Double Brew Day

ok, the Double Brew Day - or DBD ~~~ here's how to get double the brew for only 1 extra hour (additional fermenter space required).

You ever notice how your BK is sitting there empty, doing nothing during the mash? Here's how my buddy Ed taught me to put it to work - Brew an extract batch with a 30-min steep during the AG mash cycle. Most of my AG beers are heavy with wheat, so they get a 3x stop stepped mash ~ 20/45/45min at 122/146/154F. The Extract batch is nearing the end of the boil at the end of the mash. Process the extract batch into the fermenters, clean the BK for it's next job. The final stop will be extended by about 45 extra minutes in this process.

Now you're ready to Vorlauf the grain bed into the BK. Conduct the AG batch boil cycle and get it to fermenters too. Clean gear during the AG boil at the end you will have about 5 things that need washed - the BK, the counter-flow chiller, two hoses, and a spoon or two.

For a day only doing an AG batch, the obligation would be 6 hours and you will have 10 gal AG batch in fermenters. If you add this extract batch, your brew day lasts 7 hours, and you will have 10 gal extract and 10 gal AG in fermenters ~ 20 gal total! A no brainer.

Below are my cycling DBDs. Other recipes are in the cycle. I'll mix-and-match the Extract with the AG, and I'll swap them out as I brew new recipes, but in general I go through these in a cycle to keep my primary favs available year round.

AG ~ Bavarian Hefeweizen

ABV: 6°16′88″ (e.g. 6.17%)

IBU: 12-14

Color: Yellow-Gold

My all time Fav ~ and the beer that I was drinking in Munich when I decided to start brewing ~ the traditional Bavarian Hefeweizen. I do 60% wheat (Keep at least 50% for a traditional Bav hef), 30% Pilsen, 10% Munich [and 1lb Melalnoidin in 20gal for feaux-decoction]. Straight up German Noble Hops, all at 60 min to provide a low bitterness of 12-15 IBU. Weihenstephan Weizen yeast with a very large krausen space in the fermenter (or a blow-off tube built to reclaim the yeast). If you wanna go crazy, switch it up with something spicy ~ like Fermentis T58 or BE134.

I have a long term project ~ probably 6 months or more ~ to create "reclaimed Weihenstephan braided pretzel-bread" See my recipes for my idea!

Wheat DBD

Ext ~ Ho Gaarden Replica (w/ a twist)

ABV: 4°98′75″

IBU: 25

Color: Gold

Christyi's fav ~ 4 parts Bav Wheat LME & 1 part Pilsen LME. Classic Saaz at 60 & 15min to get bitterness to 25-30 IBU, and the coriander & orange peel at 10 min. Use T-58 yeast if you want to drive some additional spicyness, or WB-06 if you want a smooth malt/hop balance. If you're doing a 10 gal batch, do 5gal of each.

"Twist" it up each time you brew: swap in sweet orange or fresh; double the spice load; dry hop some American-"C"; bottle drop citrus zest, ... do anything you want to keep the brew twisted.

[[ Also worth AG conversion ]]

AG ~ Ed's Rye-PA

ABV: 6°69′38″

IBU: 40-45

Color: Gold

60% Pale Ale malt, with 30% a 50/50 split of white wheat & flaked rye, and 10% Caramel 20L and Honey malt. PACNORWEST hops (Simcoe & Amarillo) are added at 60, 30, 15, and 0 minutes. If you're feeling froggy, soak oak chips in secondary.

Ed's brews DBD

(Full glass when I drink it next)

Ed, as my Brew-mentor, was gracious enough to give me two brews that he knew would be successful and help me along. He gave me these recipes and told me I would be able to brew them on my own. I did this as my first DBD after buying the 30-gal tri-pot system.

Ext ~ Orange Blossom

ABV: 5°25′00″

IBU: 35-40

Color: Straw-Gold

50/50 mix of Pilsen and Munich LME. Steep Carapils, and add a heafty load of local honey at 10m. "C" hops load at 60, 30m and 15 min.

Half the batch received an Orange zest tincture. The other half-batch received a Lemon zest tincture. Whole fruits would work great as well. You should add anything you want!

AG ~ Lager Maize

ABV: 6°56′25″

IBU: 25

Color: Straw

Build a mix of Pilsen & Vienna malt, then add about 25% flaked corn and a bit of Munich Light and Carapils. Hop load to your desired bitterness (I go for 20-25 IBU using Cluster, Liberty, &/or Tettnang mix at 60, 30, 15, &/or 0 min as you desire). Use 34/70 or Nottingham yeast.

Alternate DBD

Ext ~ Autumn Twilight

ABV: 5°38′13″

IBU: 25

Color: Amber

This became one of my favs! In fact, I've translated it into an AG recipe, which is one of the key ways to use the Extract brewing process.

Equal parts of Golden & Bav Wheat LME. Steep a couple pounds of carapils & crystal 150.

Then, a round-robin of equal amounts of American C-hops (Citra, Cascade, & Centennial). Add 1/2 the Citra & Cascade at 60m, 1/2 Cascade & Centennial at 15m, and the remaining Centennial & Citra at flameout. This would be a good Whirlpool too, but I don't whirlpool Extract batch as it would add 30 minutes to my full day. Set bitterness to around 20-25 IBU. WB-06 or Nottingham yeast as you desire.

AG ~ Continental Divide

ABV: 5°51′25″

IBU: 22-25

Color: Mahogany

Base malt (45%):

half Belgian Pilsen / half American 2-row

Wheat (45%):

half German / half American White

Specialty malts (10%):

half Caravienne / half Midnight Wheat

Hops: set bitterness where you want (I did Christyi's fav - 20-25 IBU)

half German Noble / half American "C" hops. Make a hop-drop sequence that drives your desired aroma.

Yeast:

Split batch 5gal with WB-06 (or T-58) & 5gal with US-05

Two very different beers - both straddling the Atlantic. Sure, you could do this with 100% sole-sourced in one region ~ but then, you couldn't sell the story!

International DBD

Ext ~ Aurora Sauvin

ABV: 5°11′87″

IBU: 18 -22

Color: Gold

Build an LME base with Munich, Gold, &/or Bav Wheat. Steep caramunich 30L and crystal 20L with substantial carapils for crazy thick head for days!

Hops - 100% Nelson Sauvin (hence the name)! I did 3 oz in a 10gal batch, with a bittering add, aroma add, and a 4-day dry hop.

K-97 gives a very clean ferment with a nice hop-blast - one of the best hop forward non-IPA brews I've made.

AG ~ Tallgrass' Halcyon Wheat

ABV: 5°51′25″

IBU: 20

Color: Straw

Official recipe available for download from Northern Brewer, or you could reach out to Tallgrass Brewing. I had to make small adjustments for ingredient availability.

65% Pale Ale malt, 30% white wheat, and 5% torrified wheat & Munich 10L. Magnum hops at 60m to drive the IBU, and lots of Citra at Flameout to give the hop-aroma.

This is one of the few commercial recipes I re-brew regularly throwing in my own adjustments. For example, I'll shift the yeast to a Wheat yeast (WB-06, or W-68) instead of the US-05. A very pleasant "summer but year-round" beer. It was my first, 11th, and 25th brew, and it will stay in my lineup.

American DBD

Ext ~ Fruited 'day-drinker' Wheat

ABV: 4°72′50″

IBU: 20-25

Color: Light gold

Build an American Wheat base with 3 parts Pilsen LME and 1 part Wheat LME. Steep a small bit of Carapils and Munich Light. Bittering hops only to allow the fruit to shine.

Fruit options can include fresh or frozen (say Mango), or fruit extract. Also good with a shot of flavored syrup if you want a feaux-raddler sweet drink.

AG ~ Tropical Tradewinds IPA

ABV: [est] 6°00′00″

IBU: 40

Color: gold

[pending brew]

Large pale or 2-row base with 15% Vienna malt. Add 20-25% adjuncts; a mix of corn, rice, 20L, and carapils. Magnum to drive a firm bitterness at 60m, then 20m, 10m, 170F whirlpool, and dry hop of American IPA hops (Mosaic, Sabro, and Citra).

To drive the "tropical", create a Vodka tincture with fresh grated, roasted coconut.

[I'm really looking forward to the first brew for this one!]

Experimental 1 DBD

(Full glass after brew)

Ext ~ Citrus Radiance Pale Ale

ABV: [est] 5°80′00″

IBU: 18-20

Color: Red

Pale Ale LME (maybe 25% Munich or Gold). Steep 20L, Caramunich 30, and Carapils. American "C" hops at 60, 15min and Flameout. Tincture with Oranges, Lemons, and Lime mix (4:3:1 ratio - Limes are POWERFUL and you don't need a bomb). Use three separate tinctures and load to taste at bottling to control the citrus punch.

AG ~ Midnight Mochachino

Weizen- Stout

ABV: 5°38′12″

IBU: 10-15

Color: Black

80% Base is half wheat / half Pilsen and a bit of Munich Light. Black color comes from 20% Midnight Wheat / Pale Chocolate mix. 5-10% lactose if you want a Weizen-milk-stout. 10-15 IBU from noble hops. Ferment with Weihenstephan yeast.

This makes a light "all-day-drinker" Stout, much softer and lighter than most (and maybe not a true stout, hence ~ Weizen Stout!)

Easy transfer to an extract batch - steep a pound each of midnight wheat & pale chocolate (per 5 gal batch), then replace base grains with 3:1:1 Bav Wheat:Munich:Pale Ale extracts. I use about 15 lbs for a 10 gal batch, so maybe 8 lbs for a 5 gal batch would lad you at around 5.5% ABV.

Experimental 2 DBD

Ext ~ Southern Cross Porter

ABV: [est] 5°50′00″

IBU: 35

Color: Brown

LME base with Munich & Golden mix. Midnight Wheat and Carapils steep. Hop load is New World (NZ) ~ Rakau for bitterness at 60m, and Motueka, Riwaka, and and Pacifica mixed as you please at 15m & Flameout. Ferment with 34/70 or S04.

AG ~ NZ Zunzet

ABV: 9°18′75″

IBU: 32

Color: Dark Brown

Do something BIG - like a Belgium Dark Strong! I used 40lb grain in the mash with 2 lb extra Dark Candi Syrup in boil to drive up close to 10% ABV. Set bitterness to 30-40 IBU with 60m drop, and ensure you have a Dry-hop. New World hops (Rakau, Motueka, Pacifica, and Riwaka) were used for this sequency, and they built an unexpected but pleasant aroma. T-58 yeast added some spectacular fruitiness to compliment the hops.

** So, my fermenter cooling cell was at half-power (one Peltier shorted) so temperature started at 80F and ended at 95F. As you would expect, fermentation was complete at 36 hours. I fixed the module and let it rest for 5 days @60F before bottling. Esters were extremely positive fruitiness. An accident that may not have been as impactful to society as penicillin, but it gave me a spectacular brew!

I'm cherishing this batch, slowly using it for drinking ~ and for cooking. It made a great beer-can Thanksgiving Turkey, and accentuated the Christmas Ham glaze (half beer, half dark Candi syrup). See the food recipes for more.

Note, if done right - this beer can be aged for up to 4 years.

Holiday DBD

(Full glass when I drink it next!)

Ext ~ Southern Star Holiday Ale

ABV: 5°38′13″

IBU: 22

Color: Copper

Mix gold, pale, and Munich LMEs to get the base you desire. Steep carapils and Caramel at whatever lovibond you desire for your planned darkness. Spices? If they're in a pumpkin pie, they're in this beer - literally in the same ratio. add some Sweet Orange Peel to add a light pop. I do spices in a vodka tincture to allow bottle-day adjustments. Add peppermint extract at bottling if you desire.

AG ~ Oktoberfest

ABV: 5°77′50″

IBU: 24

Color: Amber

50/50 load of German Munich & Pilsen Malt. 20% of a Vienna , melanoidin, and carapils mix. Tettnang & Hallertau Mittelfrüh hops at 60, 20, and flameout.

[[[ Huge error made this one spectacular. I started heating to Mashout but forgot to turn on the pump and started focusing on the extract cooling into fermenter. I looked over a few minutes later and saw a steam plume blasting out of the lid ~ basically a full volume decoction! Kill the heat, stir & recirc. I had the slightest hint of charred smell in the wort but proceeded. No burnt grain at the bottom of the MT so I decided to go ahead and ferment it. Great results - the color was actually slightly lighter than Hofbrau Oktoberfest, but the flavor was spot-on. I'll never do it again (too much risk) but was very happy drinking through this brew. ]]]

Festbier DBD

Pic coming soon!

In 2025 I did my extract batch Midnight Mocha. next year (probably July or Aug), I'll do a German Pilsen to compliment the festbier. we'll see if I remember to come back and update this site!

Ext ~ Midnight Mochachino

ABV: 5°38′12″

IBU: 10

Color: Black

3:1:1 of Bav Wheat, Munich, and Pale Ale LME. steep 2lb ea Midnight Wheat & Pale Chocolate malt (in 10 gal). A small load of Tettnang (or other noble) hops for a gentle bitterness. This beer ages well; worth keeping a bottle for 18-24 months for testing.

This stout was very good to me, an easy stout to introduce "I don't like stouts" people, and our dear friends favorite. I brew this primarily as AG but the extract batch is very good too.

Return Home

Page updated

Google Sites

Report abuse