Black is Beautiful is a worldwide beer collaboration and social initiative powered by a big imperial stout. In this episode of Chop & Brew we talked with Marcus Baskerville, head brewer and founder of Weathered Souls Brewing Company in San Antonio, about the recipe and social justice cause behind this beer. Marcus also gave us some tips to homebrewers who want to brew the beer for themselves. Below we have two different homebrew-scale versions of the beer: both 3- and 5-gallon volume brews of OG 1.074 and 1.095 versions of the beer.

Useful Links Mentioned in Video:

• Black is Beautiful – main site for details, label art, donation info, and pro-scale recipe
• Pro brewers: Get 2019 Cascade hops for Black is Beautiful brew donated from BSGCraft
• Reiterated Mash/Double Mash – article by Chris Colby, mentioned in episode. An advanced technique for achieving high-gravity wort. We don’t incorporate this in the recipes below, but if you wanted to you would have to adjust the grist, mash, and length of your brew day.

Specialty malts, hops and dry yeast ready for Black is Beautiful brew day!

Notes on Black is Beautiful homebrew recipe per Marcus Baskerville:

• Suggested mash temperature is 154-155F
• Aim for prolonged boil, upwards of three hours. Again, our recipes below assume 60 minutes boil, so adjust your recipe accordingly for pre- and post-boil gravity if you are going to do a longer boil.
• Play around with additional flavorings such as coffee, vanilla, coffee, dark fruits, spices, chilies, nuts. Even additional sugars like lactose or dark candi sugar. The sky is the limit with this recipe!

If you brew this beer, please let share your brew day and recipe adjustments with us. Post photos to Instagram and Twitter with #blackisbeautifulbeer and tag us @chopandbrew!

FIVE GALLONS OF OG 1.095 BEER – ONE HOUR BOIL

THREE GALLONS OF OG 1.095 BEER – ONE HOUR BOIL

FIVE GALLONS OF OG 1.074 BEER – ONE HOUR BOIL

THREE GALLONS OF OG 1.074 BEER – ONE HOUR BOIL