How Light Tasting are Blonde Ales Typically?

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KYB

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I am thinking about brewing a Blonde Ale for a cheap beer, however, I cannot stand BMC Light Beers. I had a Kentucky Ale Light which is a Kolsch (sp?) and it was nasty too. Regular KY Ale is fine though. Budweiser is tolerable. I hate beers that taste watered down, which is how all the light beers I have had taste. Do Blonde Ale's have that watered down taste/feel to them? I am wanting to brew something cheap I can always have around. I'm not concerned about color, just taste and feel. I am also trying to brew something cheap that my BMC friends and I both enjoy. Thanks for any help.

Was thinking about this recipe I made up if it helps any:

I was thinking about the 2-Row between 8-9 lbs.

Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Est Original Gravity: 1.049 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.014 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.51 %
Bitterness: 27.1 IBU
Est Color: 5.8 SRM

Amount Item Type % or IBU
8.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 88.89 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 20L (20.0 SRM) Grain 11.11 %
0.50 oz Centennial [9.10 %] (60 min) Hops 16.9 IBU
0.50 oz Centennial [9.10 %] (20 min) Hops 10.2 IBU
0.28 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
1 Pkgs Safale (DCL Yeast #US-05) Yeast-Ale
 
Looks like you'll get what you're after. Ferment as cool as you can (low 60s).
1/2 oz of centennial at 20 could be a bit of a stretch for some bmc types. If they can handle it, great. If not, then I'd get my IBus close with something like perle, then toss a 1/2 oz in at 5 or so. Just my .02
 
that recipe could stand to have about 2 lbs honey in it to be close to a true blonde. add that and you wont have to worry about watered down flavor. you might consider throwing in about 4 oz dextrin malt as well to help with head retention. i would go with the safale 04. the 05 is more for darker ales and will give off too much ester production, itll also flocculate a little more than desired. give it a shot with those mods i think youll be happy. cheers!
 
ok, allow me correct myself. safale 05 is correct, not 04. i can never remember purpose by strain number on the safale yeasts, i always reference color. blue pack is dark ale, red pack is light ale.
 
Thanks. I'm trying to keep it pretty simple. I was even considering a SMaSH. I think I may go with 9 lbs of 2-row though. I just have no idea how light feeling/tasting it would be.
 
BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde is excellent. Everyone raves about it.

****5 Gallon Batch****

Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.57 gal
Estimated OG: 1.040 SG
Estimated Color: 3.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 21.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount
7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
0.75 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (55 min)
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (35 min)
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (20 min)
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (5 min)
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) (Hydrated)


Mash at 150 degrees for 60 minutes.
 
ok, allow me correct myself. safale 05 is correct, not 04. i can never remember purpose by strain number on the safale yeasts, i always reference color. blue pack is dark ale, red pack is light ale.

Yeah, US-05 makes very lager-like ales, if you ferment it cool. I am kegging a cream ale and blonde made with 05 this weekend.

Can't wait!

:mug:
 
I have a Blonde listed under my recipes, its extract but turned out really well. It has a pound of honey. You could just convert the LME into 2-row. It doesn't taste watered down either.
 
I did BierMuncher's Centennial blonde two times now using US-05 fermented cool. It is light but has a good flavor. It's not watered-down tasting at all. It has a little more hop flavor than most light beers, but that's a good thing in my mind. I got many positive comments about the Blonde at a party a couple weeks ago.

The most recent batch I made finished at 1.002 because I screwed up and mashed too low (145'ish). It still tastes awesome but has a crisper finish than the last batch I did.
 
I would scrap the 20 min addition and just leave the 60 then I would use S 05 fermented at 57-60 degrees and that will give you a very light clean BMC ish brew.
 
I was thinking about adding it at 10min. I'm not trying to make a BMCish brew, although it's getting close. I want something cheap but that tastes decent and not watered down, and that those people would like as well. I think they would like a blonde ale. If not, well, they can stick to buying nasty light BMCs.
 
ok, allow me correct myself. safale 05 is correct, not 04. i can never remember purpose by strain number on the safale yeasts, i always reference color. blue pack is dark ale, red pack is light ale.

S-04 works great for my English Ordinary Bitter.

US-05 works great for my American Stout. I used two packs for an American Barleywine and got 80% attenuation.

US-05 is the American Chico strain, a very clean fermenting beer yeast.

S-04 is the Whitbread strain and great for fermenting any English Ales.

"Dark" and "light" shouldn't be a factor.
 
Ya thats why I said scrap the aroma hop addition. Most people that like the fizzy yellow beers do not like the hop flavor. When I make my blondes I just use the 60 min addition.
 
Ya thats why I said scrap the aroma hop addition. Most people that like the fizzy yellow beers do not like the hop flavor. When I make my blondes I just use the 60 min addition.

Yea true, however it's more for me than them, so I think I'll do it, and if they don't like it, tough :) . Most of my friends will like it I'm sure, but it'll be a gamble with my girl roommates, although one likes good beer, stout and pale ales. Thanks for the suggestion though. If it was mainly for them I'd definitely just do a 60min addition.
 
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