18B American Pale Ale
Dusty Zombies
Grain bill
| Gladfield Ale Malt | 4.73 kg | 75% |
| Gladfield Vienna Malt | 1.58 kg | 25% |
Adjuncts
| Whirlfloc | 2 g @ 15 min |
| Yeast nutrient | 2 g @ 15 min |
Hop schedule
| Hop | 60 min | 15 min | WP 80°C | DH#1 |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moutere | 50g | · | · | · |
| Nectaron | · | 20g | 30g | 50g |
| Superdelic | · | 20g | 30g | 50g |
Yeast
| LalBrew Verdant IPA | 2 packets |
Water additions
| Calcium Chloride | — |
| Magnesium Sulfate | — |
Tasting notes
2023-10-19
About This Beer
Dusty Zombies is a New Zealand-style Pale Ale inspired by the grain profile of Zombie Dust, the celebrated American Pale Ale from 3 Floyds. The idea was to keep the malt bill lean and light-coloured so the hops could carry the beer completely, then load it with three New Zealand varieties that were new to the lineup at the time: Moutere, Nectaron, and Superdelic.
At OG 1.069 it sits at the heavier end of the Pale Ale bracket, closer to a session IPA in gravity but styled as an APA. The hop-forward design was intentional, and the tasting notes confirmed it landed where it was aimed.
Ingredients
The grain bill is deliberately minimal: Gladfield Ale Malt as the base with Gladfield Vienna Malt providing a touch of golden colour and soft malt body. Vienna keeps things from reading as completely neutral while still staying out of the way of the hop character.
Moutere at 60 minutes provides clean, soft bittering from its low cohumulone. Nectaron and Superdelic were used in parallel at every late addition stage — 15-minute boil, whirlpool, and dry hop. Nectaron brings intense passionfruit and stone fruit; Superdelic contributes red fruit and candy-citrus. LalBrew Verdant IPA was chosen for its biotransformation properties and the soft, juicy mouthfeel it lends to hop-forward beers at this gravity.
Brew Day
Brewed on the BrewZilla 35L Gen 4. Mash-in at 67°C with 16.5 L, sparge with 16 L at 76°C. Pre-boil volume was 28.5 L. A 60-minute boil brought the volume down to 26 L before transfer.
The transfer had a significant issue: the kettle drain blocked from hop and trub build-up, resulting in extra trub carry-over into the fermenter. Volume into the fermenter came in at 21.5 L, but packaged yield was lower than expected due to the trub-heavy wort. OG hit 1.069, matching the target exactly.
Fermentation
Fermented in the FermZilla at 18°C primary with a rise to 20°C for a rest phase. A final gravity was not recorded for this batch. The beer was packaged into bottles on 2023-10-19, 14 days after brew day.
The Result
Despite the process complications on brew day, the beer tasted well on bottling day. The simple grain bill did exactly what it was supposed to: the hops dominated clearly, with the malt providing structure without drawing attention to itself. Lower yield than planned due to the blocked kettle drain.
The Dusty Zombies recipe was revisited in May 2024 as Dusty Zombies Pale Ale II.