RECIPE: #79 Blonde Jokes (Belgian Blonde)

Every so often you get that wild hare and go for it.  This is one of those beers.  I had made Belgian Dark Candi syrup to use in a quad but needed to try it out first.  Thus I decided to make a Dubbel, but I didn't have enough to make 10 gallons, so I needed to add something else to the mix.  I went with a single mash, single boil, split ferments with 2 different sugars.  For this beer I went with straight Demera sugar for a Belgian Blonde ale.  The color difference is quite noticeable right after adding the sugars.  I wanted something in the higher alcohol range, but still light, refreshing, and crisp.  I also wanted to see what my house wild yeast would do in a fresh beer, so it became the primary yeast strain.  It simply refuses to drop clear, so this one might be awhile before it is reviewed.


NAME: Blonde Jokes

STYLE: Belgian Blonde

TYPE: All Grain

SIZE: 4.7 gallons

OG: 1.063

FG: 1.005

ABV: 7.8%

SRM: 4

IBU: 24 (Modified Tinseth)

Efficeincy: 62% (clogged hop screen)

Grain Bill:

10# Weyermann Pilsener Malt (82%)

1.25# Weyermann Vienna Malt (10%)

1# Demera Sugar (added to fermentor)

Hop Bill:

90 min 0.4 oz Magnum 13.7%AA pellets

25 min 0.5 oz Hallertau Mittlefruh 4.3%AA pellets

WP 10 min 0.5 oz Hallertau Mittlefruh 4.3%AA pellets

Yeast:

150 ml of thick slurry 30 days after harvest

45 sec O2

Carol house blend

Water:

Ca 36; Mg 0; Na 6; Cl 40; SO4 31; HCO3 18; pH 5.62

Added CaCl2, and Gypsum to mash and boil, Lactic Acid to mash.  New recipe program - I transferred addition amounts from a single 5 gallon brew to my double size mash and undershot my additions.

Process:

1/1/2015 Mashed for 60 minutes at 150*F.  Ran off to collect entire volume of 13.25 gallons for both the Blonde and the Dubbel.  First runnings were a little low of volume so I added extra sparge water and it wasn't needed.  Boiled for 90 minutes.  Left the sugar out of the boil.  Dissolved sugar in 1 pint of hot wort from the boil, added directly to the fermentor, and racked chilled wort onto it to mix.  After whirlpool chilled to 62*F.  Hop screen sealed shut by break and pellets again, runoff was slow, and volume was low, but OG was higher than desired.  Oxygenated and pitched yeast slurry.  Temp set to 68*F.  Raised to 72*F after 3 days.  Raised again to 77*F after 3 more days and left there to complete 3 week fermentation (dropped back to 68*F a couple times when the heat was turned off and didn't restart).  Dropped temp for 3 days after day 21 to 40s to crash out yeast for kegging).  Added 1/2 gallon of distilled water to keg to bring up volume and lower ABV slightly.

1 week of primary down to 1.026

2 weeks of primary down to 1.013

3 weeks of primary down to 1.007

Kegged at 24 days, set to 18psi @ 37*F for 3.25 vols of CO2.

2/1/2015 Samples are still super cloudy, CO2 is nice and foamy, but the beer has a medium to medium high aroma and taste of dish soap.  Needs some more time to drop clear and let the flavors meld.