Recipe change

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BostonianBrewer

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The extract kit I have is for a HG Blonde
6.6 LME
1lb Belgian pale
1lb orange blossom honey
1 1/2oz n brewer(bittering)
1/2oz n brewer(aroma)
1/2ozwillamette (aroma)
1/2oz willamette (bit)
#3787 Trappist HG yeast

I would like to tweak this and maybe add cascade hops or something floral/fruity and is it possible to incorpirate a little wheat to this recipe or am I just going over board ... This is my girlfriends kit and now she feels as if she doesn't want just a blonde that's why I'm trying to change it a bit for her
 
Assuming a 5-gallon batch, and assuming that by "Belgian pale" you're talking about pale two-row barley to be mashed, then your OG looks to be 1057 (from TastyBrew calculator).

So if you added 1 lb. of wheat DME* would bring the OG to 1062, which would be a nice addition without adding much heft. Add 8 oz. of aromatic, to bump up the maltiness, and the OG is 1069.

Assuming that the bittering hops are both 60 minute boils, and that your aroma hops are both 5 minute boils, I get 53 IBU, which is very hoppy for a blonde ale. If you cut the Northern Brewer bittering addition down to 0.5 oz., and then added 0.5 oz. Cascade,* either for a 20 minute boil or as a first wort hop addition, then I get 35 IBU, which is a more balanced bitterness level. That would give the beer a nice citrusy flavor that would be interesting in combination with the fruity flavors that the Belgian yeast is going to give.


*The Brewer's Best Imperial Blonde kit includes 1 oz. of Brewer's Gold and 1 oz. of Cascade, as well as 1 lb. of honey malt and 1 lb. of wheat DME. The OG is ~1070.
The Brewer's Best Belgian Tripel kit includes 1 oz. Northern Brewer and 0.5 oz. Goldings, as well as 4 oz. aromatic malt. The OG is ~1084.
 
Yes it is for a five gallon batch .So should I replace some lme with the wheat or use the wheat as well as the 6lb of lme? The final suggested abv on the kit purchased was 7.45 so that might be a little higher than what I will get?
 
And what aromatic do you suggest I add, sorry this is only my fourth brew and first one I've decided to play with
 
I was thinking add the wheat DME, since you're looking for a high gravity beer. Using TastyBrew to calculate, I get OG 1069 and FG 1017 for 6.7 ABV.

Aromatic is a malt that is mostly added to give a boost to the malty flavor and aroma.
 
I second sptaylor70. I think adding a little wheat is a great touch, but you should decide how much to add or to substitute based off how alcoholic you would like your beer to be. There are a variety of calculators out there you can find with a google search.

I also think reducing the bittering edition is a good idea unless your trying to do a Belgian IPA mash up which is also groovy. If that's the case, an you want something citrusy then cascade, citra, galaxy or something of the like is a good way to go. Good luck either way sounds nice :)
 
Addition I love IPAs but that's not exactly what I was
Going for, should I just add the wheat to my specialty grains I steep or get some liquid wheat extract ( do they even make that) ? Also for the honey addition end of boil or in the fermenter ?
 
Wheat DME.

The later you add honey, the more honey flavor you'll get. So to maximize the flavor, you might try adding it to a secondary fermenter, if you use one. If not, then add it to the primary after about two weeks fermenting. But no matter when you add honey, the honey should be boiled before you add it.
 
Wheat DME.

The later you add honey, the more honey flavor you'll get. So to maximize the flavor, you might try adding it to a secondary fermenter, if you use one. If not, then add it to the primary after about two weeks fermenting. But no matter when you add honey, the honey should be boiled before you add it.

Exactly. DO NOT add wild, raw honey directly to the fermentor without pasteurizing it. It contains a ton of enzymes that are very very good at breaking down large sugars and the resulting beer will be thin as water, and dry as a bone. That said, pasteurization is just a matter of adding the honey to a little water and bringing it up to a boil. Take it off the heat IMMEDIATELY when it reaches a boil, otherwise you'll vaporize all those yummy honey-flavored chemicals. You can get away with adding pre-pasteurized honey directly to the fermentor, but it just makes another chance of infection, which I try to avoid like the plague.
One good option for honey is bottling with it. a great calculator to know how much to add can be found here:

http://www.northernbrewer.com/priming-sugar-calculator/


It sounds like you have a little wheat grain to play around with. I was under the assumption that you had some wheat extract lying arround. I'm going to assume that your belgian pale malt is a belgian 2-row, and therefore has diastatic potential (meaning that it has the ability to turn grain sugars into edible sugars) in which case I would highly suggest adding a little wheat to the grain bill.

Any 2-row malt is what you call a "base grain" all of which have diastatic potential, but unmalted wheat grain (and most wheat you get is unmalted) is an "adjunct" meaning it has ZERO diastatic potential, and therefore needs to be "mashed" (fancy word for steeping base grains at certain temps) in order to do anything to the beer.

I find it a little odd that the only specialty grains they set you up with were base grains but then again I suppose its a trappist blonde.

I love adding wheat to my beers - lends a distinct creaminess to the mouthfeel, lightens the color, and firms up the head. Don't go overboard though, I definitely would not go over a pound (this much will give you a genuine "wheat beer" and it may or jay not be pleasant with the level of hopping your looking at) and if it were my beer I would stay in the ballpark of a 1/2 lb.

Good luck though!
 
you do not need to boil or pastuerize honey, just add it a few days in while fermentation is winding down. it's osmatic death for pretty much anything, there's nothing to worry about

what is she looking for with the wheat addition? in small amounts you won't really taste it, it'll just be mostly head retention. if she wants it cuz she likes hefes & wits, that flavor is from the yeast not the wheat. since you should be mashing the pale malt anyway, i'd just get some white wheat if you want to use it. A lil vienna or munich would add a nice malty bump and a lil honey malt would help emphasize the actual honey, say 0.5# each

i'd swap your bittering to something like this to make it more floral/citrusy:
1oz NB @60
0.5oz wilamette @5
0.5oz cascade @5
0.5oz wilamette @ dry hop
0.5oz cascade @dry hop

... but unmalted wheat grain (and most wheat you get is unmalted) is an "adjunct" meaning it has ZERO diastatic potential

most wheat you get is certainly not unmalted. only flaked wheat is. the rest have plenty of diastatic power.
 
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