The Great Pumpkin Porter 2022

A perennial fall favorite in the Zorn house - Pumpkin Ales. The past few years we've been focusing on our "Der Kurbis" version which is a rich Amber ale fermenting with German Ale yeast. But, in 2022 we return to a classic, the Pumpkin Porter. Sticking with what works, we use fresh pumpkin spices in the keg, add a touch of Brown Sugar and Honey in the boil and ferment with an English yeast for a bit of residual sugar/mouthfeel. 

2022 Return...It's been a minute

Prost from the Netherlands! 

A must-see hidden gem of a beer bar
 in Brugge, Belgium - De Garre

It's been a crazy few years for all of us - and I've been focusing on all sorts of different professional and personal projects that took me away from more regular updates on the blog. That said, the beer journey continues and with some new adventures being stationed in Europe these days. Using this blog as mostly an archive, I'm hoping to update it with some of our favorite recent stories, recipes, and beer pairing dinners...

A few highlights along the way:

Articles for the American Homebrew Association (Need to have subscription for access):

• Zymurgy May/June 2021 
• Article: ROI Return on Investment for the Homebrewer
• Recipes: Charismatic Mango Fauna (Mango Cream Ale); Oceania Southern Hemisphere Hop IPA/Homegrown IPA; Any Porter in a Storm Rye Whiskey Barrel Rye Imperial Porter
•  Zymurgy July/August 2020
• Article: Homebrewing, One Spreadsheet at a time
• Recipes: Pops & Bobs Parti-Gyle (Imperial Pale/Kellerbier); West Seattle Amber Ale

Story in Military Families Magazine highlighting my last tour working on Capitol Hill during Coast Guard Congressional Affairs assignment.

I'm also jumped on the Instagram bandwagon @Zorn.brewing. 

Shoutout to Sam Kulp for his awesome 
craftsmanship on the Coast Guard Marine Safety
Trident Tap!

Tom's 40th "Munstergeleen Rye Double IPA"

It's an understatement to say that our 2021 transfer to the Netherlands was a bit rocky. Two ER visits and losing our rental house days before moving was not the introduction to Europe we expected. But - there's always a silver lining! We found another house just around the corner and thankfully met some wonderful neighbor's to help with our transition. Neighbor Tom was one of the best from the start and we became fast friends. We brewed up a special batch of Rye Double IPA for his 40th birthday party. Great beer & company!

A historical tribute: WWII Hero RAF Flt Lt Arkle - British Golden Ale with American Hops

This special beer was inspired by my good friend Chris Watts' research/documentation into Royal Air Force WWII hero that seemed to have little documentation in English. Chris did a masterful job of researching the archives in Belgium, Netherlands, and UK to compile his heroic and tragic WWII story here. 

It seemed fitting to brew a UK inspired beer on what would have been RAF Flt Lt Arkle's 100th birthday. We kept it in the "session-able" pub strength but added a little American flare w/ Cascade and Simcoe hops. 

Happy Veteran's Day

I ran across this AHA Article from 2015, which holds up surprisingly well. Cheers to all those homebrewers that have served and are currently serving.

Homebrew on the Hill - Majestic Sea Cow - Galaxy Hopped American Pale Ale

UPDATE - We won Best of Show!

We found some perfect art from Sloe Gin Fizz.
Thanks to Nicole for letting us use the image for our shirts!

Earlier this year, I joined a great new group of coworkers on Capitol Hill. Within weeks, we had made plans to enter into the Capitol Hill Home-brew Competition, but weren't sure what to brew. In true democratic fashion, we setup to do an extensive tasting of styles to choose one that truly represents the people - or at least the handful of us in the office. While not unanimous, the group enjoyed citrusy new American hops and session strength. The natural choice was obvious - American Pale Ale. 

But - what to call this concoction? In a stroke of genius, we combined our Florida district connection (Manatees) with our committee assignments (Space) and voila The Majestic Sea Cow - Galaxy Hopped Pale Ale!

Also available here: https://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/majestic-sea-cow/ 

Two Beers - One Boil: Spring 2019 Editions Ace in the Hole Double Kolsch & Slackline Saison

Brewing on a time budget can be tough, especially if you want to explore new ingredients and unique ingredients and styles. My favorite way to save time is to intentionally produce two different beers from the same mash and/or the same boil. This batch resulted in two very different beers solely based on the yeast and fermentation character - both absolutely delicious. 

The inspiring for this recipe came from my friend Brian who is just getting back into the Homebrew hobby. He wanted to brew something that was special but not terribly weird. I thought Saison would be a great platform to experiment. Given his desire for some citrusy character, it reminded me of a brew back in 2015 with my friend Ryan. A simple recipe but delicious and complex - Super Saison strength with Sorachi Ace Hops. This go around we mixed it up with some toasted and crushed Indian Coriander but we kept the classic yet temperamental Dupont Yeast WLP565 strain - if you have the fermentation time, it cant be beat. 

For the second brew - Ace in the Hole Double Kolsch -I chose an underrated yeast - German Ale WLP029 - typically reserved for Kolsch and Alt. It's super smooth and thought it might provide a great baseline to compare the recipes. I think we may have found our new Super Summer ale...

Guzzle Bunny Pale Ale 2019

As our time in South Carolina draws to a close later this summer, we revisit an old classic - the venerable American Pale Ale. This is our go-to recipe, and we've brewed dozens of variations over the years - it never disappoints. You might notice it shares a similar malt profile to the Pops Hops IPA, but keeps things a bit more balanced in terms of bitterness and alcohol. New American hops work very well, but so do some old school favorites such as Willamette and Cascade.

We also chose to commemorate the close of another tour of brewing by making some custom tshirts (logo above) - the mountains and pale ale are favorites of my wife - Rachel. Cheers!

Low Country Coast Guard Brew and Que (West Seattle Amber Ale & Garage Band Double Cream)

Later today a group of Coast Guard Officers and Chiefs will be wishing Fair Winds and Following Seas to our departing members down on the beach in sunny Isle of Palms, South Carolina (minutes outside Charleston).

What better way to send them off then some hand crafted barbecue and beer?


I'll be serving two special brews, an old favorite (West Seattle Hoppy Amber) and new inspiration (The Commodore Imperial Cream Ale).

Vote for your favorite on our Poll. 

Recipes included below:

Featured in new Homebrewing Book: Homebrew World! (Serendipity Saison)

As of April 2018, a great new homebrewing book was released by Brooklyn based beer writer Joshua Bernstein. It's called Homebrew World and I'm one of the featured homebrewers! Josh did an awesome job with the entire book; I couldn't be happier with my segment. Lots of great recipes and tips as well. Thanks for everyone that's been part of my brewing story so far. Cheers!


A few links:

• Amazon
• Review

Recipe of Serendipity Saison as well.

Julia & Justin: A Special Round of Wedding Beer! (J2 Tripel, Pops Hops IPA, Eakins' Saison, Cafe con Leche Stout)

The Story

Shortly after finding out about my sister's engagement over a year ago, one of the first wedding decisions was of course...beer! As formal "Save-the-dates" and bridal parties were assembled, I received a shiny envelope which revealed a very official request for me to act as their "Brewmaster." I'll be posting more pictures from the event this weekend, but I wanted to share some of the recipes that have been designed, tinkered, and ultimately executed way down in Charleston, South Carolina before travelling all the way up to Philadelphia for the big day. Also, a special brew from our cousin Chris up in Brooklyn. I think these will make it into the regular rotation at the Zorn house, I hope you might try to brew some for yourself.

Cheers to Julia and Justin! 

The Brews

Pop’s Hops
American IPA

We like to think of this recipe as a Zorn classic, born from Julia’s dad’s, Burk, love of all things Hoppy. This IPA is brewed in the “west-coast” style, and multiple dry-hop additions showcase copious American hops like Columbus, Mosaic, and Citra giving it a distinct citrus aroma.

Specs: O.G. 1.058, 6.9abv, 67ibu

Eakins’ Saison

A great edition to the arsenal of Saisons brewed and enjoyed at family gatherings. We took a special twist on this batch for Justin by adding malted wheat to the grain bill and keeping the alcohol content low…for maximum drinkability ;) The wheat’s round texture is complemented by wonderful “Saison” flavors of pepper, clove, and citrus.

Specs: O.G. 1.046, 5.5abv, 15ibu

 Café con Leche Stout

A family of brewers; this incredible beer was brewed by Julia’s cousin Chris Lovrich. Milk sugars add an incredible mouthfeel while cold-brewed coffee provides a delicious accent to the Stout’s underlying notes of espresso and chocolate. Breakfast Beer anyone? Specs: 4.3abv,13ibu

"American Stowaway" White IPA

New American Hops meets French Farmhouse Yeast

Belgian beers seem to be all the rage for American craft brewers.  Keeping with the hallmarks of drinkability or "digestible" as the belgians would say and distinctive yeast derived flavors, their arguably one of the most approachable families of beer styles.  In truth, only beers produced in Belgian should hold the title "Belgian," and even fewer (less than 10 brewers) can legally be labeled "Trappist." American versions  are properly labeled "Belgian-style." That is not to say America does not have some world-class examples from several fantastic breweries making some of the finest and likely freshest examples  of Belgian-style ale any of us will ever enjoy. 

Style mixing is not uncommon in American craft beer, but does require a strong vision and artful hand of the brewer. Like many recent trends, such as Black IPA  have seen great popularity in recent. Some may take it a step too far in my opinion such as Black Kolsch, however this post isn't about beer labels...

American brewers have been able to successfully innovate and built upon the fantastic canvas of beer characteristics to built unique new world versions.  Breaking with tradition,  several U.S. breweries have introduced "white IPA" such as Deschutes Chainbreaker or "Belgian IPA" such as Allagash's Hugh Malone.  Many of these trendsetting beers take the bright vibrant characters like tropical fruit, passion fruit, and lemon of new American hops such as Citra and artfully balance them with the unique yeast characteristics like pepper, citrus, and even bubblegum of Belgian yeast strains.  It may not seem like a natural marriage, but with a little restraint (uncommon for most hopheads out there) you'll be rewarded.

"American Stowaway" is a play on the fact that the following recipe take a straightforward Saison malt and yeast profile then hijacks with those "stowaway" new American hops, specifically Citra. Eminently drinkable as any Saison should be, but also with a hop edge common in American Pale Ales and IPAs. Cheers!

"American Stowaway" Recipe (5gl)

Malt (Mash at 146F for 20 min & 155F for 60 min):

·          10 lbs Belgian Pils

·          1.5 lbs German Munich

·          1 lbs White Wheat

·          1 lbs Flaked Wheat

o    0.5 lbs Demerara Sugar

o    Irish Moss

o    Wyeast Nutrient

Hops (31 IBU):

·          0.5 oz Citra 14% (60 min)

·          1 oz Ahtanum 3.4% (15 min)

·          0.5 oz Citra 14% (0 min)

·          1 oz Citra 14% (Dryhop)

Yeast: Belgian Saison 3724, with High Gravity Trappist added for Attenuation

O.G. 1.055, F.G. 1.008, ~6.2% ABV

 

Admiral's Reserve Russian Imperial Stout

Inspiration can come from a lot of places for homebrewers, but sometimes it is as simple as the favorite beer or beer style of a colleague or family member. Over the years it has always brought me a lot of joy to craft a recipe after someone's favorite style or commercial beer and see just how close (or better in some cases) the beer is for them personally. This recipe is just one example of that. A mentor of mine was being promoted to Admiral and to mark that occasion I couldn't think of a better tribute than a personalized brew. Luckily it coincided with the Winter months, so when he suggested an Imperial Stout it was a natural fit. My take on the style is rich but relatively approachable (*for 10+%), and can be enjoyed within the same brewing season. Be sure to pitch plenty of yeast for a behemoth like this. You may also want to try out a technique for big beers called Parti-Gyle which allows you to take the second runnings for a high gravity beer like this and make a lower gravity beer from the residual sugars. And don't forget to reserve a bottle of this year's vintage to compare with next years....

Admiral's Reserve Russian Imperial Stout (RIS) (10 gl Final, 90-Minute boil):Grain (~65% Efficiency, Mash @ 149F for 75 min+ 165 Mashout +15min Recirculation, Chlorine Filtered H2O w/ 2Tblsp CaCl2)

• 30# (75%) British Maris Otter (Crisp)
• 2# (5%) Flaked Oats
• 1.5# (3.8%) Weyermann CaraAroma (Crystal 130)

Dark Grains added at Re-circulation Step

• 1.5# (3.8%) Roasted Barley
• 1.5# (3.8%) Chocolate Rye
• 1# (2.5%) Carafa II

Hops (45IBU, Quantities for 10 gl)

• 2.5oz, Comet, 11.3% AA, 75 min BKO (Before Knock Out)
• 3oz, East Kent Golding, 5% AA, 15 min BKO

Extra: Irish Moss, Wyeast Nutrient, 1# Clover Honey and 1.5# Brown Sugar at 15 min BKO

Yeast: WLP002 English Ale Yeast w/ 2L Starter (Primary for at least 2 weeks)

O.G. 1.095, F.G. 1.024, ~10.2%abv