Belgian Blond Ale SWMBO Slayer - Belgian Blonde

[scinerd3000]

how do you think this would turn out with wyeast 3086 weihenstephan yeast?

wyeast.com-"Dominated by banana ester production, phenols and clove-like characteristics. Extremely attenuative yeast, which produces a tart, refreshing finish"

 

[BierMuncher]

how do you think this would turn out with wyeast 3086 weihenstephan yeast?

wyeast.com-"Dominated by banana ester production, phenols and clove-like characteristics. Extremely attenuative yeast, which produces a tart, refreshing finish"

It wouldn't really be true to a Belgian Blonde style. The nice thing about this beer is the slight malt flavor and a mild wit yeast that is slightly floral and a bit fruity.

I think the banana clove would be a bit to dominant.

 

[fbi365]

I will be doing the extract recipe you gave next. Does this require 2-stage fermentation?

 

[BierMuncher]

I will be doing the extract recipe you gave next. Does this require 2-stage fermentation?

Not necessarily.

I'd only suggest that whether you keep the beer in a single fermenter or rack to a secondary, that you give it at least 3 weeks and not rush it.

The extract process actually benefits from a longer fermentation in that the beer "cleans up" better.

 

[fbi365]

righteous. I pretty stoked about this beer, as I will be finishing my third beer in the Belgian style. I will also be pitching onto an old yeast cake from a witbeir that is fermenting right now. This will be a new technique for me.

 

[BierMuncher]

righteous. I pretty stoked about this beer, as I will be finishing my third beer in the Belgian style. I will also be pitching onto an old yeast cake from a witbeir that is fermenting right now. This will be a new technique for me.

Ya might consider rigging a blow off tube.

 

[fbi365]

Has anyone tried and liked the Extract version of this recipie suggested by BierMuncher?

 

[drunkatuw]

Midwest sells this as an all-grain kit and extract. There extract kit includes:

3 lbs. Wheat DME
2 lbs. Extra Lght DME
8 oz. Caramel 10°L
8 oz. Flaked Wheat
4 oz. Caravienne malt

1 oz hops (looks like they changed to Glacier from Williamette)

 

[fbi365]

BTW, the extract verison you posted is not good. It calls for .5 wheat LME and 5.0 flaked wheat. Is that a typo?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I showed this to my lhbs and she laughed at me. Do you know how much 5.0 Lbs of flaked wheat is? That is way too much for a 5 gal batch.

 

[drunkatuw]

BTW, the extract verison you posted is not good. It calls for .5 wheat LME and 5.0 flaked wheat. Is that a typo?!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! I showed this to my lhbs and she laughed at me. Do you know how much 5.0 Lbs of flaked wheat is? That is way too much for a 5 gal batch.

Use this extract recipe, it's the one from Midwest's site:

Midwest sells this as an all-grain kit and extract. There extract kit includes:

3 lbs. Wheat DME
2 lbs. Extra Lght DME
8 oz. Caramel 10°L
8 oz. Flaked Wheat
4 oz. Caravienne malt

1 oz hops (looks like they changed to Glacier from Williamette)

 

[Bosium]

Hey Biermuncher,

Thanks for posting this up, I love belgian blonde ales and this will be my second brew ever, so I am really keen to make it work.

I am following this recipe:

1.5Kg Muntons Wheat DME
2.0Kg Muntons Extra Lght DME
100g British Caramalt (Couldn't get Caramel 10 so have dialled down the amount, should I have used Carapils instead?)
250g Flaked Torrefied Wheat
125g Vienna Malt
25g Willamette hops

As for yeast, I plan to pitch onto a yeast cake from a Brewferm Tarwebier kit (Wit) yeast cake.

I have a few questions - mainly, do you think this will turn out well? I'm guessing it will be darker than it should be, due to the caramalt and the fact that it is an extract brew, but not certain - will this affect the taste at all?

The other question is, do you have any idea what the ABV will be? I kinda like a blonde beer to be around 6%, will this hit that? Do I need to add any sugar, or should I just put less water in? I have white belgian candy sugar if need be.

Any suggestions are welcome, I am very keen to try your centennial blonde next as my first all-grain.

Thanks!
G

 

[Bytor1100]

I just brewed up 10 gallons of this. That yeast strain is crazy. I had my starters blow through the airlock while on the stir plate, and this is the first brew that i've needed a blow off tube.

 

[kjones]

I just ordered the all grain kit of this from midwest, it was only 17 bucks!! i didnt do the upgrade though just kept the dry yeast, it is danstar munich tht came with it, i have never used it before but i am looking forward to makin this, i have never made a blonde before

 

[portlandbeergeek]

So I just confused myself....I saw that only 1oz willamatte hops used, and i just noticed they are all in for 60 minutes. has anyone played around with a bitter/flavor/aroma mix? Or would that be out of the belgian blonde style? I'll be brewing this up in a few hours if "I don't even like beer, make whatever" Er, uh, I mean if SWMBO allows.

 

[BierMuncher]

So I just confused myself....I saw that only 1oz willamatte hops used, and i just noticed they are all in for 60 minutes. has anyone played around with a bitter/flavor/aroma mix? Or would that be out of the belgian blonde style? I'll be brewing this up in a few hours if "I don't even like beer, make whatever" Er, uh, I mean if SWMBO allows.

This one is all about a smooth malty flavor.

It's a bit higher than the high end of the gravity range (1.053 VS 1.052) and just under the IBU max of 20 IBU's.

No hops dominance in this beer. Just enough to balance...but leave lots of malt flavor.

 

[portlandbeergeek]

Smooth and malty it shall be! Got the strike water coming up to temp now. I have a quick question about the cost of this recipe. I went to the LHBS, and I think they might be overcharging for their grain. I upped the two row and wheat by a pound each, expecting my usual poor efficency. And hey, nothing wrong with a little extra alcohol if it happens. Here's how the bill breaks down:

6# two row $9.50 ($1.58/#)
5# belgian wheat $8.40 ($1.68/#)
$1.44 for the specialty grain ($1.92/#)
$1 for the flaked wheat
$5.75 for two ounces of hops (only gonna use one ounce!)
$6.75 for the WLP 400 vial of yeast

Maybe this is the wrong forum to discuss recipe costs.....but some people have commented that this was under $20 easy for the whole batch. Why did I just pay $32.84? The only extra on that bill is the ounce of hops that will be saved for the future.
Thanks for any input, and apologies if $$$$$$ should be discussed elsewhere

 

[BierMuncher]

Smooth and malty it shall be! Got the strike water coming up to temp now. I have a quick question about the cost of this recipe. I went to the LHBS, and I think they might be overcharging for their grain. I upped the two row and wheat by a pound each, expecting my usual poor efficency. And hey, nothing wrong with a little extra alcohol if it happens. Here's how the bill breaks down:

6# two row $9.50 ($1.58/#)
5# belgian wheat $8.40 ($1.68/#)
$1.44 for the specialty grain ($1.92/#)
$1 for the flaked wheat
$5.75 for two ounces of hops (only gonna use one ounce!)
$6.75 for the WLP 400 vial of yeast

Maybe this is the wrong forum to discuss recipe costs.....but some people have commented that this was under $20 easy for the whole batch. Why did I just pay $32.84? The only extra on that bill is the ounce of hops that will be saved for the future.
Thanks for any input, and apologies if $$$$$$ should be discussed elsewhere

That price looks high, but not out of line with a bricks-and-mortar LHB shop. Austin or Midwest are cheaper...but they do a lot bigger web business.

 

[portlandbeergeek]

cool, i'll have to look into one of the web-based companies. Thanks for the info BM!

I'm about 15 mins into the boil on this one and it's tasting pretty f'in good! Let's hope i get a decent OG.

 

[kjones]

just got done brewing this at like 5 this evening overall i think it went pretty good i pitched teh dry yeast that came with it danstar munich just rehydrated and now at 10:30 it is already showing some activity in the airlock, I hit the sg nearly dead on it says 1.043-1.047 and i got 1.042. My only worrys is that I was geting alot of husk in my brew pot even though vorlauf like a gallon and recirculated with my stainless steel braid. and also the other worry is at last minute i grabbed a funnel to drain into the carboy, and guess waht i didnt sanitize it stupid mistake i thought i was over stupid mistakes like that, oh well maybe it didnt get infected

 

[kjones]

man i think i am gonna have to go put my blow off hose on this thing is about 1 inch from coming out of the carboy

 

[BierMuncher]

man i think i am gonna have to go put my blow off hose on this thing is about 1 inch from coming out of the carboy

Might be a good idea.

Here's my last batch.

 

[kjones]

too late went out back to play with my dog and it is in the airlock and foaming out of the top, can i still just put the blow off on?


well here is a pic

http://i527.photobucket.com/albums/cc360/kjones8424/blowoff.jpg

 

[kjones]

hey bm did you get a chance to look at that pic i posted? it looks a little lighter colored than yours but i did use dry yeast, any seems like the crazy fermentation has subsided but the krausen hasn't fallen, it was very vigourous but didnt last long maybe also bc of dry yeast

 

[BierMuncher]

hey bm did you get a chance to look at that pic i posted? it looks a little lighter colored than yours but i did use dry yeast, any seems like the crazy fermentation has subsided but the krausen hasn't fallen, it was very vigourous but didnt last long maybe also bc of dry yeast

Yeah I saw it. Looks like you were on the verge of a real blow off.

If the sides are gooped up with yeast sludge, give the carboy a slight rocking to knock that stuff back into the beer. Sometime enough yeast can beach itself on the wall to cause fermentation to slow down.

 

[kjones]

Yeah I saw it. Looks like you were on the verge of a real blow off.

If the sides are gooped up with yeast sludge, give the carboy a slight rocking to knock that stuff back into the beer. Sometime enough yeast can beach itself on the wall to cause fermentation to slow down.

i tryed rockin it and that stuff was stuck didn't even come off a little bit,maybe it just finished real quick. I hope so anyway

 

[kjones]

BM, me again with another question, I ordered some isinglass to use on this batch but I am not sure how to to use it, but i may not use it bc i was reading that you shouldn't use finings on this style of beer, but anyway it would still be nice to know how to use it. it is just a pouch of jelly looking stuff

 

[portlandbeergeek]

I'd say skip it on this batch of brew. The wheat should give a nice cloudy color. Not sure how it would affect the flavor.


Speaking of flavor, i tasted a small bottle of this last night, three days after bottling. Still flatter than a 12 year old girl, but tasted delicious! can't wait for this one to carb

 

[LooyvilleLarry]

I am giving this a run this weekend and am ordering from AHS. This is my first non-boxed attempt at an extract.

I am using the following(from a previous post ):

3 lbs. Wheat DME
2 lbs. Extra Lght DME
8 oz. Caramel 10°L
8 oz. Flaked Wheat
4 oz. Caravienne malt
1 oz Williamette hops

I am assuming that I should combine the flaked wheat,carmel, and Caravienne malts in a single grain bag and steep those ?
Does this recipe sound right ( it differs from the extract version that BierMuncher posted) ?

Thanks a bunch!
Larry

 

[jacksonbrown]

Biermuncher, for the sake of Begin authenticity, would using Belgin 2-row make enough of a difference? Or just stick with the US?

 

[BierMuncher]

Biermuncher, for the sake of Begin authenticity, would using Belgin 2-row make enough of a difference? Or just stick with the US?

Go with whatever you have. This is not a strict style...but more for public enjoyment.