Try this beer out on your non-beer drinking friends. It’s fairly light (not lite!) and not too bitter. The recipe was published in the January 2008 edition of BYO magazine, and it’s featured in Brewing Classic Styles as well. As usual, I made a couple of changes to suit my equipment and the ingredients that I had on hand. The original recipe called for Willamette hops. With only 1 bittering addition at 60 minutes you can feel free to experiment, or these days, use whatever is available as I have done here. Just be sure to keep the IBUs in range with no (or very little) late flavor hop addition. I happened to have some Crystal 10L on hand, so I used that instead of the 15L in the original recipe. Anything in the 10-20L range should be ok and you only need about a half pound. Also, I happened to have a nice big jar of Wyeast 1272 from the fermenter of the Rye IPA brew, so I reused that and fermented at 62°. You could also use the popular Wyeast 1056 or White Labs WLP001 and ferment at 67-68°.
I also have a couple of additional techniques for you to go along with this recipe. The first is for you all grain batch-spargers. As I previously mentioned, I was having trouble with getting a nice clear wort and consequently finished beer. I discovered on this brew that I was not recirculating my mash tun run off nearly enough. I had always read previously to recirculate the first 1-2 quarts of run off so that there would be no husk material in the kettle. This time, I recirculated 2-3 gallons, or until the wort ran very clear. For my cooler-based mash tun, this simply means catching the run off in a 2 quart container and slowly adding it back into the top of the mash tun, so as not to disturb the grain bed. Previously, I would do this 1-2 times. This time, I repeated the process 5-6 times or until I could read text through the run off tube from the mash tun. I did this for all of my sparge water additions and ended up with an exceptionally clear wort in the kettle.
The second technique is applicable for everyone. It’s a more traditional way of priming the beer to carbonate it either in the keg or bottle. You might have heard it called Krausening, or priming with gyle or spiese. They’ve very similar techniques, the main difference being whether or not you add additional yeast. When you’re done brewing, before you pitch the yeast (you need unfermented wort) siphon off 1.5-2 quarts of wort into a sanitized container. I used a mason jar, but anything you can freeze will work ok. The freezer will keep anything from growing in it until it’s time to prime your bottles or keg. You will later use this unfermented wort in place of your priming sugar/dme or CO2 to carbonate the beer. There are some additional details and calculations to go along with it, which I’ll have for you in an article dedicated to this technique.
Blonde Ale
| Brew Type: All Grain |
Date: 1/27/2008 |
| Style: Blonde Ale |
Brewer: Jimmy |
| Batch Size: 6.00 gal |
Assistant Brewer: |
| Boil Volume: 8.53 gal |
Boil Time: 60 min |
| Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 % |
Equipment: Brew Pot (10 gal) and Igloo Cooler (10 Gal) |
| Actual Efficiency: 68.82 % |
Taste Rating (50 possible points): 35.0
| Amount |
Item |
Type |
% or IBU |
| 12.00 lb |
Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) |
Grain |
96.00 % |
| 0.50 lb |
Caramel/Crystal Malt – 10L (CaraHell) (10.0 SRM) |
Grain |
4.00 % |
| 2.00 oz |
Styrian Goldings [3.50 %] (60 min) |
Hops |
26.1 IBU |
| 1 Pkgs |
American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) [Starter 2000 ml] |
Yeast-Ale |
|
| Estimated Original Gravity: 1.053 SG (1.038-1.054 SG) |
Measured Original Gravity: 1.052 SG |
| Estimated Final Gravity: 1.013 SG (1.008-1.013 SG) |
Measured Final Gravity: 1.013 SG |
| Estimated Color: 4.4 SRM (3.0-6.0 SRM) |
Color [Color] |
| Bitterness: 26.1 IBU (15.0-28.0 IBU) |
Alpha Acid Units: 7.0 AAU |
| Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 5.17 % (3.80-5.50 %) |
Actual Alcohol by Volume: 5.08 % |
| Actual Calories: 231 cal/pint |
| Name: Single Infusion, Light Body |
Mash Tun Weight: 9.00 lb |
| Mash Grain Weight: 12.50 lb |
Mash PH: 5.4 PH |
| Grain Temperature: 72.0 F |
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F |
| Sparge Water: 3.87 gal |
Adjust Temp for Equipment: TRUE |
| Name |
Description |
Step Temp |
Step Time |
| Mash In |
Add 15.63 qt of water at 167.7 F |
152.0 F |
60 min |
| Mash Out |
Add 10.00 qt of water at 198.6 F |
168.0 F |
10 min |
| Carbonation Type: Kegged (Forced CO2) |
Carbonation Volumes: 2.6 (2.4-2.8 vols) |
| Estimated Pressure: 10.2 PSI |
Kegging Temperature: 34.0 F |
| Pressure Used: - |
Age for: 2.0 Weeks |
| Storage Temperature: 34.0 F |
Blonde Ale Extract
| Brew Type: Extract |
Date: 12/21/2007 |
| Style: Blonde Ale |
Brewer: Jimmy |
| Batch Size: 6.00 gal |
Assistant Brewer: |
| Boil Volume: 8.53 gal |
Boil Time: 60 min |
| Equipment: Brew Pot (10 gal) and Igloo Cooler (10 Gal) |
Taste Rating (50 possible points): 35.0
| Amount |
Item |
Type |
% or IBU |
| 7.00 lb |
Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) |
Dry Extract |
87.50 % |
| 1.00 lb |
Caramel/Crystal Malt – 10L (CaraHell) (10.0 SRM) |
Grain |
12.50 % |
| 2.00 oz |
Styrian Goldings [3.50 %] (60 min) |
Hops |
26.1 IBU |
| 1 Pkgs |
American Ale II (Wyeast Labs #1272) [Starter 2000 ml] |
Yeast-Ale |
|
| Estimated Original Gravity: 1.052 SG (1.038-1.054 SG) |
Measured Original Gravity: 1.053 SG |
| Estimated Final Gravity: 1.013 SG (1.008-1.013 SG) |
Measured Final Gravity: 1.013 SG |
| Estimated Color: 4.6 SRM (3.0-6.0 SRM) |
Color [Color] |
| Bitterness: 26.1 IBU (15.0-28.0 IBU) |
Alpha Acid Units: 7.0 AAU |
| Estimated Alcohol by Volume: 5.06 % (3.80-5.50 %) |
Actual Alcohol by Volume: 5.21 % |
| Actual Calories: 236 cal/pint |
| Carbonation Type: Corn Sugar |
Carbonation Volumes: 2.6 (2.4-2.8 vols) |
| Estimated Priming Weight: 5.7 oz |
Temperature at Bottling: 70.0 F |
| Primer Used: - |
Age for: 2.0 Weeks |
| Storage Temperature: 34.0 F |
Tagged as:
ale,
blonde,
brew,
recipe