All-grain · 20 L (5.3 gal)
American Blonde Ale Recipe
BJCP 18A · Blonde Ale
Golden, light and easy drinking, with a hint of malt and a floral touch of Cascade. The simplest recipe for your first all-grain beer.
American Blonde Ale recipe by the numbers
- Batch size
- 20 L (5.3 gal)
- Original gravity
- 1.045
- Final gravity
- 1.010
- ABV
- 4.6%
- Bitterness
- 24 IBU
- Color
- 5 SRM (10 EBC)
- Mash
- 66 °C (151 °F) for 60 minutes
- Boil
- 60 minutes
- Fermentation
- 18 °C (64 °F) for 14 days
- Bottling
- 6 g of sugar per liter (0.8 oz/gal)
About 135 kcal per 330 ml (11 oz) bottle, worked out from its original and final gravity.
American Blonde Ale recipe: ingredients and steps
Batch size
Recipe for 20 liters (5.3 US gallons) into the fermenter.
Malts
| Malt | Amount | % |
|---|---|---|
| Pale ale malt6 EBC (3 °L) | 3.50 kg (7.72 lb) | 86.4% |
| Vienna malt8 EBC (4 °L) | 0.40 kg (0.88 lb) | 9.9% |
| Light crystal malt60 EBC (23 °L) | 0.15 kg (0.33 lb) | 3.7% |
Hops
| Hop | Amount | When |
|---|---|---|
| Cascade5.5% alpha acids | 30 g (1.06 oz) | 60 minBittering |
| Cascade5.5% alpha acids | 20 g (0.71 oz) | 10 minFlavor |
You will also need
Yeast: Dry American ale yeast, such as US-05: one 11.5 g (0.4 oz) packet.
Water: About 28 L (7.4 gal): 12 L (3.2 gal) for the mash and 16 L (4.2 gal) for the sparge.
Priming sugar: 6 g of table sugar per liter of beer bottled (0.8 oz/gal), about 115 g (4.1 oz) for 19 L (5.0 gal), or 7 g per liter (0.9 oz/gal) of dextrose.
Hops: pellets, kept in the freezer until brew day.
Step by step
- Heat 12 L (3.2 gal) of water to 72 °C (162 °F), add the crushed malt and stir until there are no dough balls. Once it mixes with the grain, it drops to about 66 °C (151 °F): hold that temperature for 60 minutes, covered.
- Lift out the grain and sparge it with 16 L (4.2 gal) of water at 76 °C (169 °F). You should collect about 24 L (6.3 gal) of wort with a gravity of 1.039–1.040.
- Bring to a boil and boil for 60 minutes, uncovered. Add 30 g (1.1 oz) of Cascade when the boil starts, and the other 20 g (0.7 oz) with 10 minutes left.
- Turn off the heat and chill as fast as you can to 18 °C (64 °F).
- Transfer about 20 L (5.3 gal) to the sanitized fermenter, shake it well to aerate the wort and take a gravity reading: it should be around 1.045.
- Pitch the yeast and ferment at 18 °C (64 °F). Fermenting cool keeps the beer clean, without excess fruity flavors. It's usually done in a week, but give it the full two weeks to settle.
- When the gravity holds at 1.010 for three days in a row, bottle with the sugar dissolved in a little boiled water and let it carbonate for two weeks at room temperature. Serve it well chilled.
If your Cascade isn't 5.5% alpha acids, multiply the grams by 5.5 and divide by your percentage to keep the 24 IBU.
This beer is so clean that any fermentation flaw shows: what matters most here is holding 18 °C (64 °F) for the first few days, when the yeast is working hardest and warming up the fermenter.
The style: Blonde Ale (BJCP 18A), with its history, its numbers and other ways to brew it.
Different setup? Recalculate with the water calculator, the IBU calculator and the priming sugar calculator.
Rating recipes and keeping a brew log need an account, which is only available in Spanish for now. English accounts are coming soon.
Frequently asked questions
How strong will this American Blonde Ale be?
About 4.6% ABV: it starts at 1.045 and finishes at 1.010, and (OG − FG) × 131.25 gives that percentage.
How long until it is ready?
One brew day, fermentation at 18 °C (64 °F) for 14 days and about two weeks in the bottle: give it a little over a month.
Can I use a different bittering hop?
Yes. What matters is keeping the bitterness: if you use another hop instead of Cascade at 5.5% alpha acids, work out the grams from its alpha acids (or with the IBU calculator) to stay at about 24 IBUs.
What if my system does not get 72% efficiency?
Your gravity will come out different. Scale the base malt up or down (or add a little dry malt extract to the boil if you fall short) and recalculate the water with the calculator.
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Reference style: Blonde Ale in the BJCP guidelines, 2021 edition. Original recipe by Hacer Cerveza Casera, designed for a homebrew setup.