How does this look for a Blonde?

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duck911

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Looking to brew a beer for the wife. She's not a fan of big beer (case in point, Bud Light and Fosters are currently in the kegorator ;)) This beer needs to be light, slightly in the thin/dry side, and easily drinkable but with some flavor.

I talked her into letting me try a Blonde. Uhh, beer. :D

Here's what I've decided on as a start, pending feedback here:

4 1/2 lbs Pilsner liquid extract
8 oz corn sugar
8 oz Carapils
4 oz Gambrinus honey malt
1.75 oz Saaz 60 min
.25 Saaz 1 min
Safale US-05

Thoughts?

thanks!

--Duck911
 
The hopping can play a key to helping the overall flavor. I love glacier for the ice tea and peaches flavor. A little cascade is great too for balance.
 
A quick update for anyone interested...

The beer is in a corny keg for a couple of weeks of conditioning. Here's what happened:

I brewed the batch (went fine) and put it in the basement which is as a constant 68 degrees. Yeast went into beer Friday evening. I checked the beer on Sunday evening and there was a slight krausen ring on the fermenter about an inch above the beer. Fermentation seemed to have slowed appreciably.

I checked it again that Tuesday and low-and-behold, fermentation kicked into high gear at some point and my blow-off tube was tested to the max. I took a gravity reading.

Another gravity reading was the same Thur night so on day 6, needing the fermenter for another project and against my better judgement, the beer went into a corny keg.

I peeled off 16 ounces and force carbed it with a homemade carb cap. We tested it and had interesting, but predictable results:

Slight honey aroma from the gambrinous honey malt, light in color (straw), slight more mouth feel than I was after (but acceptable) and very low bitterness (the batch is for the wife).

It was also (understandably so) green as hell and had a bit of a sour aftertaste. My blow-off was a bit messy and I had some strange krausen at the end, but I contributed the little sourness to 6 days in the fermenter and 30 PSI of CO2 on the beer with vigorous shaking in the soda bottle. :ban:

I forced carbed the rest of the corny at 30 PSI for 30 hours or so then down to 12. A couple of days later the beer was MUCH better - drinkable and actually pretty good. The little sour note was 70% gone.

I have since pulled the keg from the refrigerator and it's in a cool room for a couple of weeks of aging.

I think with a little bit of time to come together this beer will be just fine. I hit it on the head, mostly.... with a few changes (below) and a bit more patience next time, I think it will be a really good beer!

--4oz carapils instead of 8oz
--2.25 oz Sazz at 60 min instead of 1.75
--Plan on 2 weeks minimum in the fermenter

--Duck911
 
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