Yesterday we brewed a blonde ale based on our Song Girl Blonde recipe. We used 20lbs of Pilsner, 1lb of crystal 15. This was a huge departure as we normally would use 2 Row as our base malt. We tuned our recipe for 80% efficiency and managed to hit our numbers almost perfectly. Brewhouse efficiency peaked out at over 85%!
We did a first wort hop too. Yeast is WLP 500 and WLP 550. We did starters for both yeasts. The 550 really got up and ran in less than 20 hours, but the 500 was a lot slower. After 48 hours there were signs of activity, but nothing like the 550. Both yeasts were pitched at 66 degrees and started very nicely.
We also kegged our Oktoberfest and Popcorn Pilsner. Both taste great. The Pilsner has a bit of a high alcohol level, but not quite at the Imperial level. Both beers stayed in primary for just a few days short of a month. The trub was fierce and it took a lot of work to get two fermenters clean and sanitized in time for the blonde. Maybe time to get a few more fermenters. We might try the Better Bottles.
Los Angeles Brewers 