Mash & Lauter

1. Heat strike water

Heat 18 L of brewing water to about 74°C (165°F). This will yield a mash temperature around 66°C (151°F) after adding the grains.

2. Mix grains

Add the crushed pale 2-row, pilsner, light Munich, CaraVienna, and flaked oats to your mash tun. Stir to evenly distribute and avoid dough balls.

3. Mash

Pour strike water over the grain and hold at 66°C (151°F) for 60 minutes. Maintain temperature within ±1°C. Gentle recirculation (vorlauf) for the first 10 minutes will help clarify the wort.

4. Mash out

Raise mash temperature to 75°C (167°F) for 10 minutes by adding 2–3 L near-boiling water or direct heat. This stops enzymatic activity and makes lautering easier.

5. Sparge

Sparge with ~10 L of water at 76–78°C (169–172°F) until you collect about 24 L of wort in the kettle (pre-boil). Collect enough to reach ~12 °P (1.048) pre-boil gravity for a 20 L batch.

Boil & Whirlpool

6. Bring to boil

Bring collected wort to a vigorous boil. Watch for boilovers and reduce heat as needed.

7. Bittering hop addition (60 min)

At the start of the 60-minute boil, add 18 g Northern Brewer hops. Boil for 60 minutes total.

8. Flameout/Aroma hops

With 5 minutes left in the boil add 20 g Cascade hops and the Irish Moss or Whirlfloc (5 ml). With flameout, add 10 g Saaz hops for delicate noble-like aroma and steep for 10 minutes.

9. Cool and whirlpool

At the end of the hop steep, turn off the heat and whirlpool or gently stir the wort to concentrate hop particles in the center. Chill wort quickly to ~20°C (68°F) using an immersion chiller or plate chiller. Transfer to sanitized fermenter, trying to leave most trub behind.

Fermentation

10. Pitch yeast

Aerate the cooled wort well (oxygen is important for clean fermentation). Pitch the entire package of yeast (rehydrate dry yeast per instructions if using dry). Target pitching temperature: 18–20°C (64–68°F).

11. Primary fermentation

Ferment at 18–20°C for 5–7 days until vigorous fermentation subsides (gravity drop). Aim for final gravity around 1.010–1.012 to achieve ~5.0% ABV.

12. Diacetyl rest & conditioning

After primary fermentation slows (usually day 5–7), raise temperature to 20–22°C for 24–48 hours to allow yeast to clean up fermentation byproducts. Then lower to 12–14°C for 48–72 hours if you want extra clarity.

13. Cold crash

Cold crash the fermenter to 2–4°C for 48 hours to help yeast and haze particles settle if you have the capability.

Packaging

14. Prepare for packaging

Sanitize bottles/keg and all equipment. If bottling, dissolve 120 g (0.12 kg) corn sugar in 300 ml boiling water, cool and add to bottling bucket to achieve ~2.3 volumes CO2 for a blonde ale. If kegging, prepare CO2 tank and check seals.

15. Transfer

Siphon or pump beer off the trub into your bottling bucket or keg, minimizing oxygen pickup. For kegging, fill and seal keg; set CO2 to 10–12 psi and carbonate at 3–4°C for 5–7 days or force carbonate as desired.

16. Condition

If bottled, bottle and store at 18–20°C for 10–14 days to carbonate, then cold condition at 4°C for 48 hours before serving. If kegged, carbonate and chill to serving temperature (2–4°C).

17. Serve

Serve cold on draft (2–4°C) with moderate carbonation. Pour with a steady tilt and straighten at the last third to present a 1–1.5 cm head. Expect a light golden color, soft malt backbone, gentle floral/citrus hop notes, and a clean finish at ~5% ABV.

Draft Beer Recipe

Recipe information

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Brew (All-Grain, 5.0% ABV Target, 20 L/5.3 gal batch)

Packaging & Finishing