As per the discussion at the blogorama this post was written about a year and half ago... but never quite was completed.

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I made a light German ale for my Father for Father's day, while the Wingin It pool party was a reason for the trip I also had the priority of delivering a beer I had made just for him. The beer was an experiment, based on some malt I got from the homebrew shop, I wanted to create something stronger than a kolsch, but light enough to be enjoyed in the Phoenix summers. Dark beers are a bit too heavy to enjoy in the summer months but I wanted to ensure he had something with flavor. The problem is making something with medium to light body but without overwhelming hop character. While I tried the first sample tonight I am not sure I succeeded the malt character is a bit too strong in the beer so it has a slightly sweet character. The balance is off, not that it is bad just the hops I used were quite enough to balance the hops. Next time I think I may try the same concept but with more of the Hallertau hop just an ounce or so in the initial bittering boil to better balance the overall construction.

The recipe was as follows

3lbs liquid malt
1lb Pilsner DME (Dried Malt Extract)
1lb Caramuinch
1lb Carapils
2 oz Hallertau hops
1 Vial German Kolsch Ale Yeast

Partial mash of the grains with 30 minutes at 130 degrees, 30 minutes at 155 degrees. The leftover grains were partially sweet so in later versions I'd like to sparge the wort to ensure excess sugars are drawn out.

One hour boil with the malt extract and 1 and 1/2 oz of Hallertau at 60 minutes, and last 1/2 oz hops added at 30 minutes. Cooled the wort and fermented at upper 60s.

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After the beer looking back it was too sweet and I'd likely run the boil for 90 minutes as the DMS or corn flavor was strong. A bit more hops of the classic noble variety would have added to the balance of the beer.

In retrospect I don't consider this batch a success, but it was a great learning tool. But that is the nature of brewing, lately I have been pondering testing some new ideas and similar results are bound to happen. As long as I learn from such events I figure I am heading in the right direction.