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

OK, I am at day 7 of this brew and just took a gravity reading. I'm at 1.018, which seems a bit high still. I moved this to secondary on day 4 of fermentation and my gravity reading that day was 1.018 as well. Its not very clear at all at this point, but I put my tester into the freezer for about 10 minutes just to cool it down and see what it taste like cold. It has a nice flavor for a beer on a hot summer day, at 3.1% ABV I can drink it all day. I'm thinking I will leave it in the primary next time the whole 10 days instead of racking to secondary. My Fermentation temp is between 68-70 degrees. I would like to take this camping in a week and a half, do you think it will be carbed enough? I should have bottled for 8 days at that time.

Yeah, I left mine in Primary for 10 days and hit 1.009. Another 7 days in Secondary and I can read a newspaper through it.

I just Kegged mine after being in the Primary for 12 days. FG was 1.008 and i used S-05. Had a taste and it was light and refershing, def ready to drink. i put it in the kegorator and hooked up the gas gonna drink it this weekend

Mine is carbing up now. Had a sample last night and the light/crisp/clean style makes for a great warm weather beer. The cascades and centennial hops smell great in this beer.

I'll be bottling this Sunday 4/25. I don't think my final gravity will change much. After taking my sample yesterday my airlock has not filled back up with Co2. I will try this one again for sure as I do like the taste, maybe a pinch more Hops at flame out but that's about it. More updates to come.

Well the centennial blonde went fast. i built a 2 tap kegorator and one keg was centennial and the other a pale ale. they both gone after one night of partying and bbqing. centennial blonde was awsome and everyone loved it! i kegged it after 12 days in the primary, carbed it in 2 days and gonezo!

FG 1.007 with WLP001 after 8-9 days. Added my chili's yesterday. 2 Hot and 4 Medium for 5 gal.

Well, unfortunately this was my first try at AG, and I didn't realize I should use all my calculated sparge water. I ended up with 4.25 gallons. Beer was still excellent, and now with 4 AGs under my belt, I will be giving BM's CB its proper treatment with a full 5 gal brew next week.

Added 6 lbs. Fresh frozen strawberries after 8 days and let it sit for another 7 days, just carbed up today and its already a hit! Split the batch with my buddy and he is already half way through his 5 gallon's and wants to add blueberries next time.

Brewed this up yesterday. What an easy brew day. Can't wait to drink some in a month or so.

BM,
Thanks for this great recepie. Brewed 10Gals up on Sat 5/1. Hit and OG of 1.045.
Using my RIMS system, Beersmith calculated my Brewhouse efficency at 83%. I am a little sckeptical of that number. anyway, I will let you know how it comes out in 3 weeks.

Cheers!

So its been in the bottle almost 3 weeks and is still cloudy. Any Ideas?

EricT,

During the boil did you scrap off the protein break aka that nasty foamy stuff at the start of the boil?

Pikeman94

My idea is to just drink it cloudy.

smokinghole said:

My idea is to just drink it cloudy.

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Thats what I did! Im gonna use some whirlfloc next time...but for now Im just calling it "Dirty Blonde."

Yeah use some sort of irish moss product in the kettle. I can read through my carboy with this stuff right now and I used a half packet of gelatin when I transferred from primary. Since this was one of my lighter beers I could immediately see the stuff the gelatin was pulling out falling to the bottom. I was going to bottle today but don't have time. I'll have to do it when I get back from this weekend in Chicago.

I made this recipe on Sunday and used the Danstar Nottingham yeast for the first time. Chilled to low 70s, hydrated two packs of yeast per Danstar instructions, ~80 degree water, sprinkle on top, wait 15 minutes and stir. Put in a small measure of cooler wort until everything came out close to the same temp. Then pitched yeast in 10 gal and swirled (they say "Aeration of wort is not necessary." in the rehydrating instructions). Here it is now Wednesday 3 days later and absolutely no activity at all. I have a clone of Anchor Steam done the same day with WL830 lager yeast in the same 68 degree fermentor fridge and it's been blowing up since Monday. I verified this was not the lot number from the previous bad batch, it is 1080961099V exp 12/11. I have a couple packs of US 05 around, should I pitch that to get beer going? I'm worried about infections if this sits around as wort and 68 degree for too long.

OK, so I pitched two packs US-05 and still nothing. Checked gravity and it's 1.009, meaning the Nottingham blew through it so fast I missed it. Doh! What a bonehead. I'm fermenting in a Milk Jug so no view and evidently the top wasn't on tight enough to get the airlock bubbling. By day 4 when I checked it, it was a quiet pond.

I gotta try this.....I think I will put this on my scedule for next week....this week I am doing a stout.

Anyway...I do have a couple questions on doing the EXTRACT version:

1) How long in primary and how long in secondary?
(I am assuming for this it would be a good idea to do secondary?)

2) I was planning on using irish moss in boil and gelatin in secondary to aid in clarity ....sound like the thing to do? How much gelatin in secondary? Ive never used it before as this is the first lighter beer I will be doing.

Pikeman94,

No I didn't crape anything off. I did let the wort sit for a bit while it cooled and siphoned it to my primary fermenter to leave a little trub behind but that's about it. I have been drinking it as is but just wondering why it was so cloudy since so many people have made this beer and it turned out crystal clear. I have some Irish Moss from my Stone Pale ale Clone I will use next time. Thanks for the input all.

Hi - just did my first batch of of Centennial Blonde all grain. Missed the OG a bit at 1.036. Finished brewing on Saturday evening and added 1056 yeast. First thing on Sunday the airlock was showing vigorous signs of fermentation. Was very active thru Monday, but by Tuesday evening it appeared pretty inactive. No signs of activity today (Wed). Temp was around 66 or 68 and has since cooled to about 62 which is the lower end of 1056 which says it's good to 60 degrees. I haven't taken a hydrometer reading which I'll do in the next day or so. Could it really have pretty much fermented out in 2 days?

Tiger -- That sounds very similar to my first experience brewing this recipe. 2 days and the airlock went flat. I just let it go for another week, took a gravity reading and it was 1.008 -- DONE!

BierMuncher -- Thanks for the great recipe! It has the distinction of 1) my first hack at all-grain brewing, and 2) the first recipe I brewed a second time because I (and everyone else) liked it so much. I swear there was a leak in that first keg -- it just blew foam way before it seemed time


http://foobert.com/linked/2010/20100326202428_DSC_5906.jpg
http://foobert.com/linked/2010/20100326202428_DSC_5906.jpg

289tiger said:

Hi - just did my first batch of of Centennial Blonde all grain. Missed the OG a bit at 1.036. Finished brewing on Saturday evening and added 1056 yeast. First thing on Sunday the airlock was showing vigorous signs of fermentation. Was very active thru Monday, but by Tuesday evening it appeared pretty inactive. No signs of activity today (Wed). Temp was around 66 or 68 and has since cooled to about 62 which is the lower end of 1056 which says it's good to 60 degrees. I haven't taken a hydrometer reading which I'll do in the next day or so. Could it really have pretty much fermented out in 2 days?

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With a OG close to 1040 you very well could have fermented out in two days. I think mine was done in between the 2nd and 3rd day. I had an og of 1045.

Just tapped the latest batch of this last night. Great beer. My brewpal and I took our first sips, and said "oh yeah, we'll do this one again". I did add some orange peel at flameout, and it is a subtle flavor. Highlights the citrus flavors of the hops well.

Going for my second try at this tonight, if not then Sunday. Missed my post-boil volume by a lot, but it was my 1st AG try. Got 5 AGs under the belt now and 3 free kegs. Cool thing is my last keg has the original I made, so I can compare it when I sparge correctly this time. Thanks BM!

Thanks for the great recipe BierMuncher. One quick question, do you do a full sparge volume or do you top up the kettle at all? Thanks in advance.

I may have missed it but what style or region water should one target for this brew?

I've found that makes a big difference on my English Browns. I wouldn't expect it to be of the same magnitude on a light ale but it doesn't hurt to be deliberate.

So what is the best water for this American Blonde?

smokinghole said:

With a OG close to 1040 you very well could have fermented out in two days. I think mine was done in between the 2nd and 3rd day. I had an og of 1045.

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Just pulled a hydrometer reading....008. Looks like it's done!

I tried reading through the whole thread but fell asleep on the keyboard!

My question is if anyone added any fruit or anything to secondary. I made a 10 gallon batch split into 2 carboys and thought maybe I would venture into cherry, strawberry, orange or something for my first time with one of them. Any suggestions? Dry hopping? Honey?

Why yes I have. I've made 5 gallons "as is" quickest keg to bow to date. so the next time I brewed I made 10 gallons, 5 gallons dry hopped with 1/2 oz Cent. and 1/2oz Cascade and the other 5 gallons racked on top of 1 49oz can of Oregon Raspberries. It looks great, sample tasted great and I'm just waiting for the keg to carb up.

bbone66 said:

Why yes I have. I've made 5 gallons "as is" quickest keg to bow to date. so the next time I brewed I made 10 gallons, 5 gallons dry hopped with 1/2 oz Cent. and 1/2oz Cascade and the other 5 gallons racked on top of 1 49oz can of Oregon Raspberries. It looks great, sample tasted great and I'm just waiting for the keg to carb up.

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Sweet, that sounds like what I'm going for. I'll be looking at doing this towards the end of this week so keep me posted!

Thanks

Gonna brew this one tomorrow, looking forward to it!

I'm going to be making a DME version of this in the next day or two here, as per the recipe at the bottom of pg 1. Should I use theBriess CBW Pilsen Light DME (2 °L) or Golden Light DME (4 °L)? I'm steeping a pound of carapils first if that matters. Thanks

Use the Pilsen Light as it will probably darken up a bit through the boil to about where someone using an all grain two row base ends up.

tagged for next batch.

duffman2 said:

Sweet, that sounds like what I'm going for. I'll be looking at doing this towards the end of this week so keep me posted!

Thanks

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Anybody else try any berries or anything else with this blonde?? I'm a week into fermentation and looking to get this on secondary next week.

So can I just add 25% extra malt to this to increase the ABV % to 5%.....without harming the overall flavor, recipe, mix...etc....??? 4% is a bit low :rockin:

Oh yeah...on the extract version....would Safale SA-05 be ok to use for yeast? Instead of the Nottingham? I just happen to have a pack of it in the fridge and figured I would use it.......

Brewed this yesterday, can't wait! I forgot to put a screen in my boil kettle and found out the hard way that March pumps don't like whole hops.....DOH!

Gonna try and brew this again this weekend utilizing my lessons learned from my first batch.

Has anyone ever tryed this with Magnum and Cascade? I don't have any Centennial right now.