Blond lager style beer help please

[dava]

Hi guys, I neededing help badly regarding recipe formulation.

Can some one please point me in the direction of a good blonde beer recipe with good head retention, nice light colour and easy to drink, something that will not scare of the lager drinkers, all my friends only drink Bud, Corona, Fosters, Carling etc.
I am thinking of setting up a micro-brewery here in the UK and the first beer I want to produce is something my friends will happily drink. I will be bottling and carbonating the beer also.

I have found a lot of blond recipes here
http://www.beertools.com/html/recipe...hop=none&text=

But there is too many to choose. Any of you guys tested any blond beer recipes or have any good advice. Looking at the recipes in the list what one would best suit what I am looking for.

Thank you. Dava UK

[dava]

Link not working sorry.
The recipes are located on
http://www.beertools.com
Under recipes for blond ales.

Thanks guys

[danno]

can you lager? extract or all grain?

[dava]

Hi Danno. I will be using all grain. Thanks

[dava]

Hi again Danno, Guys. Looking to make the blond around 4.7%
Nice blond light color
Good head, not to hoppy. Just nice and easy to drink with no bad or dry after taste.....

[toneyc]

Austin Homebrew's Texas Blonde is pretty good. Its just 8# of 6-row, 3/4 oz Mt. Hood @60, 1/4 oz Mt. Hood @5, and Kolsch Ale 2565 yeast. Comes out to about 4.3%. Very similar to Shiner Blonde.


Toney.

[dava]

Hi Toneyc, thanks but I am a pur newbie to this brewing game. I have a friend who is a brewer who is going to help, so I need a complete recipe with ingridents I can get in UK

Thanks guys

[brewmonkey]

Where is Richard when you need him?

Since you are lokoing to make a lager I would go for the simplest recipe possible. How many hectoliters will each batch be? Do you plan on using British malts or do you have access to German malts? When you say 4.7% are you talking by weight or by volume?

If you are going to be making a lager I would go for the German malts and hops. I do not recall any British malts that I have used really knocking me off my feet when used in a lager. If you do use German malts I would go for Weyermann's pilsner malt, it is a great malt and has a very nice clean flavor profile. For hops I would stick with the Hallertauer Mittlefruh.

Since you are looking for something of an everyday beer (lawnmower/session beer) I would probably shoot for something along the lines of 95% Pilsner malt and 5% Cara-Pils (to aid in body and head retention) and shoot for a single infusion mash around the 148-150F (64-65C) for your rest until conversion and then mash out and sparge at 170-172F (76.5-77.5C) until kettle full.

Another version would be 90% Pilsner, 5% Wheat (I prefer Red wheat) & 5% Cara-Pils. Wheat will give it a slightly earthy flavor and will also aid in head retention.

For the hops I would shoot for around 25 IBU's with 18 coming at 60 minutes, 5 at 30 minutes and 2 at kettle off. I would think that would be enough to give it a touch of bitterness without being to bitter and a hint of the flavor/aroma.

[dava]

Hi Brewmonkey

ok I asked the brewer to produce a light blonde lager style drink.

He brewed a batch, which we bottled and carbonated and put out for testing to all my friends and their friends etc

By the way there all bud, carling, corona, stella drinkers

Intital reaction to the brewers drink was

No head what little head there was went very quickly
Colour was more of an amber than a blonde.
Intial taste seemed quite strong with anafter taste
Left the mouth feeling quite dry
After the first few bottles it was ok, so it was not easy to drink.

Dont get me wrong i am not looking to produce pure piss, I am looking for something light, easy but enjoyable.

We brewed 2 kegs worth which is now sitting around waiting for some one to drink

This is part of the ingridients that were used.
Lager and vienna malts combined with hallertau hops

4.7% ABV

-----------------------
I am new to all this guys so please bear with me, its really exciting stuff this brewing....

[brewmonkey]

Ditch the Vienna malt and go for the Cara-Pils. The Vienna is where you ended up getting your color from. The addition of the Cara-Pils will aid in the head retention. Just adding the cara-pils though will not alone aid in head retention. Your mash schedule and grist together are what will achieve it, as well as your yeast selection.

Can you give me more information on your brewers process? Did he do a step infusion,single infusion, decoction? What yeast did you use? What was fermentation temp? The more you give us the better we will be able to help you trouble shoot.

[dava]

Hi again brewmonkey, i have phoned the brewer and left a message on his answer phone, as soon as he gets in touch i will post all the brewing details you wanted to know.

Thanks guys

[dava]

Hi brewmonkey this is what i got back from the brewer

single infusion
nottingham yeast
fermentation temp 19-20
-------------------------------

I asked wether are not the vienna malts were making the beer the colour it is like you said above and he said no, i dont know if this is correct or wether the brewer is feeling a little put out.....

[brewmonkey]

Vienna Malt is going to add color to your beer, it is not a dark malt but it is enough to add color if in large enough amount of the grist. I am at a loss for what would cause your beer to turn out towards the amber range if all you used was Pils & Vienna malt. Kettle carmelization/melanoidins would be the only other thing I could suggest, but your boil time would have to be quite long for that.

I am confused though. You want a lager yet have used a yeast that is generally used for ales. While it can tolerate lower temps (14C) your brewer has gone to it's high side at 20C (68F) which will produce a quite estery/floral bouquet which would not be lager like at all.

Based on what you have given us your brewer has made an ale and not a lager. Like I said above, if you are coming off towards the amber color either your brewer has not told you all the malts he has used.

I am now interested in what amounts he used those malts and how many liters this batch was.

[dava]

Hi again, its not a lager he produced, I was after a beer but lager style, i think he used lager malt not a pils...

[dava]

What would be the best yeast to use for what i want and that is ready available in the uk.

Thanks for all this help guys....