Double D Blondie - What do you think ?

Now that I have your attention..
I am one of those long time reader first time poster type..
I have brewed several extract and BIAB brews. I broke the cherry on the first AG brew last weekend. Used DFH 90min recipe on one of threads here...

I would now like to formulate my own recipe for a nice summer blond ale (hence the title)

Here is the recipe (output from BrewR app)

Style: Blonde Ale
Batch size: 5.0 gal
Boil volume: 6.5 gal
OG: 1.050
FG: 1.013
Bitterness (IBU): 34.6
Color (SRM): 6.0
ABV: 5.0%

Grain/Sugars:

6.50 lb Two-row (Canadian), 66.7% --> Base
1.50 lb Vienna (US), 19.0% --> for aroma and color
1.00 lb Wheat (US), 9.5% --> for flavor
1.00 lb Crystal 10L, 4.8% --> light honey-like sweetness

Hops:

0.50 oz Perle (AA 8.3%, Pellet) 60 min, 15.8 IBU
0.50 oz Citra (AA 12.0%, Pellet) 15 min, 11.3 IBU
0.50 oz Amarillo (AA 8.0%, Pellet) 5 min, 3.0 IBU
0.50 oz Citra (AA 12.0%, Pellet) 5 min, 4.5 IBU
0.50 oz Amarillo (AA 8.0%, Pellet) 0 min, 0.0 IBU

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 2 weeks @ 65 degF
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 days @ 65 degF (dry hop with 1 oz Amarillo/Citra)

As you can tell, I love my drink hoppy. All you beer connoisseurs and zymurgist. Please let me know what you think about the recipe.
Too much hop?
Too bitter?
Wrong grain bill?
Too soon for me to be formulating a recipe?

madira_maker said:

Too much hop?
Too bitter?
Wrong grain bill?
Too soon for me to be formulating a recipe?

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Brew it. Who cares what we think? That's the best part about Homebrewing, tailoring your tastes to your own beer. As far as being too soon to formulate a recipe, that's crazy talk. It's not like you follow a strict recipe the first 15 times you fry an egg, you just do it.

Nice first post, but I'm going with Nike on this one....JUST DO IT!

(and send me a bottle!)

Looks good man, I would drop the wheat and add a pound more to the base and would add a 1/2 pound of cara pills for a nice head , so your late addition citra shines

very misleading title bro

MyNameIsPaul said:

Brew it. Who cares what we think? That's the best part about Homebrewing, tailoring your tastes to your own beer. As far as being too soon to formulate a recipe, that's crazy talk. It's not like you follow a strict recipe the first 15 times you fry an egg, you just do it.

Nice first post, but I'm going with Nike on this one....JUST DO IT!

(and send me a bottle!)

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You are too kind my friend. Thanks for the encouragement.
I will go with it as long as no one finds anything blatantly messed up..
If you are in the Chicago area.... I'm always looking for feedback on brew. I will be happy to send you a bottle. No idea how much it costs to pack and ship.

Flimflam said:

Looks good man, I would drop the wheat and add a pound more to the base and would add a 1/2 pound of cara pills for a nice head , so your late addition citra shines

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Won't the wheat help with head?
What if I just add the carapills to the existing grains?

HoppyDaze said:

very misleading title bro

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Sorry sir.... Hope the beer turns out as attractive and less misleading

You don't say what yeast you use, but it otherwise sounds like a plan.

I made a Nude Beach Blonde last summer with Belgian Saison yeast. It was yummy. I think this summer's brew will be a Nude Beach Red. I'll pop some cherry into it.

zacster said:

You don't say what yeast you use, but it otherwise sounds like a plan.

I made a Nude Beach Blonde last summer with Belgian Saison yeast. It was yummy. I think this summer's brew will be a Nude Beach Red. I'll pop some cherry into it.

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I was planning on using some lager yeast... NO?

I would go with a clean ale yeast with those hops. You don't won't to lager it and loose hop aroma while doing so.

10% for crystal malt might be bold, I'd recommend you limit to 5%ish and perhaps mash at a higher temperature if you want a sweet backbone to support the Double D.

In my experience, wheat doesn't contribute "flavor" as you mentioned, but more body and head retention as madira_maker said. It can add some haze unlike CaraPils. I use 5% wheat in IPAs for body and head retention, and get far more haze from dry hopping than I do wheat on that note.

brettg20 said:

I would go with a clean ale yeast with those hops. You don't won't to lager it and loose hop aroma while doing so.

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Point taken... will use British Ale yeast (1098)

lockwom said:

10% for crystal malt might be bold, I'd recommend you limit to 5%ish and perhaps mash at a higher temperature if you want a sweet backbone to support the Double D.

In my experience, wheat doesn't contribute "flavor" as you mentioned, but more body and head retention as madira_maker said. It can add some haze unlike CaraPils. I use 5% wheat in IPAs for body and head retention, and get far more haze from dry hopping than I do wheat on that note.

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Will drop wheat and crystal to 5% each and add 5% carapills and up the 2-row to hit the OG target.

madira_maker said:

You are too kind my friend. Thanks for the encouragement.
I will go with it as long as no one finds anything blatantly messed up..
If you are in the Chicago area.... I'm always looking for feedback on brew. I will be happy to send you a bottle. No idea how much it costs to pack and ship.

Click to expand...

I'm north burbs if you need feedback I'm always up to try new beer and have plenty friends that also brew and share.

Here is what I have based on the feed back..

Style: Blonde Ale
Batch size: 5.0 gal
Boil volume: 6.5 gal
OG: 1.052
FG: 1.013
Bitterness (IBU): 26.6
Color (SRM): 5.3
ABV: 5.1%

Grain/Sugars:

8.00 lb Two-row (Canadian), 74.4%
2.00 lb Vienna (US), 18.6%
0.50 lb CaraPils, 4.7%
0.25 lb Biscuit (Belgian), 2.3% --> Threw it in there for a Belgian blonde touch.. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF THIS WILL MASK THE HOPS

Hops:

0.25 oz Perle (AA 8.3%, Pellet) 60 min, 7.8 IBU
0.50 oz Citra (AA 12.0%, Pellet) 15 min, 11.2 IBU
0.50 oz Amarillo (AA 8.0%, Pellet) 5 min, 3.0 IBU
0.50 oz Citra (AA 12.0%, Pellet) 5 min, 4.5 IBU
0.50 oz Amarillo (AA 8.0%, Pellet) 0 min, 0.0 IBU

Yeast/Misc:

European Ale yeast, 1.0 unit(s), Yeast
Irish Moss, 1.0 unit(s), Fining , boil 15 min

Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 2 weeks @ 65 degF
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp): 10 days @ 65 degF (dry hop with 1 oz Amarillo/Citra)

Why not use delta hops to match your double d.

madcowbrewing said:

Why not use delta hops to match your double d.

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From what I read... they are very subtle. I'm looking for refreshing citrus and grapefruit

My personal opinion, go heavier on the base malt. Increase to 7 or 8 lbs. I'm brewing some VERY close to this, I've had great results using a more base malt. Either way, it sounds like a good hopped up blondie. Good luck.

WHEW...i got nervous and thought you hade a pic of my wife posted on here!!

All joking aside, your use of the Vienna and wheat was just fine for a blonde ale. The Vienna will add a nice malt character to the beer which is perfect for the style. The wheat will add a bit of haze and wonderful head retention. I would remove the biscuit malt as that may get to be a bit much for the style. If you are not concerned about sticking to style, then let her rip. I enjoy a bit of sweetness to my Blonde(insert your own fantasy), so i do use a small amount of C-10 or C-20. You need to make the decision if you want a malty blonde or a sweeter blonde. One way or another with what you have on the table your beer will be damn good.

It looks more like a light pale ale to me, but the recipe sounds tasty in my opinion. Let us know how it turns out!

With all your input... I went with

8.00 lb Two-row (Canadian), 72.7%
2.00 lb Vienna (US), 18.2%
0.50 lb CaraPils, 4.5%
0.50 lb Crystal 20L , 4.5%

Two questions...
1. My bittering hop (Perle) was left over from 2 batches ago (2 months ago) in a zip lock bag. It did'nt smell fresh at all. Will it still give the IBU's needed ?

2. I was shooting for a mash temp of 154 but only got 150. I understand I may not get the body I was looking for... will the .5 lb crystal help ?

well, hop freshness does decrease with time, but I don't think 2 months would significantly decrease the AA. That is unless they were kept outside the fridge sitting in the hot sun days on end or something. As far as your mash temp, you'll be just fine at 150. You might end up a couple of points lower on your final gravity but that is generally a good thing. The crystal will add some sweetness abd you'll get an increase in body from the carapils. either way, I'm sure it will turn out great, so relax and have a homebrew! Don't forget to keep us updated!

After 2 weeks, the FG was 1.014 (Target 1.013). Smelt and tasted wonderful.

I did not wait to take SG reading over 3 days to confirm fermentation was complete.

Dry hopped it with 1 oz of citra. Will keg and force carb after 10 days.
Hope to taste 4/27.

This was my final recipe...
It turned out great... was gone in 3 sittings between 3 of my friends and I

Double-D Blonde

Recipe specifics:

Style: Blonde Ale
Batch size: 5.0 gal
Boil volume: 6.5 gal
OG: 1.053
FG: 1.013
Bitterness (IBU): 26.4
Color (SRM): 5.7
ABV: 5.2%

Grain/Sugars:

8.00 lb Two-row (Canadian), 72.7%
2.00 lb Vienna (US), 18.2%
0.50 lb CaraPils, 4.5%
0.50 lb Crystal 20L, 4.5%

Hops:

0.25 oz Perle (AA 8.3%, Pellet) 60 min, 7.8 IBU
0.50 oz Citra (AA 12.0%, Pellet) 15 min, 11.2 IBU
0.50 oz Amarillo (AA 8.0%, Pellet) 5 min, 3.0 IBU
0.50 oz Citra (AA 12.0%, Pellet) 5 min, 4.5 IBU
0.50 oz Amarillo (AA 8.0%, Pellet) 0 min, 0.0 IBU

Mash at 154F
Dry hopped in primary after 10 days with 1 oz. citra

Yeast/Misc:

European Ale yeast, 1.0 unit(s), Yeast
Irish Moss, 1.0 unit(s), Fining , boil 15 min

Will brew this again with some wheat and more flavoring hops...
I must have wasted close to .5 gal of the beer in excess foam. Not sure if it was over carbonation (i force carbonated it) or the carapils.