Fishing Rights

By James Pettifor (Anglian Craft Brewers)

Recipe is part of Recipe Index

BJCP 2021 Style 25A Belgian Blond Ale

I was hoping to get somewhere close to Affligem blond of which I am rather fond...not entirely sure that I did, but happy that I produced a beer that not only did I like, but so did the judges and others who sampled it. As with many Belgian beers, it is deceptively simple.
I've made this beer twice. The first version used a mix of clear and dark Candi sugars and slightly higher bitterness which made it a little darker and bitter than the above version. I think the second version has worked better.
Doubtless there will be a third at some point!

Awards

Scottish National Homebrew Competition 2022 (Remote judging, Jan/Feb 2022)

1st - Light Belgian Ales

Statistics

• IBU 22
• ABV 7%
• OG 1.058-1.062
• FG 1.005
• EBC 7
• 23 litres into fermenter.

Ingredients

Water

Water was a mix of very hard Ipswich water and RO/demineralised water with additions of CRS/AMS to reduce the alkalinity to a bare minimum, and Calcium Chloride and Gypsum to achieve approx 100ppm Ca+, minimal Mg+/Na+ and balanced CL-/SO4- at around 120ppm.

Use favourite water calculator to get somewhere near this.

Malt

• 6kg Dingemans Belgian Pilsner malt
• 200g golden granulated (cane) sugar added late in the boil

Hops

• Magnum for 12-13 IBU @ 60 minutes
• Styrian Goldings pellets for 4-5 IBU @ 15 mins
• Saaz whole hops for 4-5 IBU @ 15 mins

Yeast

• WLP550 Belgian Ale Yeast, grew a starter to give me c.11 million cells/ml

Process

Mash

• 63C for 30 mins
• 70C for a further 30 mins

Boil

• 60 minute boil
• Add sugar near end of boil
• Add 1/2 protafloc tablet near end of boil

Ferment

• Start at 20C
• After a day increase the set temperature to 25C for a further 5-6 days until a steady gravity reading is reached
• Cold crash below 4C for a week

Serving

• Prime and bottling to achieve 3 volumes of CO2.