AG2: Strong Blonde Ale... Too Strong?

My second AG went a lot better. I did Jamil's Blond Ale and hit and got 80% efficiency.

12lb of Pale Malt
.75lb of Carmel Malt
1oz Willamette (60 minutes)

Unfortunately, I think my beer is out of style. I mashed in at 151F and let it go for 90 minutes. This time I used 5.2 PH stabalizer since it was a light beer and my water is more suited for Amber ales.

The boiling OG (corrected for temperature) was 1.051 for 7.25 gallons of wort, which makes it a 1.067OG for 5.5 gallons. Oops.

I anticipated a 65% efficiency on this because my first AG was only 55%. Will a 6.5-6.7% blond ale be too harsh?

Woah. I actually think my 5% blonde is a little alcohol heavy. Yours is certainly out of style for blonde but if you like it, no big deal. I'd recommend fermenting it at the bottom end of the range just so you can absolutely avoid fusels which will make it worse.

too strong to fit into the guidelines, but it is still beer. So if this is just for you to drink at home, then I say you may have a pretty good beer on your hands

Let it age a bit longer than you normally would since it is bigger, but who knows you may be on to something. Keep us posted

I think so. Willamette is a low AA hop, so your IBU won't be very high. If there is room in the fermenter, I'd be tempted to boil 1/2 ounce of Willamette in a gallon of water and add it. That would reduce the target ABV to about 5.5% You could also wait until it's time to rack it.

Well, I'm using a Nottingham Ale and the the yest pitching temperature was ~55-60F. I plan on keeping it in the primary for 3 weeks and then bottle conditioning it for 3-4 weeks.

Could I dillute by a gallon on bottling day if it is too harsh?

You could dillute it with as much as it takes to make it taste good to you. It's probably gonna be tough to know for sure since the beer will be flat, but you could even go with a 50/50 mix. Don't forget to boil the water first to get the O2 out.

Bobby_M said:

You could dillute it with as much as it takes to make it taste good to you. It's probably gonna be tough to know for sure since the beer will be flat, but you could even go with a 50/50 mix. Don't forget to boil the water first to get the O2 out.

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50/50 mix? Wow. Hmmm...

Actually, I might be good to go with just adding a gallon of boiled water. Jamil's recipe target OG was 1.050 with a 20.1 IBU using the rager calculation. The Williamette I used was 6.2% Alpha. In promash, 6.5 gallons will give me 20.8I BU so it might be well balanced. I can deal with 5.5% brew.

Just to confirm, I can rack on top of this gallon of pre-boiled water on bottling day? How long should I boil the water to deoxidate it?

Thanks,

Mike

you could dilute it....


or you could just let it ferment and brew another one

Chimone said:

you could dilute it....


or you could just let it ferment and brew another one

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Heh. Well, I wanted to make a brew that my sister-in-law would like since I always brew over her house. I think I'm going to dilute it.

You could actually just use a gallon of water for your priming solution instead of the usual two cups.

I'd be curious where this ferment finishes. If you get down around 1.010, I'd suspect the alcohol to be a bit prominent. If you by chance had a higher mash temp and it finishes a little sweet around 1.016, it might balance the alcohol well. If you're going for an easy drinking BMC substitute, I'd go with the dilution or it might remind you a little of a Belgian Golden Strong without the phenolics of belg yeast.

Bobby_M said:

You could actually just use a gallon of water for your priming solution instead of the usual two cups.

I'd be curious where this ferment finishes. If you get down around 1.010, I'd suspect the alcohol to be a bit prominent. If you by chance had a higher mash temp and it finishes a little sweet around 1.016, it might balance the alcohol well. If you're going for an easy drinking BMC substitute, I'd go with the dilution or it might remind you a little of a Belgian Golden Strong without the phenolics of belg yeast.

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I'll keep everyone posted on the progress. Thanks again everyone for the feedback.

I want a BMC subsitute so I plan on diluting with a gallon on bottling day. I think the end result will be very close to Jamil's recipe.

He mashed at 152F. I hit 151F. His final recipe was 5.2% alcohol, mine will be ~5.5%. The fact that my Willamette was 6.2% helps. Watering it down by a gallon will be a little bit lower than his intended 20.1 IBU. Using the tinseth calculation in promash it's 19.2 IBU. (I guess I should be using tinseth instead of rager.)

I doubt the extra .3% of alcohol will push it over the edge too much. I think the low fermentation temperature should help out a lot too. The carboy was sitting in 55F degree tub of water. By the time the yeasties get going, it won't rise above 60F.

This one is still fermenting like crazy. I'm glad I used a blowoff tube. It's a good thing that the water bath, it's sitting in is cold ~55-60F.

Blowoff Tube Bubbles:

Sunday: Once every 10-15 seconds
Monday: Once every 5 seconds
Tuesday: Once a second
Wednesday: Once a second
Thursday: ?

I plan on switching to an airlock today as long as the fermenting has calmed back down.

I am not sure how this one will come out. It's my first attempt at a light beer and it will have way more alcohol than I intended. I plan on dilutting it, but 5.5-5.6% is a bit high. The IBU will go down a bit too, but it will still be in style.

But, being that it's my second AG and I got 79-80% efficiency, I learned a lot from the experience and understand my equipment a little bit better. I also aerated a bit better than my first AG. I usually get a little blowoff with my beers and it was a bit of a disappointment that my first AG never got there. Overall I'm pleased.

Mike

I use 11 pounds of two row in my blonde. It may not be to style, but I like it. Yours is lower in hops than mine. I usually use two ounces. I guess mine is really more like a light colored IPA, but I call it a blonde.

I would bottle it as is and I bet it is great!

I bottled it this past weekend diluting it with a gallon of water. It tasted great. It's definitely light on the hops, but this could be a good beer replacement for the BMC crowd. I can't wait to try it in a few weeks.