How does this Blonde Ale recipe look? (beginner)

[safedude]

Hey guys, I'm new here. I've only brewed a few times. This will be my first blonde ale. I'm hoping this style of beer is as easy as everyone makes it seem.

After much debate, I went with the WY 1214 yeast. I just want to make sure the other ingredients supplement it well.

5 gallon batch in fermentation bucket.

*Revised*
5# Light Malt Extract - 2/3 @ boil, 1/3 @ 20 min
0.5# Crystal 20 L - Steep at 30 min
1 oz Cascade Hops (pellets) - @ 45 min
1# Cane Sugar - @ 20 min
1/2 whirlfloc tablet - @ 10 min
1 oz Hallertau Hops (pellets) - @ 7 min

I calculated the IBU to be in the neighborhood of 22.5

I'm going to ferment for 3 weeks at around 70 degrees.
Bottle for 3-4 weeks.

Any thoughts?

:hs: Thanks in advance! :hs:

 

[m00ps]

I would take out the crystal or use some other malt for character that isnt as sweet (aromatic, vienna, munich, etc)

Just about all belgian style beers have very little sweetness from the attenuation of their yeasts and not including appreciable amounts of crystal malts. This helps the yeast character to come through more

 

[menerdari]

and you steep grains before the boil, not at 30 minutes, maybe for 30 minutes.

 

[safedude]

Thanks for the quick reply guys! Shoudl I just remove the crystal entirely? If I did that, do you think I should increase the weight of the light malt extract? I'm trying to keep it simple

 

[menerdari]

I would include the crystal myself but that is me, everyone has their own taste.

 

[sfish]

I suggest .50 crystal if you do not want to change to another malt.

45 min boil on cascade plus the 7 min.

1 lb of light candy sugar

No whirlfloc

I plug this in with a 4 gal boil and get just making a belgian blond used (beertools)
OG 1.055
fg 1.010
IBU 23
SRM 5.6
% 5.9

 

[ericbw]

Personally, I would keep some crystal, but cut it back as suggested.

For future reference, if you add whirlfloc at 30 minutes, it will not do anything. It breaks down after 10 minutes. I add it (when I remember) at 5 minutes.

 

[Sailingeric]

my light beers I like a little honey malt in it, about .25 of a pound adds a touch of honey flavor.

 

[safedude]

Personally, I would keep some crystal, but cut it back as suggested.

For future reference, if you add whirlfloc at 30 minutes, it will not do anything. It breaks down after 10 minutes. I add it (when I remember) at 5 minutes.

Oops, thanks for the tip. I moved it to 10 mins.

 

[safedude]

I suggest .50 crystal if you do not want to change to another malt.

45 min boil on cascade plus the 7 min.

1 lb of light candy sugar

No whirlfloc

I plug this in with a 4 gal boil and get just making a belgian blond used (beertools)
OG 1.055
fg 1.010
IBU 23
SRM 5.6
% 5.9

Thanks for the info! The data looks good to me. I updated the recipe based on your advice but I kept the whirfloc and moved it down quite a bit to 10 mins. Hows it looking to you?

 

[sfish]

Give it a try and let us know how it turns out. Whirlfloc or not does not matter personal preference. Mine is; with a belgian I like the haze. but < 10 for the time.

another suggestion~ DME comes in 3 pound bags x 2 = 6, you are using 5. I would readjust using 5.5+. Leaving enough for priming my bottles. you need a longer boil to maintain the same IBU. This would increase your abv% as well.