Blonde Ale / Premium Lager

smaillet · Joined: 04 Jun 2018 Posts: 4

Thanks for the quick answer Kal. That makes perfect sense. Should have figured that out by myself Smile

As for my second question, any idea why Brewer's Friend calculates the OG for this beer at 1.054 as opposed to 1.048 (see screenshot). As far as I know, I've entered all the parameters exactly like you've got them on your recipe page (95% efficiency). When going through the same exercise with your Electric Pale Ale, I get the same numbers.

Back in Febuary, my friend and I decided that we were going to build our own brewery. He had never done any type of home brewing before. I had done a number of kits a few years back but this would by my first time doing all grain. After doing a bunch of research, watching a lot of youtube videos and gathering as much information as I could possibly absorb, I landed on your site. I was so happy to find such concise information organized so well. We basically took your blueprint and built our brewery based on all the information on your site. You've built this tremendous library and have done a great service to the home brewing community and for that I thank you.

We have brewed our first 2 batches (Blonde Ale and Electric Pale Ale) and all things considered, both brew days went pretty well. We are still learning and there are a number of kinks to work out but we are really enjoying it. Both batches are currently in fermenters and we can't wait to taste them.

I just wanted to take a moment to thank you. There is a lot of information out there on the internet and it's easy to get overwhelmed. It was such a relief to a resource that had it all neatly organized in a manner that was so easy to follow. Your efforts are certainly appreciated.

Stephane

**kal** · Posted: Tue Jun 05, 2018 12:35 am Post subject:

chastuck · Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2018 1:12 am Post subject:

I'm going to brew this recipe as the lager version and use W-34/70 dry yeast. I was wondering about the rehydration aspect of the yeast. Normally to rehydrate dry yeast I would use sterile water or wort at roughly 70F. Meanwhile of course before pitching I have cooled the wort down to around 50F. I have heard that pitching a warm yeast into a colder wort would send it to 'sleep'. Do I have to cool the rehydrated yeast mixture down to the wort temperature before pitching into the wort?

**kal** · Posted: Sun Dec 02, 2018 5:18 am Post subject:

I would usually rehydrate dry yeast in room temp water.

Kal

alphakry · Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 5:35 pm Post subject:

looking at hallertau hops, I see a few varieties such as Blanc, Hersbrucker, Mittelfruh and Tradition.
I'm guessing you typically use the latter variety, such as what Morebeer sells

**kal** · Posted: Fri Feb 08, 2019 6:14 pm Post subject:

Correct.

Hallertau, Hallertauer and Hallertauer Mittelfrüher are all names for the original German Hallertau variety.
In German, the addition of "er" means where something or someone originated.

You could use any of these really (even though they'll be slightly different):

https://www.morebeer.com/products/hallertau-mittelfruh-hops-pellets.html?a_aid=theelectricbrewery
https://www.morebeer.com/products/german-tradition-hops-pellets.html?a_aid=theelectricbrewery
https://www.morebeer.com/products/hersbrucker-hops-pellets.html?a_aid=theelectricbrewery

I purposely wasn't overly specific in the recipe as I frankly don't think it matters. Not that it won't taste different, but that the different is subjective and personal. All will be good and it's going to be a matter of taste if you prefer one over the other. I'm simply recommending a noble German hop, preferably of the Hallertau variety. If there's a different noble hop you prefer, but all means go for it. I sometimes use (American) Crystal myself as it's close to noble and clean tasting.

The noble hops are:

Hallertau
Hersbrucker
Saaz
Tettnanger
Spalt

Any of these could be used.

That's part of the fun of brewing - trying different things to see how they taste. This is a fun experiment to try: http://www.bertusbrewery.com/2013/03/dry-hopped-bud-light.html

That said, in this recipe with only 60 min hops, there won't be a ton of hop flavour - mostly bitterness.

Hallertau Blanc is completely different, more of an American style with pineapple and grape. You could certainly use that too of course but it wasn't what I had in mind. I went with something more noble/old school.

Kal

alphakry · Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 7:52 pm Post subject:

If I'm unable to cold crash the beer much colder then 55 degrees or so - will the gelatine still be helpful in clearing the beer and easy to remove when racking?

And is it even worth bringing the beer down to this temp if i can't get much lower?

**kal** · Posted: Fri Mar 08, 2019 9:14 pm Post subject:

alphakry · Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 2:13 am Post subject:

what about fermenting this beer under pressure? I was thinking that I'd let the gravity drop to around 1.020 and then slap on a spunding valve / prv manifold to let it start to naturally carbonate, to cut down on the time it'll take to reach my glass! Smile

**kal** · Posted: Tue Apr 09, 2019 12:42 pm Post subject:

Sure, you can do that. You can do that with any beer. Keep in mind that this beer is supposed clean tasting and will benefit by conditioning for a month or two near freezing before serving. So while you may shave some time off fermentation by doing it under pressure, the beer will still be best if left alone and cold for some time after that...

Fermenting under pressure is (in theory) also supposed result in an overall reduction in yeast ester and fusel production, so maybe that conditioning time is lessened as well? Haven't tried it so I can't confirm...

Kal