Belgian Blonde - Opinions Please

Some friends from work are having a brew day in March and I'm thinking of making this recipe. Opinions please.

Beer: Belgian Blonde
Type: Extract
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 5.88 gal
Boil Time: 60 min

Ingredients

Amount - Item - Type - % or IBU
5.00 lb - Pale Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) - Extract - 55.6 %
4.00 lb - Wheat Liquid Extract (8.0 SRM) - Extract - 44.4 %
1.00 oz - Williamette [5.50%] (60 min) - Hops - 18.1 IBU
1 Pkgs - Belgian Wheat (Brewtek #CL-0900) - Yeast-Wheat

Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.065 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.017 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 6.3 %
Bitterness: 18.1 IBU
Calories: 43 cal/pint
Est Color: 9.3 SRM

you probably want to steep some grain here or your not going to have any unfermentable sugars to leave mouth feel. This will ferment almost completly down leaving a very thin beer in my oppinion. COnsider steeping a bit of crystal grains or some type of dextrin rich malt...

scinerd3000 said:

you probably want to steep some grain here or your not going to have any unfermentable sugars to leave mouth feel. This will ferment almost completly down leaving a very thin beer in my oppinion. COnsider steeping a bit of crystal grains or some type of dextrin rich malt...

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If I choose to not steep any grains, would a pound or two of Malto Dextrin help?

There is plenty of unfermentable sugars in the extracts.

If you did use malto-dextrin, I think it would be more like 4-8 oz.

i just had a glass of my belgian honey blonde...very sexy beer. spicy, light, crisp, funky, aromatic...wow


8oz crystal10
8oz flaked wheat
4oz caravienne malt
3# wheat dme -
1.5# light dme - added 30 minutes
1.5# honey - added 10 minutes
1oz willamette 60 minutes
.5oz saaz 15 mintues
.5oz saaz 5 minutes
2oz ginger 2 minutes

wyeast 3942 belgian wheat yeast

Azharen said:

If I choose to not steep any grains, would a pound or two of Malto Dextrin help?

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yea it would but i still think you would be better off steeping a crystal grain but 4-8oz of malto dextrine should work also. Your final gravity will probably end up being lower than 1.017 as listed since your using only extracts... You could add the extracts at the beginning of the boil to get more carmelized sugars for the yeast but it will make your beer slightly darker vs a late addition of the extract

ManyBrews said:

i just had a glass of my belgian honey blonde...very sexy beer. spicy, light, crisp, funky, aromatic...wow


8oz crystal10
8oz flaked wheat
4oz caravienne malt
3# wheat dme -
1.5# light dme - added 30 minutes
1.5# honey - added 10 minutes
1oz willamette 60 minutes
.5oz saaz 15 mintues
.5oz saaz 5 minutes
2oz ginger 2 minutes

wyeast 3942 belgian wheat yeast

Click to expand...

2 oz of ginger? How long did this beer need to mellow? I used 1 oz in an 8%ABV Christmas ale and wished I used less.

i think it was better off after 1.5 months in bottle cause the honey needed to mellow. also, i put in at last 2 mintues, so spiciness just sort of blended with spiciness of belgian yeast?

when did you put in ginger? i think that can make a big difference.

and to OP...i'd steep atleast 8oz crystal 10l and think about doing a late addition on 1/2 of extract.

scinerd3000 said:

yea it would but i still think you would be better off steeping a crystal grain but 4-8oz of malto dextrine should work also. Your final gravity will probably end up being lower than 1.017 as listed since your using only extracts... You could add the extracts at the beginning of the boil to get more carmelized sugars for the yeast but it will make your beer slightly darker vs a late addition of the extract

Click to expand...

What Crystal Grain and how much. Also, what do mean exactly by late addition of the extract? I thought I was supposed let all of the extract boil for an hour?

i'd look to a very popular recipe on here: biermuncher's all grain belgain blond swmbo slayer; i think that calls for steeping 8 oz crystal 10 and 4 0z caravienne malt; can't steep the wheat without partial mash

often when brewing light beers w/ extract it can be a good idea to add 1/2 extract at 60 and 1/2 at 15 minutes; it's good for keeping color light and also hop utilization. maybe search late additon on forums.

good luck, belgian blondes are awesome beers. i didn't even like belgians till 6 months ago.

Just to clarify: The malto dextrin should not be steeped. It's a powder and can be added with the extracts.

If you want to steep some grains, I'd suggest some aromatic malt and carapils. Perhaps .25 -.5 lbs of either or both

ManyBrews said:

i think it was better off after 1.5 months in bottle cause the honey needed to mellow. also, i put in at last 2 mintues, so spiciness just sort of blended with spiciness of belgian yeast?

when did you put in ginger? i think that can make a big difference.

and to OP...i'd steep atleast 8oz crystal 10l and think about doing a late addition on 1/2 of extract.

Click to expand...

I think at 10 min.

ManyBrews said:

i'd look to a very popular recipe on here: biermuncher's all grain belgain blond swmbo slayer; i think that calls for steeping 8 oz crystal 10 and 4 0z caravienne malt; can't steep the wheat without partial mash

often when brewing light beers w/ extract it can be a good idea to add 1/2 extract at 60 and 1/2 at 15 minutes; it's good for keeping color light and also hop utilization. maybe search late additon on forums.

good luck, belgian blondes are awesome beers. i didn't even like belgians till 6 months ago.

Click to expand...

Found the post. Aside from the grain, which I won't be using, it calls for:
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM)
0.25 lb Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM)

Can't find when these should be added though. Do they go for the full 60 minutes?

Azharen said:

Found the post. Aside from the grain, which I won't be using, it calls for:
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM)
0.25 lb Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM)

Can't find when these should be added though. Do they go for the full 60 minutes?

Click to expand...

You would steep them and remove them from the pot before boiling.

Azharen said:

What Crystal Grain and how much. Also, what do mean exactly by late addition of the extract? I thought I was supposed let all of the extract boil for an hour?

Click to expand...

Some people advocate adding the extract within the last 15 minutes for 2 reasons. One it is less apt to darken the color as much since the more time it has to caramelize the darker it gets (only slightly) and two, since the specific gravity is less during the boil additions of the hops, you will get better utilization (more ibu's).

As for the crystal, i would consider steeping 1/2 to 3/4 of a pound of either crytal 10 or 20. That should keep it light in color and add some mouthfeel from unfermentable sugars. I also saw someone mention biermunchers swmbo slayer belgian blonde. Its an EXCELLENT beer and could be well made with extract since yours is very similar to it.

no pilsner malt extract?

maida7 said:

Just to clarify: The malto dextrin should not be steeped. It's a powder and can be added with the extracts.

If you want to steep some grains, I'd suggest some aromatic malt and carapils. Perhaps .25 -.5 lbs of either or both

Click to expand...

i agree. get some specialty grains in there. pure extract sounds drinkable, but kind of dull.

Azharen said:

Found the post. Aside from the grain, which I won't be using, it calls for:
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Wheat, Flaked (1.6 SRM)
0.25 lb Caravienne Malt (22.0 SRM)

Can't find when these should be added though. Do they go for the full 60 minutes?

Click to expand...

Now this i like! Simple and effective.

philrose said:

no pilsner malt extract?

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a good call.


I'm currently fermenting a Belgian Blond and if you can get that pilsner extract, do that up in place of the pale. you'll still get the pale in with the wheat extract anyway, so why not get a 3rd soldier in your army. I also added a couple pounds of honey and some jaggery to add some depth to it. For specialty grains i used half pound each of cara-pils and munich malt. Not say you should, but this is what i did for my Blond.