Citra Blond (or pale ale) critiques please

[Boek]

What do you think? This is loosely based on the BMs Centennial Blonde with some tweaks to make it a bit darker and more hoppy...oh and with Citra for flavor/aroma and Magnum for bittering. So I guess it is a totally different recipe. Would you make any changes?


Citra Blond - Blonde Ale
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Batch Size: 5.500 gal
Boil Size: 6.300 gal
Boil Time: 60.000 min
Efficiency: 70%%
OG: 1.051
FG: 1.010
ABV: 5.3%%
Bitterness: 30.1 IBUs (Tinseth)
Color: 6 SRM (Morey)

Fermentables
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Name Type Amount Mashed Late Yield Color
Briess - 2 Row Brewers Malt Grain 9.000 lb Yes No 80%% 2 L
Cara-Pils/Dextrine Grain 12.000 oz Yes No 72%% 2 L
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L Grain 8.000 oz Yes No 75%% 10 L
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L Grain 4.000 oz Yes No 74%% 60 L
Vienna Malt Grain 8.000 oz Yes No 78%% 4 L
Vienna Malt Grain 0.000 oz Yes No 78%% 4 L
Total grain: 11.000 lb
Mash at 150 F.

Hops
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Name Alpha Amount Use Time Form IBU
Magnum 13.5%% 0.350 oz Boil 60.000 min Pellet 15.0
Citra 12.0%% 0.250 oz Boil 15.000 min Pellet 4.7
Citra 12.0%% 0.250 oz Boil 5.000 min Pellet 1.9
Citra 12.0%% 0.250 oz Boil 0.000 s Pellet 0.0
Citra 12.0%% 0.250 oz Boil 10.000 min Pellet 3.5
Cascade 6.0%% 0.250 oz Boil 0.000 s Pellet 0.0
Cascade 6.0%% 0.250 oz Boil 15.000 min Pellet 2.4
Cascade 6.0%% 0.250 oz Boil 10.000 min Pellet 1.7
Cascade 6.0%% 0.250 oz Boil 5.000 min Pellet 0.9
Citra 12.0%% 1.000 oz Dry Hop 0.000 s Pellet 0.0

Orange zest from 2 oranges at 10 min.

Yeast
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Name Type Form Amount Stage
Danstar - Nottingham Ale Dry 2.232 tsp Primary

 

[Boek]

Any help? This is the first time i have strayed from an existing recipe.

 

[zmad2000]

Looks good but what do i know i am still in extract.

 

[joelrapp]

I'd drop the cara-pils. If you want the extra body bump the mash temp up a little. On your hop additions are you adding .25oz, killing the flame then adding another .25oz for 10 min aroma steep? If so I'd keep that last flame on addition in for 2-3 min, then the flame out aroma steep. Just my 2 cents.

 

[MaltnHops]

Looks good. Not sure how much you're going to get out of the orange zest. Usually primary will push out a lot of the aroma from that.

 

[Boek]

Thanks a ton for the feedback. It is a fairly standard hop schedule ( 60, 15, 10, 5, 0), the order just got messed up on the recipe.

Good thought on the zest. So do people "dry hop" with zest? I would be open to it. How else is it used?

 

[MaltnHops]

They spray crops with all kinds of pesticides and other stuff that I wouldn't want in my beer. What I would suggest is the following. Wash the fruit really well, really scrub it! Rinse it well and then zest it into a shot glass. Fill the shot glass with some vodka and put it in the fridge for a couple of days. The alcohol in the vodka will draw out the citrus aroma and taste and also kill off any bacteria, pesticides, etc. Once primary is complete, add the shot of vodka. You can also do this at bottling/kegging time. Let me know how it works out for you. I've done this before and have always had good results.

 

[Boek]

They spray crops with all kinds of pesticides and other stuff that I wouldn't want in my beer. What I would suggest is the following. Wash the fruit really well, really scrub it! Rinse it well and then zest it into a shot glass. Fill the shot glass with some vodka and put it in the fridge for a couple of days. The alcohol in the vodka will draw out the citrus aroma and taste and also kill off any bacteria, pesticides, etc. Once primary is complete, add the shot of vodka. You can also do this at bottling/kegging time. Let me know how it works out for you. I've done this before and have always had good results.

Great idea. Could you taste the orange in the finished beer?

 

[MaltnHops]

Yes. Also with the cascade and citra in there, it should really shine!