21B Black IPA
Black IPA (June 2022)
Grain bill
| Gladfield Ale Malt | 6 kg | 85.7% |
| Gladfield Medium Crystal Malt | 0.35 kg | 5% |
| Gladfield Munich Malt | 0.35 kg | 5% |
| Gladfield Dark Chocolate Malt | 0.3 kg | 4.3% |
Adjuncts
| Whirlfloc | half tablet @ 15 min |
| Yeast nutrient | half tsp @ 15 min |
Hop schedule
| Hop | 60 min | WP | DH#1 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Simcoe | 20g | 60g | 70g |
| Riwaka | · | 30g | 70g |
| Mosaic | · | 70g | 30g |
Yeast
| Safale US-05 | 2 packets |
Water additions
| Calcium Sulphate | 1 tsp in mash |
| Calcium Chloride | half tsp in mash |
| Lactic acid (88%) | half tsp in sparge water, target pH 5.5 |
Tasting notes
About This Beer
Second captured Black IPA — a direct yeast A/B vs the May 2022 Black IPA (batch 24). Same grain bill, same hop schedule, same step mash, same water profile, brewed seven weeks later. The only deliberate change: Safale US-05 in place of MJ M44 US West Coast.
What’s Identical to Batch 24
- Grain bill — 7.0 kg total (6.0 kg Gladfield Ale, 0.35 kg Medium Crystal, 0.35 kg Munich, 0.30 kg Dark Chocolate)
- Hop bill — 350 g across Simcoe / Riwaka / Mosaic at the same timings
- Step mash — 50 °C protein rest, 68 °C saccharification, 75 °C mash out
- Water profile — 1 tsp CaSO₄ + ½ tsp CaCl₂ in mash; sparge pH 5.5 with lactic acid
- 60-minute boil
What Changed
- Yeast — Safale US-05 (2 packets) instead of MJ M44 US West Coast (2 packets)
- Bottling sugar — 105 g (down from 120 g in batch 24)
The Yeast Comparison
| Batch 24 (M44) | Batch 25 (US-05) | |
|---|---|---|
| OG | 1.062 | 1.052 |
| FG | 1.010 | 1.013 |
| Attenuation | 83.9 % | 75.0 % |
| ABV | 6.83 % | 6.43 % |
The OG missed by 10 points this time (vs 9 in batch 24) — combined with batch 24’s miss on the same recipe, this points to the step mash being the consistent extraction limiter. US-05 attenuated less hard here despite often outperforming M44 elsewhere — but with a different starting OG it’s not a clean A/B.
The qualitative yeast difference in the finished beer isn’t captured in the tasting note — only the carbonation feedback.
Hop Reuse
The notebook records “$74 (plus 100 g hops from last)” — Owen carried 100 g of hops over from batch 24’s leftovers. Cash spend $74 + carryover value ≈ $88.81 total ($4.27/L).
Fermentation
2 packets of Safale US-05 pitched at 20 °C. Dry hop on day 5 from pitch: 70 g Simcoe + 70 g Riwaka + 30 g Mosaic.
Packaging — Priming Sugar Reduced
105 g of castor sugar for bottle conditioning — down from 120 g in batch 24. At 20.8 L bottled that’s ~5.0 g/L, below the typical 5.5–6.5 g/L range.
Tasting confirmed it was too low: “less fizzy and head after 2 weeks bottle conditioning than #24”.
Owen had been reducing priming sugar progressively — 150 g (earlier batches) → 130 g (Hazy IPA II) → 120 g (batch 24) → 105 g (this batch). Each previous reduction had been acceptable, but the step from 120 → 105 over-shot the line. The takeaway: sit back at 120–130 g for this recipe.
Numbers
| Stage | Target | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| Mash + sparge | 34 L | 34 L |
| Pre-boil | 28 L | 27.5 L |
| Boil addition | 2 L | 2.5 L |
| Post-boil | 26 L | 26 L |
| Into fermenter | 23.5 L | 23 L |
| Bottle | 22 L | 20.8 L |
| Target | Actual | |
|---|---|---|
| OG | 1.062 | 1.052 |
| FG | 1.010 | 1.013 |
| ABV | 6.83 % | 6.43 % |
Targets set from batch 24’s actuals — Owen aiming for a repeatable result.
Cost
| Line item | Amount |
|---|---|
| Cash spend (new ingredients) | $74 |
| Carryover hops (100 g from batch 24) | ~$15 (imputed) |
| Total | ~$88.81 |
| Per litre (at 20.8 L) | $4.27 |
Lineage
- Black Riwaka IPA (December 2020) — the original Home Brew West kit, Owen’s first Black IPA
- Black IPA (May 2022) — first Black IPA with Owen’s own modifications; M44 yeast, 120 g priming sugar
- This brew — Black IPA (June 2022) — US-05 yeast, 105 g priming sugar
- Black IPA (March 2023) — third captured, ~9 months later