Belgian Blonde

So, do I suddenly have a thing for blondes? The power of summer compels me! Following on the heels of the Centennial Blonde we brewed in June is this tasty concoction inspired by the Belgian beer Leffe Blonde. I originally looked at doing a Trappist style ale but reading up on the brettanomyces refermentation and the 6-8 month secondary requirements I was understandably intimidated and impatient. So Leffe Blonde clone it is. For this recipe I'll be substituting American Two-Row for what is thought to be pilsner malt. The hops also came in at way lower alpha acid content than I predicted so the second hop addition was moved up from 30 to 40 minutes from the end of the boil to help account for the difference. This is also the biggest all-grain recipe I've done so far at 1.069 target OG.

Brew Recipe

Brew Date: 8/04/2013
Style: Belgian Blonde
Batch Volume: 4.5 gal.
Type: All Grain
Color: 5.8 SRM
Target Bitterness: 20.1 IBU
Target OG: 1.069
Estimated FG: 1.017

Grist
9 lb. American Two-Row
1 lb. Light Munich
10 oz. Cane Sugar (Added at 15 min. before flameout)
5 oz. Belgian Biscuit
4 oz. Melanoidin

1 oz. Styrian Golding 3.2%AA (60 min.)
1 oz. Saaz 3.0%AA (40 min.)

1 pkg. Safbrew T-58 Belgian Ale Yeast

Brew Notes

Mash Temp: 158 °F
Mash Time: 60 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Pre-Mash Volume: 5.5 gal.
Post-Boil Volume: 4.75 gal.
Mash Efficiency: ?
Measured OG: 1.070
Measured FG: ?
ABV: ?
Calories: ?

It was a lovely 78 degrees out today. After crushing my grain for this recipe I realized the gap setting for the mill was waaay too wide. Set it to 0.030" and re-crushed. With 5.5 gallons of 166 degree water, after adding the grist I was very close to the top of my 7 gallon boil kettle. A lot of grain in this one. Mash temp started at 160 and ended at 158. Added table sugar at 15 minutes left in the boil. Had problems cooling the wort again with the coil chiller. Only able to get down to 90 degrees. Took it inside and ice bathed it down to 84. OG reading was spot on which was good news.

Got impatient during the cooling pricess and transferred it to the carboy and pitched the T-58. I've heard Belgian yeast likes it hot but I think this was too hot. Awoke the next morning to a very vigerous fermentation. No off smells or anything. I'm excited to try this next weekend and see what the warm starting temp for fermentation produced.

Update 8/8/2013 - Couldn't resist pulling a sample today. After four days the gravity dropped down to 1.012 with little activity going on in the fermenter. Taste had a hint of the Belgian character I'm going for but had a pretty strong fusel alcohol taste which I'm sure is a side effect of the high fermentation temps. I'm not sure if this will mellow out over time but it's currently a little too harsh to be enjoyable. Maybe chalk this up as a brewing lesson learned and move on. Must devise a better method for chilling wort quickly to pitch temps in the summer.

Update 8/11/13 - Racked to secondary today. Detected a small hint of that belgian characteristic in the nose from the gravity sample but not quite 'belgian' yet. Very bready still. Gravity was standing strong at 1.011.

Centennial Blonde

Looking for a Famous Blonde?

Break out the sunglasses and hot pants, the heat of summer is in full effect. When you're sweating like a mad cow in pasture and staring at your brew equipment with strong anticipation of your next brew day there are a few styles that immediately tear into mind. I needed a cold, light, refreshing brew that was better at quenching thirst than inspiring daring tales of taste exploration. Upon researching recipes for just such a brew I settled on an overwhelmingly popular recipe on HomeBrewTalk.com for a Centennial Blonde ale. As we all know Centennial hops are clearly the best hop out there for every occasion so I needed little convincing.

• Greatest Country: U.S.A.
• Greatest Planet: Planet Earth
• Greatest Hop: Centennial, of course!

Here's the recipe for this little blonde thirst quencher.

Brew Recipe
Brew Date: 6/22/2013
Style: American Blonde
Batch Volume: 4.5 gal.
Type: All Grain
Color: 3.9 SRM
Target Bitterness: 21.6 IBU
Target OG: 1.039
Estimated FG: 1.008

Grist
5.5 lb. American Two-Row
10 oz. CaraPils
6 oz. Crystal 10L
6 oz. Vienna

0.25 oz. Centennial Pellet Hops (55 min.)
0.25 oz. Centennial Pellet Hops (35 min.)
0.25 oz. Cascade Leaf Hops (20 min.)
0.25 oz. Cascade Leaf Hops (5 min.)

1 pkg. Safale US-05 Ale Yeast

Brew Notes

Mash Temp: 150 °F
Mash Time: 60 min.
Boil Time: 60 min.
Pre-Mash Volume: 5.5 gal.
Post-Boil Volume: 4.5 gal.
Mash Efficiency: 71%
Measured OG: 1.040
Measured FG: 1.004
ABV: 4.8%
Calories: 129

Brewed this one with my friends Rob and Beth, their dog Bo (as in "Bo knows beer"), and the inlaws Dave and Ann. It was hot outside like last time but decided to brew this one on the flagstones in the shade of our north yard. This turned out to be a MUCH better idea than brewing in the sun stricken heat of the south yard. We also discovered our new go-to outdoor lounge location. Six people drinking around the brew kettle in camping chairs is one of the most relaxing environments I can imagine.

Despite being a little cooler today than the last batch the wort chiller couldn't get the brew below 90 degrees. Finished cooling in an ice bath in the sink. The OG for this batch ended up spot on the recipe target. I may be delusional but I think I'm getting better at this.

Update 7/27/13 - Bottling day. This time I'll try shooting for a specific carbonation level. The carbonation level in a bottle of beer is measured in a simplified unit called 'volumes.' One volume is equal to one liter of CO2 at 20C at 1 atmosphere in 1 liter of beer. With a blonde ale like this I'll be shooting for 2.5 volumes of CO2 as a good amount of carbonation for this style.

According to this priming sugar calculator we should be using about 100 grams of corn sugar with our 4.0 gallons of beer. So I guess a good rule of thumb is 25 grams of corn sugar per gallon. Boiled 100g of priming sugar in 1 cup of water. Added to 4.0 gallons of beer while racking into the bottling bucket. Stirred a little with the wine thief. Yielded 40 bottles even. Carbonation on the Willamette Pale is a little low still. Hope this one carbs ok.