Blonde Ale Extract Recipe- How's it look?

[dcummings1998]

I went into my favorite brew store in Vancouver, WA (Bader's, if you're in the area) for a 5-gallon Better Bottle to use as a secondary, and decided to peruse the recipes. I mentioned that I wanted something light that my girlfriend would like, and the guy scampered off and gathered the following ingredients, and I wrote down as much of what he said as I could remember:

5 lb Light DME
0.5 lb Crystal 10L
0.25 lb Dextrin
0.25 lb Wheat Malt
Nottingham Ale Yeast
2 oz Willamette Pellet Hops

Steep grains at 150 for 30 min in 2 gal water
Bring water to boil, add 0.5 to 1 gal DME
1 oz hops in, start 60 min boil
20 min, add rest of DME
0 min, 1 oz hops


This is supposed to be a basic Blonde Ale. According to BeerSmith, it should be:

21 IBU
6.8 SRM (seems a tad high for a blonde)
4.4% ABV


Sound like a good recipe for a basic Blonde? Should I change anything? I already have a pound each of Cascade, Willamette, and Northern Brewer hops, so those could be substituted.

 

[dcummings1998]

MOD EDIT: Double post merged

I wasn't getting any replies over there (probably because it's such a newbie question), so I thought I'd repost it here:

I went into my favorite brew store in Vancouver, WA (Bader's, if you're in the area) for a 5-gallon Better Bottle to use as a secondary, and decided to peruse the recipes. I mentioned that I wanted something light that my girlfriend would like, and the guy scampered off and gathered the following ingredients, and I wrote down as much of what he said as I could remember:

5 lb Light DME
0.5 lb Crystal 10L
0.25 lb Dextrin
0.25 lb Wheat Malt
Nottingham Ale Yeast
2 oz Willamette Pellet Hops

Steep grains at 150 for 30 min in 2 gal water
Bring water to boil, add 0.5 to 1 gal DME 1 oz hops in, start 60 min boil
20 min, add rest of DME
0 min, 1 oz hops

This is supposed to be a basic Blonde Ale. According to BeerSmith, it should be:
21 IBU
6.8 SRM (seems a tad high for a blonde)
4.4% ABV

Sound like a good recipe for a basic Blonde? Should I change anything? I already have a pound each of Cascade, Willamette, and Northern Brewer hops, so those could be substituted.

 

[AmandaK]

I don't have Brewing Classic Styles in front of me, but it looks alright. I would actually take out the C10 and replace it with Wheat Malt. Blonde ales should have no caramel flavors and can also have up to 25% of the grist be wheat.

And your SRM is higher than it should be because you are brewing with extract. It's really hard (if even possible) to get a truly pale beer when using extract. Colors not that big of a deal anyway, right?

 

[HossTheGreat]

Looks good to me. The 10L really isn't a big deal, in fact many of the blonde recipies I see include a small percentage of 10 or 15L. I would go with the Willamette, as hops should be pretty low profile in a blonde. If you want a little twist on this, you can check out BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde recipe. It's one of the most popular recepies on this forum:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f66/centennial-blonde-simple-4-all-grain-5-10-gall-42841/

 

[Ravenshead]

You're good dude. If it was up to me I would probably switch the yeast to SA-05 but Notty is fine. This will be a nice, crisp and most importantly non-threatening beer to get her started.

Edwort's House Pale Ale is another good one to try but there's no reason not to make this one if you already have the ingredients.

 

[dcummings1998]

Perfect. I actually grabbed some US-05 but the guys sometimes suggest a different yeast. I took his word and went with the Notty, but will maybe switch it up next time.

She's starting to get into craft beers (she used to only drink coors, but now she's been going for a nice pils or lager), and I think this will hit the spot.

As always, thanks for the guidance!

 

[AR-Josh]

I vote you brew it as the guy said to. Then play with it after you drink this one. I guarantee you will down it pretty quick. Looks like a decent extract recipe. I have one I'm getting ready to brew that's pretty close to yours with Williamette hops.

 

[dcummings1998]

I was looking for something fun to do this evening so I brewed my batch of this.

I think it's gonna be a good brew, as all things went well, other than:

1) At 20 mins I added hops instead of the DME, which explains why I'm calling it Buxom Blonde Ale. I caught it soon after and pulled the hop bag for 10 mins, but it will still be a little bitter compared to other Blondes (kinda like my girlfriend...) ;

2) I could have sworn that there was a 5-gallon mark on the side of my plastic carboy, but I couldn't find it. I had to eyeball it, and after the yeast was in and the cap was on, it looked a little low. I would guess maybe 1/4 gallon low. I figured that it would be better to be low than to be too high.

Lessons learned: don't have too many homebrews while working on a new batch, and mark off an accurate level for 5 gallons on the fermenters.

 

[beerandloathinginaustin]

but it will still be a little bitter compared to other Blondes (kinda like my girlfriend...) ;

This made me spit out a combo of Fritos and Lagunitas Little Sumpin Sumpin. Congrats good sir.

 

[dcummings1998]

That's a nice beer. Don't go wasting it all on your monitor and keyboard