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

I need to roll this one out again, thx BierMuncher.

hs0656 said:

Bier, I have a quick question. I'm making your beer this weekend. I don't readily have access to the danstar nottingham. I have everything else on hand. I have a slant of just about every liquid yeast imaginable. Without doing your recipe an injustice, is there any liquid yeast strain you would suggest to get the same desirable taste and flavors?

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Any highly attenuating American ale yeast will do just fine. This beer relies on a clean flavor with just the hint of hops coming through. You don't want a yeast profile to be overly influential.

At first I really didn't like this recipe. For some reason the beer just tastes grassy and the only way to drink it was as cold as possible. Now that it has aged for a few months it's a much more drinkable beer. Actually enjoyable.

I learned the hard way that serving temp really affects this beer's flavor more than any other I've made. 40-46F is ideal. I took a corny to a tailgate party and had it sitting in ice and running through an iced jockey box and it changed the flavor so much I really didn't like it.

If yours is better cold than I suspect something want wrong.

making a batch this weekend! im debating about the hops though, i have some Motueka hops that i have been dying to try, thought this might be a fun grain bill to try them with.

After a week in the keg, this beer is already amazing. Next time I will use whirfloc or irish moss, I usually make dark beers but this beer is AWESOME with wings

Has anyone used some coriander in this recipe? My wife tried it, she "likes" it but too much hops for her. I bet if I did an ounce of coriander it would be spot on for her.

Cheers!
justin

I was not sure where to post this so I thought I would pollute this thread with my dumb question.

I brewed this beer, I had 4 gallons in my fermentor and was a bit over 1.040. So I thought I would top it up to 5 gallons. I ended up with 5 gallons of 1.036 in the fermentor. It fermented vigorously for 3 days and all activity stopped (visible). So I took a gravity reading at Day 5, Day 7 and Day 9. I am at 1.008, the expected final of the beer assuming I hit my OG which I did not. Is it done? I was thinking since I started lower that I might fall to something like 1.004.

Thoughts?
Thanks,
Sean

Final gravity doesn't really have anything to do with original gravity.

It's probably done at 1.008, not sure I would want it much lower.

Man, I have to say how this beer really shines at about 5-6 weeks. It's my 3rd time brewing it, and both of the other times it was for a short turnaround and they were consumed 2-3 weeks after brewing. I brewed another 11 gallons about 6 weeks ago, and am drinking the first keg of it now. It was pretty good at 4 weeks, but the hops seemed a bit harsh. Now at 6 weeks, it's unbelievable, the Vienna really shines through.

I'm going to try this as a base recipe again, but add lots of late hop additions and dry hop the hell out of it. I think it is a really solid backbone for a 4% beer.

I've waited long enough...its been almost 2 weeks since I bottled this and decided to try one tonight....absolutely devine.

BUT...Even more exciting is that I actually brewed 2 batches of this during the same brew day. The second batch, which I also tried tonight, contained a bit of coriander and sweet orange peel. My taste buds went completely crazy when I tried this one. So, here's what I did:

1) Follow BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde recipe exactly, but add the following step:
2) Add 0.30 oz crushed coriander seed and 1.5 oz of orange zest, for the last 5 minutes of the boil.
3) I used US-05 dry yeast on this batch and sprinkled it directly into the fermenter bucket without rehydrating.

For the coriander....I bought a small package of whole coriander seed from a local organic foods store, measured out 0.30 oz, and crushed it on a cutting board with a rolling pin.

For the orange peel...I purchased 4 naval oranges from the grocery store, cleaned them well, and used a cheese grater to zest them. I only skimmed the surface as to avoid getting any of the bitter pith.

The end result was only a hint of the corander and orange, which is exactly what I was hoping for. I did not want an overpowering flavor from either. This is probably the best beer I have ever brewed. Well balanced, very drinkable.

I am brewing the extract version tomorrow that BierMuncher posted. Then after Christmas when I have my AG system complete, this will be my first AG brew.

It will be interesting to compare the two.

This is on my "to do" list. I did make and amarillo blonde ale using this recipe and it has turned out well. I should have done my hops different, but it is very drinkable. I can't wait to brew this and try one when it warms up in a few months.

Has anyone tried to make this a dark ale? I have made about 40 gallons of this brew and it's absolutely excellent. All my friends love it.

I just added 1lb of chocolate to the recipe and turned it VERY dark. It's been in the fermenter for 8 days. Starting Gravity was about 1.040 and it's only down to 1.012 so it's got some more to go. Color is pretty. Can't wait to see how it comes out.

cryhav0c said:

Has anyone tried to make this a dark ale? I have made about 40 gallons of this brew and it's absolutely excellent. All my friends love it.

I just added 1lb of chocolate to the recipe and turned it VERY dark. It's been in the fermenter for 8 days. Starting Gravity was about 1.040 and it's only down to 1.012 so it's got some more to go. Color is pretty. Can't wait to see how it comes out.

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Centennial Brunette?

tdogg said:

Centennial Brunette?

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Sounds dirty

What would be best to sub the cascade for, i have citra, simcoe, amarillo, magnum, sirachi ace, and chinook

I made mine with all Centennial. If you want to use something different, I'd go with the Simcoe or Amarillo.

That makes a great slogan. "Centennial Brunette, a little on the naughty side." ROFLMAO

Mounted my plate chiller vertical and didnt realize my wort came out hotter than usual. Pitched a little high so the us-50 threw off some apple esters. Still a great beer along with a hint of apple!!!! Definitely going to be on tap at all times!

Sent from my DROIDX using Home Brew Talk

tdogg said:

Centennial Brunette?

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Centennial Blondette

cryhav0c said:

Has anyone tried to make this a dark ale? I have made about 40 gallons of this brew and it's absolutely excellent. All my friends love it.

I just added 1lb of chocolate to the recipe and turned it VERY dark. It's been in the fermenter for 8 days. Starting Gravity was about 1.040 and it's only down to 1.012 so it's got some more to go. Color is pretty. Can't wait to see how it comes out.

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Please keep us updated on this darker version... I had been thinking of doing something similar but since you offered to be the guinea pig....

tdogg said:

Centennial Brunette?

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Centennial Brewnette?

Got my first "taste" of the Centennial Brunette during a gravity check yesterday after 13 days in the fermenter. Gravity was down to 1.012. Flavor was somewhat on the "nutty" side. Color is looking good. I would have preferred not to alter the flavor but only the color. Can anyone recommend a grain that you wouldn't need much of to change the color but not affect the flavor? The beer is going to taste VERY good, (I think it's going to make a great holiday beer) but it's still not what I was trying to do.

you could use sinamar

I just read in BYO that Smuttynose adds Carafa to the top of the grain bed when they start to sparge their "Noonan" Black IPA. This helps them get the color without the roast flavors. You could try that.

cap the mash with 2- 4 oz of dehusked carafa "special" I.

I am just guessing on the amounts (but it doesn't take a lot to change the color); I would play around with the recipe in beersmith or whatever with the amounts, to get the color you want.

That's very interesting. I'm checking into it. Thanks

My most recent version - a 17 gallon batch! C'est bon, non?




-Joe

17 gallons!! I'm green with jealous rage.

Just finished reading up on those color suggestions. Both are great. I won't be satisified until I've tried all options. While I was looking into these a friend asked me about doing a "Red". Any suggestions on what to do for that? I just brewed an Irish Red. Completely different beer though. I'd like to have this particular centennial beer in Dark, Blonde & Red and have a taste test with my friends to "witness" how vision affects perceived flavor. We all know it does but it would be fun to watch and record.

I'd use varying amounts of sinamar if you really want to avoid altering the taste.

I agree with Hokie. If you really want the same flavor in each I think that's the only way.

Just ordered the grains for a 10 gallon batch. Will be a nice addition to the pipeline!

Making this for my first all grain today. Wish me luck

I think I messed up on my grain order. I just got .5lb of belgian Caramel Pils, I thought it was the same as CaraPils. Am I screwed???

idigg said:

I think I messed up on my grain order. I just got .5lb of belgian Caramel Pils, I thought it was the same as CaraPils. Am I screwed???

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Just my 2 cents; should be fine. The caramel pils will still have good head retention characteristics of carapils. It will add a slight caramel flavor(probably not enough to notice since there is already caramel malt in the recipe) while carapils is supposed to be tasteless. Caramel pils is also 8 srm which will darken the beer ever so slightly.

Okay about to start mashing but i dont have cascade hops. here is a list of what i have, how should i hop this to try and maintin the desired flavor/bitterness

magnum
centennial
simcoe
citra
amarillo
sirachi ace
chinook


any quick responses would be great. Thanks guys

kosmokramer said:

Okay about to start mashing but i dont have cascade hops. here is a list of what i have, how should i hop this to try and maintin the desired flavor/bitterness

magnum
centennial
simcoe
citra
amarillo
sirachi ace
chinook

any quick responses would be great. Thanks guys

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I would say the centennial would keep it close to the original, but I think the citra or sirachi ace would give it a nice twist as well. Let us know what you used and how it turned out.

I've used some citra in the late stages on this one to good effect, but yes, centennial will be closer to what is intended.

all centenial? or should i bitter with magnum and late addition centennial? i have a lb of citra so its not a prob to use that. im just trying to keep it easy drinking for the bmc people