https://shop.theelectricbrewery.com/pages/blonde-ale-premium-lager
NOTES / PROCESS
Add 500mg potassium metabisulphite to 20 gallons water to remove chlorine / chloramine (if required).
Water treated with brewing salts to our Balanced flavour profile: Ca=50, Mg=10, Na=16, Cl=70, SO4=70. (Hit minimums on Ca and Mg, keep the Cl:SO4 ratio low and equal. Do not favour flavour / maltiness or bitterness / dryness. For balanced beers.). For more information on how to adjust your water, refer to our step by step Water Adjustment guide.
1.5 qt/lb mash thickness.
Electric Brewery Heating Element Assembly
BUY NOWSingle infusion mash at 149F for 120-180 mins. (A very long low temperature mash helps dry out the beer).
Raise to 168F mashout temperature and hold for 10 mins.
~90 min fly sparge with ~5.6-5.8 pH water (measured at mash temperature). Collect 14.9 gallons.
Boil for 90 minutes, adding Whirlfloc and hops per schedule. Lid on at flameout, start chilling immediately.
Cool the wort quickly to 68F if making the Blonde Ale or 50F if making the Premium Lager (we use a one-pass convoluted counterflow chiller to quickly lock in hop flavour and aroma) and transfer to fermenter.
Aerate or oxygenate the chilled wort to a level of 8-10 ppm dissolved oxygen if making the Blonde Ale or 14 ppm if making the Premium Lager. For more information refer to our Aerating / Oxygenating Wort guide.
Pitch yeast and ferment at 68F if making the Blonde Ale or 50F if making the Premium Lager (wort temperature). We use modified stainless fermenting buckets in wine fridges.
Ferment until approximately 5 points from final gravity and then raise the temperature to 70-72F until finished. In our case we simply turn off the fermenting fridges and allow the beer to naturally rise to room temperature. Assume fermentation is done if the gravity does not change over ~3 days.
Rack to a brite tank (we use 5 gallon glass carboys) that has been purged with CO2 to avoid oxygen pickup, add 1 tsp of unflavoured gelatin dissolved in a cup of hot distilled water per 5 gallons of beer, and allow to clear for 2-3 days.
Package as you would normally. We rack to kegs that have first been purged with CO2 and then chill to near freezing while carbonating at the same time in a 6-keg conditioning fridge. After ~1-2 weeks at serving pressure the kegs will be carbonated and ready to serve. In a hurry? Feel free to raise the CO2 pressure temporarily to 30-40 PSI to carbonate fast over a 24 period, and then turn back down to serving pressure.
Carbonate this beer to around 2.5 volumes of CO2.
The Blonde Ale will improve greatly if conditioned just above freezing for 4 weeks before serving (6-8 weeks is recommended for the Premium Lager). Avoid keeping the beer unrefrigerated for extended periods. It will remain clean and crisp for months if kept near freezing.