Danntastic Brewing: Recipes

Preface: 

After a very long hiatus (life got in the way), my latest recipes are linked below. 



For previous brews dating back to 2012, check out this page here. 

Enjoy. 

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A New Brewing World Begins with the ultimate BREWZILLA in 2022 and beyond: 

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NEXT BREWS coming SOON!

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All Grain: 145 (Monday - 2nd October, 2023)

Style: IPA

Name: Chief In Charge

4kg Pilsner

1kg Wheat

@10 - Galaxy 28g

@5 - Galaxy 28g

OG - unavailable due to dumbass here breaking hydrometer

Guesstimate OG=1.040

Guesstimate FG=

ABV* =>

Yeast: US-05

Mash @ 63C for 1hr, 10mins

Brewing Equipment: 

FermZilla 3.1.1 (35L)

RAPT: Fermentation Fridge

Ferment Temp: 20C

All Grain: 144 (Monday - 2nd October, 2023)

Style: American Stout

Name: Oats McGoats

4kg Pilsner

500g Chocolate 

200g Carafa 3

180g Roasted Barley

500g Dextrose

@60 - Centennial

@5 - Centennial

OG - unavailable due to dumbass here breaking hydrometer

Guesstimate OG=1.060

Guesstimate FG=

ABV* =>

Yeast: US-05

Mash @ 63C for 1hr, 10mins

Brewing Equipment: 

FermZilla 3.1.1 (35L)

RAPT: Fermentation Fridge

Ferment Temp: 20C

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Update Sunday, 29th August @ 21:30: 

The beers were flowing on Saturday 26th August, 2023. Guests were excited to taste all my beers on tap for the day (Brew's 140->143 inclusive). 

Notes and tastings are from everyone that arrived, with special notes from myself. 

Brew #140: Coffee Vanilla Stout (Head Slapper)

Party folk: I had about 50% of the people that arrived liked 'Stout' beer. So with that information, those that tried this unequivocally gave this beer an 8/10. 

My thoughts on their feedback: I'd agree. I'd give it an 8/10. I think, for me, that although the vanilla was very subtle it could have been more. Everyone got the 'coffee' but no one really stated that they could taste the subtleness of the vanilla. So much so that if even with the vanilla in the name they felt it just wasn't there. Still, all in all it was a great success. And, yes, I'll be giving the vanilla a slight nudge forward next time. 

Brew #141: American Wheat (The Great Escape)

Party folk: Everyone said this was 'quite nice' or ' quite good'. No real issue with it and that as beers go, this was better than average. The folk that didn't like my Stout (or don't like dark beers like Stout) certainly enjoyed this more. They felt this was 'more taste' than your average beer. 

My thoughts and feedback: An improvement on a previous American Wheat. The previous one had American Pale malt (only thing I had at the time, so used it). Shows what a difference it makes when you have someone else try that and also this too. A marked improvement was the headline for this style. Of course, I used Pilsner malt. Overall, my thoughts there was this was 2nd on the day overall, for those that don't like/didn't like the Stout. I think brewing this again is fine, but I'd choose another hop, add more wheat, back off on the Pilsner and try again. Why not experiment? 

Brew #142: Dunkelweizen (Luftwaffe)

Party folk: I got conflicting feedback from this, but none of it was very good (very constructive to me, however). From 'it's a bit flat' to 'doesn't taste like a dark wheat' to 'it's too smooth' to 'it has too much banana'. This was the lesser of all four beers on the day in everyone's eyes. 

My thoughts and feedback: I agree with the party folk. I tried this on day one while carbonating. I thought 'Wow, I cracked it!'. Not sure what happened after that? Things for me were that it was certainly WAY too banana-forward. At 20C fermentation using that BlueStone liquid yeast (Munich) seems to be quite heavy-handed as a yeast. I wonder if a cooler temp would do the trick when fermenting? Maybe a combination of lower temp first few days and higher temp in the latter? I think for the first time using this yeast it's worth trying, but i can't necessarily say I will use this again? Just too powerful and too banana-flavoured for my liking (and to everyone else's that noticed it). 

Colour for me was just too dark. Backing off the midnight wheat would help, if not remove it completely just to see the difference of not adding it. I prefer a less darker version. Additionally, using a more mellow version of a yeast is probably ideal here. WYEAST is probably the go, but something that has balance between banana/clove. 

Certainly the old WLP yeast was my go-to, even at 20C temperature range. I can't recall which one now (check out previous recipe page) but I had trouble locating it/buying it locally. I think out of all the experiments I did this one was the worthwhile one to do it on. 

In short; use a more subtle yeast suited to the style, probably not to purchase the BlueStone again - but if I ever to test it with a few wheats first, back off completely with the midnight wheat or just use 75% to see what colour you get. Additionally, I'd ferment at a lower temp, say 18C for the duration and see how we go. 

Is this beer still drinkable? Of course. It's just not what it says it is. It may talk the talk, but it doesn't walk the walk. I can certainly improve this to be a stellar, that I do not doubt. Onward and upward. 

Brew #143: Pilsner (Czech Mate)

Party folk: I don't recall a single bad word said about this beer. I advised everyone that this my ale version of a lager Pilsner so they understood that. Having said that, i was quite surprised that everyone gave this beer top marks indeed. A couple said 10/10, some said 9/10. Regardless, everyone actually thoroughly enjoyed this beer to the point that "it's better than the stuff you buy". 

My thoughts and feedback: Heck, even I liked this one! Hard for me to give it a rating but what I will say is that it was a clear winner in terms of 'Beer Of The Day'. Everyone seemed to go back to this, and for those that didn't like the Stout gave the American Wheat a second place. Look, even I went back for more and more. I just liked it that much. I will definitely brew this again as it was a winner all-round. 

For me, such a simple beer - but one needs to brew it well. Surprisingly, not many people do. In this recipe, less is more. Simple ingredients, a noble hop and a good, solid ale yeast has done the trick here. Let it ferment out at a nice ale temp (I had it at 20C) and then carbonate it for four days at 30PSI. Marvellous. (Ode to Richie)

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All Grain: 143 (Sunday - 13th August, 2023)

Style: Pilsner (Ale version)

Name: Matilda's Czech Mate

4kg Bohemian Pilsner

@60 - Saaz

OG - unavailable due to dumbass here breaking hydrometer

Guesstimate OG=1.048

Guesstimate FG=

ABV* =>

Yeast: US-05

Mash @ 63C for 1hr, 10mins

Brewing Equipment: 

FermZilla 3.1.1 (35L)

RAPT: Fermentation Fridge

Ferment Temp: 20C

All Grain: 142 (Saturday - 12th August, 2023)

Style: Dunkelweizen - German Dark Wheat Beer

Name: Luftwaffe

3kg Dark Wheat

2kg Bohemian Pilsner

125g Cara Wheat

125g Midnight Wheat

@60 - Hallertau

OG - unavailable due to dumbass here breaking hydrometer

Guesstimate OG=1.040

Guesstimate FG=

ABV* =>

Yeast: BLUESTONE LIQUID YEAST - Munich

Mash @ 63C for 1hr, 10mins

Brewing Equipment: 

FermZilla 3.1.1 (35L)

RAPT: Fermentation Fridge

Ferment Temp: 20C

All Grain: 141 (Sunday - 30th July, 2023)

Style: American Wheat 

Name: Great Escape

3kg Pilsner

3kg Wheat

@90 - Hallertau (Yep, a 90 minute boil)

@10  - Galaxy

@flameout  - Galaxy

OG - unavailable due to dumbass here breaking hydrometer

Guesstimate OG=1.040

Guesstimate FG=1.010

ABV* => 4%

Yeast: US - 05

Mash @ 63C for 1hr, 10mins

Brewing Equipment: 

FermZilla 3.1.1 (35L)

RAPT: Fermentation Fridge

Ferment Temp: 20C for 10 Days

All Grain: 140 (Saturday - 29th July, 2023)

Style: Stout - Coffee Vanilla Stout

Name: HeadSlapper

4kg Pilsner

300g Choc

200g Roasted Barley

200g Carafa 3

300g Holy Goat Coffee Beans (Top Paddock)

@60 - Centennial

@10 - Centennial 

@flameout - Centennial

OG - unavailable due to dumbass here breaking hydrometer

Guesstimate OG=1.056

Guesstimate FG=1.010

ABV* => 6%

Yeast: US - 05

Mash @ 63C for 1hr, 10mins

Brewing Equipment: 

FermZilla 3.1.1 (35L)

RAPT: Fermentation Fridge

Ferment Temp: 20C for 11 Days

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Presumably I didn't brew any more after Nov 2022? I think I did but can't recall what they were! Still, let's pretend I didn't an the ones from here are still in numerical order. 

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All Grain: 139 (Friday 4th November, 2022)

Name: American Wheat 

Brew #1 (Take 2, V2)

3kg Pale

3kg Wheat

Mash: 62C

US-05

@10 minutes, 5g Galaxy

@7 minutes, 5g Galaxy

@5 minutes, 20g Galaxy

OG=1.050

FG=1.0

ABV: %

PS: The previous AW wasn't up to scratch. It was drinkable, but I had it on the same carbonation levels as the German Wheat. I didn't quite like the "over carbonated" taste. This is take two, and with that I'll be doing a 2-day, 30 PSI carb level. 

All Grain: 138 (Friday 4th November, 2022)

Name: Specialty Ale (in between an American Stout and an Oatmeal Stout)

Brew #2

4kg Pale

1kg Wheat

1kg Rolled Oats (bought from Coles, so a generic 'Coles' branded oats)

300g Choc

200g Roasted Barley

175g Black

@60 minutes, 5g Cascade

@10 minutes, 30g Cascade

Mash: 62C

US-05

OG=1.056

FG=

ABV: %

PS: I'll probably put Vanilla in it as I did last time with this beer. I may include Coffee, but this time I'll cold brew it first. Let's see how we go with timing, etc. 

All Grain: 137 (Friday 14th October, 2022)

Name: American Wheat

Brew #1

3.5kg American Pale malt (didn't have Pilsner, so it has to do) 

3kg Wheat

@60 Centennial

Mash: 62C

US-05

OG=1.052

FG=1.010

ABV: 5.6%

All Grain: 136 (Friday 14th October, 2022)

Name: 

Brew #2

3kg Wheat

2.3kg American Pale malt (didn't have any Pilsner, so this will have to do)

@60 Hallertau

Mash: 64C

Wyeast 

OG=1.050

FG=1.014

ABV: 4.8%

All Grain: 135 (Sunday 19th September, 2022)

Name: Chief München (Munich Ale)

3.5kg Munich malt 

1.5kg Wheat

500g Biscuit

@60 East Kent Golding 10g

Mash: 62C

US-05

Fermentation with Grainfather Conical Fermenter: 21C

OG=1.050

FG=1.008

ABV: 5.6%

All Grain: 134 (Sunday 11th September, 2022)

Brew #2

Name: Strong Than Zelenskyy (Double IPA)

4kg Gladfield Ale malt (I am testing this malt instead of American Ale malt)

500g Wheat

500g CaraHell

+1kg Dextrose

@60 CTZ 5g

@30 Cascade 7g

@10 Amarillo 50g

Mash: 62C

US-05

Fermentation at: 22C Temp (using the RAPT fermentation chamber)

OG=1.070

FG=1.008

ABV: 8.3%

All Grain: 133 (Sunday 11th September, 2022)

Brew #1

Name: Bigger Than Obama (American Stout)

4kg Gladfield Ale malt (I am testing this malt instead of American Ale malt)

500g Munich

500g Wheat

300g Dark Choc (Gladfield)

200g Roasted Barley

175g Black

@60 Simcoe 5g

@10 Simcoe 10g

Mash: 62C

US-05

Fermentation at: 22C Temp (using the RAPT fermentation chamber)

OG=1.050

FG=1.008

ABV: 5.6%

.....I brewed x4 times in 2022, but didn't capture any details. Yep, I suck. I am now counting from 133 onward. 

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All grain #128

Brew day: ** December, 2021 ()

To Be Determined. Watch this space!

All grain #127

Brew day: 7th December, 2021 (Tuesday)

Name: Dark Beer Lord

Style: IPA

4kg Gladfield American Pale

500g Wheat

US-05

Mash: 63

#BrewZilla

No OG taken as my hydrometer broke. Dear, dear me. 

All grain #126

Brew day: 5th December, 2021 (Sunday)

Name: Dark Beer Lord

Style: Dunkelweizen

3kg Dark Wheat

2kg Bohemian Pilsner

250g CaraWheat

125g Eclipse Wheat 

WLP351 Bavaria Yeast - (I think this was purchased elsewhere, possibly Grain and Grape)

Thanks to BeerBelly in South Australia for the ingredients, as they were the only supplier where I could get my hands on all ingredients for my special beer

#BrewZilla

No OG taken as my hydrometer broke. Dear, dear me. 

All grain #125

Brew day: 4th December, 2021 (Saturday)

Name: Private Cookie

4kg Gladfield American Pale malt

1kg Wheat

Mash: 63C

x3 US-05 (only as I need it by the following week! Oopsies!

500g Dextrose

No OG taken as my hydrometer broke. Dear, dear me. 

#BrewZilla

All grain #124

Brew day: 29th August, 2021 (Sunday)

Name: Private Cookie

4kg Gladfield American Pale Ale malt

1kg Wheat

500g Biscuit

Mash 63C

US-05 x2 (i had a spare lying around, so just used it)

@10 Amarillo (18g)

#BrewZilla

(I'm looking to dry hop this one too). 

OG=1.056

FG=1.010

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Notes: A recipe I have wanted to do for some years.  Simple yet slightly off-centre. The use of Biscuit malt for me was the substitute for Munich. I keep my beers simple, and my awesome array of beers mostly have Munich malt in them. This brew, I tossed that idea out the window. The inspiration was a few years back when I did a similar brew with Victory malt. I enjoyed slightly different texture it provided. So, with that I ran with the idea of using Biscuit. 

Another note was rather than use sparge water, i deliberately filled the BrewZilla with 27L of strike water and just brewed as normal. Of course, that ended up with about 22L of product, which post boil probably wouldn't have ended up with a full keg. So I just dumped an extra 3L of hot water in there. OG came out quite lower than expected so just added some dextrose to hit 10.56. 

So one day use up gas on the stove to heat up the extra litres of water to sparge or you can use dextrose. I choose to use dextrose to make my brewing day even more easier. I think I'll do this from now on as I can really bump up the ABV if required should I really change my mind late in the brew day and say to myself: "...f**k it, this beer is going to be a doozy". 

Brew day was smooth sailing, so I'm guess two brew days to get used to this vessel and try a couple of random things has helped me. I just LOVE the BrewZilla. 

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All grain #123

Brew day: 22nd August, 2021 (Sunday)

Name: Silly Milli Vanilli (Coffee Vanilla Stout)

4kg Gladfield American Pale Ale malt

500g Wheat

250g Gladfield Choc Dark

100g Roasted Barley

100g Black

250g (Freshly ground coffee beans purchased from Holy Goat in Port Macquarie)

Mash 62C

US-05 x2 (i had a spare lying around, so just used it)

@60 Centennial 15-18g

@5 Centennial, Galaxy, Cascade 

OG=1.048

FG=1.010

ABV: 5.1%

Updated Notes 31/8/21 at 6:36pm: Can this be even better than the first? Can it? Can it!? I think it is! What made this just that much better? In my opinion, the removal of CaraHell from this, the increase in Choc, backing off both on the Roasted and Black malts and then increasing the Coffee beans was key to pushing this to an amazing level. 

This has to be my 'go to' Coffee Stout. I'll add some Vanilla bean paste to it at some point, but for now let me enjoy these few with out. Wow. Coffee stands out like nothing else. It's light and crispy and delicious. 

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(Notes: Strike water was heated in the BrewZilla to 63C, and grain then mashed in. It is now circulating comfortably at 62C and mashing at said temp)

Difference in recipe today was to see two things: 

1) Impact on a beer of this style without 500g CaraHell (see brew #122), a slight decrease in both Roasted and Black malts while increasing the Coffee Beans from Holy Goat. 

DUMBASS mistake #2: Hello, McFly?! Granted, I was drinking my #122 beer at the time (SOO NICE), which explain why I forgot to heat up the sparge water LOL. Oh well. 

Lastly, regardless of the outcome it's just nice to be back brewing again - and making these 'fun' mistakes. I'll pay attention next time, though. 

PS: Update 24/8/2021 - my birthday, how about that. I'll considering putting the vanilla bean in possibly end of the week while this is fermenting or in the keg. I'll choose probably by weeks' end. 

All grain #122

Brew day: 8th August, 2021 (Sunday)

Name: Chief (Coffee Stout)

4kg Gladfield American Pale Ale malt

500g Wheat

500g CaraHell

250g Gladfield Choc Dark

125g Roasted Barley

125g Black

125-150g (Freshly ground coffee beans purchased from Holy Goat in Port Macquarie)

PS: Yes, sure you can cold-steep coffee beans and add them to the keg post fermentation, but such was the day I just ended up doing it in the mash as I have done before. No harm, no foul. Still, the aroma was something to behold. I'm not a coffee drinker, but the aroma of good coffee cannot be knocked. It's phenomenal. Yikers!

Mash temp: 

62-63C 

Mash length: 

60 minutes (roughly, but was probably slightly longer)

@60 Centennial 15-18g

@5 Centennial, Galaxy, Cascade (50g total, unsure of individual amounts)

US-05

OG=1.054

FG= (expected: 1.013)

Ferm Temp: 21C (sitting comfortably)

5.5% ABV 

Updated 22/8/2021: A fantastic beer. Brew 123 may be slightly 'better' but this is just as freakin' good. Just enjoy, mate. Just enjoy. 

Notes: A huge shoutout to Adrian over at Tuggerah Country Brewer. Pointed me to the awesome BrewZilla - and when I saw it, I wanted one! Do yourself a favour and support your local home brewery!

After such a long hiatus of brewing (lots of procrastination in that time), this BrewZilla got me majorly motivated. 

Some caveats, however. A few run-ins on brew day, not least of which was the lack of a scale. I cannot be sure where my original one went, but I was lost without it, for a few minutes at least. The scales I had since my all grain days seems to have disappeared since I used them last. How do I work out 1kg, for example? Quite simple, actually. I bought 1kg of Wheat off Adrian at Tuggerah Country Brewer and poured that into a bowl. Well, my biggest bowl only fit about half (so 500g). So, going by that I needed eight (8) bowls of Gladfields American Pale to make 4kg, right? Easy. So with that, I measure the VERY rough amounts (as see above) into the bowl and then into the BrewZilla. 

The other 'fuck-up' I did was actually, in hindsight, logical why I did it. Let me explain. When I batch sparge I usually heat the strike water to about 76-78C, and then I pour that into a mash tun (namely my esky). I then add grains and by the time all that happens the temp drops to around about 62C or thereabouts for my normal mashing temp (pretty much for most of my beers, actually). However, dumbass here with the new BrewZilla decided to that THIS knowledge and APPLY it to the BrewZilla - and....well, it didn't quite work out. 

It got stuck on 76C for a bit. Adding cold water and switching off the BrewZilla allowed it to cool down until such time as it hit (roughly) 62C. It's here when I switched on the elements, although to be fair it seemed to keep the temp going quite well. My favourite portion of this BrewZilla is the pump and its recirculation. That is a feature and benefit I will admit to liking. 

Still, apart from yours truly being a complete and utter goose (don't need a long neck to be one), this BrewZilla brew day was awesome. 

I fully recommend the BrewZilla. It's got me very motivated to brew as I did all those years ago. 

Long may it continue. 

On the Boil.

The Setup. Cool.

BrewZilla!

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HIATUS -----
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Double-batch Brew Day

All grain #120-121

Brew day: 17th-18th October , 2020

Brew#1

Name: Boobies Pale Ale

4kg Pilsner

500g Munich

500g Wheat

500g Victory

Mash temp: 

63C 

Mash length: 

60 minutes

@60 Centennial 10g

@10 Centennial 10g

US-05

OG=1.060

FG= TBA

Brew #2
Ingredients above  in Brew #1, plus below:  

Name: Mr. T - Vanilla Stout

2kg Maris Otter (optional)

500g Cara Hell

500g Victory

100g Black

150g Roasted Barley

Mash temp: 

62C

Mash length

40 minutes

@60 Centennial 10g 

@10 Centennial 10g

US-05

OG=1.046

FG=TBA

Double-batch Day

All grain #119

Brew day: 20th October , 2019 Sunday

Name: Dunkel-Mania

Style: Hefeweizen Dunkel

3kg Wheat
2kg Pilsner
750g Munich
250g Carapils

--
added

250g CaraWheat
150g Carafa Special II

Wyeast 3068


@60 Hallertau 12g


Mash: 67.5C

Fermentation temp: 20.5C

OG=1.048
FG=1.014

ABV:

Brewing Notes:  I simply added the CaraWheat and Carafa Special II once I sparged the strike water out from the Hefe. I mixed in both sets of grains, and I probably left it in there for about 5 minutes, no more. Then sparged that as well. I did get a lot of 'coffee' aroma which is very bad for this style. Granted, looking back I probably could have got away with maybe adding extra CaraWheat to get the darkness and carmel notes. Probably worth considering next time and once this beer is in the keg and I have tasted it. Will leave it at that for the time being. Also noting I added dextrose to this, considering the first runnings were taken by the Hefe. I just dumped a bit in the fermenter just after I added the yeast. It should go well now.

Personal notes: yeast.

The Fans said: 

Personal rating:



Double-batch Day

All grain #118

Brew day: 20th October , 2019 Sunday

Name: Hefe-vescent

Style: Hefeweizen

3kg Wheat
2kg Pilsner
750g Munich
250g Carapils


Wyeast 3068


@60 Hallertau 12g


Mash: 67.5C

Fermentation temp: 20.5C

OG=1.060
FG=

ABV:

Brewing Notes:  Added Munich and Carapils to the recipe. Increased mash temp. To be fair that alone probably would have done the trick, but while we are at it let's play around a little.

Personal notes: Used Wyeast 3068 on both brews this double-batch brew day. 

Double-batch Day

All grain #117

Brew day: 15th September , 2019 Sunday

Name: Hello Germany!

Style: Amber Weizen

4kg Wheat
3kg Pilsner

--
added 3kg Munich to the mash, then mashed for another hour.

WLP300 (plus US-05 to give it a helping hand)


@60 Hallertau 12g


Mash: 63.5-64C

Fermentation temp: 19.5C

OG=1.090
FG=1.030

ABV: 8%

Brewing Notes: I had free reign over brewing of this beer. Granted, it's been a while since I've put down a batch so I most likely over did it somewhat. Still, the intention was an amber wheat which was exactly what was provided.

This was more full-bodied (due to the Munich) and was a great beer, and very, very smooth (which was a lot of the feedback for an 8% beer). I liked it much better, but the aroma/flavour for me (as per below comments) was just a bit too much. Need to fix.

Personal notes: Too much banana aroma/flavour in this yeast, even at the lower end of the fermentation temperature spectrum. Same goes for the Hefe below. Both temp controllers were at about 19C for the duration, maybe, say, 19.5C (give or take +1 temperature difference in these things). Next brew will be with Wyeast 3068, which has been my favourite German Wheat beer yeast. I'll see if this is still the case next brew.

The Fans said: A dangerous beer as it was as smooth as a baby's butt!

Personal rating: 8/10. Aroma/flavour a bit too much banana in it. Will seek to look at another yeast strain and try my trusted Wyeast 3068 next batch. Apart from that, this beer was my favourite. Both kegs at end of the Guptoberfest Party were empty.


All grain #116

Brew day: 15th September , 2019 Sunday

Name: D & B Funzig Funzig

Style: Hefeweizen

4kg Wheat
3kg Pilsner

WLP300 (plus US-05 to give it a helping hand)


@60 Hallertau 12g

Mash: 64C

Fermentation temp: 19.5C

OG=1.060
FG=1.018

ABV: 5.6%

Brewing Notes:  Not brewed in a while, so it was a long brew day. Not much to gain from it during, but getting rid of the cobwebs (as it were) was good.

Personal notes: Too much banana aroma/flavour in this yeast, even at the lower end of the fermentation temperature spectrum. Same goes for the Hefe below. Both temp controllers were at about 19C for the duration, maybe, say, 19.5C (give or take +1 temperature difference in these things). Next brew will be with Wyeast 3068, which has been my favourite German Wheat beer yeast.

The Fans said: Great beer, just body was a little too thin.

Personal rating: 7/10. Aroma/flavour a bit too much banana in it. Will seek to look at another yeast strain and try my trusted Wyeast 3068 next batch.