Blacker Danker Ale (Brewed 170113)

I brewed what I hope will be the third and best version of this Cascadian Dark Ale which was sorta meant to be a clone of Santa-Fe's Black IPA but has since grown to be blacker, danker and better in the last two rounds. The goal time was to basically use the same recipe as the last version (IntensityPowerArea) to make 5 gallons to fill the keg since we cannot get enough of it. 

The recipe:

I wanna put the beer I designed for Jon in my 5G keg!
Note: Edit yellow cells for system profile. Edit green cells for recipe creation. DO NOT edit red or blue cells					System Setup
Volume into Fermenter	5.5	gal	20819 grams		Brewhouse efficiency		0.8
Boil Time	60	min			Boil off rate		0.5	gal/hour
Select Style	American Pale Ale		Style Guideline		Loss in kettle		0.2	gal
Expected OG / FG	1.061	1.012	1.045 - 1.060	1.010 - 1.015	Yeast attenuation		0.8
Expected ABV	6.4	%	4.5 - 6.2	%	Grain Absorption		0.11	gal/lb
Expected Bitterness	89.7	IBUs	30 - 45	IBUs	Loss in MashTun		0.11
Grain Build				Hop Schedule
Grain Name	Amount (lbs)	Grain Eff (optional)		Hop Name	Alpha Acid %	Amount (oz)	Time (min)	IBUs
Vienna	2		907.2 grams	Simcoe	12	1	60	39.1
2 Row	5.7		2585.5 grams	Chinook	12	0.5	40	17.0
Chocolate malt	0.4	0.01	181.4 grams
CaraMunich III	1	0.6	453.6 grams	Mosaic	12	1	15	21.0
Carafa III	0.4	0.01	181.4 grams	Chinook	12	0.5	10	8.5
Midnight Wheat	0.4	0.01		Amarillo	8	0.5	5	4.1
Rye	1		453.6 grams
Malt Extract				Chinook	12	1	dry-hop
DME	1.733	71.053	786.1 grams	Amarillo	8	0.5	dryhop
LME		0
Total Gravity Points		349.7026
Brew Day Instructions
Desired Mash Temp	154	F	67.8 C
Mash Water Volume	4	gal (1.47 qt/lb)	15141 grams
Grain Temperature	70	F	21.1 C
Strike Temperature	164.42	F	73.6 C
Grain Absorption Loss	1.199	gal	4538 grams
Sparge water needed	3.399	gal	12866 grams
Pre-boil gravity=1.056
Mixing RO Water with City Water (Carlsbad, NM)						Mash Water Calculation
						2.60	City Water (gal)
Desired Total Alkalinity		200	Edit this value only!!!			1.40	RO Water (gal)
City Water Fraction		0.650	The resulting fraction of water to use to achieve the Total Alkalinity
RO water fraction		0.350
		Csbad (ppm)	RO (ppm)	Mix (ppm)
Sodium	Na	16	8	13
Potassium	K	2	0	1
Calcium	CaCO3	77	1	50
Magnesium	Mg	35	0	23
Total Hardness	CaCO3	338	0	220
Nitrate	NO3-N	0.8	0	1
Sulfate	SO4-S	26	0	17
Chloride	Cl	19	0	12
Carbonate	CO3	0	0	0
Bicarbonate	HCO3	299	16	200
Total Alkalinity	CaCO3	247	13	165

As expected, this is the blackest most metal mash ever

First runnings are black alrigh

That's a sick first runnings, so metal

Boiling in two pots, the smaller is the first runnings, and the larger is lower gravity sparge which got the majority of the hops during the boil.

Hop test - test batch (Equinox)

A test batch of the mostly extract 1 gal test batch beers I'm planing on brewing. I thought I'd make sure the result was drinkable before making all 6 of the batches. This one was Equinox. Note that I'm not using all of those hops, I just wanted to make all of the test batches have equal IBUs.

					System Setup
Volume into Fermenter	0.7	gal	2649 grams		Brewhouse efficiency		0.7
Boil Time	20	min			Boil off rate		0.5	gal/hour
Select Style	American Pale Ale		Style Guideline		Loss in kettle		0.2	gal
Expected OG / FG	1.054	1.011	1.045 - 1.060	1.010 - 1.015	Yeast attenuation		0.8
Expected ABV	5.7	%	4.5 - 6.2	%	Grain Absorption		0.11	gal/lb
Expected Bitterness	341.5	IBUs	30 - 45	IBUs
Grain Build				Hop Schedule
Grain Name	Amount (lbs)	Grain Eff (optional)		Hop Name	Alpha Acid %	Amount (oz)	Time (min)	IBUs
Crystal 40L	0.165	0.7	74.8 grams	Chinnok	11.6	0.23	20	37.4	6.52 grams
				Cluster	6.8	0.4	20	38.1	11.34 grams
				Simco	12.7	0.21	20	37.4	5.95 grams
				Zythos	10.9	0.25	20	38.2	7.09 grams
				Glacier	5	0.55	20	38.6	15.59 grams
				Columbus	16.3	0.17	20	38.8	4.82 grams
Malt Extract				Equinox	14.7	0.19	20	39.2	5.39 grams
DME	1.1	45.1	499 grams
LME		0		Chinnok	11.6	0.23	0	10.3	6.52 grams
Total Gravity Points		48.8191		Cluster	6.8	0.4	0	10.5	11.34 grams
				Simco	12.7	0.21	0	10.3	5.95 grams
				Zythos	10.9	0.25	0	10.5	7.09 grams
Brew Day Instructions				Glacier	5	0.55	0	10.6	15.59 grams
Desired Mash Temp	150	F	65.6 C	Columbus	16.3	0.17	0	10.7	4.82 grams
Mash Water Volume	1	gal	3785 grams	Equinox	14.7	0.19	0	10.8	5.39 grams
Grain Temperature	70	F	21.1 C
Strike Temperature	150.60	F	65.9 C
Grain Absorption Loss	0.01815	gal	68 grams
Sparge water needed	0.08481666667	gal	321 grams
Resulting boil at 15 min left is 1046
Final gravity seems to be 1057

The infusion w/ who knows what grain (crystal 80L I'd guess) and the DME and hops that are about to be added.

Fermentation temperature contol using water bath that I can add ice to

Got a new centigram scale (drug dealer like I hear) to accuratly measure hop and yeast dosages.