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

944play said:

I'm brewing now. I have a growler of washed 34/70, and I'm tempted to use it.

Someone will have to convince me in the next hour.
EDIT: Too late, pitched Notty. I only have one temp controller anyway.

Subbed 7.7% "Centennial Type" (Amarillo and Columbus blend) for first three additions.
Hit 1.039 on the money, with maybe an extra quart in the fermenter.

Gratuitous hydrometer shot:

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When you use it let us know how that yeast works for you.

I did this recipe with Notty the first time I brewed it...it's an excellant yeast as well....

The other 2 times I brewed it I used 05.

But check this out!!! I am right now tasting my hydro sample of the beer using Lager yeast for the first time, and fermenting/lagering it (lagering for the first time as well) ghetto style in the cool storage locker in my apt building's garage.

It was the last beer I brewed in 2008, on New Year's Eve.
I brought it up stairs on on Wednesday to do a diacetyl rest, and I am right now racking it to secondary so I can lager it for at least another month (though I think it might not need it, it is already so good.)

I could drink the whole bucket right now....it is amazing!!!

I have to say that for an un-carbonated, green beer, it is one of the best ones I have ever tasted of mine.

I just stepped away from writing it while racking, to actually pull a pint from the autosiphon. I absolutely swear that I have NEVER EVER EVER done that.....I've never pulled a "Joe Mama," and considered drinking an entire fermenter or secondary full of green beer....but this is really really tempting.

I used Saflager yeast on it...the closet I have been fermenting the lager yeast in has been high 40's low 50's (it's probably colder right now.) I brought it up to hig 60's low 70's for the last 3 days to give it a rest...

And it is amazing!!!!!!!!!!


I have never been a lager drinker anyway...I'm just kinda getting into drinking some vienna's and others. And it never occurred to me til this winter that my little storage locker could be a lager area...


I figured since I love this recipe, it would be a good one to take baby steps in lagering...Since for the most part I am familiar with the beer's flavor profile already.....

I am so glad I did...it is amazing!!
(It may be hard to go back to brewing it as an ale in warm weather...I may have to do a 10 gallon batch of this before the temps prevent me from lagering.)


If you have a way to ghetto lager this...or acn lager for real...try Biermuncher's recipe with a lager yeast...you won't be diassapointed.

Hey Revvy, what style do you think your lager version would be, Classic American Pilsner?

mew said:

Hey Revvy, what style do you think your lager version would be, Classic American Pilsner?

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I honestly dunno....

Haven't given it a thought...

has anyone tried making this with pilsner malt instead of 2row?

bkov said:

has anyone tried making this with pilsner malt instead of 2row?

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I've subbed Pils before.

Just make sure you give it a good 90 minute boil since Pils is more prone to DMS.

It turned out very nice. A bit (just a bit) less malty than the MO I normally use.

Brewed this myself yesterday in 15 degree weather. Boiled off a lot more than I wanted to and so had to top off up to 5 gallons.

It's fermenting away now, looking forward to trying the finished product!

I made 5 gallons of this on New Year's Day, for my first attempt at all-grain. Things were a little stressful, but overall it turned out well. After a week in the primary and a week in the secondary, I bottled it on Saturday. I drank the hydrometer sample, and GOODNESS, it tastes amazing. I've never had a green beer taste so good. Congrats on a fantastic recipe! I can't wait for it to carbonate!

And you're right that it's a forgiving recipe; I had quite a few "variations". First off, my LHBS accidentally gave me only 1/2 lb of cara-pils instead of 3/4 lb, and I didn't catch it until I got home (not a huge deal, but a little annoying). Secondly, I didn't have any idea how much temperature loss to expect when stirring the grains into my preheated mash tun (filled with 2.75 gallons of 166-degree strike water), and after dough-in, the mash temp was only 145F.

I tried to fix it by adding 1-1/2 quarts of water at 169F, but with opening the lid and stirring, I only raised the temp 2 degrees. I tried to add water a second time, but this time with the stirring I actually lost temp! I eventually decided to leave well-enough alone (and had a homebrew) and ended up mashing at around 145.

When sparging, I forgot to take into account the extra water I'd added, so I ended up with nearly nine gallons of sweet liquor, which wouldn't fit in my 7-1/2-gallon brew kettle. I ended up boiling it down enough, but total boil time was 105 minutes! I also didn't delay the hop additions long enough, so the first addition of Centennial ended up boiling for 85 minutes!

I got an O.G. of 1.037 (63% efficiency?), so that's not bad for my first AG. The lower mash temp (and thinner mash) favor a more-fermentable wort, which explains why my F.G. was 1.005. And I guess the longer boil time might make the beer a bit darker than expected, but color looked great as I was bottling.

Anyway, I write all this just as an excuse to ask a question: BierMuncher, do you use whole hops or pellets? I've read you ought to scale back the hops by 25% if you're using pellets in a recipe that calls for whole hops, but I didn't even think to ask. I used pellets.

Also, do you have a label for this somewhere? I could make my own, but I'd rather use yours if you have one.

Finally, this is an encouragement to other brewers considering making the jump to all-grain to GO FOR IT! I was able to get a used cooler for $10 off Craigslist, and FlyGuy's MLT conversion instructions were easy to follow. It added a couple of hours to my brew day (this time), but overall it wasn't bad at all.

Thanks again for the awesome recipe, BierMuncher. Next up: EdWort's Haus Pale Ale....

-g-

Just brewed up a batch of this as my first AG. Went without major incident.

Next up - Edworts Haus Pale Ale








Err... do I hear an echo?

I'll be trying a extract version of this soon. I'll let you know how it goes.

I made this last weekend. By mistake I used Munich 10l instead of the Crystal 10L. What kind of difference should I expect?

Thanks,

Chris

cthompson116 said:

I made this last weekend. By mistake I used Munich 10l instead of the Crystal 10L. What kind of difference should I expect?

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It'll be a small difference. A little more malty and slightly less sweet.

It will be horrible, send it to me for proper disposal. PM me and I will give you the address.

Made this on monday - first AG.

Mashed in at 159 due to a combination of errors - understanding, process, and calculations - (assuming, of course, that the POS thermometer was accurate). I realize now that I should have added cold water to bring the temp down - live and learn I suppose.

From what I understand - I may end up with a cloyingly sweet beer? My OG was dead on (1.040). Fermentation was a bit slow to start but I think a lot of that was low fermentation closet temperatures.

I have plenty of extra kegs, so wont be dumping this unless it's absolutely awful after 3 months - but the pipeline's a bit dry...

Guess I need to search for decent cheap thermometers...

Secret Santa at work gave me an ounce of UK Goldings and an ounce of Willamette. I'll be using these pellet hops for a bit larger version of the BMBlonde for me next brew. Balanced it out and shooting for OG of 1.050 and 30 IBU's. Should come to a mildly hoppy taste and dry finish. Coworker who gave me the hops is new to the company and knew squat about making beer. She said she doesn't like dark beer (chuckle) so I'm going to make this blonde and share it with her.

I've been lurking here for a while and am planning on brewing the extract version of this tomorrow but messed up my grain bill a little bit i got .5# Carapils and 1# Crystal 10L how should this turn out?

Good hell, this is one of the best homebrews I've ever had. It is a great beer.

Just finished brewin an extract batch over here on the other side of the great Show-Me State. Can't wait to try it out!!

I made the extract version of this about a little under a year ago and decided to give the all-grain version a try. I brewed it on Sunday and the beer is currently experiencing an extremely active fermentation. I hope it tastes as good as it did the last time!

Could someone please copy and paste the extract version (I know it will be a copy!)? Everyone is talking about Crystal 10L and that's not in the one posted in the beginning pages of the thread. I would like to order ingredients to make this and I want the newest (improved) version without looking through 35 pages of posts.

Thanks so much!

I brewed this a week ago only I added .5 lbs of home-toasted 2-row and .25 oz of extra Cascade for each of the two additions. I'm not sure why, but it sounded fun
It just barely fits in the outer limits of 6B Blonde Ale but it does. Will report back with taste in a few more weeks.

I haven't even tasted my first batch of centennial blonde yet. I bottled it today and bought the ingredients for a second batch.

I already had the hops. grain and yeast cost me $15. cheap batch of beer

mosquitocontrol said:

Could someone please copy and paste the extract version (I know it will be a copy!)? Everyone is talking about Crystal 10L and that's not in the one posted in the beginning pages of the thread. I would like to order ingredients to make this and I want the newest (improved) version without looking through 35 pages of posts.

Thanks so much!

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Go with the original extract version and you won't be disappointed.

Just tasted my first bottle of it. Was my first AG. Only a week in the bottle and it's delicious. Still has a little yeast bite, but will be another two weeks before i even think about cracking another (I hope).

Great recipe. First beer I've done that has actually turned out as planned.

Thanks for this recipe.I brewed this on january 13th kegged it over the weekend.
I was fighting a cold but tasted it and thought wow this is pretty good.
Well over cold now and had to try it.Was very impressed my sister came over and grabbed a glass she is a strictly coors light fan and she goes wow this is good and continued to drink a few more.
She said you better brew this again this is very good.So needless to say this will be one that will always be on tap i have a 3 tap system and one is set for this brew.
It does have a haze to it but im not worried because it tastes very good thanks again.:rockin:

This stuff is great, I am sucking on one now. I wonder how good it would be if I could let it get past 3 weeks old.

polecreek said:

This stuff is great, I am sucking on one now. I wonder how good it would be if I could let it get past 3 weeks old.

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Extremely good! My buddy and I drank a bunch of pints after ~ 3 weeks since brewday. It was tasty with a good hop flavor and aroma. After 2 more weeks, the hops have subdued and it is a little maltier. My buddy said, "I can't believe this is the same beer!" It's good stuff.

I've still got about 1/2 a keg full, but I'm brewing another batch today. It will go next to my stout and Irish red on St. Patty's day. I gotta have something for the BMC crowd.

Newb question....

I'm trying to make a 2.5 gallon batch and Beersmith is saying my hops will all be .22 oz additions. Does that sound right? I'm not sure I'm doing the scaling right....

KerryD said:

Newb question....

I'm trying to make a 2.5 gallon batch and Beersmith is saying my hops will all be .22 oz additions. Does that sound right? I'm not sure I'm doing the scaling right....

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All grain full boil, or extract partial?

All grain full boil....

Thanks!

Well, if the IBU's in Beersmith are on target, I'd trust it.

Hops in this beer play a subtle role so it should't make a marked difference.

OK, thanks. Not understanding Hops utilization as well as I should just yet, I was a little apprehensive about the drop in quantity being so low.

Went through a 12 pack of these last night at a friends house. They all enjoyed it. Good thing I bottled another batch of it yesterday.

curtis97322 said:

Mashed in at 159 due to a combination of errors - understanding, process, and calculations - (assuming, of course, that the POS thermometer was accurate). I realize now that I should have added cold water to bring the temp down - live and learn I suppose.

From what I understand - I may end up with a cloyingly sweet beer?

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I don't think so. It may finish with a higher gravity, but those unfermentable sugars don't taste as sweet, they make for a thicker-feeling beer. Should work very well with a low-gravity ale!


Grumblecakes. My "Centennial Type" Blonde, despite vying with my Pils/Hallertau SMaSH for the clearest beer I've brewed, has a weird swampy aroma I've always attributed to stale, cheesy hops in the past. The flavor is ok, it's just making me think that I have a "house aroma," not a problem with hop freshness.

944play said:

...beer I've brewed, has a weird swampy aroma ...making me think that I have a "house aroma,"...

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Time to move.

In the extract version there is a 0.25 oz centennial addition at 55 min and again at 35 min. What kind of taste issues are we talking about if I just added 0.5 oz at 55 min and skipped the 35 min addition?

Pharmguy said:

In the extract version there is a 0.25 oz centennial addition at 55 min and again at 35 min. What kind of taste issues are we talking about if I just added 0.5 oz at 55 min and skipped the 35 min addition?

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Slightly higher bitterness. Substantially less hop "taste".

Substantial huh? I wont mess with it then. I am not to the point where I am willing to experiment I didnt think that small change would matter that much.

I just brewed the extract version. I have excellent access to Perle hops, so I went all Perle.

I'll post back once I've tried it.

Such a great, simple recipe concept. Thank you!

Franc103 said:

I just brewed the extract version. I have excellent access to Perle hops, so I went all Perle.

I'll post back once I've tried it.

Such a great, simple recipe concept. Thank you!

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I do love perle.