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25A Belgian Blonde Ale

Belgian Blonde Ale

Brewed 2025-01-23 Batch · 19 L Owen Paterson

Grain bill

Gladfield Light Lager Malt 3 kg 44.1%
Gladfield Pilsner Malt 1.1 kg 16.2%
Gladfield Vienna Malt 0.8 kg 11.8%
Gladfield Wheat Malt 1 kg 14.7%
Harraways Flaked Wheat 0.75 kg 11%
Gladfield Rye Malt 0.15 kg 2.2%

Adjuncts

Yeast nutrient half tsp @ 10 min
Whirlfloc half tablet @ 10 min

Hop schedule

Hop 90 min30 min5 min
Wakatu 20g·30g
Riwaka ·20g30g

Yeast

Mangrove Jack's M31 Belgian Tripel2 packets

Water additions

Calcium Sulphate 1 tsp in mash
Calcium Chloride half tsp in mash

Tasting notes

True to style, clean Belgian character. Fermented at zero pressure until Day 9, then spunding closed. Final: 1.9 vol CO2 natural, topped up to 2.6 vol.

About This Beer

A variation on Matt’s award-winning Belgian Blonde Ale. The recipe takes a similar grain approach — Light Lager Malt as the majority base, with Pilsner, Vienna, Wheat Malt, Flaked Wheat, and a small amount of Rye — but Owen cut the total grain bill to 6.8kg targeting OG 1.060 rather than the higher gravities of the original.

Mangrove Jack’s M31 Belgian Tripel replaces the original yeast. Two packets fermented at zero pressure. The spunding valve was closed on Day 9 once fermentation had largely wound down — by Day 14, pressure had built to 6.9 psi at 6.4°C, equating to 1.9 volumes CO2. Additional CO2 was added in the keg to bring it up to approximately 2.6 volumes.

OG 1.060, FG 1.004, ABV 7.37%. Final volume 19 litres. True to style — clean, dry, and lightly effervescent.