Belgian Blonde Recipe - too simple?

[Munich_Mouser]

I just picked up a recipe for a Belgian blonde from my lhbs and am worried it's too simple to make a great beer. They call these recipes partial mash but they seem to be just extract with steeping. I've had good success with them in the past with an octoberfest ale and a black IPA - they had several grain and hop types in each recipe. For this beer it was way simpler and I'm wondering if it's just the style or if this is too basic to get good results:

5 gal batch Belgian blonde
5.25 lb DME
1 lb crystal 15
1 oz fuggle hops at 45 min
Antwerp yeast

Am I rightly worried or should this turn out fine? Thanks.

 

[dyqik]

Looks ok to me, although crystal might be a bit wrong for the style. This style is really simple, basically a single nobleish/earthy/spicy hop for bittering, pilsen malt and the option of a little bit of speciality malt for character. For examples, look at Jamil's article in BYO - His recipe has just pilsen malt, sugar, a little aromatic and wheat malt for character and a single subtle bittering hop.

You might want to add a pound of sugar or light candi syrup to make sure it dries out with the extract. Either sub for a pound of DME (or for the crystal if you use a slightly dark syrup!) or just up the ABV.

Most people make their recipes too complicated, IMHO.

 

[z-bob]

It's not going to be very strong. (I think of Belgians as strong beers) But it's probably an honest 4.5% beer. It's also not very bitter unless those Fuggles have an unusually high AA number.

Are you sure you're not supposed to goose it with a half pound of sugar? I'd also move the hops up to 60 minutes for a little more bitterness.

 

[Calder]

Actually, it looks too complicated to me.

80% Pils extract (or lightest you can get)
20% plain table sugar
Hop to about ~25 IBUs
Dry hop optional with something like Amarillo.

Some other yeast than Antwerp. I've not used it, but it seems to be too clean for a Belgian.