I'm running a one-man campaign to switch people from using black patent, which can be unpleasant at times, to using carafa III. (Actually, I have nothing against black patent but most homebrew shops won't stock carafa III because not many people use it. This is a self-serving campaign.) Carafa III is de-husked malt that is roasted very dark. It contributes lots of roasty flavor without the harshness that black patent can give when you use enough to make a really black brew. I went light on it with my RIS, but I have added 1 lb (steeped) to a 10 gal batch of black Czech lager and it wasn't overly harsh.
I made a RIS with it that was discussed on a previous show. Next time I brew the RIS, I might at a little roasted barley since I now have some on hand. I'm holding off because I haven't found a supplier of carafa III. Morebeer stopped carrying it. Any other ideas?
If you can get ahold of some carafa III, you might try something like the following recipe. Maybe a little more carafa III and a smidge of roasted barley since the brewcasters described it as being a little light in color. The added complexity of some roasted barley couldn't hurt either.
Here's the grain bill and a link to the recipe thread:
11.75 lb Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 83.3 %
0.60 lb Chocolate Malt (350.0 SRM) Grain 4.3 %
0.50 lb Brown Malt (65.0 SRM) Grain 3.5 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 3.5 %
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 3.5 %
0.25 lb Carafa III (525.0 SRM) Grain 1.8 %
Full RIS recipe
) It's 2 months since brewday and it's really nice. Pushing it w/ N2. I'm planning to experiment w/ the remaining kegs. I just got in some high end Tahitian Vanilla extract that I think would go in nicely. I knocked this recipe down to 5.5 gals @ 75% efficiency. So you may need to adjust for your system. And of course round out the amounts ( Though it says, 0.48lbs, I'm not 
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