Need some suggestions for a wort contest

Tomorrow morning, my local homebrew club set up a contest where a bunch of people are going to be attending a brewing session at a local craft brewery.

We are going to be brewing a Belgian Blonde. Once everything is all set, the contestants are going to be taking the finished wort home to do whatever they want with it to make it a unique beer (ie. yeast, dry hopping, adding sugar etc)

I have had the end product they are making on numerous occassions. It is more a nice beer, but a bit lacking IMO. Very light, not too high of ABV. Unfortunately, I do not know what the OG is going to be.

Since i really love saisons, I wanted to ramp this beer up by using Wyeast 3711 or 3724 and adding a lb of sugar near the end of fermentation, and then dry hopping with an oz of cascade to give it a nice floral nose.

Any suggestions from anyone?

You add stuff to get more mouthfeel or even just boil longer to make it that way.

You know that a Belgian Blonde is supposed to be light and not very high ABV??

Oh, and addign sugar will thin it even more, even if it does give more alcohol.

I think what you are trying to make is a Belgian Pale.

really, im just looking for suggestions. since i dont know the OG of it, the sugar is just speculative.

the saison yeasts could help with the thinness, as they produce higher levels of glycerol which improves the body perception.

depending on how long you have for the contest, personally I'd add some brett & a nice dry hop

Would any fruits fit in well?

Some Crystal 10L might add some mouthfeel and a bit of sweetness. Not much color. You could try some oats to add some texture as well.

how would I go about adding that to an already finished wort?

btw, no go on the sugar as they added in 5lb of sugar as it is to the whole 39gal batch.

Im sticking with saison yeast and dry hopping with cascade. thanks for the thoughts everyone!

pwndabear said:

btw, no go on the sugar as they added in 5lb of sugar as it is to the whole 39gal batch.

Im sticking with saison yeast and dry hopping with cascade. thanks for the thoughts everyone!

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I've gotta go with Homer and say that some oats might be nice, along with your idea of a dry hop, though I'd question the use of cascade (though I see what you are getting at) as I'd go for something a little more grassy/piney/resinous like chinook (top of the head idea here).

Dont have any idea on the yeast, I'm not a huge fan of belgians (though there certainly is a place for them!).

Also, as far as getting the oats into the finished wort, I'd probably do a small mash with some pilsner malt or other more "specialized" base malt, just a few pounds with a handful of ounces of oats, boil for a bit, and add to your wort, maybe even after fermentation has begun. Its worth noting that I dont know what this would do to your projected F.G., if anything.

Again, I've thought this over for like, 45 seconds, so its just the ideas that came immediately to my head.

Good Luck!

IF you follow my ill thought out musings, and happen to win, I expect a bottle of this beer