Honey Blonde Ale Recipe (AG)

Here is a recipe I came up with for an all-grain Honey Blonde Ale. How does it look?

for 5 gallons:

8 lbs. American 2-row malt
1 lb. 20L Crystal malt

1 lb. clover honey
0.5 oz. Cascade (6.6 AA) 60 min.
0.5 oz. Cascade (6.6 AA) 30 min.
Wyeast 1272 (American Ale II)


I was considering a late hop addition, but think it might be overkill for this style.
Would this benefit from any additional specialty malts?

have you thought about adding an extra 2 [.5] oz hop additions?

My BeerTools Pro calculates about 22 IBUs, which is on the low end for the style. I have about 1.5 oz. of Cascade and about 3/4 oz. of Perle hops, and I'm trying to use the hops I've got since my LHBS is charging $5.50 an ounce for all varieties. I could use some Perle for a bittering addition and maybe some extra Cascade later in the boil. I'm just wondering if I go overboard with the Cascade that I'll end up with an overly Citrusy character.

If you want a little bit more IBU's and don't mind using up that cascade, I'd suggest doing 1oz cascade at 60 and .5 oz cascade at 15. That bumps up the IBU's to around 29 by my calculations, and moving the second addition later will give you a bit more hop flavor, which you wouldn't really get from additions at 60 or 30 minutes. Even so with only .5 oz at 15 the flavor should still be subdued enough to fit the style. That's the way I'd go.

Or don't be afraid to leave as is. I made a 19.9 IBU blond (under my recipe tab) that calls for ~1 ounce of hops for a 5 gallon batch at 60 minutes. It came out absolutely delicious. I have yet to find a person who doesn't thoroughly enjoy it, from the bmc swillers to the other local EAC's. It's my first and only competition submission. We'll see how it does in a couple weeks.


Remember that a blond's character is supposed to be slightly malty with just enough hops for balance. You may also consider restricting the crystal to .5 lbs. A little caramel flavor is OK, but the focus should really be on bringing out the subtle flavor of the 2-row. Jamil has a good podcast on it, I highly recommend listening in.

Hope that helps!

RadicalEd said:

Remember that a blond's character is supposed to be slightly malty with just enough hops for balance. You may also consider restricting the crystal to .5 lbs. A little caramel flavor is OK, but the focus should really be on bringing out the subtle flavor of the 2-row.

Hope that helps!

Click to expand...

I'm also tempted to leave the hop bill as is. Also, my LHBS milled my grain for me and the crystal and 2-row were bagged together. I'll see how it turns out, and perhaps next time I'll cut back on the crystal a bit.

Thanks for the input!

I like a bit of honey malt in my honey blonde. I used half a pound. - Dirk