Hop-bursted Blonde Ale... am I crazy?

I recently bought 4 oz each of horizon, ahtanum, meridian, and pacific gem. My original idea was to make two ipas, one featuring horizon and ahtanum, and the other pacific gem and meridian. Ive been tinkering/re-thinking this idea though, and after going to a recent beer tasting I decided to change one of my recipes to a blonde ale... a hop-bursted blonde ale. Can anyone look over this recipe and make sure im not crazy? Also, i am open to changing the hops, both the types and the amounts. This originally was going to be the pacific gem/meridian ipa, but if any other hops would go well, I am open for changes. I also have a couple oz's of bravo and c-type in my freezer. With this in mind, my recipe:

OG: ~1.049 FG: ~1.012 IBUs: ~26

Grains:
10 lbs pale ale malt 80%
1 lb carapils 8%
1 lb vienna 8%
8 oz crystal 20 4%

Hops:
1/2 oz pacific gem @12, 10, 7, & 5 mins.
1/2 oz Meridian @ 2 mins.

1.5 oz Meridian & 1 oz pacific gem F.O/aroma steep

2 oz meridian & 1 oz pacific gem Dryhop 5-7 days

Was planning on splitting this into two half-batches, fermenting one with us-05 and the other with dennys fav 50. Any thoughts?

Since you're already going to have an IPA, it sounds like a good idea to have some variety and that grain bill and hop schedule sounds nice. But technically it wouldn't be a Blonde Ale. Closer to an American APA. Blonde Ales have low to medium hop aroma and light to moderate hop flavor, so hop bursting would not be appropriate. Not that it matters. It's your beer, but it might be better to have a description that others would understand.

I think it sounds interesting. Looks like you have good balance on it. Be sure to post you results.

iBrewR said:

Since you're already going to have an IPA, it sounds like a good idea to have some variety and that grain bill and hop schedule sounds nice. But technically it wouldn't be a Blonde Ale. Closer to an American APA. Blonde Ales have low to medium hop aroma and light to moderate hop flavor, so hop bursting would not be appropriate. Not that it matters. It's your beer, but it might be better to have a description that others would understand.

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Hmm, good point. I was going for something with a little maltiness, low alcohol, and good hop flavor. I assumed a blonde would be the closest, but I can see APA being a better description. Or maybe I could call it some kind of blonde/APA/IPA fusion thing? as long as its tasty, ill be happy :rockin:

tagz said:

I think it sounds interesting. Looks like you have good balance on it. Be sure to post you results.

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I'll hopefully be brewing this up this week, maybe next. Definitely will post back with results

I did a little tweaking, and changed the hop timings a bit, focusing more on that post-boil aroma steep and getting bitterness from a FWH. This increased the IBUs slightly, so it's almost in the range for an APA (at ~28 IBUS)
Here's my revamped schedule:

.5 oz pacific gem FWH
.5 oz pacific gem @ 10 min
.5 oz pacific gem @ 5 min
2 oz meridian & 1.5 oz pacific gem aroma steep @ 180F for 20 mins
2 oz meridian & 1 oz pacific gem dryhop for 7 days

Going to be buying grains tomorrow, and I may pick up some hops if something that would pair well here is available. Any suggestions?

Ordered grains today, and subbed the lb of carapils with 1/2 lb carafoam and 1/2 lb golden naked oats, which supposedly greatly increase mouth-feel, head retention, and complexity. Anyone have any experience with these two malts?

Sounds like a brilliant idea. Hop selection would have a huge impact on keeping it a blonde or moving into the APA realm IMHO. I bet a 100% Mosaic or Nelson Sauvin would make an amazing blonde. If the tropical aroma comes through without the bitterness it should be a real crowd pleaser.

I would be interested to hear the results of the Pac Gem/Meridian combo. Please keep us posted.

One little correction; FWH is mutually exclusive to Hopbursting.

llama_boy said:

One little correction; FWH is mutually exclusive to Hopbursting.

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Youre right, i suppose this isnt a true hop burst. But with only 1 oz added during the boil, and a majority in the aroma steep and dryhop, im sure itll come close enough :cross:

alright, made one (hopefully) final change to the hop schedule to keep it technically hop-bursted. Here's the new schedule:
1 oz pac gem @ 15 mins
1 oz pac gem @ 5 mins
2 oz meridian @ F.O.
1 oz pac gem @ F.O.
2 oz meridian D.H. 7 days
1 oz pac gem D.H. 7 days

going to be brewing this up on thusday at the latest.

Brewed this up today, ended with around 6 gallons at 1.053, a little bit higher then i was expecting, but im not worried. i was also lazy, and instead of splitting between dennys fav 50 and us-05, pitched only dennys fav 50 for all 6 gallons. gonna dry hop in 2 weeks, and bottle a week after that.

Quick update, dry-hopped this on friday, going to try to bottle tonight, if i can get the rest of the hop particles to fall down to the bottom of the carboy. Decided to bottle a little earlier because i want to it be ready in time for family to try. Everything seems fine, hopefully ill remember to check the gravity before i bottle it all.

Just curious about the initial tasting

llama_boy said:

Just curious about the initial tasting

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Opened up the first bottle yeterday. Pretty hazy from the yeast, and little head, so it still needs some time in the bottle. However, the taste was amazing! Its got a light honey-like sweetness with a delicious and quite complex hop flavor, ending with faint blackberry notes. All in all its fantastic so far, just needs another week or two to fully condition. Ill update again when that happens.

Final tasting notes: this thing is damn tasty! it starts with a light honey-like malty sweetness, followed by an intense, yet very refreshing hop flavor/aroma. my friend described it as strawberry rhubarb-like, and have heard nothing but positive remarks about it. Only downside is it came out pretty hazy, didn't realize how much low flocculation dennys fav 50 yeast is. Very good head though, and a nice body with very low bitterness. Definitely came out more of a blonde ale than a pale ale, definitely will brew this again for summer!