Version 2 India Black Ale Recipe

I took the judges' advice to heart from my entry results in the 7 Bridges/Bison Brewing Pro-Am competition, and with the secondary fermentation now dry-hopping and cold-crashing,  the recipe is below. The main things I have attempted to change in this version are:

1. More hop aroma and more hop bitterness.
2. Less astringency from the dark and chocolate malts.
3. Chewier, richer malt character.
4. HIgher % ABV.
5. Drier finish. 

Northern Lights Organic Cascadian IBA v 2.0 all-grain

Ingredients: All-Grain

11.5 lb. Gambrinus Organic Pilsner Malt

8.0 oz. Great Western Organic Munich Malt

1.0 lb. Briess Organic Black Malt (500 ºL) cold steep 12 hours - then add 8.0 oz sparged grains to mash

4.0 oz Weyermann Organic Carafa® 2 (dark chocolate) cold steep 12 hours - then add 2.0 oz sparged grains to mash

12.0 oz Great Western Organic Crystal 60 Malt (60 ºL)

4.0 oz. Organic rye flakes

4.0 oz. Organic oat flakes

12.0 oz. Candi sugar - home made from organic cane sugar

1 teaspoon citric acid to candy sugar mix (didn't have for this batch) substituted a splash of maple syrup

0.5 oz Summit Whole Hops bag in mash (60 min), then empty bag into first wort (90 min)13.98 AAU


0.5 oz Centennial bag in Mash (60 min), then first wort (90 min) 6.2 AAU

1.0 oz. American Bravo Organic Whole Hops (90 mins) 13.5 AAU First Wort

1.0 oz. American Centennial Organic Whole Hops (30 mins) 6.2 AAU

0.5 oz. American Summit Organic Pellet Hops (30 mins) 15.1 AAU

2.0 oz. New Zealand Cascade Pellet Hops (10 mins) 7.8 AAU

2.0 oz. American Summit Pellet Hops (5 mins) 15.1 AAU

2.0 oz. New Zealand Cascade Pellet Hops (dry hops) 

3.0 oz. American Summit Organic Pellet Hops (dry hops)

1 capsule Servomyces (15 mins)

½ tsp. Organic Irish Moss Flakes (15 mins)

5 tsp Gypsum to mash water

1 tsp Burton Salts to Mash Water

White Labs WLP 013 Organic (London Ale) yeast

0.75 cup organic corn sugar for priming

Step by Step all-grain Brewing Instructions:

Make a yeast starter from the White Labs London Ale liquid yeast three days prior to pitching. Cool in refrigerator to separate yeast cake. Pour off most of the liquid.

Cold steep (60º F – 68º F) 1.0 lb Briess Organic Black Malt (500 ºL) and 4.0 oz Weyermann Organic Carafa® 2 (dark chocolate) in ½ water 12 hours (over night). Sparge with 3 pints 170 ºF water.

Steep the crushed grain in 6.0 gallons of water at 153 ºF for 60 minutes. 

Add 1.0 oz. American Bravo Organic Whole Hops to mash in a hop bag.

At 30 minutes steep, add 1/2 of the cold steeped dark adjunct malts to main mash.

At 60 minutes, pour two 1/2 gallon pitchers of wort back over the mash till clear runnings. Sparge with 5.0 gallons of 170º water using rotating sparge arm for 20 minutes.

Place 7 gallons of wort in 8.0  gallon boil kettle including the ½ gallon of cold steeped dark wort and 12 oz of Candi Sugar. Boil for 90 minutes. While boiling, add the hops, Irish moss, and yeast nutrient as per the schedule. 

While boil is going on, reduce third runnings in large pot, bringing 2 gallons down to 1/2 gallon. Add reduction to main boil at last possible moment, when wort boil is complete. Use two smaller pots next time, or a hotter flame.

Cool wort to 68º as quickly as possible using wort chiller. 

Transfer to sanitized 6.5 gallon primary fermenter.  Top off with boiled & cooled water to 5.0 gallons if necessary.

Aerate the wort with oxygen for 50 seconds and pitch the starter yeast. Hold at 68 ºF for 7 days or until fermentation subsides. Use a blow off tube instead of an airlock to avoid a yeast explosion.

When the primary fermentation is complete, rack beer to 5 gallon carboy, avoiding any splashing to prevent aerating the beer. Add the dry hop pellets and keep at 68 ºF for 5 days. Cold crash to 32 ºF over 7 days to settle out hops. Add isinglass finings three days before bottling.

Boil 2 cups water, add 0.75 cups bottling sugar, cool to 68º. Add to bottom of bottling bucket and syphon in beer.

Bottle or keg cold. Note: at 32º, the syphon hose tends to clog with ice. But if you let the beer warm, the hops float to the top.

Allow the beer to carbonate for one week at room temperature, then condition for 2 weeks at 50 - 54 ºF and enjoy your Northern Lights IBA.

The finished volume is: 5.25 gallons

The original gravity is: 1.070

The alcohol is: 9.5%

The color is: 126 HCU (~41 SRM)

The bitterness is: 99 IBU

The final gravity is:  1.012

Brewed Sunday, 6/12/2011

Racked to Secondary 6/18/2011 & began dry hopping

Bottled ______