Blonde Ale Recipe

[JayShaw91]

First shot at creating my own actual recipe...

8lbs Pilsner (sweeter, less grainy than 2 row)
1.5lbs Munich (increases body and sweetnes)
1lb Honey Malt (toasty, sweet flavor)
.5lbs Carapils (head retention)

60 min .5oz 7.4% Cascade (13.6 IBU)
30 min 1oz 4% Tettnanger (7.5 IBU)

Undecided on yeast, but leaning towards Wyeast 1056

Debating some more Tet or Willamette late for aroma.

I'm trying to stay in the BJCP guidelines for a Blonde Ale, just cuzz I can. This sounds like it'd fit the bill.

Thoughts?

[BrewDog]

I think this recipe looks pretty good, but I'd reverse the hop additions (use the Tett for bittering and then use the Cascade at 10 or 5 mins instead of 30) (or add a 2nd half oz at 20 mins, too)

I didn't run the numbers, but I'm guessing you will still be somewhere around 18-20 IBUs give or take (without the extra half oz of Cascade, around 25-27 with it) but you'll get a lot more interesting hop flavor and aromas with the late Cascade addition(s), and the clean noble Tett will make for a nice, smooth bitterness. You should run the numbers in Promash/BeerTools/etc though to be sure.

Blonde Ale has a verfy wide variance for gravity and bitterness, so you won't be out of style either way.

Vital Statistics: OG: 1.038 – 1.054
IBUs: 15 – 28 FG: 1.008 – 1.013
SRM: 3 – 6 ABV: 3.8 – 5.5%

http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style06.php#1b


My .02
HTH-

[JayShaw91]

Right on.

Reversing the boil times pushes the IBU's to 28.9. Reversing the times and cutting the Cascade to .oz puts this at 22 IBU's. Doing the Cascade at 30 and 10 gives me 24.6. So I have plenty I can play with here.

I have more Tet around and some Wilamette on hand, also. Should I sub any of these anywhere?

Thanks, B'Dawg!

[beerking]

You will need to add more tett if you are using it for bittering and want the same character the posted recipe has.
IMHO, that is a lot of Munich malt for a blonde. I don't have ProMash here with me, but I am thinking this will give you more of an amber than a blonde.

[JayShaw91]

Well, like I said, I'm new at this recipe building thing. Seeing blonde's are so wide open regarding malts used, I was just toying with malts that may some character, but kept the SRM's down below a 6.

BK, why would this make it more of an amber? Is it a flavor concern or a color concern? Just curious. The honey malt, according to PM, is what's bumping up my SRM's, if that's your concern.

Now, regarding the hops, can you explain that a bit more, BK? What character will I be missing exactly if I use the Tett first and Cascade second? What would you suggest for the hops schedule?

And yes, I know it could just *my* version of a blonde, but I'm actually trying to keep this one in guidelines.

[beerking]

Like I said, I don't have access to PM here. I am a little surprised it comes out that low in color, but I was thinking of the flavor profile as well. You have ~14% Munich malt, which will give this beer a toasty, melanoidin character, reminiscent of a milder version of the flavor in a good dunkel. This is not a bad thing, but not quite to style for a blonde.
Then again, as you say, blonde is a pretty wide open style.
I would cut the munich addition in half if I were trying to get dead on for a blonde. But then again, I think this is a good recipe, and will produce a tasty beer, little more malt emphasis, which is not a bad thing.

As for the hops, if you just reverse the hop additions, I don't think you will get as much bitterness from 1 oz of 4% as you were getting from .5 oz of 7.4%. Close, but not the same. I might up the tettnang to 1.25 oz or so.
Another comment on the hops. I don't know what your inventory is, or how often you brew, but tettnang is a wonderful flavor and aroma hop, esp for lagers. It will produce a nice, smooth bitterness as a bittering hop, but it has become very scarce.
I would look for a more basic, and easier to find, hop for bittering and save the tett for flavor/aroma in a beer that needs the noble hop character. You could try fuggles, goldings, cluster, willamette. Since you say you have Willamette on hand, that might be a good choice. Willamette and Cascade go together very well, whereas the Cascade will kind of overpower the subtler nuances of the tett, regardless of when you add the tett.
OTOH, you could do a all tett blonde, which will give you a smooth, spicy but not piney, hop character throughout.
Really this part about the hops is just opinions. We all have them, and you know the rest of the story. :D

[JayShaw91]

Hahah, yeah, I know the rest of the story.

When it comes to brewing, the hops are an area I'm still trying to grasp. For all the info out there on hops, I don't quite get what does what only because I'm not a hophead and haven't tinkered with hops a lot. You can chew a few pieces of grain and get a good idea what the taste will be. Hops, yes, you can crush and smell 'em, or even chew a leaf, but the flavor differences are pretty subtle to me, right now. Well, unless you're going from Saaz to Challenger or something else very extreme.

I'm trying to build my own version of a BMC-pleaser, so maybe I will use Tett all the way through. I don't lager and they're over a year old (been in the fridge/freezer the whole time), so I don't mind burning them right now only because of the age. I.e. the longer I hold them the less they'll be worth, anyway.

Thanks for the advice. I'll tinker with the grain a bit to back the malt flavor down a touch and either go all Tett or do the Cascade/Willamette combo.

[markaberrant]

If I was making a blonde ale, it would be 90-95% two-row (your pilsener would work), and 5-10% light crystals (your cara-pils and honey malt would work, but scaled back). Hops can be just about anything, but I wouldn't use more than 1oz in the last 10 minutes, and enough bittering to hit 25 IBUs or so.

[JayShaw91]

So kill the Munich? That's now twice that's been mentioned or eluded to. Why is this, guys? Just too much of a malty taste?

[markaberrant]

Yes, and it also makes the beer red instead of blonde (despite what the SRM value may be)

[JayShaw91]

Fair enough! Munich is out. Vienna instead? Biscuit? Again, I'm trying to make this a bit more interesting, if possible.

9lb Pils
1/2lb each of Carapils, Honey, and either Vienna or biscuit.

I'm also thinking on just going all Tettnanger on the hops. Again, the stuff is about a year old, so it's time to use it up, anyway.

1.5oz for 60
.5oz for 10

Without taking in to account degredation, that's 24IBU, so I'd imagine 18-20IBU due to the aging.

How's take 2 sound?

[BrewDog]

I don't know. 8L (light) Munich even at 12.5% of the grain bill isn't likely to throw this out of range color wise, IMHO, and it will add a grainy flavor that the pilsner malt doesn't have.
I definitely would NOT do this with 20L (dark) Munich, though.

Vienna would be a good replacement if you are really concerned.

[JayShaw91]

Well I've never tried creating a recipe to style, so far, so I'm being a stickler on this one.

[beerking]

Brewdog is right, but since you just said "munich malt," and not "light munich malt" I assumed you were referring to the regular.

[markaberrant]

I still say it will give the beer a red hue. I'd have to check my exact grain bill, but I made a "helles" a while back; if I recall correctly, it was all pils, plus 1lb munich and 1lb vienna. The estimated SRM was really low, and it wasn't a dark beer by any stretch, but it had this peachy sort of hue instead of a deep golden blonde.

[BrewDog]

I believe ya, Mark.

[Mad Scientist]

I used a pound of munich in a pilsner a while back that gave a great golden color. But in conjunction with the honey malt, your color maybe too dark. Of course you could always refer to the blonde's 'dark roots'....

[JayShaw91]

Thanks, guys. I'll probably just stick with the honey malt this time and see how it turns out.

Now, what about doing the all Tettnanger hopping?

[Mad Scientist]

Go ahead, you have my permission :D

[JayShaw91]

Fair enough. It's the Tett you sold me last year :)

[Carl Spakler]

I've only brewed with pilsner malt once, but it was enough to steer me away from it in the future. I didn't like the smell at all during the brewing process, even the pilsner DME I used had the same stink to it. IMO I'd opt for a different base malt.

[Mill Rat]

Which pils malt was that? I use Weyermann by the bulk bag, and I'll even nosh on a few kernels while I'm milling. Just a little QC, ya know. It's downright tasty. No wonder the yeast like it so much.

[Carl Spakler]

http://web.inetba.com/westboylstonhomebrewemporium/item560685.ctlg

:barf: