Gravity came out exactly where it should be, at 1.018. Shocking, really, for my first custom recipe. I had done so many last minute adjustments with the cold steep on the black malts and cane sugar I was concerned that the result would land outside the guidelines for an IBA. Another unusual coincidence is how the final bottle filled exactly to the top. Usually I end up with a partially filled bottle I have to then . . . ahem . . . drink so that it doesn't go to waste.
The beer has a delicious not-quite-roasty flavor in the non-carbonated, non-conditioned state, with a rich black color that stains the sides of the glass, and a hearty pine & citrus hop nose. And despite the dense black appearance, the beer is light on the tongue with very little apparent alcohol.
Dry-hopping seemed to work much better on this batch than on previous attempts. I used 1/2 oz. of New Zealand Cascade whole hops, and 1 oz. of American Summit whole hops, placing them in two separate dry hop bags with about 1/2 pound of round river rocks anchoring the bags well down into the beer. Getting the dry-hops back out of the glass carboy required a small spoon and about 5 minutes of digging for each one.
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