21st Amendment Brewery’s Back in Black clone

(5 gallons/19 L, all-grain)
OG = 1.066 FG = 1.014
IBU = 65 SRM = 30 ABV = 6.8%

21st Amendment was ahead of the curve with Back in Black IPA. First brewed in 2008, it was one of the first IPAs using dark malts to boost IPA character without sacrificing hops flavors.

“Black IPAs or Cascadian Dark Ales were really not the norm back then and we wanted to create a unique IPA with dark malt character,” O’Sullivan says.

They describe their year-round black IPA as, “Inspired by Paul Revere’s midnight ride, we rebelled against the British style IPA, embraced the more aggressive American version and then recast it in bold, brave, defiant black. Our Black IPA is a Declaration of Independence from the tyranny of the expected. Brewed like an American IPA but with the addition of rich, dark malts, this beer has all the flavor and hop character you expect with a smooth, mellow finish.”

Ingredients

11 lbs. (4.8 kg) 2-row pale malt
1.25 lbs. (0.57 kg) light Munich malt (6 °L)
12 oz. (28 g) Caramunich® II malt (45 °L)
12 oz. (28 g) Carafa® Special III malt
13.8 AAU Columbus hops (55 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 13.8% alpha acids)
18.4 AAU Centennial hops (0 min.) (2 oz./57 g at 9.2% alpha acids)
17.3 AAU Columbus hops (0 min) (1.25 oz./35 g at 13.8% alpha acids)
2 oz. (57g) Centennial hops (dry hop)
2 oz. (57g) Chinook hops (dry hop)
White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or Safale US-05 yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step

Mill the grains and mix with 4.5 gallons (10.6 L) of 162 °F (72 °C) strike water to reach a mash temperature of 150 °F (65.5 °C). Hold the mash at this temperature for 60 minutes until ezymatic conversion is complete. Vorlauf until your runnings are clear. Sparge the grains with enough water to collect 6.5 gallons (24.6 L) of wort. Boil the wort for 60 minutes, adding hops according to the ingredient list.

After the boil, turn off the heat, add the final addition of hops, and begin a vigorous whirlpool in the kettle. Let the hot wort stand for 20 minutes, then chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 65 °F (18 °C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch the yeast.

Ferment at 67 °F (19 °C) for 7 days. Add the dry hops and raise the temperature to 72 °F (22 °C) for five more days. Once the beer reaches terminal gravity, rack to a keg and force carbonate or rack to a bottling bucket, add priming sugar, and bottle. Target a carbonation level of 2.5 volumes. You may want to cold-crash the beer prior to packaging to 35 °F (2 °C) for 48 hours to improve its clarity.

21st Amendment Brewery’s Back in Black clone

(5 gallons/19 L, extract with grains)
OG = 1.066 FG = 1.014
IBU = 65 SRM = 30 ABV = 6.8%

Ingredients

4 lbs. (1.8 kg) extra light dried malt extract
3.3 lbs. (1.5 kg) Munich liquid malt extract
12 oz. (28 g) Caramunich® II malt (45 °L)
12 oz. (28 g) Carafa® Special III malt
13.8 AAU Columbus hops (55 min.) (1 oz./28 g at 13.8% alpha acids)
18.4 AAU Centennial hops (0 min.) (2 oz./57 g at 9.2% alpha acids)
17.3 AAU Columbus hops (0 min) (1.25 oz./35 g at 13.8% alpha acids)
2 oz. (57g) Centennial hops (dry hop)
2 oz. (57g) Chinook hops (dry hop)
White Labs WLP001 (California Ale) or Wyeast 1056 (American Ale) or Safale US-05 yeast
3⁄4 cup corn sugar (if priming)

Step by Step

Bring 5.6 gallons (21 L) of water to approximately 162 °F (72 °C) and hold there, add the milled specialty grains in grain bags and steep for 15 minutes. Remove the grain bags, and let drain fully. Add the dried and liquid malt extracts while stirring, and stir the wort until the extracts are completely dissolved. Bring the wort to a boil. Boil for 60 minutes, adding the hops according to the ingredient list.After the boil, turn off the heat and begin a vigorous whirlpool in the kettle. Let the hot wort stand for 20 minutes, then chill the wort to slightly below fermentation temperature, about 65 °F (18 °C). Aerate the wort with pure oxygen or filtered air and pitch yeast.

Ferment at 67 °F (19 °C) for 7 days. Add the dry hops and raise to 72 °F (22 °C) for five more days. Once the beer reaches terminal gravity, bottle or keg the beer and carbonate to approximately 2.5 volumes. You may want to cold-crash the beer prior to packaging to 35 °F (2 °C) for 48 hours to improve clarity.

Tips for Success:
If you don’t normally brew with some of the darker roasted grains that are required for brewing a black IPA, it’s not a bad idea to get a city water report (or have one done if you have a well or spring) on your homebrewery’s water source to find out how much carbonate you have. Dark grains will lower the pH of the mash/wort (increase acidity), so you may want to add a little bit of calcium carbonate to your water to counteract. If you add calcium carbonate, 1 tsp. per 5 gallons/19 L is a good rule of thumb to follow. The goal is to keep your mash in the 5.2 to 5.4 range pH range. For more about brewing with chalk we recommend visiting http://www.braukaiser.com/wiki/index.php?title=Building_brewing_water_with_dissolved_chalk.