My Hoppin’ Blonde Ale

Yes, I have brewed another beer for the wedding. Originally I was going to keep it simple and restrict the variety, but brewing has gotten the better of me and I now have five beers that will make a showing at our wedding in two weeks with two beers already bottled:

Its a Nice Day for a Wit Wedding

• Changed the name of the beer to this one, which is more fun in my opinion

Its a Nice Day for a Wit Wedding (Imperial)

• Brewed this beer thinking there would not be enough of the original Wit. This one turned out to be nearly 9% ABV and I have dubbed it an imperial Wit.

Cold Feet Kölsch

• A quaffable 4% ABV brew that hopefully will be a big hit with the BMC crowd.

Biere à la Framboise d‘ été

• A blend of the Wit and a blonde ale (see below) with a second fermentation on organic raspberries from upstate New York. I haven’t posted about this brew yet.

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My Hoppin’ Blond Ale:

This was be the last beer that I brewed for the wedding. I brewed this beer as backup batch to reach my target of 84 22oz bombers. It also has come in handy as a blending beer for Biere à la Framboise d‘ été – without blending the beer is too strong and tart. Going with the theme of summer, this beer, fermented cleanly with American ale yeast, finishes light, dry, and crisp. Two weeks of dry-hopping with Amarillo and Cascade should lend an interesting character for any hopheads. Above in the label art is a picture (at least the blonde part) of my future wife. The recipe:

5 gallons:

• 8 lbs of German Pilsner malt
• 0.5 lb of Carapils

Mashed in at 150°F for one hour to maximize fermentables.

Boil for one hour

• 1 oz of Chech Saaz, 60 minutes
• 1 oz of Chech Saaz, 10 mintues
• 1 oz of Amarillo, 0 minutes (flameout)

Cooled to 65°F and pitched a 1 liter starter of Wyeast 1056

Dry-hopped for two weeks with:

• 1 oz Amarillo
• 1 oz Cascade

OG: 1.048

FG: 1.006

IBUs: 25

ABV: 5.4%