Water Treatment for a Black IPA

(That's water to the rest of us!) Beer is about 95% water, so if you want to discuss water treatment, filtering etc this is the place to do it!
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jimp2003

Water Treatment for a Black IPA

Post by jimp2003 » Fri Oct 21, 2011 5:37 pm

Hey Guys.

I will be brewing a black IPA tomorrow and was unsure what approach to use when treating my water. Should I go for a profile I would use for an ordinary IPA or one for a Porter?

The grain bill is 87.38% Maris Otter, 7% Crystal and 5,62% Carafa Special 2. The carafa special will be going into the mash rather than have a cold steep.

Any advice welcomed as usual.

Jim
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adeybambam

Re: Water Treatment for a Black IPA

Post by adeybambam » Sat Oct 22, 2011 5:39 am

Don't know the answer, but IMHO there is no such thing as a black India PALE ale.....

It's either pale, or it isn't.
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jimp2003

Re: Water Treatment for a Black IPA

Post by jimp2003 » Sat Oct 22, 2011 6:01 am

adeybambam wrote:Don't know the answer, but IMHO there is no such thing as a black India PALE ale.....

It's either pale, or it isn't.

Err..thanks for that... :roll: I know what you mean but I don't want to get into semantics. I probably would have got it wrong by calling it a Cascadian Dark Ale beacause it did not exactly match the style guidelines (not that I think there are any firm guides for a CDA).
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greenxpaddy

Re: Water Treatment for a Black IPA

Post by greenxpaddy » Sat Oct 22, 2011 7:08 am

You can brew a black IPA, I believe you need to steep the carafa with cold water and not mash it but add it to the boil later...

Anyhows, the water treatment would be recommended at the normal IPA dosage
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jimp2003

Re: Water Treatment for a Black IPA

Post by jimp2003 » Sat Oct 22, 2011 8:29 am

Thanks for that but this is a recipe that I have used before and mashed the carafa and it turned out very well so that is what I shall do this time round also.

I liked the flavours that the carafa added and although this might not be true to style I am not planning on entering any competitions with this one.

I think that I will go for water treatment close to a porter style and see how it goes.
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greenxpaddy

Re: Water Treatment for a Black IPA

Post by greenxpaddy » Sun Oct 23, 2011 3:06 pm

jimp2003 wrote: I think that I will go for water treatment close to a porter style and see how it goes.
Its your brew.... :lol:

I'd be interested to know what mash ph you achieve in that case. Let me know. It will show whether the carafa special brings enough acidity to the mash to counteract your water treatment.
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jimp2003

Re: Water Treatment for a Black IPA

Post by jimp2003 » Sun Oct 23, 2011 6:48 pm

Well the carafa must have had an effect as I treated the water for a porter as planned and the ph came out at around 5.4.
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greenxpaddy

Re: Water Treatment for a Black IPA

Post by greenxpaddy » Sun Oct 23, 2011 8:59 pm

Cool.
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