CS13 - Blonde Ale

[Ryan Perkins]

Nothing too fancy just thought I'd try a style I haven't done before.  I haven't tried it yet so could be a disaster!

OG - 1.046

FG - 1.009

Mashed at 65 degrees

15L batch

1.60kg Gladfield Ale

1.00kg Gladfield wheat

0.40kg Carahell

7g Pacific Jade @ 40mins

10g NZ Cascade @ 10mins

5g Columbus @ 3mins

10g Cascade @ 0mins

10g Columbus @ 0mins

A handful of fresh Danscade cones at 0mins

Wyeast 2565 Kolsch

Lagered for 3 weeks with fresh yeast added at bottling.

Should be ready to go by the time you receive the swap.

Cheers

[Mark Weusten]

Hi Ryan, tried your blonde ale in the weekend. It poured with good clarity and was well carbed with a nice white head. First taste is fruity with some lemon then a nice lasting bitterness. This was a very nice beer I am going to brew this myself. Thanks Ryan

[Ryan Perkins]

Thanks Mark I am glad you enjoyed it.  First time using the kolcsh yeast and pretty impressed by it. I bottled some before I lagered and didn't notice too much of a difference between the two.

Cheers

[Duncan Emo]

Hi Ryan,

A style I haven't brewed before but a nice drop!

Appearance - Fluffy white head, good carbonation with good clarity. Maybe a slight haze.

Aroma - A very slight lemon aroma to start with.

Taste - a bit of fruit initially but a light lingering bitterness.

It would be good to have this on hand in the heat of a Wellington summer ;)

Cheers

[Ryan Perkins]

Thanks Duncan.  Yeah I was going for a subtle easy drinking beer so I'm glad it fits the profile.  So hard to get zero chill haze in the lighter coloured beers, at least for me anyway, even with a rigorous boil.  There was no chill haze when the beer was lagering though which I found a bit strange.

[Peter Church]

Thanks Ryan,

Good looking brew, nice clrity, robust white head, good lacing, good carb levels.

Suble lemon with pine on the aroma. Picking a faint estery note, or maybe its a hint of oxidation, its subtle and doesnt detract, need to do more of this to place the aroma. Be interested to see if anyone else picks up anything

An initial tartness in the mouth, crisp, dry and refreshing

Overall a good easy drinking approachable brew. Thanks for sharing

[Ryan Perkins]

Thanks Peter.  Most likely picked up a bit of oxygen when transferred to a secondary.  It was fermented at 14 degrees so unlikely to be esters unless the yeast strain is prone to producing them.

[Mark Weusten]

I noticed you chose to ferment at the bottom of the yeasts range, what was your reasoning? I am just trying to decide what temp to ferment my Kolsch at.

[Ryan Perkins]

I was just seeing how similar to a normal lager it would be at the lower end of the range, plus I was not in a hurry for a quick ferment.  Next time I will brew more like an ale and see if there is much difference, and I don't think I'll bother with lagering again even when fermenting low. 

I let it ferment for two weeks with a slow ramp up to 17 degrees for the last two days.

[Greg Tarr]

Beautiful light gold, very clear, plenty of white head. A little over-carbed to me.

A nice mix of malt flavour for such a light beer.

I felt there was a floral hint but it was just subtle then it was gone.

Nice.

[Ryan Perkins]

Thanks Greg. 

I use carb drops for convenience but with lagered beers there is already a certain amount of carbonation present when bottling, so as they age they end up a bit overcarbed.  It's not usually an issue as I drink them all while they are fresh anyway.