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

Hi everyone. Sorry if this has been definitively answered. Is there a consensus on length of bottle conditioning for this recipe? Mine's only been bottled for about a week but having read all the glowing reviews I'm really itching to try some.

I found a post that said it was good after a week, and another that said it tasted "green" after three weeks. I'm a brewing newb and even newbier at AG (this is my first try) so I don't want to disappoint myself by jumping the gun...

As always, thanks in advance!

= DM =

For some reason my beer takes a while to clear. At 2 months it was crystal clear and tastes amazing. Definitely going to be on trap every summer!

DrMega said:

Hi everyone. Sorry if this has been definitively answered. Is there a consensus on length of bottle conditioning for this recipe? Mine's only been bottled for about a week but having read all the glowing reviews I'm really itching to try some.

I found a post that said it was good after a week, and another that said it tasted "green" after three weeks. I'm a brewing newb and even newbier at AG (this is my first try) so I don't want to disappoint myself by jumping the gun...

As always, thanks in advance!

= DM =

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What I found best in my first AG was the taste of success, so I'm sure you'll do alright for yourself!

Anyway, I find that generally APA's taste the best when allowed for two weeks in the fermentation vessel and three weeks on the bottle.

I just opened my first bottle after a week carbing and a week chilling and it was good. Got three more chilling now. It can't hurt to try one.

Tandor said:

I just opened my first bottle after a week carbing and a week chilling and it was good. Got three more chilling now. It can't hurt to try one.

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Why don't you let them carb for 3 weeks. Then try it

Hi all,
I'll be doing my first BIAB all grain batch with the 5 gallon recipe and I had a question about the mash/sparge volumes. I'm looking at the program Brewtarget (http://brewtarget.sourceforge.net/) that was mentioned earlier in this thread which includes this recipe as one of its default recipes. For the mash schedule it recommends 2.8 gallons @ 161 degrees for the mash infusion then 4.1 gallons for the sparge infusion. Would I be able to add all of the volume of water at once (6.9 gallons), mash for an hour, remove the grain/drain, raise the temp to 177 and then return the grain to the pot to sparge for 15 more minutes? Thanks!

blhblah1 said:

Hi all,
Would I be able to add all of the volume of water at once (6.9 gallons), mash for an hour, remove the grain/drain, raise the temp to 177 and then return the grain to the pot to sparge for 15 more minutes? Thanks!

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Yes that will work well for BIAB as long as you pot is big enough to hold the grain and that much water.

I do BIAB in a 30 qt 7.5 gallon pot. For me I start with 6 gallons of water for the mash. When I pull the bag I put it in a 5 gallon bucket and pour 1.5-2 gallons of 190F water on it. I then heat the mash wort to 170 and put the bag back in the kettle for another 10 minutes. Combining the bucket wort with the boil kettle wort gives me about 7 gallons for the boil which provides about 5.5 gallons of beer.

If I had a bigger pot I would start with 7.5-8 gallons of water.

Has anyone racked this recipe onto any type of nut? I just made my second batch of this and hit an OG of 1.050. I was tempted to rack a couple of gallons onto about a half a pound of pecans or some other variety of nuts, open to suggestions. Toasted almonds also sounded pretty interesting.

those type of nuts are oily.

Brewing ten gallons of this today. Splitting it and fermenting half with apricot puree.

Bottled my second batch of this last week. Delicious beer like this is why I homebrew...you just can't buy a beer like this on any old shelf.

Hi

Just a quick question on this beer.
I made a 5 gallon partial mash of this on sunday and all went well but when it is finishes fermenting i was going to natuarlly prime the beer in my keg wit table sugar because i only have a cylinder wit mixed gases co2/nitrogen that i use for pulling the pint of beer.
So my question is how much priming sugar would you use for this beer to carb in the keg??

Mrtickel said:

So my question is how much priming sugar would you use for this beer to carb in the keg??

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Why wouldn't it be the same as if you were bottling?

No, general rule is 1/2 to 2/3 of what you would use to bottle.

I just got back from the lhbs and they were out of Vienna, I was talked into using .5 lbs biscuit instead. Thoughts on how this will effect things?

brando632 said:

I just got back from the lhbs and they were out of Vienna, I was talked into using .5 lbs biscuit instead. Thoughts on how this will effect things?

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Biscuit malt will provide a warm bread or biscuit flavor and aroma and will lend a garnet-brown color. Increases body.

Vienna is a specially processed base malt gives warm malty flavor and orange hues.

Expect to get a bit more, for a lack of a better word, biscuity flavor and slightly darker color. Might Increase the malt character profile a bit

brettwasbtd said:

Biscuit malt will provide a warm bread or biscuit flavor and aroma and will lend a garnet-brown color. Increases body.

Vienna is a specially processed base malt gives warm malty flavor and orange hues.

Expect to get a bit more, for a lack of a better word, biscuity flavor and slightly darker color. Might Increase the malt character profile a bit

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I just want the beer to be as well received as the original seems to be. This will mostly be shared on a family trip, it will be the first homebrew experience for most of 'em, I gotta watch out for first impressions!

I'm not sure why I waited so long to try this recipe, but I've got 5 gallons a week into primary and holy beer goodness! This one is going into the bottle early and another batch is in short order. So many beers to make but so little time...

I brewed 5 gallons of this 3 weeks ago and it came out superb. Very crisp & clear. Smooth and easy drinking.

I brewed my first batch with Briess 2 Row as a base but I just brewed 10 more gallons last night with Canada Malting Company 2 Row. The LHBS in New Orleans said it was more like an English 2 Row and would have a hint of the biscuity flavor. I don't think it will hurt the brew at all and am looking forward to see how it comes out.

Can't wait to get it on tap as the other is almost gone. I had some friends that had reservations about consuming homemade brew and drinking this cleared up that problem.

I have this on tap along with the EdWort's Pale Ale and it's funny to watch my friends debate which is best. It's almost like Bud, Miller & Coors guys arguing over which beer is better, (they all taste like crap to me), The recipes on these two are very close but there are subtle differences. Enough to distinguish each.

On a side note, I used fresh Cascade hops, (my first time using fresh hops) in this batch and when I put them in at the proper moment, the room exploded with a wonderful aroma! I certainly hope that imparts to the brew. All I can say is WOW!

For those of you that haven't brewed this one. Goferit! You won't regret it.

On Tap:
Centennial Blonde
EdWorts Pale Ale
Dry Irish Stout

Just finished up a new batch of this last week. Og was a bit high at 1.049,but it finished at 1.004! Used wlp Irish ale yeast with no starter and definitely didn't expect it to chew through this much. Still tastes good, but the biscuit character is a bit strong. I'm going to hit it with a bit of citra to give it some more depth.

Follow up:
My AG, 5 gallon version was in primary for 25 days and has now been conditioning in keg at room temp for 8 days. After 14 days I am going to throw it in the fridge and start force carbing it, does that timing sound correct?

JasontheBeaver said:

Follow up:
My AG, 5 gallon version was in primary for 25 days and has now been conditioning in keg at room temp for 8 days. After 14 days I am going to throw it in the fridge and start force carbing it, does that timing sound correct?

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Total of 33 days in primary/secondary, and I think you could get it to the chiller now. This is a quick turnaround beer.

I was planning on making a slightly modified version of this recipe and I was wondering about the hops. I am making this for my girlfriend who dislikes bitterness or hop flavor, so i was thinking of using some fuggles and kent goldings. That is, until I saw a post earlier saying that you want to keep a higher aa% hop to keep the crisp balance while keeping a low hop flavor.

I was wondering, what about using magnum or summit (I have those on hand) for bittering and finishing with fuggles?

I am still trying to figure out how i should deal with hops for any beer so if I sound totally off my rocker please realign my thought process.

Magnum would make an ideal "clean" hop to use for bittering on this one; I'd stick with that. Summit could give you a bit more citrus than intended, but it probably wouldn't be a bad choice either. Fuggles should be good for a fairly mild flavor/aroma choice, although you may want to restrict it to the realm of 30-15 minutes left in the boil if you don't want any actual hop flavor from it.

Then again, it's mild enough (and in a small enough quantity) that you probably needn't worry about it, to be honest.

Brewed my first 5g AG batch of this on the 11th and drinking a very nice refreshing glass from the tap today. I followed the original recipe with the addition of dry-hopping w/ 1/2oz of centennial (4 days ago) and it definitely needs a few more days to pick up some more of that flavor, but it's quite nice already.

If I brew it again I'll probably add a tad more bittering and a bit more flavor/aroma hops to suit my tastes, but cheers to BierMuncher!

Any issues with substituting some Briess Munich 10L for the Crystal 10L?

jeremy2027 said:

Any issues with substituting some Briess Munich 10L for the Crystal 10L?

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None that I can think of.

Brewed a batch of this about 2 months ago for a football party. Today is the party!!!!!! Just loaded it up in a couple of coolers. Hopefully it is a hit. First time I have brewed a batch for a get together.

Wish me luck!!!!!!!

Probably gonna wish you had brewed 2 batches.

I hope it goes over well... my 5 gallon keg is headed to the OSU vs Arizona tailgate next weekend.

And BOOM goes the dynomite!!!!!!!! Easy drinking beer. Guys loved it and the women enjoyed as well!!!!!!!!! Came home with a few...think I'll crack one open now.

I think the hops are perfect. there is just enough citrus in this to make it smooth. All around good stuff. Good thing I have a batch about ready to bottle, because this batch is about gone!!!!!!!

Thanks BM!!!!!

Yo, beav.......your keg will be a hit!!!!!!!! Go OSU.......both OSUs.....I'm an Oklahoma State grad!!!!!!!!!!

Glad it was a hit! Due to your excitement, I had to pull a sample after only 5 days of carbing at 14psi.
Still undercarbed of course but oh yeah... this is my best beer to date! Another 6 days of carbing before game day and this should blow the roof off our tailgate party! My Coors light drinking buddies will never know what hit 'em.
Thanks Biermuncher!

I'm brewing this for I think the 4th time since february (10 gallons) as I can't keep the kegs filled its so popular. Only thing I do different than the original recipe is 1# of honey at the flameout.

Brewed this on Friday. I used northern brewers neo brittania yeast. Somehow I ended wayy over my og. No clue where I messed up but I diluted it down and I'm hoping it will turn out.

I brewed another 5.25 gal batch on 9/24. Fermented with Nottingham ale yeast for 7 days at 65 degrees F, 2 days at 67 degrees F, and cold crashed for 2 days at 38 degrees F. OG was 1.044 and FG was 1.006. I hope to have this carbonated in 10 days.

I brewed this on 09/20, fermented with Notty for 7 days and bottled conditioned for 14 days at 2.6 volumes. WOW! What a great beer! OG for my batch was 1.043 but FG stopped at 1.014 due to a high mash temperature (~158...oops!). The mouthfeel is very creamy for my batch, like a cream ale, but still extremely drinkable.

This one isn't going to last long and I'll have to brew another batch again very soon. So many beers, so little brew time...

This is a quick beer that turns out awesome! Thank you BM for sharing your recipe!

brewing this for the first time... so far everything is running pretty well, makes me think i'm not drinking enough or something....

Brek81 said:

brewing this for the first time... so far everything is running pretty well, makes me think i'm not drinking enough or something....

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lol

Brewed my first 5 gal batch of this recipe last night. I took an OG sample and couldn't help noticing how crystal-clear it already appears. I don't have an immersion chiller yet so I used my old-fashion water bath technique and kept whirlpooling the wort the whole time. I'm very excited to see how this one turns out! I'll try to upload a pic tonight.

I'm a big fan of this beer but my last batch turned out to taste a little "thin". I left in the keg for a month and tried it last night it is fantastic now. I think it might be the best ever. (I've never had a keg last this long before)