Hi all, thinking about entering my blonde ale in a competition in late August. I have brewed it once before and it's quite delicious. I am worried that even though it's pretty good, it will get dinged on style guidelines, here is the recipe:
Would like to enter in 6B Blonde Ale:
OG: 1.048
FG: 1.009
IBU: 27
Color: 4.5
53% American 2 row
34% Weyerman Pilsner malt
7.7% White Wheat malt
1.9% carapils
1.9% Crystal 20 (both a quarter pound)
10 IBU cascade @ 60 min
13 total IBU of cascade/willamette @ 20 min
4 total IBU of cascade/willamette @ 5 min
White labs 029 German Kolsch
It's a great beer and super refreshing, but here are my worries:
1. Will I get dinged for the Kolsch yeast for clarity reasons?I plan on brewing it this week so I can get some extended lagering time in for added crispness and clarity. American Blonde is described as "Clear to brilliant"
2. Will I get dinged for it being too hoppy? I can always back down the IBUs a bit. Cascade/Will combo is a wonderful combo for blondes in my opinion and I don't want to lose anything if the judges begin to perceive it as a session pale or just an American pale ale.
3. Is the half pound of dextrin malt out of place for this style?
Thanks for any help. I hate when you enter a beer and even though it's great, it gets dinged because it should be in another category. Cheers!