First SMaSH -Blonde thoughts?

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SPR-GRN

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I turned 30 on May 4th and a bunch of stuff happened...
1.) My brother in law bought me a grain mill - this prompted me to buy a sack of 2-Row from my LHBS :)
2.) Around this time, I set up an informal brew school, taught a bunch of people to brew last weekend and next weekend I'll be teaching another group how to brew - this prompted me to buy some bulk hops.
3.) There is more but I don't want you to fight through a wall of text to tweak my recipe, so here it goes.

Recipe Name: SMaSHing 2-Row Blonde Cascade

Recipe Type: All Grain
Mash Temp: 153deg F
Boil Volume: 4.5 gal
Est. Top Up Vol.: 2.4 gal
Boil Time: 60 mins
Final Vol.: 6 gallons
Est. Efficiency: 75% (what I get with store crushed doing all grain)

Fermentables:
11.5 lbs of 2-Row

Hops:
60 min - 1.0 oz Cascade - 5.6%AA
30 min - 1.0 oz Cascade - 5.6%AA
14 day - 1.0 oz Cascade - 5.6% AA (Dry Hop)

Yeast: Safale US-05

Adjuncts:
15 min - 1 Tbl - Irish Moss

Est. OG: 1.055
Est. FG: 1.016
Est. ABV: 5.0%
Est. IBU: 25
Est. SRM: 2 L

It doesn't exactly fit into the Blonde category (color and FG) but that is the closest classification, also I don't really care, Just want to make a decent summer SMaSH beer; so any comments would be appreciated.

I have Cascade and Magnum on hand, went with the Cascade because of the lower AA's (my Magnum are 15.2%) and the fact that Cascades are more of an "all around" hop where the Magnum are primarily bittering. Only have American 2-Row on hand in bulk, so that's what I want to use. US-05 is pretty neutral, and I have it on hand, I also have danstar nottingham, but I'm not a big fan of it, hence the US-05 choice.

AtDhVaAnNkCsE :mug:
 
I think it looks good. Nice and simple. I do an almost smash with 2 row with a little bit of dextrine and safale 05 then do strawberries in the 2nd. For hop last year I did bravo. This year same recipe only using belma. What temp are you looking to mash in at? Looks a smidge sweet to me, but it'll be great.

Actually last year I split the 10g and did 5g with safale and the other with WLP kolsch. Wow were they different.
 
I'll Mash at 153 F per my usual practice for this style, strike temp of 160 F (updated original post with this info).

I'm aiming for a lawn mower beer; trying to balance the hops vs. malt, with a lean to the malt side if I lean either way.

I was tempted to pick up some Honey Malt and dextrine, but then it wouldn't be a SMaSH, and it would be pretty closer to my repeat offender Blonde Ale recipe than I'd like to tread.

Thanks for the comments.
 
I did something similar using 2 row and Columbus. It was very nice. Cascade and Centennial are the hops that I use most. Right now I am fermenting a Pale Ale that was all Cascade and Centennial with a lot at flame-out for aroma. Hopeful....
 
Bringing this thread back, the blonde was good right off the bat, really good once it sat for a while, but a bit bitter for my liking, and I'd like to it be a bit dryer so I'm going to Ver.2.0 it, changes in red..

Recipe Name: SMaSHing 2-Row Blonde Cascade

Recipe Type: All Grain
Mash Temp: 153deg F 150deg F
Mash Time: 60mins 90mins
Boil Volume: 4.5 gal
Est. Top Up Vol.: 2.4 gal
Boil Time: 60 mins
Final Vol.: 5 gallons
Est. Efficiency: 75%

Fermentables:
10.0 lbs of 2-Row

Hops:
60 min - 1.0 oz Cascade - 5.6%AA
30 min 15 min - 1.0 oz Cascade - 5.6%AA
14 day - 1.0 oz Cascade - 5.6% AA (Dry Hop) no dry hop

Yeast: Safale US-05

Adjuncts:
15 min - 1 Tbl - Irish Moss

OG 1.054
FG 1.016
IBU 23
ABV 5.0%

we'll see how it turns out in Ver. 2.0

I force carb'd 5gals of the first batch and bottled/nat carb'd a 12 pack, this time I'm going to naturally carb a keg of it, as I think I liked the bottled beer better.

wish me luck.
 
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