Maggie Blonde Ale - Tuesday, March 21, 2023

 Just a simple Blonde Ale to finish the bag of Rahr. No matter how this tastes, this is my last Blonde Ale. If and when I need to use up my US-05, it will be the same as all of my previous one's but with new hops by the ounce for a one off beer. I will brew more of them next winter when I don't need temperature control. The yeast will be fine in the fridge vacuumed sealed.

Ingredients

11 lbs. Rahr

51 g Hallertauer at 60 min.

US-05

Mash and Sparge Water - 5 gallons each

Mash Water - 2.4 ml Lactic Acid

Sparge Water - .2 ml Lactic Acid

Water Profile - Yellow Full from Bru'n Water

CA - 50

MG - 7

CI - 70

S04 - 55

PH - 5.30

Gyp - 1 g

CI - 2 g

Eps - 1.3 g

O.G. - 1.050 - 92%

F.G. -

% -

SRM - 3

BU - 23

                                                                      BREW DAY NOTES

Brew Day - US-05 pitched at 10 am. Wort seems to have an odd taste. I can't identify it. Maybe it is my                      breakfast I just had? Will know in 2 weeks. 68 F.

Day 1 -        Going good, though temp is 64 F. May have to move it.

Day 3 -        Still going good.

Day 4 -        Slowed down too much, 64 F. Moving it today ( Mar 24 ) to beer room.

Day 6 -        Not a ton of bubbles, but still swirling around in the carboy. Air lock bubbling steady.

Day 8 -        Still going but a little slower. Still swirling around though. Normal ferment.

Day 9 -        Same.

Day 15 -      Ready to keg. Darker now and stuff is falling to the bottom of the carboy. 61F.

                    Didn't get a chance to taste it, but it smelled fine.

                                                    KEGGED ON APRIL 5

Sampled when it got cold and am not impressed. I may of milled it too fine though and it leeched some phenols or something. Will clear it on April 8 and go from there. It doesn't look good. My last Blonde Ale ever. I thought it would be a nice, lite ale, far from it. Seems fine now. Not sure what the odd taste was. Using this keg and not going to a 2nd one. Carb it up and enjoy for what it's worth. It is only 5 days old Mr. Beer, needs at least 14 days. Yea, not that great. I assume I milled too fine and extracted harsh tannins, sure tastes like it. Yuck....

Well, as in the past if you let it slide and don't make any decisions too quickly, things may work out. This has gotten better in the last day or so. If it ages more, it just might be a drinkable beer. Hopefully this won't happen with my Helles. It still has that weedy after taste which I was getting during the pandemic. Hate that. I will be checking my crush thoroughly in the future.

                                                                   FINAL THOUGHTS

This still sucks and will not get any better. Nice head, very clear and has a weedy after taste. The best looking beer I have ever made and probably the worst tasting. Hope my Helles doesn't go down this path. It did kind of improve, but not enough for me, still odd tasting. Gone now and goodbye...