First recipe attempt

[neon0107]

Hello All,

So I am about 9 batches in and the last 5 have been BIAB which I am enjoying for the time being. I am now working through the Designing Great Beers book to learn about recipe development. Below is my first attempt at a simple Blonde. Was looking for something easy going on a hot summer day. I like the sweetness marries otter brings so added a bit of that. Let me know your thoughts or suggestions. Thanks in advance

This is for a 2 1/2 gallon batch.

 

[RPh_Guy]

Maris Otter is a base malt, adding 1oz of it is negligible. Consider increasing it to 10-100% of the base malt.

Otherwise everything looks reasonable to me!

 

[BrewingAroundtheRrealm]

I would change that to 1 LB of Maris Otter. Change the 2-row to 3 or 3.5 LB if you ant to keep the gravity the same.

 

[CarolinaMatt]

Hello All,

So I am about 9 batches in and the last 5 have been BIAB which I am enjoying for the time being. I am now working through the Designing Great Beers book to learn about recipe development. Below is my first attempt at a simple Blonde. Was looking for something easy going on a hot summer day. I like the sweetness marries otter brings so added a bit of that. Let me know your thoughts or suggestions. Thanks in advance

This is for a 2 1/2 gallon batch.

View attachment 570316

Looking at your hop additions... for the whirlpool what temp do you plan to put the hops in and for how long? I was just learning about the whirlpool hop utilization when I made my first blonde ale recipe from scratch last week! Around 15-25 or so is good for IBUs.

 

[ProblemChild]

This is just me, but I would (as said above) increase MO to 50/50 with the grist, so 2.5 lb of each. After that, I would use a 20L crystal and cut the qty in half - not because 10L is half 20L, but because I would want to decrease crystal and get a bit more "ooph" frmo the flavor without throwing the color.

 

[rhys333]

This is just me, but I would (as said above) increase MO to 50/50 with the grist, so 2.5 lb of each. After that, I would use a 20L crystal and cut the qty in half - not because 10L is half 20L, but because I would want to decrease crystal and get a bit more "ooph" frmo the flavor without throwing the color.

Agreed. 11% crystal is a lot, even with the ligher C10. I might even go C30 and drop it down futher to about 4% of grist, but it'll be nice at 5.5% too... maybe edging towards a pale ale.

 

[kh54s10]

I would do your mash at about 150-152. 158 is higher than I have ever mashed any recipe. I use higher temperatures where I want a lot of malt flavor and a heavy mouthfeel like in a Stout.

 

[neon0107]

Thanks for all the ideas and suggestions.

I went with 3lb 2-row and 2lb MO (I have more 2 row on hand right now) and change to C20 at 4oz which put the grist at 4.8% for the crystal. Thanks for that crystal idea ProblemChild.

I usually throw in my steeping hops once I am down to 110 - 120 degrees

kh54s10 - I am just now starting to learn how the different steeping temps effect the beer. Most of the recipes I have followed use 158 which is why I picked that and I also like the malty backend. I might try 152 this time around since I want an easier drinker. Will this provide more of a clean crisp taste and a bit dryer at 152?

 

[ProblemChild]

152 will do just fine. for a blonde, no reason to have a lot of non-fermentables. In fact, those finish out lower ,so 148-150 is more likely where you want to go.

 

[kh54s10]

This is not steeping. Steeping is for when you are extracting flavor, aroma and just a little bit of fermentables, usually from specialty grains - roasted and crystal etc. You then get most or your fermentable sugars from malt extract. What you are describing is a "mash". 2 row and Maris Otter are base grains and will help convert the starches in the roasted grains. You generally want lower and more controlled temperatures when mashing than when steeping.