Blonde Ale Recipe help ....

[leewink]

Oki first off, this is my first post here so hi all.

Just to introduce me a little more to, I live near stansted airport essex, and I'm a class one driver, I used to run pubs and as licensee. (with beer + cellar management)

I am currently at the stage of research, have lots of books too, and buying a few bits a month to start home brew hmmm nice

I have sourced for now (coming soon) an igloo maxcold 48 cooler, a few thermometers for monitoring my house temp and a sample of water. (to obtain fermentation rough temps) I will obtain all the rest of the stuff as I go through, wickes looks a good start for any copper and mash strainer needs

I'm going to use heating in my fermentation, and primary and secondary courses, and believe in the secondary, its my view so nothing towards all that don't.

Been checking round the net, various places to buy from, various different equipments stocked by each aswell, so im sourcing from a good few places.

Oki enough of that .....

In one of my books, american, the ingredients for a blonde beer i like the look of, it needs these :-

4 pounds of simpsons maris otter pale 2-row malt
4 pounds Rahr's pale 2-row malt
1 pound michigan Weyermann wheat malt

These all are from the states obviously, question is, what could I substitute these for here ?

I can get the suggested Willamette and Centennial hops here no probs, and the yeast WLP002.

I know also to convert the gallons US to here too, although if theres any pointers I may need to know, tell us

Lastly, well sort of, I do like a very clear beer with a good fluffy maintained head, I want to use a secondary fermenter finings to clarify it, whats the best stuff for this ? I will be using an Irish moss / whirlfloc tab in the boil aswell, what do you suggest for the "fluffy head" bit ?

Lastly again I am thinking of adding a campden tab at the start of my cold liquor water, I believe this will remove chlorines etc (any views are helpfull here) and also a ph balancer at 5.2. I dont really want to get into bottled / filtering water for the "hassle" of it, our waters pretty hard here but not to bad in taste.

In time I want to brew some bitters too, but just need some advice on water treatment (not to techy though please) and some how to's

Thanks in advance, lee

[leigh1919]

Now then Lee -

I can help a little on the grist and hops -

I would simply use Maris Otter pale and, if Wheat malt is needed, simple torrified wheat. Its a simple grist. Personally, I'd go 90-95% MO and then the rest Torrified wheat.

I know you can can get Centennial and Williamette, but if you run into difficulty, Mount Hood or plain old Fuggles will sub for the Williamette, and Centennial are like super-charged cascade (or indeed any american C-Hop such as columbus) - so if you run out, substitute for Cascade but youll probably have to use more.

Good luck - you'll be fine!

[leewink]

I can find wheat malt (pale), is this ok instead of the Michigan wheat malt ?

So you'd use totally maris otter and then the wheat malt, instead of the two suggested american yes ? (simpsons and rahr's)

Ah leeds, I deliver there, well known large supermarket distribution centre

Cheers, lee

[floydmeddler]

what do you suggest for the "fluffy head" bit ?

360g of torrified wheat did this to one of my current brews:

[leigh1919]

I think so, yeah. From what i gather, the wheat just adds a little body and that head as per the above post - not really anything in terms of flavour, as such....Im sure i'll be corrected if wrong!

[floydmeddler]

Apparently 500g+ of TW gives nutty flavours.

[leewink]

... Torrified wheat added to recipe

Now, who can suggest anything on the water treatment front ?

I'm thinking of a ph 5.2 addition and a campden tab in the cold liquor b4 starting, is this a good ground to start off with ? what else should I take a look at, again though, not to techy pls

Cheers to all, lee

[WishboneBrewery]

A Campden Tab to prep your water (liquor) only needs to be half a tab per 23 L which is best if you crush it up first.

[jubby]

... Torrified wheat added to recipe

Now, who can suggest anything on the water treatment front ?

I'm thinking of a ph 5.2 addition and a campden tab in the cold liquor b4 starting, is this a good ground to start off with ? what else should I take a look at, again though, not to techy pls

Cheers to all, lee

I would imagine your water at Stansted has a fairly high alkalinity. Not sure what the ph5.2 does, but i would boil the water with some added calcium, let it cool and rack it off the sediment. This will sort the alkalinity levels out. GW's book explains this in detail.

As for the wheat and head retention, my personal preference is maris otter with 5 to 8% wheat malt. I use this for all of my light beers, It's what Oakham Ales use in the likes of Bishop's Farewell and it gives good results. Having said that, I've never used Torrified Wheat (although i have some)

[Barley Water]

Since I am on this side of the pond I know the answer to a couple of the questions asked just right off the top of my head. First of all, the reason the formulation is using 1/2 Maris Otter and 1/2 American 2 row is because they are trying to dumb down the malt taste just a little. MO has a very distinctive (and I must say great) nutty taste and most micros over here want to cut that a little, hence the American two row (it's also cheaper by the way). Remember, this style is popular because it is used as a way to get what you folks would call "lager boys" over to the "dark side" of flavorful micro brews. Not only is American 2 row a less flavorful malt but it also is lighter (and to a "lager boy", light is good). Wheat malt added to beers will generally make a bigger, longer lasting head (which "lager boys" also like) and it also lightens up the beer, both as far as color and taste.

I can't tell by looking how bitter and hoppy the beer will be but you want to keep it down, maybe shoot for around 20IBU or so and about 1.048-1.050 OG with realatively little in the way of flavor and aroma hops. I am a little surprised at the choice of yeast though. WLP02 is a great yeast but it has a couple of characteristics that might cause you some issues. First of all, the yeast is well known to be a relatively poor attenuator. What that means is that the beer will stay on the sweet side rather than drying out like many commerical light lagers do. It will also make the beer drink bigger than it really is (I like this strain in Milds and Bitters for this very reason). The other thing about this yeast is that it produces alot of diacetyl which you probably want to stay away from in a beer like this. In a Porter or Pale Ale, it's sublime but for an American Blonde Ale, not so much. I would recommend WLP01 which is American West Coast ale yeast. It will attenuate better than WLP02 and is a very clean fermenter. The only drawback is that it is not as floculent as WLP02 so the beer will take longer to clear.

Anyhow take all this for what it's worth, have fun, I'm sure the beer will taste good no matter what you decide to do.

[ajh800]

torrified wheat.,,. Mmm, yes picture looks good, but the after taste, (call it nutty, i'd say yeasty & only used small qtys in 5 gall brews). would use in minimal quantity but thats me. As you've used it, hope all ok. Try an over hopped Ord Yella for a cracking light brew, see fuggles & first gold topic. happy brewing

[mysterio]

I get the feeling American blonde ales are basically lagers brewed as ales with a little touch more malt an hops like BW describes. Blonde ales here are more like low gravity, lowish bitterness, but good biscuity malt character and lots of hop flavour and aroma.

You will drive yourself crazy looking for substitutions for American ingredients. If you are looking for a substitution for US 2-row, then look for Lower Colour Maris Otter. Some places sell it (Hop & Grape). Otherwise, Maris Otter is what most people use and is a high quality, great tasting malt with a bit more biscuity maltiness than the US stuff.

For your first few brews, save yourself a lot of trouble and use a dried yeast like Nottingham. If you do use the liquid yeast, you have to make a yeast starter, about 2 L in size. If you don't, I guarantee you will run into trouble with the fermentation.

[adm]

I can find wheat malt (pale), is this ok instead of the Michigan wheat malt ?

So you'd use totally maris otter and then the wheat malt, instead of the two suggested american yes ? (simpsons and rahr's)

Ah leeds, I deliver there, well known large supermarket distribution centre

Cheers, lee

I'd go for Maris Otter for the pale, and wheat malt for the wheat - don't worry about trying to find the specific American malts.

If it's lightening it up a bit that you're after, then you could go 50/50 Maris Otter and UK lager malt - that will produce a very nice, light coloured beer with a lighter mouthfeel than pure Maris Otter.

[adm]

I can find wheat malt (pale), is this ok instead of the Michigan wheat malt ?

So you'd use totally maris otter and then the wheat malt, instead of the two suggested american yes ? (simpsons and rahr's)

Ah leeds, I deliver there, well known large supermarket distribution centre

Cheers, lee

I'd go for Maris Otter for the pale, and wheat malt for the wheat - don't worry about trying to find the specific American malts.

If it's lightening it up a bit that you're after, then you could go 50/50 Maris Otter and UK lager malt - that will produce a very nice, light coloured beer with a lighter mouthfeel than pure Maris Otter.

[leewink]

It says in my US book here - this amount of grist is for a 5 US gallon batch.

Oki so were using -

maris otter (4lb)
british lager malt (4lb)
wheat malt (1lb)

4.09 kilo grain

Mash = 2.5 ltr liquor per kilo grain = 10.23 ltr (another book suggests the 2.5ltr per kilo)

Sparge = 8.69705892 UK ltrs.

Main total liquor = 5 US gall = 4.1633706648903 UK gall
or 18.92705892 UK litres. (call it 19, i'll round them all off)

Now, I haven't allowed for any wastage or loss in liquor, for instance loss in the mash (absorbtion) or fermentations, primary especially (some will be lost secondary to bottling too).

How much should I up these calculations to end up with about 19-20 UK ltrs in a percentage roughly, to allow for loss above ? I would have to increase that percentage on grist total too yes ?

Or the other way, what would i roughly be left with if i kept this calculation ? 20% less maybe ?

Coming back to yeast - i'd like the finish product to be smooth in the mouth, a very easy session type drink (that sort of smoothness), I noticed a poster suggested switching yeast from WLP002, anymore comment on this would be great, again though, emphasis on the smooth side - not to yeasty.

I like the sound of a sweet taste / finish too, any thoughts here maybe on an additional malt or different yeast maybe ?

Another question, on yeasts, does the cost of it make any difference, ive seen some at 6 or 7 quid, some dry sachets at a quid or so ? what types could i use then in my above recipe (please specify by name so i can look up easy), and whats the finish effect / taste ?

So, if you were after a sweet, fruity maybe, real session'y smooth finish to the above grist, what would you add ?

Oki, hop additons suggested are like this, based on a 75 min boil, i take it this below means time left of the boil yes ?

1/2 ounce centennial (60 mins)
1/4 ounce centennial (30 mins)
1/4 ounce willamette (30 mins)
1/4 ounce centennial (5 mins)
1/4 ounce willamette (5 mins)

Are we starting to look good here ? Lee