CS-4 Belgian Blonde

[Mike Neilson]

Well heres my recipe again, Basicly It started as 7.5% Monster and I tamed it down as my mood changed!!
53% Global Pils
30% Weyermann Wheat
10% Cara Pils
7% Light Belgian Candy Sugar

64 Degree Mash till converted

40g Motueka @ 30
120g Motueka @ 5

Unibroue Yeast pitched @ 3/4 Mr Maltys recomendations @ 18 deg and let it raise by it self to 24 degs over 6 days. To help promote fruityness and and dryness no Whirflock or Servomcyes so it would help promote haze and good yeast farts.

70ppm Calcium, 6ppm Magnesium 11ppm Sodium 80ppm Sulphate 80ppm Chloride 20ppm Bicarb

Basicly brewed this beer to be a light fruity summers drink carbed it to around 3vols so watch out when you open them. First time at doing so, so be warned or chill to 0 deg and let it warm up to drinking temp. Only Bottled on the 9 Dec so you might have to hold off drinking this one to New Years Eve!! Enjoy and Messy Christmas!!

P.S This Yeast is a Beast!! Culture it out of the bottle if you can be bothered.

[Mike Neilson]

Any feedback??????????

[Matthew]

Feel free to drink my one I gave back to you...

#CaseSwapFail :-(

[Mike Neilson]

Dont worry I still got a bottle for you, but wait for some comments, you might not want it after them. hahaha

[MrC]

What do you think of that yeast Mike? I'm planning on brewing a Belgian Blonde this year and I'm not sure what yeast to use. Is that yeast an "in your face" yeast or middle of the road? I want to brew a Belgian Blonde that isn't over the top so that my wife can drink it too.

[Mike Neilson]

Come Grab a bottle of the beer if you want to get an indication.

[Reviled]

Almost drunk it last night but was a bit weary after such a hard weekend camping...

Got it earmarked for tonight tho bro, so will let ya know ;o)

[Mike Neilson]

Awsome!!

[Reviled]

Well, here she is in all her glory, im reading the above and I dont see an OG or FG anywhere, when you say 'tone it down' do you mean that now its actually 10% instead of 7.5%? ;o) Served at 8*c, pours a wee bit hazy but can still see the 'duvel' writing on the glass through the beer, nice heaad which seems to stick around ok but not much lacing, aroma of spice and candy with hints of orange and banana, quite complex with great yeast character! Not as bitter as my tastes prefer, slightly sweet on the palate with a big honey malt overtone and hints of caramelised banana on the finish, doesnt seem as dry as I was expecting either but extremely drinkable leaving me to finish the first glass rather quickly :o) Cheers mate!

[Mike Neilson]

Cheers Tyler, 1.059, 5.8 - 6%, oh the sweetness will be the Carapils. Next one is 84% Pils 16% Dextrose and Candy Sugar!!

[James P]

Round two.... after putting in my new automatic pop up lawn irrigation.

Bottle opens to a small aroma with cloves and banana. Reminds me of a wheat beer, but this is smells like something I would drink. Pours a light colour with a little haziness. Nice candy with banana taste and very refreshing, unlike the hefes I have tried and disliked! The carbonation it lively but not over the top.

The beer provides a bit of sweetness with citrus and banana. The mouthful is quite light and again a refreshing beer. There is a little evidence of the alc content after a couple of sips, warming. Feels a little dry, but then again that is they way I drink my beer!

Very nice beer Mike thanks for sharing!

[Stu McKinlay]

Pours a bright gold with an airy white head. Sweet pils malt, a little DMS, sea breeze and a light spice. There's a hint of something that I can only describe as 'glue' (but not in a bad way) in this beer that I often get off the less spicy Belgian yeasts - I often pick it in the subtle blonds and strong goldens (it's hidden in the slightly hoppier beers) but I've never quite worked out what it is. Drinks nicely, carbonation is spot on, though it gets a little cloyingly sweet as it warms... not at all uncommon for this type of beer, one that I often wish had just a little more hop flavour and bitterness. Detect a little green banana (maybe related to that 'glue' I picked earlier... I can imagine banana glue!). I've tried a few beers with this yeast now (incuding the Unibroue ones themselves) and to be honest I'm not a huge fan... though, in saying this, I've heard a lot of reports that it ages really really well.


The Good
Very very drinkable, expertly made (as usual), a style that interests me a great deal and is underdone in NZ...

The Bad
I left half a glass of this beer for ten minutes while I did a few chores and I came back to 8 little fruit flies in the glass - that's about quadruple the usual hit rate!

The Ugly
The write up above makes it sound terrible but this beer is bloody delicious! Just Dry out that finish and maybe bump the hop a little to perfect it.

Character Match
Blond, Belgian (via Canada), the most feminine character amongst a host of boyish beers in the swap... has to be this little lady.

[Mike Neilson]

Dry it out, couldnt agree more, thats why next time its all dextrose (driest sugar on the market) and 84% Pils Malt!!
To tell you the honest truth I dont know what the mixture of Wheat/Carapils was?? hahha!! I preped it about 4 months prior for a 100% Brett Blonde and I think I used a fair bit of carapils to give it body and something for the brett to munch on for a while. I made 35L of the stuff and gave away 25L of it for CS swap and Koha's.