The Haka

Brew club challenge was to make a beer using 100g of Rakau and no other hop apart from first addition bittering hop. No other restrictions on malt bill or style. As Rakau are New Zealand hops, I chose to do a Black IPA in reference to the New Zealand rugby team which are known as the all blacks. They have a famous pre-match tribal dance known as the Haka (Ka Mate Haka) and hence the name of the beer.

Malt

The mash was started with Golden Promise and flaked barley for one hour. Other dark grains added at end of mash: chocolate wheat, roasted rye and de-husked roasted barley. All of these dark malts are known less harsh than standard dark malts. The rye should add a little spiciness to the beer. I wanted it to be as dark as possible while still allowing the hops to be the main event to terms of taste.

Hops

Magnum was used to bitter. I wanted it to be bitter as it's an IPA but not to be too assertive. 40g Rakau were added at whirlpool while 60g were added as dry hop.

Yeast

Fermented with US05 for a dry crisp finish at 22C under 10psi with fewer esters. As this was a 6.5% beer more than one pack was required (I only had one pack), I did 24h 1L starter. Fermented at 22C as I didn't have much time left after receiving the hops!