Today, me and my friend Marcus brewed up 25.5 liters of Blonde Ale hopped with hops from New Zealand (Nelson Sauvin) and Australia (Summer). We were aiming for a light and refreshing ale, with subtle bitterness, but still loads of hop flavors. The malt bill was inspired by the Centennial Blonde I brewed up last summer, and contains Pale Ale, Carapils (for head retention and some body), Vienna (for a little maltiness), and Crystal (for some caramel tones and body) malt. We were aiming for an OG of 1.044, but ultimately ended up slightly higher (12.0 brix; 1.046). If this ferments as dry as we hope, the final gravity should be around 1.007-1.008, giving an ABV of 4.7%. We used a small bitterness addition, followed by large amounts of late hops. I added 3.9g MgSO4 and 4.2g CaCl2 to the mash as well. I pitched some Nottingham yeast and placed the beer in the fermentation fridge, where it will ferment for a week at 17 degrees C before I add the dry hops. Really looking forward to this one, as the hops were smelling fantastic!

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