Belgian Blond Ale

[John Spiegel]

Brewed up a Belgian Blond Ale today. I'm brewing on an Anvil Foundry 10.5 and got nearly 70% Efficiency (a new high for me. Excited about dialing it in on this thing. Still relatively new to me). Recipe down below, but I'm relatively new to Belgian beers. Any tips/feedback/thoughts on the recipe? This is also my first time using aromatic malt. I saw it in a few recipes online, but I'm honestly not too sure about what it adds to things, so thoughts there would also be appreciated.


https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1239911/belgian-ale

 

[GoodTruble]

Looks solid. A bit heavy, a bit hoppy. But certainly not too much so. Should be good.

 

[John Spiegel]

Looks solid. A bit heavy, a bit hoppy. But certainly not too much so. Should be good.

Heavy: Yeah. Like I said, this was the most efficiency I've gotten. I was building the recipe around 60% efficiency (7.5% ABV), which is what I've gotten the last few times. I added a 10 minute mash out+Sparge which must've helped quite a bit.

Hoppy: What can I say? I like hops.

 

[GoodTruble]

I think it's better to err on too much abv than too little.

And it's not too hoppy. I'm just cautious of using Pacific Northwest hops in Belgian beers. The hop flavor can drown out Belgian yeast-driven flavors, but you used small enough amounts that it will probably balance out fine.

 

[GillesF]

Get rid of the Centennial and the Cascade hops, it doesn't belong in Belgian Tripels. Fruity flavours come mostly from the yeast, check which temperatures you need to get a specific flavour profile from the yeast.

Increase the corn sugar content, I would go for at least 10%.
Mash profile looks OK, you could try a multi-step mash with is pretty standard for most breweries here

 

[John Spiegel]

Get rid of the Centennial and the Cascade hops, it doesn't belong in Belgian Tripels. Fruity flavours come mostly from the yeast, check which temperatures you need to get a specific flavour profile from the yeast.

Increase the corn sugar content, I would go for at least 10%.
Mash profile looks OK, you could try a multi-step mash with is pretty standard for most breweries here

This one wasn't meant to be as big as a Tripel. While fermenting, there was quite a bit of hop character, and I was worried it would overpower things, but now that it's finished, I don't pick up the hops nearly as much. It's mostly classic Belgian flavors. The fruity yeast, almost bana and spice character on the backend.