Blonde Ale Miller Lite (Really Triple Hopped)

Cool. I'm thinking about brewing it for a competition, one that specifically has a rule of "no lagers". I'm thinking this one may be unique enough that it could taste like a lager, but really be an ale?

Do you guys see this as being an interesting enough beer for a competition that could throw some judges off, and gain extra points being that it's really an ale? I can't imagine that anyone else is entering anything like this, so this could be a unique choice in my mind that's worth a shot.

Or does this taste obviously like a ale, and no one is going to be fooled?

 

To me, one man's opinion, even "clean" ale yeasts have a certain "fruity" nature.
When I made this recipe, I used Nottingham, fermented 60-64, thinking I'd have very clean, light to no malt flavor, C-hop nature, which was indeed there, but I could also tell I had used an ale yeast.

 

Yea. It's tough to make stuff for brewing competitions. You just know that there's going to be 30+ IPA entries, so unless you make an IPA that could rule all others (unlikely) it's best to focus on unique things, and just see what sticks.

I always find that having a 'hint" of something different/unique in there really helps. The orange peel citra Pale Ale that I made did really well last time.

I wonder if something like this beer, but with a gallon of fruit juice (lime or lemon) added to the fermenter may give this a further edge? Or maybe split the batches up (brew a 10 gallon) and lime one up, and make the other batch as-is and see what happens. What do you think?

 

If you're after lime, check out @SD-SLIM 's Lemon Lime Hefe thread here. The sorachi give it more lemon than lime, but it uses Simply Lime-Aide.

 

That's actually another good option I can do. I made that once before, but I think I had an infection and such. May be good to re-roll that again.

 

Wanted to thank Schlenkerla for this recipe as well as for getting me back into brewing beer. It had been 6 years since I brewed and all I ever did was extract. This was my first all grain attempt and it is really good for an easy drinking beer. It also got some of my friends to think twice about homebrew.

 

pwking, good looking beer for the first time in 6 years. Brew on!!

 

Brewing this with a friend on Saturday.

How has everyone's efficiency been with this brew? I typically get 71-72% like clockwork.

I have the recipe built up to have a SG of 1.041 @ 73% efficiency. 1.041 -> 1.000 = 5.4% ABV.

Any reason I should expect more or less efficiency with this grist list?

Kinda wanting to shoot for about 5%, though 4.5% - 5.5% is totally fine I would think. I may still lower the grist slightly.

 

FYI, I got 87% efficiency...damn!

So now I'm going to have a 6% Miller Ice, and that's if it works down to 1.000. OG: 1.048