First Attempt at a Blond Ale

Here goes. Something new for me. I picked these ingredients because I have them all on hand and can brew at a moments notice.

Bee Cave Blonde

9# 2 Row Pils
2# Vienna
1/2# Flaked Barley

60 minute single infusion mash at 152 degrees.

1 oz. Hallertau at 45 min
.5 oz Hallertau at at 15 min
.5 oz Hallertau at 5 min

Ferment for 10 days at 65 degrees with Nottingham yeast.

O.G. 1.048
F.G. 1.010
IBUs 17
SRM 3
ABV 5.1%

Any thoughts? I think I'll whip up 5.5 gallons of this tomorrow evening.

Sounds nice and the ingredients + yeast seem style-appropriate, though I'm not really a blonde connoisseur. Happy brewing!

You may want to do a protein rest with the Pils malt.


My grain bill:

Maris Otter 15.00 #
Carapils Dex. .50 #

Mash in at 152 F

Hop schedule: 45-30-15 minutes to get 17-19 ibu's


I force carb to around 2.60+


Kids love it. Goes great with crawfish, crabs, shrimp - most any boiled seafood.

Brewer3401 said:

You may want to do a protein rest with the Pils malt.

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Thanks for the tip. My pils malt is from Canada and is pretty well modified. I don't use a protein rest for my Koslch and it turned out pretty well. If it was German Pils malt, then a protein rest would help as you suggest.

Some day I'll graduate to fancy decoction & multi temp mashes.

Sounds like a low IBU for Mrs. EdWort. Do you think she'll approve?

BierMuncher said:

Sounds like a low IBU for Mrs. EdWort. Do you think she'll approve?

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Yep. I think so. If this turns out, I may modify it for a lawnmower beer. I got the idea from a local brewpub where this guy's blonde ale was awesome. He told me he made with 80% pils, 5% flaked barley and something else along with only Hallertau hops. It was a very quaffable beer similar in body to my Haus Ale, but without the Cascade hoppiness.

Since I've pretty much perfected my standard beers, I'm looking to branch out for other enjoyable brewskis. They may not meet any standard style guidelines other than my own standards (which means they need to taste great).

How did you get an SRM of 3?

I would assume that with the addition of vienna that it would go a lot higher than that. Say in the range of 4.

I made a beer very similar to this and it came out great, the SRM was around 3 also. pilsner malt is 2 SRM and Vienna is usually 3 so it shouldn't be much darker than about 3. After further review mine was 4.2 SRM.

Ok, here's the final cut. I'm about ready to add hops.

7# Pils
2# Vienna
8 oz. Carapils
8 oz. Flaked Barley

Mashed at 152 degrees for 90 minutes. Batch Sparged and extracted almost 7 gallons of wort.

This puppy is gonna be 3 SRM for sure.

90 minute boil to 5.5 gallons.

1 oz. Hallertau Herzbrucker 3.2 AA at 45 min
.5 oz Hallertau Herzbruckerat at 15 min.
.5 oz Hallertau Herzbruckerat at 5 min.

Nottingham Dry yeast.

Update: Only got 5 gallons in the bucket, so the 90 minute boil upped my O.G. two points.

O.G. is 1.050

I will ferment for 10 days at 65 degrees, then crash cool for a few days then keg. First tasting in 4 weeks after I drink the hydrometer jar.

Took a hydrometer reading today after a couple days of crash cooling. It's finished at 1.007. Nottingham attenuates pretty darn well. It's a lot drier than I expected. It fermented at 65 degrees for a week before I dropped the temp.

Here's my hydrometer sample for the color.



At 11 days, it's pretty green and bitter like a German pils, but that should mellow out after a few weeks on gas in the keezer. I won't taste it again till two weeks from now.

So far I'm happy, but I may try a different yeast next time. Off in the keg it goes.

BierMuncher said:

Sounds like a low IBU for Mrs. EdWort. Do you think she'll approve?

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LOL. My wife absolutely hates hoppy beers.

Although I gave her a sip of non-carbonated Apfelwein last night when I was bottling it and she liked it!

Yeah, mine too, but then again, this is very green. A few weeks on gas will mellow it out a bit, but those Hallertau Herzbrucker hops are coming through very German like. It's amazing how Nottingham can ferment out dry & clean like a pilsener in 10 days.

I'm glad your SWMBO likes the Apfelwein. Be careful though. It can get away from you.

Here is the blonde that I can't seem to keep enough of on hand. I will send ya a few bottles in about 3 more weeks. Just brewed it up yesterday.



Mash 153

Grain/Extract/Sugar
Amount Name Origin Potential SRM
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
7.50 lbs. Pilsener America 1.038 2
0.50 lbs. Cara-Pils Dextrine Malt 1.033 2
0.50 lbs. Vienna Malt America 1.037 3
0.50 lbs. Wheat Malt America 1.039 2

Potential represented as SG per pound per gallon.


Hops

Amount Name Form Alpha IBU Boil Time
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
1.00 oz. Hallertauer Tradition Pellet 3.30 16.2 60 min.
1.00 oz. Czech Saaz Pellet 3.70 6.1 20 min.


Yeast
-----

WYeast 1056 Amercan Ale OR Saf 05

So how was the Blonde Ale? I made one too and am drinking it now.

Would anyone be interested in shipping me a bottle or 2 of their all grain blonde ale? I will pay shipping and handling with Paypal. I need a good reference to find out what I am doing wrong on my blonde ale.

What sort of defect do you think you taste? I'd send one but I only bottled 4 and those are for competitions.

mdd134 said:

Would anyone be interested in shipping me a bottle or 2 of their all grain blonde ale? I will pay shipping and handling with Paypal. I need a good reference to find out what I am doing wrong on my blonde ale.

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How's about you send us some of YOUR beer and we'll tell you what's wrong with it....

Just made a Blonde myself this weekend. Similar ingredients, just pilsner, vienna, and some carapils. Only I used the WLP008 East Coast Ale so that should be pretty clean but less attenuating than the Nottingham. It's bubbling away now.

The defect I am having is a very grainy taste or after taste, at first I thought the issue was my water pH. So I started another batch with bottled water and checked my mash pH it was in range, but this batch is only in the secondary. I sampled it from the secondary and it has the same taste as the first batch, but maybe it will change after I bottle it


The grain bill is

3# 6 row
3# Vienna
2.25 Maize

mdd134 said:

The defect I am having is a very grainy taste or after taste, at first I thought the issue was my water pH. So I started another batch with bottled water and checked my mash pH it was in range, but this batch is only in the secondary. I sampled it from the secondary and it has the same taste as the first batch, but maybe it will change after I bottle it

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Reserve judgement till 4 weeks after bottling. There will be a HUGE difference.

EdWort said:

Reserve judgement till 4 weeks after bottling. There will be a HUGE difference.

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I agree.

I'm guilty of rushing from brew to tap and I tasted my Three-Five Ale last night...just 10 days post brew. Clear, carb'd, bright and crisp. But a definite grain aftertaste.

Guess I'll have to lean on my NewCastle for the next few weeks until this brew matures.

Pulled a sample today at almost 3 weeks from brew day. Tastes like a Bitburger pils. The head retention is fricking awesome though. It's gonna be a quaffable beer soon. I do think I'll cut back on the bittering hops next time. I'm impressed with the creaminess of the flaked barley and carapils.

EdWort said:

I do think I'll cut back on the bittering hops next time.

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I would give it 4 weeks before you decide on the bittering hops Ed, Maybe it will mello some more. Then again I am a hop head at heart.

Yeah, I know. I usually wait 8 weeks before testing, but I was curious. My Octoberfest Ale tasted great at 2 months.