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[Big Nake]

I'm not sure if this was an attempt to get spring here quickly or just anticipating it's eventual arrival. I wanted to apply some new knowledge to a pale-colored beer and this was the result:

Blizzard Blonde Ale

7.50 lbs Rahr Pale Ale malt
1.00 lbs Best Malz Vienna
4 ounces CaraPils
4 ounces CaraHell
¾ ounce Mt. Hood pellets 5.7% (4.3 AAU) for 60 mins
½ ounce Perle pellets 7.5% for 10 mins
½ ounce Perle pellets 7.5% for 2 mins
Wyeast 1056 American Ale yeast

OG: 1.050, FG: 1.013, IBU: 26, SRM: 3, ABV: 4.8%

 

Single infusion mash at 150.6° for 60 mins.  50% distilled water.  Got the mash pH at 5.2 with 4g of CaCl and a couple drops of lactic acid.  Sparge pH was good, preboil wort pH was about 5.5.  Frozen hose and/or spigot (not sure what happened here) so I had to chill the wort in a snow bank for about 90 minutes.  Oxygenated, pitched about 200ml of active slurry from a batch of MLPA that I racked yesterday as well.  I might ordinarily use a higher percentage of distilled water on a pale beer (maybe 5, 6 or even 7 gallons out of 8).  Here, I used 4 gallons of distilled and 4 gallons of filtered tap.  I want to see if getting all of the pH numbers right would make a good pale beer.  The sulfates were pretty low as I didn't use any gypsum at all.  It's fermenting around 62° in a tub of water in the basement now and the smell of these late Perle hops is outrageously good.  I'm also hoping that getting these pH numbers in line will result in a clear beer.  Cheers.
 

[Big Nake]

So this was the blonde ale that I was concerned about (and talked about sending out to The Guv, JKor and Drez) that did not have the harsh, pale beer flavor I've been talking about. The good news was that it did not have that flavor and it's possible that the Rahr Pale Ale malt saved the beer from going downhill. The so-so news is that the beer ended up sort of blah and possibly flabby. My guess is that the pH numbers were safe but not low enough to make the beer good. I saw that as an opportunity to "back-acid" the beer. I wanted to put one drop of lactic acid into my pint glass and tap a beer into it. I accidentally dropped two drops in there. Tapped the beer and I noticed an improvement. I assumed 40 sixteen-ounce glasses in a 5 gallon keg and assumed 40 drops. So I opened the keg and put 45 drops in there. As the night went on (my wife and I were watching American Hustle), I kept drinking this blonde ale and the character was better and better. I'm at the point where I'm willing to try just about anything for the sake of 'research'. Had this beer finished up with that harsh flavor, the experiment would not have been relevant. Another sign that the low pH (mash, sparge, kettle) are what my tastebuds are looking for. Cheers Beerheads.