Dark Side of the Island (Black Goose Island IPA balls up!)

[phatboytall]

I was planning to do a Goose Island IPA clone, but somehow i manged to be a complete dumbass and I put in 200g of CHOCOLATE malt instead of 200g Crystal malt! I didn't twig until the liquid comeing out of the mash was jet black!!

So a disaster or something special....well read below and i'll let you know!

Recipe (researched online and compared to the brewery's tasting own notes)
12 litre batch
Pale Malt 2861g
Crystal Malt 215g (or do what i did and put 215g Chocolate Malt in!!)
Torrefied Wheat 215g
Munich Malt 215g

Hops
Centennial (90min) 22g
Fuggles (60min) 20g
Fuggles (15min) 20g
Cascade (Dry hop) 18g

Yeast : Ringwood (direct from the brewery)
OG 1.066

A few pics, i didn't take that many as i figured it would probably be a write off and undrinkable.

The Yeast, lovely stuff to work with


The Mash


After 12hours in the fermenter, the yeast kicked in beautifull!


After 24 hours i roused the yeast and mixed the head back in with the wort


12hours later the head was back perfectly


Dry hopping in a poly pin (using a musin bag this time)....its very black!!!


It was my first time using the Ringwood brewery yeast, after some tips here viewtopic.php?f=12&t=39325
I pitched 100ml, mixed the head in after 24h and asserated well, stired again after 48hours without breaking the top. I found the yeast worked superbly.

So disaster? or does it taste ok?

Well i thought it would be so bitter it would be horrible.....my god, it tastes amazing! Sweet lovely subtle choclate notes, multi layered bitter finish, amazing coffee and hop smell.

Some out of the secondary after 10 days


I really think this could be my best brewday ever! AS people on the forum say, when you make a mistake, don't panic, take your time and carry on....you never know what you might end up with. I've ended up with a beaut.

[Rich_B]

You may have invented a totally new style!

Sounds like it tastes fantastic!

[Barley Water]

Well first of all, I don't think the beer will be undrinkable at all, you may like it alot. Secondly it's all in presentation, what you really meant to say was that you brewed a "Cascadian Ale" (which of course is the new style being developed in the Northwest of this country and could also be called a Black IPA). Furthermore, if somebody presses you, just say that you were going for the dryer interpretation (hence the lack of any crystal malt) and you are of the opinion that the dry presentation will showcase the hops better.

[Dennis King]

I`ve had great beers born out of cock ups.

[phatboytall]

Barley Wine, haha i'm going to memorise that! Briliant! Black IPA's are all the rage over here at the moment, i've never made are more fashionable mistake!

[flytact]

Congrats!

[leedsbrew]

nice one matey! Glad it turned out well!

I brewed up the other week after a night shift and very nearly put in 3kg of Oat malt instead of MO!!!!!!!! don't think that would have had such a happy ending!

[Scotty]

Sometimes the best things are borne from errors. No doubt that is how the majority of beer styles came into being.

The beer looks good and I might have to give it a try sometime.