This Thursday Zymurgy Live with Wayne Doucette 2025 Homebrewer of the Year

General Homebrew Discussion
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:beer_mug: LIVE Interview This Thursday: Wayne Doucette, 2025 Homebrewer of the Year!

When: Thursday, August 28th at 7:00 PM EDT (23:00 UTC) Register: https://buff.ly/Jy16ZPe

Come hear directly from Wayne Doucette about his incredible journey to becoming this year’s Homebrewer of the Year! Wayne just dominated the NHC with three gold medals – and we’ll dive deep into what made his recipes and techniques so successful.

What we’ll cover:

  • His award-winning brewing process and techniques
  • Behind-the-scenes stories from competition brewing
  • Tips for taking your homebrew to the next level
  • Live Q&A with Wayne

Can’t attend live? No problem! Register anyway and:

  • Leave questions in Crowdcast (click the “?” box on the right side)
  • Post your questions right here in this thread – I’ll ask them during the interview
  • Access the recording later

Get the recipes! Wayne’s three gold medal recipes are posted below. Check them out and come with questions about his ingredients, process, or brewing philosophy.

What would YOU ask the Homebrewer of the Year? Drop your questions below! :backhand_index_pointing_down:

Lynn’s Lager

7.5 gallon (9 to 9.5 gallons in boil kettle to avoid trub in fermenter)

Eff: 85%
1.048 OG
1.010 FG
12 IBU
5% ABV

10.5 pounds (80%) Rahr Northstar Pils
2.63 pounds (20%) Minute Rice

German Tradition 1 hour for 12 IBU

3 grams of beta glucanase (mash addition)
3 grams of Oxblox (mash addition)
3 grams of calcium sulfate (pre-dissolved in cold water)
3 grams of calcium chloride

All RO water for mash and sparge

Mash at 145 for 90 minutes with a mash cap in place. Step to 158 for 15 minutes, then to 168F for a 15 minute mashout.. Sparge with acidified sparge water (2 tsp of 85% phosphoric acid) to avoid pH rise in the grain bed.

80-90 minute boil. pH of boil is adjusted to @5.1 and pitch pH is @ 5.1. Pitch 3-4 packets of rehydrated Fermentis 34/70. Ferment at 50-52F at 7.5 psi. When fermentation is nearly complete raise temperature to 56-58F and pressure to 25 psi for spunding. Fermentation time is 12-14 days. Cold crash to 32F. 48 hours after crashing, clear with gelatin.

German Pils

7.5 gallon (9 to 9.5 gallons in boil kettle to avoid trub and hops in fermenter)

Eff: 85%
1.050 OG
1.010 FG
40 IBU
5.3% ABV

12 pounds (89.6%) Weyermann Barke Pils
.75 pounds (5.6%) Weyermann Barke Munich
.39 pounds (2.9%) Rahr White Wheat
.25 pounds (1.9%) Weyermann Melanoidin

1.8 ounces Hallertau Tradition (5.2% AA) 60 minutes
3.5 ounces Hallertau Mittelfruh (2.9% AA) 10 minutes
3.5 ounces Tettnanger (2.7 AA) 10 minutes

3 grams of beta glucanase (mash addition)
3 grams of Oxblox (mash addition)
3 grams of calcium sulfate (pre-dissolved in cold water)
3 grams of calcium chloride

All RO water for mash and sparge

Mash at 145 for 90 minutes with a mash cap in place. Step to 158 for 15 minutes, then to 168F for a 15 minute mashout.. Sparge with acidified sparge water (2 tsp of 85% phosphoric acid) to avoid pH rise in the grain bed.

80-90 minute boil. pH of boil is adjusted to @5.1 and pitch pH is @ 5.1. Pitch 3-4 packets of rehydrated Fermentis 34/70. Ferment at 50-52F at 7.5 psi. When fermentation is nearly complete raise temperature to 56-58F and pressure to 25psi for spunding. Fermentation time is 12-14 days. Cold crash to 32F. 48 hours after crashing, clear with gelatin.

Coldest IPA Ever!

7 pounds (38.1%) Rahr Premium Pils
7 pounds (38.1%) Weyermann Barke Pils
4.38 pounds (23.8%) Minute Rice

7 ounces Citra hops (13%AA) whirlpool 170F 20 minutes
6 ounces Mosaic hops (11.1%) whirlpool 170F 20 minutes
4 ounces Citra hops (13%) dry hop 3 days
4 ounces Mosaic hops (11.1) dry hop 3 days
3 packets Fermentis 34/70 dry lager yeast

All RO water

Mash cap
3 grams of Oxblox (mash)
3 grams beta glucanase (mash)
2 grams calcium chloride (mash)
4 grams calcium sulfate (mash)
1.5 grams calcium chloride (sparge)
1.5 grams calcium sulfate (sparge)

Mash at 145 for 90 minutes with a mash cap in place. Step to 158 for 15 minutes, then to 168F for a 15 minute mashout.. Sparge with acidified sparge water (2 tsp of 85% phosphoric acid) to avoid pH rise in the grain bed.

80-90 minute boil. pH of boil is adjusted to @5.1 and pitch pH is @ 5.1. Pitch 3 packets of rehydrated Fermentis 34/70 with a single dose of ALDC. Ferment at 62-64F at ambient pressure. When fermentation is nearly complete, dry hop and begin raising pressure. Spunding will occur during dry hop. Pressure should be brought up to 25-30psi at 62-64F ALDC can be added at dry hop. Crash cool after fermentation is complete. Clear beer with gelatin 48 hours or more after crash cooling.

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Wayne is a GOAT.

Greatest Of All Time Goat GIF by Nutrena Feed

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I listened to the interview while brewing an APA last night. I was impressed by the level of detail in how this homebrewer thinks and brews. It has been said here and elsewhere recently that winning at the NHC requires a ton of luck at the BOS table. That may be true, but with this level of detail, repetitious brewing, and critical thought… I’d say this brewer didn’t rely on luck: he earned his stripes.

I’d also like to point out the moderator. He asked every question as a curious homebrewer that I’d have asked myself. My only complaint is that it didn’t last longer. Like the moderator, I probably could have gone on for another hour.

Well done.

(The APA is fermenting nicely.)

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Dwain, this is John the moderator. Glad you could join us live last night!

Wayne and I actually discussed the luck factor offline before the interview. We avoided it during the talk to stay focused on his brewing approach rather than going down that rabbit hole. I’d say Wayne minimizes luck by maximizing quality - he gives his beers the best possible chance to succeed in competition.

Thanks for noting we covered your questions! I agree we could have talked for hours - Wayne was incredibly knowledgeable and easy to talk with. I try to keep these around 40 minutes so people can find time to listen through.

Hope your APA turns out great!

If anyone missed the talk you can still register an watch the replay - https://buff.ly/Jy16ZPe

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Absolutely fanastic podcast, it was a privilege to be able to listen to and learn from Wayne’s extensive experience. My biggest takeaways were:

  1. Focusing too much on mash pH and disregarding finished wort pH (and to a lesser extent final beer pH) - I have been slacking in this area and need to begin adding this to my process.

  2. Adding sodium metabisulfite at dry hop. I had never considered this as a process option. I’ve heard of adding ascorbic acid, but the correct dose of sodium metabisulfite would presumably be more efficacious.

  3. Dialing in base malts - I have a relatively good handle on my preferences for base malts, but I should challenge my own dogma and just try Barke instead of Weyermann standard pils, for example, in some of my brews.

  4. Spunding to a specific value to simulate a certain amount of hydrostatic pressure - I would like to try this in some of my Belgian ales to tweak the yeast expression I get with certain strains.

  5. I (and a lot of us) already knew this, but different hops have different level of bittering compounds, that then survive to different degrees to the final beer. We cannot take IBU’s at face value and must simply try by repetition to get the exact hop character we desire for each style.

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John, glad you enjoyed it and pulled out such specific takeaways! Wayne’s passion for his craft really comes through - those are all excellent points he made.

I appreciate when the AHA highlights brewers like Wayne. Our homebrew community is smaller than people realize, and showcasing experienced brewers who haven’t had this platform before feels important.

Thanks for being an AHA member and tuning into Zymurgy Live!

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Thanks for the recap John!

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I want to thank John and Emily (Emily worked behind the scenes to setup the podcast) for leading me through this podcast. It was the first one I have ever done and I was very nervous, but John and Emily reassured me to just speak as if I were having a chat about beer with a friend over a beer.

I sincerely hope this podcast helps others to improve their brewing, I know I have learned from others. I just want to return the favor to the home brewing community.

Wayne Doucette

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I can’t thank Wayne enough. We aren’t all going to compete like he does but there is so much we can learn from each other. Wayne’s gratitude and willingness to share what he’s learned is exactly the kind of AHA I want to be a part of. Thanks Wayne!

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Thank you, Wayne! It was a great Live!

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It really was an excellent session. This is part of what keeps me paying for the AHA membership. Thank you!

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