Blonde Ale 2026

Today I'm brewing another style that I really haven't brewed before, a Blonde Ale. This style is an easy drinking, lightly hopped, lightly colored ale. I used to joke that a Blonde Ale is essentially an ale version of a Standard American Lager, and it kind of is. The BJCP guidelines describe the style as follows: 

Easy-drinking, approachable, malt-oriented American craft beer, often with interesting fruit, hop, or character malt notes. Well-balanced and clean, is a refreshing pint without aggressive flavors. 

With warm weather returning to Florida in the not too distant future, this should be an easy drinking and refreshing "lawnmower" beer. I'm also planning on entering this beer in some upcoming competitions.

One other note, equipment update today! I replaced my 12-ish gallon stainless mash tun with a newly acquired Blichmann G2 kettle/mash tun that also features a Blichmann Autosparge setup. I already had a 20 gallon Blichmann G1 kettle/mash tun that I got from my buddy Jerry back in Utah. I primarily use it for larger batches and high gravity batches. I love all the features on it like the sight gauge, the heavy duty false bottom, and easy to clean and adjust linear flow valve (I replaced the original ball valve with the linear flow valve). I'm excited to have these same features in a smaller format. The Autosparge is an added bonus and will help ensure the inflow of sparge water always matches the outflow of mash liquor from the mash tun. During the sparge, I try to shoot for about 1" of sparge water on top of the mash. This has always proved difficult to maintain as it required constant adjusting of the inflow and/or outflow to maintain the proper depth. The Autosparge should greatly simplify things.

Lastly, to give credit where credit is due, this recipe is based on the gold medal beer by Zachary Miller. I'm using Proximity Pale malt instead of Rahr Pale malt, and Solstice Pilsner malt instead of Weyermann Pilsner malt. I also didn't realize CaraHell wasn't available locally, so I'm substituting Rahr Dextrine and Crisp CaraMalt in place of 0.5# Weyermann Carahell. I'm using House yeast instead of Omega OLY-011 British Ale V. Here is the recipe as I'm brewing it today.

Target OG: 1.049

Target FG: 1.009

IBU: 17.2

ABV: 5.3

3.75# Proximity Pale Malt

2.75# Solstice Pilsner Malt

1.875# Weyermann Munich I

6oz Rahr Dextrine Malt

2oz Crisp CaraMalt

1g BrewTan B (Mash)

7g Citra (FWH)

7g Citra, (5 min)

28g Centennial (25-min hop stand @160F)

Whirlfloc (Flameout)
Wyeast Nutrient (10 min)
4.66g BCAA (10 min)

LalBrew® House Ale Yeast 
Zinc Buddy

Mash at 149F, acidify mash liquor to a pH of ~5.3. Chill to ~63F, then oxygenate well and pitch yeast, Zinc Buddy, and ferment at 65F for 2 weeks. 

Water Profile

Target Water Profile
Ca	Mg	Na	SO4	Cl	HCO3
69	0	8	38	97	10

To 11 gallons of RO/Distilled water, add:

• 8.0g Calcium chloride 
• 2.9g Gypsum
• 0.4g Pickling salt
• 0.6g Baking soda

Brewing Notes

No issues during this session. New mash tun (MT) is awesome. Being able to accurately measure strike water volume is great and makes hitting the desired mash temp a lot easier. My HLT has volume markings, so I was able to ballpark it with the old MT, but being able to see the volume on the MT itself is definitely better. I was shooting for a mash thickness of about 1.5 quarts per pound (3.32 gallons strike water into the MT). Given the volume that the pump, hoses, and RIMS hold, this was a little thick. Volume was showing about 2.25 gallons on the sight gauge after I started recirculating (didn't even reach the temp probe). Next time I'll probably shoot for 1.75-2 quarts per pound and see how that does. On my old HERMS configuration I usually did 1.75-ish quarts per pound and that worked well, but it also held less volume than the RIMS Rocket.

Everything else went great during the brew day. The Auto-sparge is a game changer when fly sparging. I know lots of people prefer to batch sparge (or even no sparge) but I've always done fly sparging and this Auto-sparge works exactly as I expected it would. If you fly sparge, I can't recommend the Auto-sparge highly enough. 

One other thing I forgot to mention, I shorted my mash time from 60 minutes to 40 minutes. I've seen lots of articles explaining most starch conversion is usually completed within 20-30 minutes. Additionally, I've read that conversion is typically faster when you do a recirculating mash like mine, so I decided to try taking it down to 40 minutes. 

Session Readings
Beginning mash pH	5.20
Ending mash pH	5.21
1st running gravity	20 (1.081)
Pre-Boil gravity	10.1 (1.039)
Pre-Boil pH	5.28
Post-Boil gravity	13.8 (1.054)
Post-Boil pH	5.19

Update 2/9/2026

Fermentation is moving along nicely. Gravity is reading ~1.015 on the Tilt this evening, but it's read as low as 1.003, so it's been a pretty active fermentation. Assuming it fits the same timeline as the last batch with this yeast, gravity readings will likely start to stabilize tomorrow.

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Rib Rub #1

Today’s recipe is for a meat rub that’s intended to clone one we discovered years ago at Sam’s Club. It’s kind of funny, I enjoy Indian food every time we have it, but I never crave it. I love ramen, but my wife never craves it. She likes BBQ more than ramen, but she still doesn’t crave it, mostly because BBQ can be pretty filling and a bit fatty. But the first time we tried the rub from Sam’s, both of us agreed it was one of the better rubs we’d tried and we both really liked it. The rub was Durkee brand Chicken and Rib Rub. Fast forward a couple years and unfortunately Sam’s stopped carrying our favorite rub and then Durkee stopped making it. Fortunately, Weber started selling as Weber Chicken 'N Rib Seasoning. I’ve tried the Weber version and I think it’s the same or very close to the Durkee one, but my primary complaint with it is I can’t find it locally and the packaging is so small that I have to order it every few cooks. 

Long story short, with the help of ChatGPT I decided to try cloning the blend so I wasn’t having to order it from Amazon all the time. I’m not confident the first attempt will be a perfect clone, so my plan is to try it then tweak it until I get close to replicating the Durkee version or discover a recipe I like as well or better. 

I mixed a batch up this afternoon and rubbed it on some pork spare ribs that I plan on smoking tomorrow. It definitely smells very close to both the Weber and Durkee versions, but the color is definitely a little darker and more reddish compared to the more orange-ish commercial versions. I tasted the rub and I think does taste pretty close but I think I can get closer. Anyway, here’s the first attempt:

Batch size 100 grams, probably enough for at least three racks.

18g Maltodextrin - I used LD Carlson from my local homebrew shop. The maltodextrine will help prevent clumping and adds a light sweetness.

22g Light brown sugar, dried in the oven @175F for about 90 min. 

18g Sweet Paprika

6g Smoked Hot Paprika

12g Kosher salt

8g Garlic powder

7g Onion powder

4g Chili powder (mild, American style)

2g Mustard powder

2g Celery salt

1.5g Black pepper, finely ground

0.5g Cayenne pepper

Use a spoon or fork to blend until well mixed. Apply liberally and evenly to ribs, chicken, pork shoulder, etc. and rub in well. For pork, I like to apply it the night before I plan to smoke, then apply another light coat right before putting the meat in the smoker.

Update 2/3/2026

I wasn't able to provide an update before I had to head out of town for work. I used this on some pork spare ribs and they turned out well, but definitely not a cloned rub. I felt like it needed more salt, and likely more garlic. The paprika ratio also isn't right as this rub went on more reddish while the Weber version is more orange/salmon color. Regardless, I think it was a good starting point and I'll continue to play around with it.

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Carbonnade Flamande

I had a recipe for Carbonnade Flamande pop up in my social media feeds about a month or so back. It looked pretty awesome so I figured I'd bookmark it for a future weekend dinner. This is one of those recipes that isn't hard to make, but it takes time so you need to plan ahead. 

I've never had Carbonnade Flamande before, but having made it today I can tell you I'm going to make it again. Carbonnade Flamande is also known as Flemish Stew and my understanding is it's a traditional comfort food in the Flemish-speaking areas of Belgium. I could see this being served on a cold winter night in a Belgian monastery.  Also, giving credit where it's due, here's the source for the recipe I used. Also, I didn't have fresh thyme, so I used dried. Here's the recipe as I made it today.  

2-3# Chuck roast, cubed
12g Kosher Salt
6g Black pepper

All-purpose flour
3 Yellow onions, thinly sliced 
2 Slices bacon, minced
1T Butter
3 Garlic cloves, crushed
1-2 Bay leaves
1T Fresh thyme (or 1t dried thyme)
400ml Belgian ale - I used Westmalle Dubbel + a tiny bit of my Irish Extra Stout
400-800ml beef broth - I used ~450ml
1T Apple cider vinegar
1T Dark brown sugar

Instructions

1. Prepare all ingredients (cube beef, slice onions, mince bacon, etc.).
2. Season beef roast cubes with salt and pepper and mix well to coat. 
3. Lightly dust beef with flour, again mixing well so that so sides are coated with salt, pepper, and a small amount of flour. I used about 1.5T of flour.
4. Hear oven-safe braising pot/Dutch oven over medium high heat on your stove. Add enough canola oil to form a thin layer.
5. Sear the beef in batches, being sure to brown all sides. Don't worry too much about the brown bits sticking to the bottom, you'll deglaze the pot later on. 
6. Transfer browned beef to a plate.
7. Add butter, bacon, onions, and garlic to pot and sweat over medium heat. Stir frequently, scraping the bottom of the pot. The liquid from the onions will deglaze the brown bits stuck to the bottom of the pot.
8. Continue caramelizing the onions, stirring regularly to avoid burning the mixture. This should take a minimum of 45 minutes. Add a splash of water as needed to deglaze the pot when needed and to avoid burning. 
9. After 45 minutes, add beer to pot, stirring well. Bring to a simmer and simmer for 5 minutes. 
10. Return beef to pot.
11. Add bay leaves, brown sugar, vinegar, and thyme. Gently stir to mix all ingredients. 
12. Top off with enough beef broth to mostly cover beef, but don't worry if it isn't fully submerged.
13. Partially cover the pot and put it in the oven at 300F for 4-6 hours. I did about 5 hours with the pot lid cracked open about 3/16". Most of the liquid had evaporated leaving a thick sauce/broth behind.
14. Taste before serving and add additional salt, vinegar, and/or sugar to taste. In my case, I thought it was pretty much perfect and didn't add any additional. 

Allow it to cool a little bit before serving. It's often served with French fries (frites), but pretty much any potato or starchy side will likely go well with it. I served mine with Potato Pavé, but you don't have to get too fancy here. 

Update: This dish was great, super flavorful, a little sweetness from the caramelized onions, nice tangy acidity from the vinegar. It’s a great comfort food for sure and I’ll definitely be making it again. This is one of those dishes that’s even better the next day.

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