Summer Ale?

87% US Pale
10% Munich
3% Red Wheat

18 IBUs Glacier @ 60 (.5oz for 3 gallon)
2 IBUs Halleratu @ 10 (.25oz for 3 gallon)
0 IBU Hallertau @ flameout (.25oz for 3 gallon)

OG - 1.042
IBU - 20
Color - 3.7
ABV - 4.3%

Any recommendations to make this an awesome blonde/summer drinker?

I was aiming for a blonde ale with a bit of floral flavor from the hallertau.  1. should I keep those hop additions? (I don’t care much about guidelines, but if they are useless or overpowering I’d like to know…)  2. I also have Mt. Hood hops, does anyone prefer Mt. Hood over Hallertau in their summer/easy drinking beers?

My plan is to use US 05 and ferment at 60 for clean flavor.

Looks like a nice summer beer to me. Depending on how much hop flavor you want, you could bump the 10 min and FO hops to 1/2 oz, or just leave as is. It’ll be good either way. As for Mt Hood, I really like it but standard Hallertau is obviously nice, too. Good luck !

What yeast will you be using? With a low gravity and a small hop charge, if you use a neutral yeast, it is going to be easy drinking, for sure, but maybe a little boring. I’d be tempted to use a lager yeast if you are going to keep the recipe as is, or maybe an English ale yeast and up the hops a bit. You could even use an expressive Belgian yeast to coax some complexity out of a simple recipe.

I am curious about the yeast as well. I would be tempted to mash high and use an english ale yeast. I did something similar a couple of years ago that turned out great.

I would maybe bump up the late hops as Hoosier suggests.

What color Munich are you using?  I usually do not use malts with lovibond ratings more than 4 in my blondes. However, then again, I use pils as my base malt for blondes.

Thanks for feedback.  I never thought of this.  My only contradicting thought would be; an english or belgian yeast adding those “heavy/stone” fruit flavors and esters? which I wouldn’t really consider a “light summer ale”, at least thats my preference…  I plan on using Dry US05. A lager yeast as mentioned could be a good idea too.

I use US-05 or S-04 for 80% of my beers. I use S-04 in a lot of American styles and find it to actually be quite clean when kept in the mid 60s. It adds just a little more character than 05. The key will be leaving enough body in it to where it doesn’t taste too thin. I looks like it will be a good beer regardless of which route you choose.

I think stone fruit says summer - afterall that’s when peaches, plums, cherries, etc come into season. Perhaps late summer is better than early summer.

I’m thinking of making a summer beer soon as well. I have not used El Dorado or Hull Melon hops and think showcasing one of those would be mighty tasty.