Belgian Blonde with Pale 2-row??

[landoa]

Hello, I am going to brew this in a few days: 1-Gallon Blonde Ale Recipe - BeerCraftr

I compared with other Blonde Ale recipes and they all use pilsner malt. Is it surprising to see a pale malt for this style?

Also, I thought a longer mash of 90 minutes is preferred for a pilsner to eradicate unwanted flavors. Why would the mash be that long for a pale malt? I guess it makes me think the recipe has a typo and the author got the wrong malt!

I'll go ahead and brew it since I already have the ingredients and knowing that it may not be true to style.

Cheers!

 

[Dr_Jeff]

the mash time is in regards to the mash temperature

Pilsner malt often times, is recommended to be boiled for 90 minutes to drive of DMS, but with todays well modified malt, 60 minutes is sufficient most experts say.

 

[Immocles]

It most likely has an extended mash to get a very attenuated beer with a nice low FG. Low and slow on the mash will drive the FG down.

 

[landoa]

I just bottled today and was surprised to see the FG at 1.020 !! I was just as surprised to take another reading, but this time from beer that was closer to the remaining troub at the bottom of the bucket, and the FG reading was ... 1.002 !! So much for accuracy.

The mash temperature on that brew hovered around 148°F, as stated in the recipe, and my OG was 1.052.

I calibrated my hydrometer - seems to be OK.

What could explain such a stark difference in the two FG readings?

 

[Dr_Jeff]

carbonation in the beer floating your hydrometer, possibly

 

[landoa]

i always spin the hydrometer to get the bubbles off.

last night, i brought the glass carboy upstairs, where its a bit warmer, to be ready for bottling this morning. i noticed bubbles coming from the bottom, something i hadn't noticed in the cellar. could the warmer temperature have influenced the carbonation?

i didn't take readings over several days to see if the FG was the same. is it wrong to assume that two weeks should be enough fermentation time?

 

[Brooothru]

Just out of curiosity, what yeast did you use? Not all strains behave the same, and some can slow dramatically in the latter stages of fermentation. It can look like the yeast are finished (or stalled) when they are still working. If you want to avoid bottle bombs you need to NOT bottle too soon.

Raising the temperature as you did by bringing it upstairs likely roused the yeast. Wait until you get three straight days of no change in SG readings before packaging, just to be safe. A final gravity of 1.020 for a Blonde Ale does seem pretty high though.

Brooo Brother

 

[landoa]

Yeast on that batch was: Mangrove Jack M41, pitched at 71°F

 

[dwhite60]

The final reading, hydrometer or refractometer?

 

[landoa]

Final reading was with hydrometer.

 

[landoa]

Hello, just bottled an IPA and had the same FG as the batch of the Belgian Blonde of 1.020. Its been in the FV two weeks and I was expecting FG 1.012.

I set aside a small volume (.5l) just for testing gravity. It was in a different container and I added the same yeast (Safale 05). I measured FG a few days ago at 1.014.

I suppose the main FV was not done fermenting? How could it be so different from the small sample?

I went ahead and bottled anyway. None of the Belgian Blondes from the last batch exploded so I hope its the same with this one.

 

[doug293cz]

...

last night, i brought the glass carboy upstairs, where its a bit warmer, to be ready for bottling this morning. i noticed bubbles coming from the bottom, something i hadn't noticed in the cellar. could the warmer temperature have influenced the carbonation?

...

Warming the beer will cause the CO2 level to exceed the equilibrium CO2 concentration for the higher temperature. So, some of the CO2 will come out of solution. Bubbles usually form at a surface due to a phenomenon known as nucleation.

CO2 could also be formed by continued/restarted fermentation.

Presence of bubbles doesn't tell you which mechanism is active.

Brew on