So I’m going to brew my version of a Coffee Blonde Ale. I’m an extract / partial mash brewer. I’m going to be brewing this weekend Here is what I’ve come up with beer smith:
Steeping Grains:
8 oz Flaked Wheat
4 oz Vienna Malt
4 oz Crystal 10L
Extract:
3.3 Pilsen Light extract
3.3 Golden Light extract (last 20 minutes of boil)
Hops:
0.5 oz Centennial 60 min
0.25 oz Centennial 30 min
0.25 oz Cascade 15 min
0.25 oz Cascade 5 min
Yeast:
Safale US 05
After primary fermentation is done, and just 1 day before bottling I’m going to add 12oz of cold brewed coffee (I know lots of people say just use beans and others say cold brewed in bottling bucket right before bottling so I’m going to try this and see what happens)
Interesting combination; coffee and blonde ale. Forgive my ignorance, is that an idea of yours or were you inspired by another beer?
PS. What Steve is saying is the flaked wheat won’t do much for you when steeped. If you are looking for body and mouthfeel from the wheat you may consider subbing maltodextrin.
Yup. Vienna can convert itself and not much more in an all grain batch. So you’re asking a quarter pound of vienna to convert wheat. Crystal is already converted, and has no power to convert anything else. Dont be frustrated, its a common thing we all had to learn, and this is how you learn. Toss up your ideas and see where they land, learn as you go. All good.
thanks, I didn’t realize that when looking at others recipes. How much grain is needed to convert the flaked wheat? like Steve in TX said, if i knock out some of the extract and go with more grain in the steep instead.
You definitely need to partial mash that flaked wheat unless you’re looking to add starch to the beer, which you probably aren’t. I’d probably use a pound of base malt just to make your numbers easy and subtract the appropriate amount of extract.
You won’t have a problem getting color extraction from the coffee. You’re actually not using enough coffee to make a noticeable color contribution.
Is that yeast what you have on hand or what you like to use? I know it is pretty soft and lets flavors shine, but the bitterness from the coffee, and the body from the wheat, maybe a different strain yeast? Wyeast 3522 (I think quite a few commercial brewers use this yeast for its blondes) or 1762 for its “Clean Flavors” if you are sensitive to Belgian yeast esters
Have you considered using wheat DME? Flaked wheat might give you some issues as suggested above.
If he’s trying for the ballast point they call it a cream ale with coffee and vanilla and its definitely more American, if I’m right that this is the beer he’s basing it on.(IIRC its called “Calm Before the Storm”, its quite tasty and unusual.)
Hi i forgot that ballast was cream but I’m still going to make blonde. And I’m using us 05 yeast . I’ll make the changes to make sure I,m using already a lb of basemalt when steeping. I use beer Smith when coming up with the recipe. The cold brewed coffee in the bottle bucket shouldn’t color the beer too much and just add the flavor of coffee. Thanks again for input
You could take the amount of extract you are leaving out equally between the two. I’m not sure 2 row or pilsen would matter much. In that amount they won’t add much flavor I think and either should have the enzymes you want.
I don’t remember if this was already mentioned but don’t forget malt to extract isn’t 1:1 so you won’t be omitting an entire pound of extract. I forget the ratio but you could look it up.
You have been given a lot of good advice, but what you are doing is called extract + specialty grain brewing. The goal of partial-mash brewing is to derive a sizable percentage of one’s extract from grain and then supplement with extract. Partial-mashing is a technique that is half-way between extract + specialty grain brewing and all-grain brewing. Partial-mashing was more popular when I started brewing due to the difficulty and expense of bringing 5-gallons of wort to a boil. The high-quality propane stoves that we take for granted today were rare from the time that home brewing was legalized through the mid-nineties, and large stainless stock pots were expensive due to almost all restaurant-grade cookware being made in the U.S. It was much easier and cheaper to bring 2.5 to 3-gallons of runoff from a partial mash to a boil on one’s kitchen stove in readily available kitchenware, and then add extract during the last 15 minutes or so. The wort was chilled and topped off with pre-boiled and chilled water.