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

jflongo said:

Going on 6 days for me, and still bubbling away Also just broke my 3rd hydrometer yesterday, and get a new one in 2 days. So I'll let this go 8 days, and then test the gravity.

Click to expand...

I'll be testing the gravity on this soon. Do any of you guys put this in a secondary, or just bottle after it's done?

jflongo said:

I'll be testing the gravity on this soon. Do any of you guys put this in a secondary, or just bottle after it's done?

Click to expand...

I have, but only to get to the yeast to wash it because I was following up with the same batch and wanted to harvest it. It has cleared fine in primary so if you don't need to I wouldnt waste the time or risk.

I like the Briess 2- row.

nasty_rabbit said:

I have, but only to get to the yeast to wash it because I was following up with the same batch and wanted to harvest it. It has cleared fine in primary so if you don't need to I wouldnt waste the time or risk.

Click to expand...

I was going to harvest my yeast as well, but figured I could after bottling it. Is there a reason why you transfer it first? I'll be putting this into a bottling bucket, so figured i could seal up my fermenting bucket and then harvest the yeast when i'm done.

jflongo said:

I was going to harvest my yeast as well, but figured I could after bottling it. Is there a reason why you transfer it first? I'll be putting this into a bottling bucket, so figured i could seal up my fermenting bucket and then harvest the yeast when i'm done.

Click to expand...

It was a couple of gravity points from being done but there was a 1.5 inch layer of yeast that I wanted to get to and I was brewing this batch again the next day. So I moved it to get to the yeast and let it finish in the secondary. In the future that won't happen as I will plan ahead and have yeast available.

I am definitely going to harvest a couple pints of mine. I already have a couple pints of Irish Ale yeast in my fridge. I figured it would be nice to have a cuople of pints of Nottingham in there as well for the future.

I brewed this 3-FEB-13 exactly to spec. Gravity came out to 1.040; spot on!
Lost quite a bit in the boil, somewhere around 1.5 gal so not quite a 5 gal brew, but it is beautiful.
Tested the SG 6-FEB-13 and it is at 1.000. I'd call that done. It tasted great! Nice and light, with just a slight bitterness and citrus flavour from the hops.
I'm going to cold crash for clarity and then bottle sometime this weekend.
Can't wait to try the finished product in about a week!

OBayBrewer said:

I brewed this 3-FEB-13 exactly to spec. Gravity came out to 1.040; spot on!
Lost quite a bit in the boil, somewhere around 1.5 gal so not quite a 5 gal brew, but it is beautiful.
Tested the SG 6-FEB-13 and it is at 1.000. I'd call that done. It tasted great! Nice and light, with just a slight bitterness and citrus flavour from the hops.
I'm going to cold crash for clarity and then bottle sometime this weekend.
Can't wait to try the finished product in about a week!

Click to expand...

Wow 3 days. Mine is going on 9 days, still have it in the fermenter, my gravity was 1054 though.

OBayBrewer said:

I brewed this 3-FEB-13 exactly to spec. Gravity came out to 1.040; spot on!
Lost quite a bit in the boil, somewhere around 1.5 gal so not quite a 5 gal brew, but it is beautiful.
Tested the SG 6-FEB-13 and it is at 1.000. I'd call that done. It tasted great! Nice and light, with just a slight bitterness and citrus flavour from the hops.
I'm going to cold crash for clarity and then bottle sometime this weekend.
Can't wait to try the finished product in about a week!

Click to expand...

Really...Have you checked what your hydrometer reads in distilled water? Not sure I have ever seen a beer finish this dry with an all malt grain bill

I just did a search on YouTube for washing yeast. It's so easy. Yeast has always been the most expensive item when buying ingredients. This is going to save much $$$$$$ over time & ultimately make a better beer.

I just ordered PacMan special & it took 2 weeks from my LHBS.

I've had very good luck with liquid yeast, a starter, & a stir plate! I made my own stir plate for $5 with instructions I found on HBT. My beer just keeps getting better & better.

Thanks Guys!

brettwasbtd said:

Really...Have you checked what your hydrometer reads in distilled water? Not sure I have ever seen a beer finish this dry with an all malt grain bill

Click to expand...

No I have not. I have two hydros and will test both in distilled water to make sure each reads 1.000. Thanks for the tip! We can always learn more, can we not?

OBayBrewer said:

No I have not. I have two hydros and will test both in distilled water to make sure each reads 1.000. Thanks for the tip! We can always learn more, can we not?

Click to expand...

We Can! Which is why I await your results Not that it couldn't be accurate, it just sounds a bit off considering you boiled off more than expected - so your wort SG probably should have been higher and I'd also expect the FG to be higher.

Picking the ingredients up to brew this the original way it was written. I'll brew Saturday, and I'm looking forward to this one. Need to have a good everyday after work beer on hand. This seems to fit that role perfect.

Thanks Mr. Muncher, nice quaffer. I put this on tap next to my DIPA and blend this into many different configurations. Tonight it's just straight-up.

So this was my first AG... was in my LHBS picking up the list and I guess you shouldn't text n shop but I grabbed Victory instead of Vienna LOL. Just bottled last night and I couldn't help myself from tasting.. oh my is this tasty.. after a quick 2 week conditioning I believe ima keg another... thanks for such a simple delicious brew... God I love this site

Attempted this as my first AG brew. I realized that my math was wrong very quickly on how much strike water I needed so after putting the grain in, I had to add about 4 quarts more (d'oh!). Other than that it went pretty smooth, learned from my mistakes so now the next batch will be perfect.

Considering that I had to top it off once it was in the primary because I was a little low, my OG was 1.030 for a 2.5 gallon batch. I see that the goal was 1.040 for a 5, what should I be aiming for with this recipe in a 2.5?

Just the smell and taste of the sample I pulled out for the hydrometer already has me excited. I can't wait to see the finished product!

Yes, OG should be the same regardless of the size of the batch. No worries though, it was your first AG brew so you will find ways to get your efficiency a little higher. Or you can simply add some more grains to your grain bill to make up for the lower efficiency and hit that OG on the nose!

Does this look normal? It has been in the fermenter for 10 days, i just opened, and still saw a ton of junk on top.

Brewed January 29 2013 Gravity 1052, Gravity 1008 2/8/2013

I'm wondering if I should rack this to a carboy, and let it sit another 3 or 4 days.

BigPicture said:

I just did a search on YouTube for washing yeast. It's so easy. Yeast has always been the most expensive item when buying ingredients. This is going to save much $$$$$$ over time & ultimately make a better beer.

I just ordered PacMan special & it took 2 weeks from my LHBS.

I've had very good luck with liquid yeast, a starter, & a stir plate! I made my own stir plate for $5 with instructions I found on HBT. My beer just keeps getting better & better.

Thanks Guys!

Click to expand...

Search for "do you know how to make a yeast starter? Then why not farm yeast and freeze It?" Pretty good stuff and what I plan on doing as I get more experience.

jflongo said:

Does this look normal? It has been in the fermenter for 10 days, i just opened, and still saw a ton of junk on top.

Brewed January 29 2013 Gravity 1052, Gravity 1008 2/8/2013

I'm wondering if I should rack this to a carboy, and let it sit another 3 or 4 days.

Click to expand...

So what do you think, rack this into a bottling bucket, and bottle, or rack it to a carboy for another 3 or 4 days to clear up?

Just let it sit. It looks like krausen to me.

Clifton said:

Just let it sit. It looks like krausen to me.

Click to expand...

I guess I can check it on Sunday and do another gravity reading to see if the krausen has dropped, i was surprised to see it after 10 days, when I hear a lot of other people kegging/bottling this after 5 - 7 days.

Every brew I a little different. RDWHAHB.

Hi
sorry about my inexperience, but in the centenial recipe when you said ferment 4 days @ 68 then kegged, chilled and carb'd for one week and then secondary for 5 days
secondary means leave it in the keg for an extra 5 days or transfer to a carboy again
any help would be appreciated
thanks in advance

Secondary means to transfer the beer from your primary fermenter, carboy/bucket, into a second carboy/bucket off the yeast cake. Your keg can also be a secondary. Some people feel you don't need to secondary. It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish. I like to cold crash my beers before transferring them into a keg. If you transfer directly from bucket to keg and then refrigerate, the remaining yeast will drop down and you will end up with some yeast at the bottom of the keg. Not a big deal. You will just pour out a glass of the sludge (my word for yeast and hops suspended in the beer) and then the subsequent pours should be OK. The one reason people advise against transferring a beer into a secondary is you run the risk of infection and oxidizing the beer. Personally, I use carboys, wait to hit my FG, move the whole carboy into a fridge, cold crash for a week or two and then transfer it into a keg to carbonate. Do what works best for your situation.

Does anyone have a 5 gallon partial mash partial boil for this? I'm working with 3.5 gallon pre boil volume..

Here's a pic of my Twin Blondes Ale. Very clear, it 's now carbonated to my liking and is very good. There's no way this will last past next weekend when I fire up the kettle for another batch. I now know why I didn't know what SWMBO was, it doesn't apply to me. More of a HWMBO house here. Whatever works for them I suppose.

Thanks for posting such a well received, easy to brew beer!

Just brewed this tonight. I have never had a beer this clear going into the primary. Hit my Beersmith #s dead on. Just was really suprised to see it this clear out of the brew kettle.

jflongo said:

So what do you think, rack this into a bottling bucket, and bottle, or rack it to a carboy for another 3 or 4 days to clear up?

Click to expand...

Well it's been another few days, that krausen is STILL on the top, the gravity has been at 1.008 for 3 days now, so I guess I'll just transfer this into a bottling bucket, and hopefully not disturbe that krausen.

I'm still debating whether it would be better to put this in a secondary for a few days then bottle it though?

Now that we have power back, I am brewing this up as my first partial mash recipe! Using an Igloo 3 gal cooler to do the mash in and planning on batch sparging in my brew kettle. very excited to see how this turns out! Using Beersmith really helped me hit the right mash temp.. heated my strike water to 167, let it preheat my cooler for 5 minutes.. temp dropped to about 160ish and then added my grains and my mash temp was just shy of 150(hit 149.5). Awesome!

jflongo said:

Well it's been another few days, that krausen is STILL on the top, the gravity has been at 1.008 for 3 days now, so I guess I'll just transfer this into a bottling bucket, and hopefully not disturbe that krausen.

I'm still debating whether it would be better to put this in a secondary for a few days then bottle it though?

Click to expand...

I decided to bottle it, done now, i'll try it in about 4 days

Next up, sanitize some jugs so I can harvest the yeast.

Here is a partial mash partial boil version of this recipe that i just brewed. Hope it turns out good!

Boil Size: 3.50 gal
Post Boil Volume: 2.50 gal
Top up water: 3 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name
5 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US
12.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L
8.0 oz Vienna Malt
0.25 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 55.0 min
0.30 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 35.0 min
0.25 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min
0.25 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min
1.0 pkg Safale American (DCL/Fermentis #US-05)
1 lbs Extra Light Dry Extract

I tried search for this and had no luck, so I apologize if it has been answered elsewhere. Do you think it is possible to brew this with a 13 day turnaround? I'll be using WLP007 with a starter. I was thinking 10 days in the primary and 3 in the keg for carbonating. Do you think it would be possible to dry hop with .50 Cascade and .50 Centennial for 3 days without getting grassy flavors? Any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

Just brewed this for my first all grain last night. Everything ended up going quite a bit more smoothly than I expected. Ended up mashing closer to 153 than 150, however this being my first time I wasn't going to stress it and decided to leave it there. Hit the OG of 1.04 right on and pitched the yeast late last night, woke up to it already bubbling in the airlock.
Pretty excited and I'm sure I will be happy with it. I think I will let it sit for about two weeks and then cold crash for a day or two and then bottle.

Brewed this again today. Really windy outside so while coming to a boil I assumed the extended time was due to the wind. swapped propane tanks and noticed a huge difference in the flame from the jet burner. Hit 1.044 with my 2nd crush from my new mill. I used to get 65-70% from LHBS so I added 1lb. extra grain. Wont have to do that next time . Only issues I still can not seem to nail is I only ended up 10.5g in to fermenters.

Has anyone experienced a slight sour taste on the front end of this? I brewed this two weeks ago yesterday, sat in primary for 8 days, cold crashed, kegged and carbed. Started tasting after about 11 days and there was a distinct sour taste to it. I haven't ever tasted a homebrew that young before but with the comments about the quick turnaround, I thought what the hell. Hardly noticed after the first few sips and the rest of the pint is quite good. Also tasted it yesterday and it seemed that the sour taste has diminished but still fairly noticeable. It fermented well and at a stable 66-70. My sanitation stays superb and there were no signs of any infection. OG was 1.042. FG was 1.010. It was a BIAB batch that we did while waiting for the mash tun parts to come in. Think I should just RDWAHAHB and let it age some more? Also thinking of tossing in an oz or so of cascade leaf hops that I have lying around. Anyone try that?

I found this recipe in my search for a simple brew to isolate an off flavor. I made this following the original recipe along with using Yoopers instructions in brewing chemistry primer. That is I used distilled water with some cacl. It turned out a perfect tasting beer with only two weeks in the bottle. No off flavors and surprisingly clear. Here's a picture...

orion7144 said:

Brewed this again today. Really windy outside so while coming to a boil I assumed the extended time was due to the wind. swapped propane tanks and noticed a huge difference in the flame from the jet burner. Hit 1.044 with my 2nd crush from my new mill. I used to get 65-70% from LHBS so I added 1lb. extra grain. Wont have to do that next time . Only issues I still can not seem to nail is I only ended up 10.5g in to fermenters.

Click to expand...

Better too much than not enough. Nice to have your own mill. Raised my effiency alot.

While mine is fermenting away I can't help but think this is the perfect beer to afterwards rack another, stronger beer right onto the yeast cake. Any suggestions on what to do this with?

brevity said:

While mine is fermenting away I can't help but think this is the perfect beer to afterwards rack another, stronger beer right onto the yeast cake. Any suggestions on what to do this with?

Click to expand...

You "can" do that, but also remember you will have left over hops/yeast/troub from the previous beer. I went ahead and harvested the yeast, into 2 pint jars for the future beers.