Blonde Ale and brewing for a wedding

In January one of my friends from school will be getting married and he's asked me to provide the beer for the reception. It's a fun project to plan and obsess over but it also comes with some pressure to brew for a range of people I don't know and who aren't necessarily into craft beer. I've written and rewritten the list of 5 or so beers that I'll brew and it will probably get some more revision before January. Still, at this point I'm planning:

• Bohemian Pilsner
• Dusseldorf Altbier (Simon's recipe, one of my favourite beers)
• Hefeweizen with Vienna malt
• Blonde Ale or American Pale Ale
• Belgian Pale or Saison

The dates for brewing are mapped out, the Pilsner is set for October 6th so it's got plenty of time to lager. I may get excited and brew an extra beer or two. Maybe an IPA or something a little more unusual. A Berliner Weisse might be a fun beer on a hot Summer day.

I brewed the Blonde Ale on the same day as the Pale Ale and they're competing for a spot in January. A Blonde/Golden/Summer ale is not the kind of beer I would usually bother brewing for myself. There are just too many others I'm more interested in. I'm sure there are well done versions but generally they seem to be a fairly bland entry level craft beer. The sort of beer that 'craft' breweries backed by big corporations have as their flagship beer.

The kind of thing I'm talking about

Anyway, enough raging against the machine. The recipe is very simple. Pils malt with a touch of wheat. I'm shooting for simple, fairly dry with a little fruity hop flavour and aroma. I overshot my gravity but that's not the end of the world. If I had more time/space in the fermentation fridge & freezer, I'd have gone with a Kolsch yeast or even the California Lager yeast for a super clean and malt friendly finish. If I end up choosing to go with the Blonde Ale, that's what I'll probably do and brew it side by side with the Alt.

Blonde Ale
OG: 1.050 (I was shooting for 1.047)
FG: 1.010
IBU: 8.4 (calculated, although I'd guess the reality would be more like 15-20)
ABV: 5.3%
EBC: 5

92% Best Malz pilsner malt
8% Best Malz wheat malt

20g Citra @ 10 min
30g Citra @ 0 min

US-05

Highly fermentable stepped mash: 62C/68C/72C/78C for 30min/30min/15min/10min

Added 1g CaSO4, 6g CaCl2 and 3g MgSO4 to get calcium and magnesium to a minimum level and enhance perception of the malt.