Blonde Ale Centennial Blonde (Simple 4% All Grain, 5 & 10 Gall)

Brewer's Friend 728
Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum

Help Support Homebrew Talk - Beer, Wine, Mead, & Cider Brewing Discussion Forum:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
I'm seven days in on my first batch. The OG was 1.044 and I had a SG of 1.004 today. I'm not sure why it was so low, my mash temp. was right on. At least it tasted pretty good for this point in the process. Looks like I'll end up around 5.25%, not too bad.

What is the earliest anyone has bottled this, assuming steady SG?
 
Have you checked your hydrometer lately? It may be off. 1.004 is low for a beer that isn't infected.
 
The_Bishop said:
Have you checked your hydrometer lately? It may be off. 1.004 is low for a beer that isn't infected.
Click to expand...

I know, that made me concerned. It looked, smelled and tasted fine so far. My fermentation temp was on the high side of the range but not too hot.

I'll check it Tuesday and see if there's a change. A hydrometer check is in order too. It is the same one I took OG with though.
 
The_Bishop said:
Have you checked your hydrometer lately? It may be off. 1.004 is low for a beer that isn't infected.
Click to expand...


Mash temp and yeast selection play a big role in FG. I recently made my cream ale, mashed at 147, fermented with US05 and finished at 1.002 and it was fantastic! I reused the same yeast to make 20 gal of this recipe and it finished at 1.008.

I wouldn't be concerned about low FG unless it was under 1.000.
 
hio3791 said:
Mash temp and yeast selection play a big role in FG. I recently made my cream ale, mashed at 147, fermented with US05 and finished at 1.002 and it was fantastic! I reused the same yeast to make 20 gal of this recipe and it finished at 1.008.

I wouldn't be concerned about low FG unless it was under 1.000.
Click to expand...

The mash temp was 150 and I used Nottingham. Danstar says 1.008 isn't unusual. I'm not too worried now.
 
I've just about kicked my first keg of this and it's been a huge hit. Light enough for non-craft beer drinkers but just enough flavor and body to give it something more. Perfect summer beer. I know I'll probably be excommunicated from the forum for saying so, but it's damn good with a slice of lemon in it!

Getting ready to brew another batch, maybe with 1056 just to taste the difference.

John
 
Second batch 7 days in. Just dry hopped with 1/2 oz of Cascade to see how that works out. Then into the keg in 5 or 6 days.
 
Recipe says batch size is 5.5 gal. Is that post boil volume before going into the fermentor? I'm pretty sure I'm going to give this a try this weekend. I've never made a beer this light, only doing it for friends and family. Very curious as to how much flavor it has...... Hope it's not too light...
 
I put 5.5 gallons into the fermenter. This beer gets better the longer it ages but is good after a week in bottles or keg. Still gets better with age.
 
paguy said:
Recipe says batch size is 5.5 gal. Is that post boil volume before going into the fermentor? I'm pretty sure I'm going to give this a try this weekend. I've never made a beer this light, only doing it for friends and family. Very curious as to how much flavor it has...... Hope it's not too light...
Click to expand...

Don't worry it's not too light. Mine even went down to 1.007. It's kind of a malt bomb IMO.

The 5.5 is the batch size that goes into the ferementor. The .5 is to compensate for trub loss.
 
I brewed my second batch of this on Saturday, switching out the Notty for 1056. As always, I made a starter (1L per Mr.Malty), and my OG came in at 1.043 as planned, and I set my temp chamber to 68F. Fermentation started pretty quickly, showning bubbles after about 12 hours. This morning (Monday) I checked in to find a sludgy mess of yeast on top of the fermentation bucket. (This was after I had started wiping it down before cleaning out the airlock) I've never had this much yeast sludge with 1056, and I wouldn't expect if from a 1.043 beer...hopefully it's nothing to worry about.

Photo Jul 13, 7 21 34 AM.jpg
 
My second batch (only 2.5 gallons, getting started up at the new location) is conditioning in bottles right now.

I'm pretty sure this is also going to be my first recipe for BIAB (extract/specialty up until now). It would seem the relatively light grain bill will make it a good candidate, no? Feel free to chime in if you disagree: no sense making bad beer.
 
skydiver30960 said:
My second batch (only 2.5 gallons, getting started up at the new location) is conditioning in bottles right now.

I'm pretty sure this is also going to be my first recipe for BIAB (extract/specialty up until now). It would seem the relatively light grain bill will make it a good candidate, no? Feel free to chime in if you disagree: no sense making bad beer.
Click to expand...

Sure it'll work for your first try. Just make sure to get your grain crushed really good. I ended with only 58% efficiency this past weekend on a different recipe and we've all come to the conclusion that the LHBS did a poor double crush. I just ordered a mill yesterday so that I don't have this problem in the future.
 
I made this beer via the BIAB method twice now. Actually all of my beers were. All have turned out great. I use the crush I get from my LHBS and get about 85% efficiency. I stir once every 15 minutes to ensure even mash temps, since I BIAB in my kettle, and I think this increase my efficiency. One concern with crushing too fine is tannin extraction. Good luck!
 
Getting ready to brew this up tonight after taking a good 2 year break from brewing, life just became too crazy. I now realize i need a homebrew to help with that :mug: I had a question about the quick primary/secondary in this recipe. 4 day primary then off to secondary? with all fermentation taking place in a little over a week. Would there be much difference in staying in primary for 11 to 12 days, then kegging and just allowing to carb up without force carbing?
 
I've made it 3 times and always did 7 days primary and 5 secondary. I did add raspberry once and it was awesome. I'm also adding chili peppers to this as well. Have fun. Great brew
 
I'm thinking about brewing this again but using .5 ounce bitter orange peel, .5 ounce sweet orange peel, and coriander .5 ounce crushed in the last five minutes of boil. Any opinions and has anyone made this in this way?
 
Jsheaffer25 said:
Getting ready to brew this up tonight after taking a good 2 year break from brewing, life just became too crazy. I now realize i need a homebrew to help with that :mug: I had a question about the quick primary/secondary in this recipe. 4 day primary then off to secondary? with all fermentation taking place in a little over a week. Would there be much difference in staying in primary for 11 to 12 days, then kegging and just allowing to carb up without force carbing?
Click to expand...

No secondary is fine.

But a little confused with your question about carbing.

There are three basic types of carbing in a keg;

  1. Priming sugar - Just as with bottle carbing
  2. Set it and forget it - Set it to the serving pressure (generally 10-13 psi) and allow it it carb up over a week or so.
  3. Burst Carbing - Put the beer under 30psi for 24-48hrs then bleed the pressure and set it at serving pressure to finish carbing.

Both #2 & 3 above are forms of "force carbing". I assume what you meant was that you don't plan to burst carb? Which is fine.

Just thought I would catch you up on some terminology for future posts. ;)

I would also consider lengthening the fermentation to 14 days at least. That should reduce any diacetyl left in the beer.
The OP is a top notch HB'er. He can get away shorter fermentation better than those of us who may or may not set up optimal fermentation conditions for our beer.

Welcome back to the craft and good luck!!

:mug:
 
Wanted to brew this tomorrow but there is a delay with the pale ale malt and Nottingham I ordered They should be here in time to brew next weekend. However I have a party planned for 22-July.

I'll be bottling, will 3 weeks be long enough to turn this around?

If not then I will have to brew this weekend but have a few choices to make:

1. Maris Otter or Pilsner as the base malt or a mix or of both or Pilsner with a bit more Vienna or Munich.
2. Yeast - US-05, S-04 or BRY-97

Thanks for your input.
 
Shenanigans said:
Wanted to brew this tomorrow but there is a delay with the pale ale malt and Nottingham I ordered They should be here in time to brew next weekend. However I have a party planned for 22-July.

I'll be bottling, will 3 weeks be long enough to turn this around?

If not then I will have to brew this weekend but have a few choices to make:

1. Maris Otter or Pilsner as the base malt or a mix or of both or Pilsner with a bit more Vienna or Munich.
2. Yeast - US-05, S-04 or BRY-97

Thanks for your input.
Click to expand...

Might you mean 22-Aug? Otherwise you're late to your own party!

I think two weeks in primary and a week in bottles will be okay. Will probably be a little green, and maybe a little flat though. I have a batch going right now that I plan to keg after two weeks, serve in three. This one has a pretty quick turnaround.

Otherwise I would use MO instead of 2-row, but that's just me and I love the stuff.
 
So I brewed this beer as my first all grain batch yesterday! All in all, it went pretty well, with a couple of hiccups. Poured the sparge water in with the valve open (d'oh) and boiled over, but I think I made beer!

My biggest issue, I ended up with an OG of 1.055 instead of 1.040.

I think the oversight of the 5.5 gallon batch size and an overzealous boil where the main contributors to this problem. Maybe you guys can help out?

I batch sparged with 11.4 qts at 150 and held it just about perfectly for 60 minutes. Then I double-sparged with ~2 gallons twice and ended up with 6.3 gallons of wort at 1.40. 80% efficiency, or so Beersmith told me.

Somehow I boiled down to 4.75 gallons into the fermentor and an OG of 1.055. All readings are temperature corrected, but I did take the pre-boil at 109 degrees.

The sample was freaking delicious though! How do you think this'll turn out? I pitched some rehydrated US-05...will it be too harsh if it heads north of 6% with just 1oz of hops and such a light malt bill?
 
chexjc said:
So I brewed this beer as my first all grain batch yesterday! All in all, it went pretty well, with a couple of hiccups. Poured the sparge water in with the valve open (d'oh) and boiled over, but I think I made beer!

My biggest issue, I ended up with an OG of 1.055 instead of 1.040.

I think the oversight of the 5.5 gallon batch size and an overzealous boil where the main contributors to this problem. Maybe you guys can help out?

I batch sparged with 11.4 qts at 150 and held it just about perfectly for 60 minutes. Then I double-sparged with ~2 gallons twice and ended up with 6.3 gallons of wort at 1.40. 80% efficiency, or so Beersmith told me.

Somehow I boiled down to 4.75 gallons into the fermentor and an OG of 1.055. All readings are temperature corrected, but I did take the pre-boil at 109 degrees.

The sample was freaking delicious though! How do you think this'll turn out? I pitched some rehydrated US-05...will it be too harsh if it heads north of 6% with just 1oz of hops and such a light malt bill?
Click to expand...

Just a thought for the future, if you boil down too far you can always top off with clean water to reach your desired volume and OG. I have a spreadsheet that I use and based on the post-mash gravity and post-boil volume I know exactly how much water I need to add to reach my OG. This would be true the other way if your efficiency was low; how far do I need to boil down to reach desired OG.

US-05 has an attenuation of ~80%, so you could end up with 5.5-6% ABV. Might be a bit boozy, but it's your first all grain, you'll enjoy it all the same.
 
Shenanigans said:
Wanted to brew this tomorrow but there is a delay with the pale ale malt and Nottingham I ordered They should be here in time to brew next weekend. However I have a party planned for 22-July.

I'll be bottling, will 3 weeks be long enough to turn this around?

If not then I will have to brew this weekend but have a few choices to make:

1. Maris Otter or Pilsner as the base malt or a mix or of both or Pilsner with a bit more Vienna or Munich.
2. Yeast - US-05, S-04 or BRY-97

Thanks for your input.
Click to expand...

Honestly, You can probably split the difference between fermentation and bottle conditioning and still have great results. I.e.: cut fermentation down to 10 days, it isn't a very high OG beer, so I think 10 days will be more than enough to complete fermentation and even clean up a bit...then it will give you more time in the bottle to condition.
 
05 makes a better CBlonde than 04. Had to come here and say it. It's just less fruity and way more crisp.
 
To Shenanigans: one thing I always do is to replace 2 or 3 glass bottles with 2 or 3 plastic 12 or 16 oz bottles. It makes it much easier to judge how carbonation is going just by squeezing the plastic bottle.
 
snd1990 said:
To Shenanigans: one thing I always do is to replace 2 or 3 glass bottles with 2 or 3 plastic 12 or 16 oz bottles. It makes it much easier to judge how carbonation is going just by squeezing the plastic bottle.
Click to expand...

Good idea.
I have some swing top bottles so what I usually do is fill a few of those and pop them to see how the carbonation is going. Just slightly open them so you can close them quickly before any foam comes out.

BTW I'm going to brew this with Maris Otter and US-05.
Grains are already crushed so no going back now :ban:
Will start bright and early tomorrow morning.
Second beer will be a white IPA with the Forbidden Fruit yeast. :cross:
 
What would be an ideal water profile for this recipe? Im going to brew this next weekend and my starting water is RO
 
HiImBrian said:
but would you say that Nottingham is better than 05 or no? I've made this twice using Nottingham each time. Main reason I like it is because I can then name this "Notti Blonde" haha.
Click to expand...

I have only ever used s04 and s05. (30 batches or so)
So I don't know.
 
I will be making a 1 gal batch this weekend along with DA Yoopers pale ale recipe. I didn't read the entire thread but skimmed through several pages.
My question: the pale ale recipe calls for US-05 yeast and this recipe calls for Nottingham. Which one would be best for both? I only need approx. 2 grams yeast for each batch so I really do not want to buy two different yeasts.
 
brew703 said:
I will be making a 1 gal batch this weekend along with DA Yoopers pale ale recipe. I didn't read the entire thread but skimmed through several pages.
My question: the pale ale recipe calls for US-05 yeast and this recipe calls for Nottingham. Which one would be best for both? I only need approx. 2 grams yeast for each batch so I really do not want to buy two different yeasts.
Click to expand...

I've only used 1056 for this recipe which is close to either. My understanding is that Nottingham and 05 are pretty much the same making clean profiles. I personally think that 05 gives an off a flavor but as you will read the profile is a 'clean' yeast. That's why I use 1056 because that is surely clean to my palate.
 

Similar threads

Zippy123
Feedback on recipe to split mash for two different beers
Replies
2
Views
433
Zippy123
Zippy123
S
Autumn Wheat Ale
Replies
5
Views
1K
kwilson16
kwilson16
PashMaddle
Brew day #2 is done.
Replies
22
Views
1K
lumpher
lumpher
D
First Recipe: 1 Gallon Maris Otter / Goldings SMaSH (Comments, suggestions?)
Replies
6
Views
373
Northern_Brewer
Northern_Brewer
Gadjobrinus
Festbier - first lager back in.
Replies
17
Views
1K
Brooothru
Brooothru

Latest posts

Back
Top