Blonde Ale Recipe Critique PARTIAL MASH

So I have made nothing but saisons this summer, and am a bit burnt out on them. I want to make a beer that my wife will drink, and now that I have the means to do so via chest freezer fermentation chamber, I was thinking about making a blonde. I came up with the following:

6.5 lb Maris otter
1.5 lb Pilsen DME
.5 lb flaked corn
.25 lb crystal 30L
Irish moss - 1 tsp. 60 min boil

Hops
.5oz cascade 60 min
.5oz cascade 30 min
.5oz cascade 10min
.5oz cascade Flameout

Yeast
Mangrove Jacks West Coast yeast (what I have at the moment, but open to suggestions, as long as its dry yeast)

60 min mash
60min boil

154mash temp
Ferment at 67degrees

1.049 OG
1.010 FG
16.07 IBU
SRM 5.32

She doesn't like hop forward beers, that's for sure. Any suggestions would be great! Keep in mind that I built this from scratch and I'm relatively new to brewing, so go easy on me please! Haha

 

I would skip the biscuit malt and Vienna malt. Not really going to do much for you. Might add 4oz or crystal 30 and bump up the Maris Otter up by 1.5 lbs. I also would go straight cascade with your hops.

With pale malt you don't need a 90 min boil so 60 min would be fine. Really only light colored malts like pilsner need the long boil to drive off DMS.

Mash temp looks good. One bit of advice I can give about grain bills for lighter colored beers is keep it simple. Too many overlapping flavors tend just to muddy the flavors of the finished beer.

 

That's what I was afraid of. I'm still learning all of this, and I find myself making the bills too complicated. So axe the Vienna and biscuit, and add in .25lb of crystal 30 and change the Maris otter to 6.5lb. What about the Irish moss? Just trying to drive off any sort of haziness.

 

I haven't used Irish moss for a few years now but if memory serves a teaspoon for 5 gallons should be plenty.

 

If you can get the beer to about 32f and hit it with some gelatin disolved in a cup of hot water that will knock out any haze

 

Do you think .25lb of biscuit will add a bit of body though? I'm also trying to make it easy drinking, so it might be a little more body than she would like. She's a big fan of wheats and beers like Oberon, 312 goose island, etc.

 

Marris Otter has plenty of body and biscuit notes. If you want more sweetness increasing the mash temp or more C-30 if you want would be a better idea.

I might add more biscuit malt for a brown but not so much for a blonde

 

OK cool, thanks! Any thoughts on the yeast? I've used it before with great results, but it was in an IPA.

 

Yeah Chico is perfect for a blonde

 

OK, thanks. I edited the recipe and the mash temp and boil time. Came out to be a little less bitter with the hop adjustments as well. See if that makes more sense!

 

No problem let me know how it comes out.

 

I'm going to brew this one on Sunday (had a bit of a delay since my last post), and I was thinking....are 2 oz of hops too much in a blonde, considering that my wife isn't much of a hop fan? I've seen several recipes with just an oz

 

Since you are using a lot of grain and little DME why not add more grain, maybe Pilsner malt and go BIAB?

I would not say that 2 ounces of hops is too much, especially with the schedule you have set up.

 

My pot doesn't really have much more space to go all grain, so I'm stuck using DME at the moment. I need a bigger kettle lol