Today I brewed another batch. This time is is Mr. Beer’s Let It Bee Honey Blonde Ale.
This is a partial mash recipe that was definitely way more involved than the last batch! From the start of the cleaning process to having the wort in the fermenter took a good 2.5 hours.
Once everything was cleaned and sanitized it was time to start cooking. First order of business was to get water up to 155 degrees, then combine the Honey Malt and Pilsen Malt in a hop sack and cook it between 155-165 for 30 minutes. (Side note: maintaining a 10 degree temperature range on a standard cooktop is a challenge!) Once that was done it was time to drain the bag containing the malts and give them a rinse with one cup of hot water. And I’m a patient fellow so I let it drip drain for a good 5 minutes — it’s important to not squeeze the bag else you might pick up some undesired characteristics from the malts.
Next, it is time for some hops! Putting the Mt. Hood Pellet Hops into another hops bag, snipping away the excess bag after tying it off… I wait. And wait. And wait. See, the water has to be boiling before you drop the hops in. In its own sweet time the grain water finally starts boiling and in go the hops.
The hops only cook for 5 minutes in the low boil then off of the heat comes the pot. Next, in goes the included Canadian Blonde brewing extract (the HME) and one cup of honey.
Now here’s where I did my first ever intentional deviation from a recipe. Somehow I had an extra pouch of a BrewMax LME. Before I even started today I did some quick googling just to make sure this would be ok, and it confirmed my instinct. Adding the LME should not alter the flavor too much, may increase the ABV, and may make the final product darker than what it would have looked like. So… in it goes!
Lots and lots of stirring, but not too rough – don’t want to hurt the hops bag – and then some more stirring. It’s ready for the fermenter! But, I like to stir aggressively once the wort is in the fermenter, so I put the hops bag in one of the clean measuring cups, poured the wort into the fermenter, and stirred some more.
After all that I see I’m still below the 8.5L mark on the fermenter, so in goes a lot more cold water! Once I get it to the mark, I give it one more good stir and then drop the hops bag back in.
Whew! Finally! Oh, but what’s this? The wort temp is about 82 degrees, and while the Mr. Beer instructions make no mention of this, I don’t want to pitch the yeast until the wort gets to 76.
**time passes**
Ok, now the yeast it pitched and the waiting begins. Stay tuned!
Update #1
I’m a week late posting this update, but the beer was bottled on 11/30/2021! This was a few days past the “minimal” fermentation cycle and I probably could have bottled a day or two prior, but life got in the way. Such is life!
Nothing exciting during this bottling process – simply the normal cleaning and sanitizing of the bottles, the caps, the drying rack, and the bottle capper.
About a week from now I will start the fridge testing cycle. This is the simple task where you take one bottle and store it in the fridge for about 2 days and then pop the top to see if it meets both your flavor requirements and carbonation needs.
Stay tuned to see how that goes!
Update #2 (12/14/2021)
Only a day late (and that’s absolutely ok) getting the first bottle into the fridge for the fridge conditioning. Stay tuned for a tasting update later this week!
Update #3 (12/17/2021)
Ohhhh my goodness, we have a winner! Starting with the pour, the carbonation was just right. The smell was enticing. And then that first sip brought it all together. So delicious, so smooth!
The rest of the bottles have gone into the fridge and I’m looking forward to the next glass. And the one after that. And the one after that.
