The Kraken Black IPA

Black IPAs are one of the trickiest beers to brew, the malt and hop character needs to be spot on and the water chemistry has to be just right. With this beer the key is to use just enough Carafa Special III to create the colour without negatively impacting the flavour. The hopping rates in the whirlpool and dry hopping must be high to smash through the massive malt character and yet bitterness is at the lower end to not clash with the carbonates that need to be present in the water chemistry to mellow the harshness of the darker malts.

EXPECTED BREW FIGURES

OG: 1.071

FG: 1.014

ABV: 7.4%

Volume: 23 litres

INGREDIENTS

6kg Maris Otter Pale Ale

350g Munich I

350g Crystal

270g Carafa Special III

Mangrove Jack’s M44 US West Coast x 2

17g Pacific Jade

130g Citra

130g Simcoe

130g Mosaic

METHOD

Fill the boiler with 22 litres of water and set a temperature for 50°C

Add your grains and stir

Mash for 30 minutes at 50°C

Raise the temperature to 68°C

Mash at 68°C for 60 minutes

Mash out by raising temperature to 75°C for 10 minutes

Once 10 minutes is up switch the pump off

Rinse your grain with 11.6 litres of water at 75°C

Boil for 90 minutes

Add 17g Pacific Jade at 60 minutes

When the boil is over, switch off the boiler and add 60g Citra, 60g Simcoe and 60g Mosaic and leave to stand for 20 minutes

Once transferred to your fermenter and wort has been cooled to 21 - 22°C, pitch your yeast into your fermenter

Wait until gravity is at 1.020 or lower before adding dry hops (70g Citra, 70g Simcoe, 70g Mosaic) Allow to ferment for a further three days

Once fermentation is complete, bottle or keg as usual.

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