Does this sound right for a Belgian Blonde

[fbsf]

No, not a female. A beer.

I'm using what I have to try and estimate something like a Leffe Blonde, as the missus had a couple on holiday and loved it. Going to make the Candi syrup myself so will be aiming for around 65EBC but it'll probably be way off!
Yeast will be WLP500, fermented at 20°C as she likes the bananas.

I might even nick a demijohn's worth and add some cherries & blackberries in secondary as we also had Leffe Ruby which she liked.

Any comments/revisions? The only other grains I have are MO, Crystal, Chocolate and Black. I do have some other hops, but these seem to be nearest to the style (no halletauer or tettnanger).

Lager Malt 2.5 EBC 3570 grams 57%
Wheat Malt 3.5 EBC 1690 grams 27%
Candi Syrup 65 EBC 625 grams 10%
Amber Malt 60 EBC 185 grams 3%
Caramalt 30 EBC 185 grams 3%

Perle Whole 10.05 % 60 mins 17 grams 70%
Saaz Whole 4.5 % 15 mins 32 grams 30%

Final Volume: 23 Litres
Original Gravity: 1.060
Final Gravity: 1.010
Alcohol Content: 6.6% ABV
Total Liquor: 34.9 Litres
Mash Liquor: 16.9 Litres
Mash Efficiency: 70 %
Bitterness: 22 EBU
Colour: 27 EBC

 

[pittsy]

Looks good if i would say anything at all i would say is use pilsner malt but lager( lager malt is an english version of pilsner malt , a bit lighter and less taste and belgian pilsners is often more malty the german)) is ok , and i would up the caramalt to around 250 g , but i like it . :thumb:

 

[JKaranka]

I'd drop the amber malt, not sure what role it would play in the mix unless as a substitute for biscuit malt. If you need colour, 25g of chocolate malt could be reasonable.

 

[zgoda]

Yesterday I had lovely pint of Blonde ale of my friend, he scored 2nd in this category in our biggest national. It was only pilsner, carapils and plain white sugar. Delicious.

 

[fbsf]

JKaranka - that was exactly what I was thinking re the amber malt. Most of the Leffe clone recipes I have seen have a small amount of biscuit malt, but not having any in stock (and wanting to use up what I have rather than buying more) I thought I'd go for the amber. It doesn't have to be 100% accurate, just taste nice for me & the missus!

Pittsy - so if I need something a little more malty, could I subs 500 - 1000g of the lager malt with MO to give the required effect? That and increasing the carapils to 250g.

Zgoda, That does sound nice, but I need something on the amber side of blonde to get close to Leffe Blonde. Might try something like that at a later date though.

 

[zgoda]

Of course, customer requests first.