Blonde Ale Brulosopher's Blonde Ale

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Brulosopher

Well-Known Member
Joined
Jun 1, 2011
Messages
3,007
Reaction score
447
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
WLP029 - German Ale/Kolsch
Yeast Starter
1.5L
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.5
Original Gravity
1.050
Final Gravity
1.010
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
21.3
Color
4.2
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
10 days @ 63F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
Keg condition (on gas) at 38F for 5+ days
Tasting Notes
Refreshingly citrusy with a subtle woodiness from the CTZ. Delicious!
This is a great warm weather session quaffer. The CTZ at 10 minutes lends this beer a great yet subtle woodiness, which melds wonderfully with the Cascade hops. I'm sipping 20 oz of this as I type:

Grist Bill
8.25 lbs Pale Malt (NW Pale)
0.75 lbs White Wheat Malt
0.50 lbs Crystal 15 Malt
0.25 lbs CaraPils

Hops Schedule
7 g (.25 oz) Galena (13%) - 55 min
7 g (.25 oz) Cascade (6.4%) - 25 min
7 g (.25 oz) CTZ (12.9%) - 10 min
7 g (.25 oz) Cascade (6.4%) - 5 min

Yeast
WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch

Nothing special with this brew, just a basic/simple process. If you brew it, let me know what you think. I've had it on tap for less than a week and it's about gone... damn :mug: Here's a pic:

Brulosopher's Blonde Ale.jpg
 
I'm going to grab the grains and brew this with a buddy over the weekend. Will be uping it to a 10 gallon batch. I have lots of CTZ so i will be using them in place of the Galena at the start of the boil also. This also looks like a good candidate for a fruit beer so an extract might need to be added at bottling or perhaps frozen strawberries or a puree in the secondary. Will let you know. Thanks for sharing.
:mug:
 
LoloMT7 said:
I'm going to grab the grains and brew this with a buddy over the weekend. Will be uping it to a 10 gallon batch. I have lots of CTZ so i will be using them in place of the Galena at the start of the boil also. This also looks like a good candidate for a fruit beer so an extract might need to be added at bottling or perhaps frozen strawberries or a puree in the secondary. Will let you know. Thanks for sharing.
:mug:

Great, don't forget to report back! CTZ will be great as a bittering hop, just try to match the IBU, this one is nicely balanced. Cheers!
 
Great, don't forget to report back! CTZ will be great as a bittering hop, just try to match the IBU, this one is nicely balanced. Cheers!

Yup I adjusted to keep the ibu close. I'm at 22 according to beersmith.

What did you mash at? I'm thinking about 148-150 ish too keep this light and let it finish fairly dry. Thanks will let ya know how it turns out.
 
LoloMT7 said:
Yup I adjusted to keep the ibu close. I'm at 22 according to beersmith.

What did you mash at? I'm thinking about 148-150 ish too keep this light and let it finish fairly dry. Thanks will let ya know how it turns out.

Sounds good. I mashed at 150F.
 
I brewed this on October 28th so yesterday was day 14. I took a SG reading and was at 1.010 and all krausen had fallen and it had cleared up pretty nicely so I racked it to keg stuck it in the kegerator and put it on the gas.

I used Wyeast 2565 Kolsch yeast instead of the White labs and I used CTZ at 60 mins for the bittering hop in place of the Galena. I overshoot the OG a bit mine was 1.056 so it's going to be a 6% blonde. Other then that everything was the same. Will report back in a few weeks with a taste test.
 
LoloMT7 said:
I brewed this on October 28th so yesterday was day 14. I took a SG reading and was at 1.010 and all krausen had fallen and it had cleared up pretty nicely so I racked it to keg stuck it in the kegerator and put it on the gas.

I used Wyeast 2565 Kolsch yeast instead of the White labs and I used CTZ at 60 mins for the bittering hop in place of the Galena. I overshoot the OG a bit mine was 1.056 so it's going to be a 6% blonde. Other then that everything was the same. Will report back in a few weeks with a taste test.

Awesome!
 
Reporting back as promised :) taste test is smooth and a bit sweet but balanced. A fine brew slightly cloudy (expected with kolsch yeast) 2 thumbs up

ForumRunner_20121126_182211.jpg
 
LoloMT7 said:
Looked a bit dark in that last pic here is another one

Looks great. That puppy will be crystal clear in 2-3 weeks... I it's still around by then ;)
 
Still around and clearing, getting better with age too... which makes sense when using kolsch yeast if you can keep hands off it usually gets better and better.

ForumRunner_20121202_171232.jpg
 
LoloMT7 said:
Still around and clearing, getting better with age too... which makes sense when using kolsch yeast if you can keep hands off it usually gets better and better.

That looks delicious... and very familiar. Cheers!
 
I'll be brewing this soon with some minor changes for fun: replacing C15 with Honey malt and using WLP810 San Francisco Lager yeast rather than WLP029. I'll report back in about 7 weeks!
 
The keg is carb'd, still could use another week or so of lagering, but this is already a damn tasty beer. I'm pleased.
 
Please help me out sir. On saturday I'll be dropping some lime on the lawn and preparing fro spring and summer outdoor fun. That means I need beer on hand. I'm doing a double brew on sunday and doing 10 gallons of a witbier and want to brew 10 gallons of this tasty looking brew. I've never used a kolsch type yeast. Out of curiosity, is the FG puttered out entirely after the primary, or is there significantly more of a drop in gravity during the lagering process in the keg? Not familiar with kolsch yeasts.

Anything you would do diffeerent with this beer? Think a clarifying agent might help this out (irish moss, etc)?
 
Please help me out sir. On saturday I'll be dropping some lime on the lawn and preparing fro spring and summer outdoor fun. That means I need beer on hand. I'm doing a double brew on sunday and doing 10 gallons of a witbier and want to brew 10 gallons of this tasty looking brew. I've never used a kolsch type yeast. Out of curiosity, is the FG puttered out entirely after the primary, or is there significantly more of a drop in gravity during the lagering process in the keg? Not familiar with kolsch yeasts.

Anything you would do diffeerent with this beer? Think a clarifying agent might help this out (irish moss, etc)?

I can't speak for all Kolsch strains, as I've only ever used WLP029, which is apparently the more flocculant of the commercial strains. Just like with all other yeasts, once it's fully attenuated, you're not going to get any change in FG. My experience with this yeast is that, even fermented at 60F, it finishes up within about 5-7 days (that's soonest I've ever checked). The cold-conditioning/lager phase is primarily to give the beer time to clear. My process is 10 days in primary at fermentation temps, cold crash in primary for 2 days, rack to keg and put in my keezer for a week (on gas) before serving.

I've always used Irish Moss or Whirlfloc, though I always seem to forget that in my recipes :drunk:. I've heard many people have great success adding some gelatin either to primary to keg... I've always got time, so I've never done that.

This is a great beer, I've actually got a version of it tapped right now... the recipe in this thread is better ;).

Cheers!
 
sweet, thanks for the clarification. It looks so tasty! I'm gonna brew it. I have been averaging 72% efficiency. Is this recipe based on a 75%?

So substituting Crystal 15 with Honey Malt and the kolsch yeast with SF lager turned out better?

I'll post some pics in due time.
 
BucksPA said:
sweet, thanks for the clarification. It looks so tasty! I'm gonna brew it. I have been averaging 72% efficiency. Is this recipe based on a 75%?

So substituting Crystal 15 with Honey Malt and the kolsch yeast with SF lager turned out better?

I'll post some pics in due time.

It's based on 70% eff, and I prefer the original recipe better, with the C15.
 
sweet, thanks for the clarification. It looks so tasty! I'm gonna brew it. I have been averaging 72% efficiency. Is this recipe based on a 75%?

So substituting Crystal 15 with Honey Malt and the kolsch yeast with SF lager turned out better?

I'll post some pics in due time.

Ever get around to making this? I'm curious how it's coming along!
 
If I'm bottling, rather than keggin, is it okay to cold crash for two days, then bottle and carb at room temperature?
 
jwhelp1 said:
If I'm bottling, rather than keggin, is it okay to cold crash for two days, then bottle and carb at room temperature?

Absolutely! More than enough yeast will remain in solution.
 
Thanks! If there's room in our brew house cold chamber, I'll give it a shot. I'm excited to try this one.
 
was all out of 10L... can't get 15... so sub'd a little less 20L instead... plus did a protein rest with unmalted wheat instead of white wheat... used wyeast kolsch... did a 800ml starter(exact same process but with 5 pts lower grav).. going to ferm approx 5-6 days at 58, and 5-8 at 64, or that's the plan anyway...
 
so i made this beer... changed some small things... used unmalted wheat and did a protein rest on that grain, and then added the other grains and increased mash to your temp... also used wyeast instead of white labs... but my question is, since I won't be kegging it, do you think it's necessary for any reason for me to tranfer this to a secondary or not.. the FG is stable... been 9 days... should I just crash and bottle or transfer to secondary..?
 
Brulosopher,
Brewed your recipe exact on 4/30. I am using a "Fast fermenter" conical. I've had this in the primary for 14 days at 65F. Yesterday I removed the yeast from the collection ball. I was planning on kegging it in 5 days. Do you think that's to soon?
 
Just brewed this for the first time. Got it crystal clear with gelatin. I’m an IPA fanboy and mainly brew pale ales, West Coast, NEIPAs etc. This is one of the tastiest beers I’ve ever brewed. Excellent recipe and I’ll always have it on tap in my garage!
 

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I know this is an old post but i have to say thank you to Brulosopher for sharing this recipe , finally got to crack open a few bottles thru out the week and im really enjoying this brew, it will definitely go on the list of favorites....
 
Here is my iteration of this recipe, turned out great! Easy to drink, just enough flavor. Very happy with this recipe.
0410201537_HDR.jpg
 
Wow! Talk about clear... Did you follow the recipe to a T? Also, do you fine with gelatin or anything?
Pretty close, I didn't have any white wheat so I just upped my base malt. I do 30 minute boils so hop schedule was a bit different. And I used US05 for this batch, fined with gelatin. Probably the clearest beer I've ever brewed!
 

Grist Bill

8.25 lbs Pale Malt (NW Pale)
0.75 lbs White Wheat Malt
0.50 lbs Crystal 15 Malt
0.25 lbs CaraPils


View attachment 69305

Do you by chance have the %s for your grain bill? Trying to dial this guy in even better. Sipping on it as I type. This beer has been always on tap at the house going on a year.

PS. Any recommendations of substitutions for Galena? Everyone is out! I was thinking Magnum?
 
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Do you by chance have the %s for your grain bill? Trying to dial this guy in even better. Sipping on it as I type. This beer has been always on tap at the house going on a year.

PS. Any recommendations of substitutions for Galena? Everyone is out! I was thinking Magnum?

Grain bill :
9lb Viking Xtra Pale. 91.1%
8 oz Crystal 15. 5.1 %
4 oz carapils. 2.5 %
2 oz Acid Malt. 1.3 %

Hops as follows:
10g galena @30
14g cascade @10
14g columbus @10
7g cascade @5.

I personally think it could hold up to higher hopping, beauty of this recipe is you can adapt to your tastes. And I agree, magnum would be a good sub for galena, nugget would probably be another good choice. Next time I might do a small dry hop with a citrusy style hop!
 
Brewed 3 weeks ago and just pulled my first pint. Had to use Crystal 20 vs 15 and Wyeast Kolsch. Everything else aligned with the original recipe. Fermented at 63. This is solid.
 
Brewed this recipe as the maiden brew on my Brewzilla gen 4 back in September of last year. Ended up hitting crazy high efficiency (over 90 percent) and this batch was jet fuel lol Just because you can get a high efficiency doesn't mean you should! After 8 months or so of tinkering around trying to lower effieciency I finally rebrewed this recipe. Hit the og right on! Ended up kegging Thursday, burst carbing, dosing with gelatin Friday, and pulling samples in between. It's gotten way better over these past few days (total of 4 days in the keg) and it probably wouldn't hurt to cold condition a pinch more. However....Tomorrow is the 4th of July and we're having family over so it's going to be one of the brews on tap. This reminds me of a very plain Jane brew with just a tiny hint of something. Very clean! Thanks for the great recipe!
 
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