Category Archives: The Standard 20

This Category is reserved for any discussions or blogs relating to my Standard 20 Recipes for Cockatrice Brewery.

Cockatrice Brewery: Morgana’s Mystical Merkin

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Entry #2 in my Recipe Review Series. The Series is about each of my basic 20 recipes of my home brewery “Cockatrice Brewery.” I brewed this beer today! (March 11, 2026).

Recipe #2: Morgana’s Mystical Merkin

Base Beer Style: (20C) Imperial Stout
(BJCP) Style: 33B (Specialty Wood-aged Beer)

Description: The base beer style is an American Imperial Stout. Originally an English-style, it has been a “craft beer” favorite in the USA almost since the kick-off of the current craft revolution. The American style will typically have more finishing hops, bitterness, and roasted character. To make mine a “specialty wood-aged beer,” I made my own White Oak staves and “charred” them on my BBQ grill. I then soaked them in Maker’s Mark Bourbon for three days (~3 ounces). I put them in at the end of my dry hopping for 3 days (I add any leftover bourbon from the soak). The name is a combination of themes / references. I live in a neighborhood called “Magic Estates” on a street named “Merlin Court.” “Morganna,” in traditional mythology, is King Arthur’s sister. Firestone Walker made an Imperial Oatmeal Stout called the Velvet Merlin (with the Barrel-aged Version called the Velvet Merkin). I modeled this version (slightly) after theirs (no oatmeal in mine), I decided to follow along with their playful name. My version is very full-bodied (I use wheat malt), slightly higher in ABV (~9 to 10%), and drier with more chocolate/roast character.

My Brewfather recipe: Morganna’s

Basic ingredients were: 1) Simpson’s Golden Promise (Pale Ale) Malt and 2) Northern Brewer / East Kent Goldings Hops.

Today, I brewed the 6th edition of Morganna’s Mystical Merkin. It looks like it’s going to come in between 10.7% and 11% ABV. Wow! Before I even got brewing today, I made a massive starter two days ago to give my yeast a chance to tackle the giant gravity I expected in this beer.

This beer always pushes my Brewtools B40 to its limit. Today, I made a slight modification to the recipe and lowered the grain bill to a measly 17-lbs grain 🙂 With my system, I mashed for approximately 90-minutes at a temperature range of 147–150°F. My final numbers show it was worth the effort! I held off until about 15 minutes were left in the mash and then added my Black Malt. Once through with the sparge, I ended up with a pre-boil gravity of 1.077 on 6.45 gallons of wort—before any extract was even added.

To move this into the “Arthurian Mystical realm of Stouts” (11% Imperial Stout), I added a total of 4.5 lbs of DME (3 lbs traditional dark and 1.5 lbs of Bavarian wheat). This is one of my changes — I replaced 1.5 lbs of Wheat Malt with the 1.5 lbs of Bavarian wheat DME. These additions put the pre-boil gravity well over 1.100. During my 90-minute boil I added a ton of hops (over 7.5 ounces!!) to help balance that massive malt bill.

Even with that add, the IBUs are still around 81 … hopefully the bourbon staves will have room to shine.

I chilled the wort to 68°F and achieved a near-perfect Original Gravity of 1.1075. If my final gravity hits around 1.026, I’ll be pretty close to the 11% mark. I’m going to have to bottle this in small bottles. haha. I find the flavor already incredible—rich, chocolatey, and roasty.

What’s Next? My Stout is now fermenting vigorously on a healthy 410 billion cell pitch of Nottingham yeast. It will spend 10 days in primary before I move it onto the Maker’s Mark bourbon staves for a slow 5-day secondary to build that signature oak and whiskey complexity.

The first beer brewed under my new Brewery’s name! I call that a success! Biervergnügen, indeed!

Beer Mentor

The Fox in the Glaciers: A Mentor’s Visit to Cerveceria La Zorra

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Last month, my travels took me to the stunning landscapes of El Chalten and El Calafate, Argentina. Wow!

While the mountains and the glaciers are the main draw for most, for a brewer, there is always a different kind of “cool” to seek out. I found it at Cerveceria La Zorra – FABRICA.

The Human Connection: Meeting Diego

Diego and I at Cerveceria La Zorra brewery

One of the best parts of the global brewing community is the immediate connections we share. I had the pleasure of meeting the owner, Diego, who was kind enough to step away from the daily grind to show me around the “Fabrica” (The Factory).

There is a specific energy in a production facility like this—the smell of grain and sanitizer is a universal language. Seeing how Diego and his team manage a high-quality operation in such a remote, rugged part of Patagonia was truly inspiring. It’s a reminder that great beer isn’t just about the equipment; it’s about the persistence of the person at the mash tun.

The connection was amazing. Once Diego and I got going discussing yeast and brewing profiles time start slipping away! His knowledge and passion were in the forefront of our discussion … I love where he’s going with his brewery!

The Mentor’s Perspective: Technical Takeaways

From a BJCP judging perspective, I’m always looking for how a brewery handles its environmental challenges. In a place like El Calafate, temperature control and ingredient logistics are massive hurdles. As an example, take the requirement for CO2 … for me, a simple task to go to my local supplier here in Kelowna. For him, the nearest supplier is 308 kilometers away and the shipping costs are prohibitive! His solution was to install a Nitrogen generating facility and he carbonates all his beer with Nitrogen … a great solution.

He also has a similar problem with malt — It is prohibitive to try and ship trucks of malt to his production facility, so they have to rely on brute strength and get by with emptying lots of 25 kg bags. As I said the passion and the creativity are all on display here!

The Highlight: I was particularly struck by the balance in their core lineup. In many emerging markets, breweries lean too heavily into “extreme” hops or sugar to hide flaws. Not here. They have two tap rooms: one in El Chalten and one in El Calafate. Check out their beer lists here! Awesome locations and great atmosphere. You’ll see a great selection of styles and have the opportunity to sample before you buy!

  • The Evaluation: At the brewery, I sampled the American IPA — fresh out of the fermenter.
  • it was showing some hop aroma restraint, but it had a great Pacific Northwest Nose (citrus, pine) and a matching flavor of hops with just the right amount of malt in support. I’m not sure Diego was super happy with it, but I felt like it represented the style well. Of course, like most brewers, he is probably always looking to improve! They couldn’t get a better water profile—a benefit of the local glacial sources, which are naturally low in mineral hardness.

A Lesson for Cockatrice Brewery

Walking through La Zorra reminded me of why I maintain my Standard 20 recipes back home. Whether you are brewing in a world-class facility in Patagonia or a home setup in Kelowna, consistency is the ultimate goal. Diego’s focus on the “factory” side of the business—the process, the cleaning, the repetition—is exactly what I advocate for when mentoring new brewers.

I really appreciated Diego taking the time to show me around the facility. If you are in the area of Calafate, I recommend a visit to his great brewery!

🏭 Brewery Profile: Cerveceria La Zorra

FeatureDetails
LocationEl Calafate & El Chalten, Santa Cruz, Argentina
Water SourceLocal Glacial Melt (Low mineral hardness)
Carbonation MethodOn-site Nitrogen Generation (due to CO2​ logistics)
Production ScaleManual/Hand-fed (25 kg grain bags)
Core PhilosophyBalanced, approachable styles with a focus on process

💡 The Mentor’s Summary: Patagonia Grit

The Takeaway: Brewing in a remote environment like Patagonia strips away the “easy” button. When CO2​ is too expensive to ship, you generate Nitrogen. When you can’t get a grain silo, you haul bags.

For the Homebrewer: If you’re struggling with an equipment limitation in your garage, remember Diego. Consistency isn’t about the shiny toys; it’s about mastering the variables you can control—like your sanitation and your mash temp.

Beer Mentor

Morganna’s Mystical Merkin (M3): A Bourbon-Oaked Imperial Stout

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Today I brewed the M3. This is the sixth iteration of this one. My friend, Mike, and I brewed the original of this one back in 2018. This was on my old brew set up. His recipe was out of this world. We really enjoyed that beer … my only problem was I couldn’t find the recipe the next time I wanted to brew it! Haha.

I didn’t get around to brewing it in 2019 (I was still enjoying all the bottles from the previous batch). I used Maker’s Mark Bourbon in this first batch and all following batches. In that first one I used “small french oak” blocks I was given from a local supplier. I soaked the chips (but didn’t char them).

In 2020 and 2021, I crafted a recipe and bounced it off Mike. He said it sounded good–I used my French Oak Blocks again in 2020 but I made a mistake and bought pre-soaked (bourbon) chips for 2021. I found that I had the wrong kind of oxidation in that batch. They both were so big that they blew out the fermenter each time! I brewed these two batches on my old system. I think the 2021 batch was the last one before the new system arrived!

In 2022, I brewed it for the first time on the new system. This time, I made my own “oak staves.” I bought some American Oak, cut them to length, and then charred them on my grill. I soaked them in Maker’s Mark and then dropped them in to the secondary fermentation. I found that 3 days was just about the right length of time for that. I used those staves in 2023 and plan on using them again on this batch.

In 2022, I put 20 pounds of grain in my new brew system to make the Imperial Stout–it was too much! I was lucky to have some DME to use in the boil to boost up my gravity to make it an imperial stout. Last year and this year, I used around 18 pounds of grain (still too much) and added 3 pounds of Traditional Dark DME.

This year’s batch definitely has the viscosity appropriate for an Imperial Stout. The gravity was up around 1.095 … pretty happy all the way around.

About 3 weeks, and the sixth iteration of the Merkin will be available for all to enjoy! 🙂

Beer Mentor

My Recipe Library: Ziggy Brau in the Beer Fridge!

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The photo above is a current snapshot of the Ziggy Brau beers I have in my beer refrigerator. Several years ago, Volkswagen had a commercial talking about Fahrvergnügen. It basically meant “Driving Pleasure.” Here’s a link to one of the commercials. In a fit of creativity, I came up with this slogan for my beer fridge (and made it my Ziggy Brau slogan): “Biervergnügen in der Flasche.” It’s German for “Beer pleasure in the bottle.” To keep that “Biervergnügen” going, I’ve developed a brewing schedule to keep a plethora of different beers available in the fridge.

As I posted earlier, I standardized my brew setup and have now developed a pretty consistent brew routine/process. I’m pretty settled now on a Library of 20 Beers. There are three below that are not highlighted — I haven’t developed those recipes yet. The rest are in the library, and as you can see above, several are in the fridge!

This list covers all the styles I like to drink:

  1. Belgian Lambic-style Ale (Name: Hefenebel [Translation – Yeast Galaxy]). This is a continuing experiment — I just brewed the third version of it and will be making a Gueuze out of it at the end of this year! Oh, I also make a Fruited-Lambic (Name: La Prugna) with locally-grown plums. So (a) Lambic, (b) Gueuze, and (c) Fruit Lambic.
  2. Belgian-style Blond (Name: Keoni Blond). I brewed the first iteration of this beer on the day my grandson was born! April 11, 2021. Version 2 and 3 were right around his birthday as well. I love this beer — great flavor/color.
  3. Belgian-style IPA (Name: St Hommel). This is my attempt to clone the Hommelbier from Leroy Breweries in Belgium. I’m taking a trip there this year so I want to gather some notes on the flavor to use in adjusting my recipe. Would like to narrow it down and nail this one. I like the current version, but I’m just not convinced the hops are right yet.
  4. Orval Clone (Name: Valle Dorado) — my favorite beer — my clone is so close in flavor–I’m just off on color now–next iteration should dial it in!
  5. Monastic-style Dubbel (Name: Dubbel Trubbel). My Trappist-style Dubbel (Westmalle / Chimay clone). This one is very nice, but I haven’t made it in a couple of years. Looking at later this year (early winter, possibly)
  6. Monastic-style Tripel (Name: Die Drie Draken) My last Tripel was a little under-carbonated — I put it in the cold storage too soon. Flavor was nice. Gonna be a do-over–maybe 2025.
  7. Belgian/Monastic Dark Strong Ale (Name: Drakengeist) Also known as a Belgian Quad. This beer turned out very well (and has aged very well). I still have a few–need to work it back into the schedule … 
  8. Belgian-style Pale Ale (Name: Merlin’s Magical Elixir). I made two of these right in a row. The first one not so great, but the second one was nice. It is coming up again on the radar!
  9. Baltic Porter (Name: Polly Porter). I brewed this beer last year on my second grand-child’s birthday! Yum. I will be brewing it again this year. What I like about this one is that I can use the left over ingredients from my Barrel-aged Imperial Stout.
  10. Bourbon-oaked Imperial Stout (Name: Morganna’s Mystical Merkin) This beer has been great–I’ll do a whole post on this one later (Brewing again in March 2024). I char my own oak staves and soak them in Maker’s Mark Bourbon. This will be the fifth iteration — it just keeps getting better. I have a bottle from each of the last 3 years (I think). Time for a vertical tasting! 
  11. American Brown Ale (Name: Big Brown Beer) I made this one and it ended up having Brett in it. Still tasted good, but want a do over as well So far (fingers crossed), this is the only cross-contaminated beer I’ve had in my brewery. I should have called it “Big Brown Brett Beer.” haha.
  12. (Imperial) American-style IPA (Name: Wedding IPA). I made this beer in 2016 to celebrate our wedding and have made it four times since. Sometimes it is just big enough for a Imperial IPA and other times my mash efficiency keeps it in the IPA category.
  13. German-style Pilsner (Name: OK Premium Pils). This is a mid-winter beer for me to make — so it can lager into the early spring summer. This year I made the Eis-bock instead. OK stands for Okanagan (where I live), but also “OK” in the sense of OK. I found it funny using OK and Premium together.
  14. German-style Weizen Doppelbock/Eis-bock (Name: Frosty Billy). See previous post on this one. I really liked the flavor of this as a Weizen Doppelbock — but making the Eis-bock is fun, too. I might alternate them (every third year with the Pils)
  15. German-style Dunkel Weizen (Name: TBD). This is a beer in initial design phase. I have a smoked-pecan weizen recipe I really like … I might make it again as part of this recipe.
  16. Irish-style Red Ale (Name: Auburn Sunset). This is a collaboration I did with Kelowna Brewing Company — think Kilkenny or Smithwicks. It turned out nice — we are still working on this one to dial in the recipe.
  17. English-style Strong Bitter (Name: The Finger). Another collaboration with Kelowna Brewing Company. This one has turned out great — it’s been brewed a few times now. Ask me about the name over a beer. haha.
  18. Finnish-style Sahti (Name: Surreal Sahti). My experimental Finnish beer — turned out very nice–want to reduce the amount of liquid, bump up the rye and add a little more juniper next year. This will be a yearly brew (around December). Will make less than 3 gallons because it needs to be consumed fresh!
  19. Flanders-style Red Ale (Name: TBD). Work in progress.
  20. English-style Barley Wine (Name: TBD). Work in progress.

My schedule so far this year (2024) is quite full! Brewing approximately nine different beers.

  1. 2 Jan – Surreal Sahti
  2. 21 Jan – Frosty Billy
  3. 11 Mar – Morganna’s Mystical Merkin
  4. 11 Apr – Keoni Blond
  5. 12/13 Apr – Attend Penticton Fest of Ale
  6. 9 May – Polly Porter
  7. 23/24 May – Brew St Hommel with Sierra Nevada Brewing
  8. Jun (TBD) – Valle Dorado
  9. Oct (TBD) – St Hommel
  10. 6 Dec – Lambic #4 (Gueuze #1)