Belgian Blonde ale recipe critique

[Ijp11]

First time doing a Belgian blonde I'm brewing with the biab style no sparge.
1. 10 lbs Belgian pilsner malt
2. 1lb. Aromatic malt
3. 1/2 lb white wheat malt
Mash at 150 for 70 min.
4. 60 min hallertauer
5. 30 min Styrian Golding's
6. 10 min 1 ounce coriander .65 ounces of bitter orange peel.
7. 5 min-flame out 1 lb Belgian Candi sugar.
8. 3522 Belgian Ardennes yeast pitched at 65f
Any tips to help raise fermentation temp my basement is pretty cold around 64 steady and I wanted to slowly raise temp to 70-75

 

[SpahrBrewing]

Just my $0.02, orange and coriander are a little more indicative of a Belgian Wit, I would leave them out. You're going for a more slight malty-sweet with only subtle fruit and spiciness. With a Belgian Blond Ale, you should be looking to derive your fruity-spiciness from the yeast.

How much of each hop are you planning to use?

To raise ferm temp, wrap blankets around it with a heating pad or something. Fermentation will naturally raise into that temp range and the blankets will help retain it.

 

[dstockwell]

Just my $0.02, orange and coriander are a little more indicative of a Belgian Wit, I would leave them out.

Yep....

 

[lstrowge]

I'd drop the Coriander and Orange peel as well. I use the Ardennes in my Belgian Blonde and it always turns out great! Even garnered a few awards for it.

 

[Ijp11]

1 ounce of each hop

 

[Ijp11]

Thanks for the advice definitely will drop the coriander and orange peel

 

[SpahrBrewing]

Just plugged all that into beersmith. You look good to go on quantities. I would say maybe sub flaked wheat for the half pound of white wheat, unless you just have the white wheat on hand and want to roll with it.

You can also experiment with your hop varieties and hop schedule in the future. This is a pretty malty sweet beer so you're wanting to obviously balance with bittering addition, but also add a nice subtle hop nose to it. Sterling or Saaz would be GREAT aroma/flavor hops because of the floral and slight citrusy notes. Maybe a 50/50 blend of saaz/sterling and styrian goldings would be really good so you get earthy and fruity. All things to play around with later.

Good luck! Send me a bottle when it's done!

 

[Ijp11]

Thanks will have to experiment a bit with the hops

 

[jmcquesten]

I would look at revvys Belgian blonde recipe. That recipe has mash temp at 158 and some plain sugar to get the alcohol up. The high temp keeps some body in the beer and offsets the sugar addition. A lot of recipes call for low mash temps, so most go with that. My Belgian blonde really improved when I changed over to the high mash temp/sugar combination. Search Revy Belgian blonde leffe clone.

If I remember right, his grain bill looks very similar to yours.

 

[SpahrBrewing]

I would look at revvys Belgian blonde recipe. That recipe has mash temp at 158 and some plain sugar to get the alcohol up. The high temp keeps some body in the beer and offsets the sugar addition. A lot of recipes call for low mash temps, so most go with that. My Belgian blonde really improved when I changed over to the high mash temp/sugar combination. Search Revy Belgian blonde leffe clone.

If I remember right, his grain bill looks very similar to yours.

Plain table sugar is the same as doing the belgian candi sugar that he already has. The estimated ABV for the beer as he has it, is 7.2%. Plenty of alcohol and definitely fitting for the category of Belgian Strong Ale. Belgian blonds can be anywhere from 1.008 or 1.018 final so there is a wide range of mash temps acceptable. Can be however you see fit, but I think the lower mash temp will lead way to better crispness allowing the hop aroma and yeast character to shine through.

 

[ba-brewer]

That yeast can make a mess, so leave plenty of head space in the fermentor and use a blow off tube.

If you can keep it around 65F it should be more spicy and less fruity/banana.

 

[jmcquesten]

Plain table sugar is the same as doing the belgian candi sugar that he already has. The estimated ABV for the beer as he has it, is 7.2%. Plenty of alcohol and definitely fitting for the category of Belgian Strong Ale. Belgian blonds can be anywhere from 1.008 or 1.018 final so there is a wide range of mash temps acceptable. Can be however you see fit, but I think the lower mash temp will lead way to better crispness allowing the hop aroma and yeast character to shine through.

Right, which is why I said plain sugar. The belgian candy sugar is kind of a waste of money. I wasn't suggesting more alcohol than his recipe is already calling for. The low mash temp combined with sugar can give you a thin, cidery beer. The recipe that I referred to is a proven recipe (not mine), and I was just saying to look at it and read the pages of comments in the discussion.