International Homebrew Day 2013

By Kevin Hingston, Social Secretary

The Canberra Brewers Club came together on May 4 to celebrate International Homebrew Day where eight brewers brewed 11 batches of the ‘More Fun’ Belgian Ale.

The brewers were interviewed on the day to find out more about their recipe, their system and their love of homebrewing…

The recipe from the AHA web site
(Copied straight from – http://wiki.americanhomebrewers.org/MoreFunBlonde-AllGrain)

More Fun Blonde – Belgian Pale Ale
Recipe for 5 gallons (18.9 L)

Fermentables
8.5 lb (3.86 kg) German Pils malt
2.0 lb (0.9 kg) American pale malt
13.0 oz (369 g) dextrose (corn sugar)

Hops
0.5 oz (14 g) Northern Brewer hops, 9% a.a. (60 min)
0.6 oz (17 g) Northern Brewer hops, 9% a.a. (20 min)
0.7 oz (20 g) Willamette hops, 5% a.a. (20 min)
0.5 oz (14 g) Willamette hops, 5% a.a. (0 min)

Yeast
White Labs WLP530 Abbey Ale yeast, Wyeast No. 3787 Trappist High Gravity yeast

Brewers Specifics
Mash grains at 152° F (67°C) for 60 minutes
Batch sparge at 168° F (76° C)
Bring to a rolling boil and add 13.0 oz (369 g) dextrose
Boil 90 minutes and add hops at specified intervals from end of boil
Chill wort to 65° F (18° C) and pitch yeast
Ramp temperature to 75° F (24° C) over 36 hours
Finish fermentation at 75° F (24° C)
Keg at 2.5 volumes of CO₂ or bottle condition with 4 oz (113 g) corn sugar

Boil Time: 90 minutes
Original Gravity: 1.065 (15.9° P)
Final Gravity: 1.015 (3.8° P)
SRM: 4°
IBU: 42
ABV: 6.7%
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75%

Tweaks
Each brewer had a tweak to their recipe to make it a little different, these tweaks ranged from lighter to heavier alcohol levels, oak chips, hop and fruit extracts, late hopping and more.