<bds at fuse dot net (Art Vandelay)> wrote in message
news:3f13f72a.3118736@news.fuse.net...[color=blue]
> Hey guys,
>
> I was hoping to elicit some advice from you all. I'm trying to brew a
> lighter, but still flavorful summer ale. I've searched through all of
> my brewing books, as well as a bit of "Googling" and haven't found a
> good basis for what I'm after. Would you all mind taking a look at
> this recipe and offering me a little advice on whether or not this
> will be tasty, or how I may improve it?
>
> Summer Blonde Recipe:
>
> 1 lb. 20L Crystal Malt
> 4 lb. Munton's Plain Super Light LME
> 1 lb. Munton's Plain Wheat DME ( which is 55% wheat, 45% barley)
> 1 lb. Pure Wildflower honey[/color]

Sounds delicious to me!! You don't really need to change a thing. However
it does seem a little bit more on the orange side rather than yellow, not
that there's anything wrong with that.... but if you'd like to lighten up
the color a bit, use only 0.5 lb crystal 20L and/or 0.5 lb wheat DME, and
add a little corn sugar or rice syrup to make up the sugar (& alcohol). You
cannot go wrong with rice syrup. I love the stuff. It's got no color, and
no funny flavors that I know of. It might thin the beer like corn sugar
does, but I've never noticed anything bad about it. I've even used rice
syrup as the base malt (if you can call it that!) in one recipe and it
turned out great. Anyway...

Also a couple of quick suggestions with the hops: try 0.5 oz Fuggles for 60
minutes, then 1 oz Fuggles or EKG for 15 minutes, then 1 oz Fuggles or EKG
to finish off. This should get you within the good end of the bitterness
and flavor ranges. If you want more citrus and fruity flavors, I might also
suggest Cascade hops, which may be a little more bitter, so you may want to
use less than the amounts I listed. Just rough guesses anyway, with a
little help from my StrangeBrew software. :)

Good luck! Let us know how it turns out!

--
Dave
"Just a drink, a little drink, and I'll be feeling GOOooOOooOOooD!" --
Genesis, 1973-ish