I’ve been doing some experimenting with small all grain batches. I came up with this recipe for my wife’s birthday based on some research/other recipes but I’m very new to creating my own ingredients list. I’m basically trying to create a very smooth (very low bitter) blonde summer ale that you can throw a wedge of fruit into. My wife likes the light lagers and a blue moon style.
Here’s what I have for a 1-gallon batch (I’m thinking of doing this BIAB):
Pale Malt (2-row) US (2.0 SRM) - 1 lb, 2.4 oz (79%)
Cara-Pils (2.0 SRM) - 2.2 oz (8.5%)
Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) - 1.6 oz (6.3%)
White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) - 1.6 oz (6.3%)
Willlamette (5.5%) - 0.3 oz
Bitter Orange Peel - 0.2 oz
Mash for 60 min (should this be 90?)
Boil Time 60 min
Add .1oz Williamette at 35 min, 20 min, and 5 min
Add Orange Peel at 5 min
Pitch with Nottingham
Any specific suggestions? Hops alternatives that keep the bitterness really low? I’m open to all constructive criticism. Thanks!
What IBU/OG is this coming up with? Perception of bitterness is one thing, and calculated is another.
I think a 60 minute mash is fine. Also, if you are going for citrusy, I would zest a whole orange/tangerine/tangelo/all of the above and use that at flameout.
If your wife likes witbier, why not just make one of those? The recipe Doc gives on The Brewing Network’s show on witbier is absolutely amazing, certainly far better than ShockMoon.
[quote=“Pietro”]What IBU/OG is this coming up with? Perception of bitterness is one thing, and calculated is another.
I think a 60 minute mash is fine. Also, if you are going for citrusy, I would zest a whole orange/tangerine/tangelo/all of the above and use that at flameout.
If your wife likes witbier, why not just make one of those? The recipe Doc gives on The Brewing Network’s show on witbier is absolutely amazing, certainly far better than ShockMoon.[/quote]
OG is showing 1.042 and IBUs is 17.8 which is in the lower range of a blonde ale profile which I want. I’ll definitely check the witbier recipe…
Bitter orange peel doesn’t add a lot of citrus flavor but mostly just adds a pithy bitterness. If you want citrus character, then believe it or not, you’ll want to use coriander (tastes very orangey) and consider making a witbier instead as Pietro suggests.
If you do want to stick with the blonde ale, I’ll say this: The recipe looks great for starters, however there are things you could improve. At just 6% of the grist, the Vienna and wheat malts are not doing very much for you. Consider tripling both, trading them for pale malt to arrive at more like 18-20% of each. The rest of the malt bill and hops and choice of yeast all look good.
[quote=“dmtaylo2”]Bitter orange peel doesn’t add a lot of citrus flavor but mostly just adds a pithy bitterness. If you want citrus character, then believe it or not, you’ll want to use coriander (tastes very orangey) and consider making a witbier instead as Pietro suggests.
If you do want to stick with the blonde ale, I’ll say this: The recipe looks great for starters, however there are things you could improve. At just 6% of the grist, the Vienna and wheat malts are not doing very much for you. Consider tripling both, trading them for pale malt to arrive at more like 18-20% of each. The rest of the malt bill and hops and choice of yeast all look good.[/quote]
Thanks - I was thinking of upping the malt %'s on those which I will try. Any other hop suggestions to increase citrus vs. corriander? The last time I used corriander I felt like I got too much orangey flavor.
