So last Friday I had off thinking I needed a good chunk of the day to go to traffic court and get two minor charges dismissed but it ended up only taking about 20 minutes. What do I do with a suddenly free day? Brew of course!

I've been meaning to get another funky wild ale going with how deliciously successful The Minstrel was. See final recipe sheet & notes here. Thoughts floated through my head on what to do, no recipe had as of yet been made, but suddenly I was inspired and there wasn't anything else I could do about it.

This time I decided to go in the other direction and do something a little simpler. Light blond in color and not too strong, simple more traditional belgian pale ale / blonde ale recipe, nothing TOO crazy, oh and definitely need to do Brett L on this bad boy.

Recipe Specifications
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Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.98 gal
Estimated OG: 1.060 SG
Estimated Color: 5.7 SRM
Estimated IBU: 26.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 68.00 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) Bel (3.0 SRM) Grain 52.83 %
3.00 lb Pilsner (2 Row) Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 22.64 %
1.00 lb Oats, Flaked (1.0 SRM) Grain 7.55 %
1.00 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 7.55 %
1.00 lb Wheat Malt, Bel (2.0 SRM) Grain 7.55 %
0.25 lb Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM) Grain 1.89 %
2.00 oz Styrian Goldings [4.10 %] (60 min) Hops 26.3 IBU
1 Pkgs Brettanomyces Lambicus White Labs #WLP653 Yeast-Ale


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Total Grain Weight: 13.25 lb
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Single Infusion, Light Body, No Mash Out
Step Time Name Description Step Temp
60 min Mash In Add 20.94 qt of water at 166.6 F 156.0 F
10 min Step Add 10.00 qt of water at 197.1 F 168.0 F

Notes:
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9/4/09 - Easy brewday, hit temps though efficiency was a little low. 1.060

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I picked up about a half pound of figs at the grocery store the other day, I think I'm going to put this in when gravity gets a little lower. I cleaned them, rinsed, quartered and froze the figs last night.

About 4 hours after pitching the 3.5L stir plated starter of Brett-L I got some pretty thick but not too tall krausen going, smells pretty funky. Going pretty active.

During the brewday I drank some really good sour beers with one of my buddies. 3 year old Rodenbach Grand Cru, Russian River Consecration Batch 2, and Norrenboro/Dogfish Head Old Odense.
I cleaned out a mason jar with starsan for an hour or so, then dumped some of my starter into the jar along with the dregs of the sour that I'm going to use to build up my own sour culture. I'm going to split off 1 gallon after fermentation is mainly done and before the addition of the figs and throw some of the funky bunch in and see how it goes.