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

Thanks BM! I will follow your schedule then . My only worry is that you provided specific fermentation temps and I don't have that much control with my current setup. The ambient temp in my house is around 72F, so I tried putting the brew bucket into a 30gal Brute, added a few gallons of water and threw in a couple ice packs. I have no idea what the temp was inside the bucket, or what impact that had on it. Hopefully it comes out okay!

This is going into the fermenter this weekend.

Made it a couple of years ago but I was the only one who drank it. I loved it then. Perhaps I'll get someone else to try it this time.

@Dcrog - will you temp control the ferment? If so, how will you do it? (i.e. What kind of setup).

Ferment in your coolest place and you will be fine. No real need to control here since your house is 72...

Slightly modified version. Amarillo instead of Centennial. Turned out fantastic.

Cleared up amazingly, didn't even gelatin.

Crispyvelo said:

@Dcrog - will you temp control the ferment? If so, how will you do it? (i.e. What kind of setup).

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Oh yes. I have a $15.00 craigslist freezer on a $15.00 STC-1000 controller mounted in an old first aid kit box. Temp control is never a problem. :rockin:

Oh and I'm going to sub 2 lbs of flaked barley for 2 lbs of the two row.
Going for a creamy blonde.

Bottled this last night, left in primary for 7 days at 68F, then secondary for 5 Days at 68-70F. It tasted amazing going into the bottles, can't wait for 2 weeks, then it's drinking time!!

NoahBeach said:

Slightly modified version. Amarillo instead of Centennial. Turned out fantastic.

Cleared up amazingly, didn't even gelatin.

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Beautiful!

Given you mention gelatin, I assume you kegged it?? How long did it take to drop clear? I've had a batch kegged for a week and it's still almost milky. I'm beginning to think I have something else going on??...

jbb3 said:

Beautiful!

Given you mention gelatin, I assume you kegged it?? How long did it take to drop clear? I've had a batch kegged for a week and it's still almost milky. I'm beginning to think I have something else going on??...

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Probably 2-3 weeks to get this clear. Only was slightly hazing going into keg. I did cold crash before going I n to keg.

I would say that Nottingham definitely needs temperature control. My first couple batches at about 74 tasted of bananas. You really need to get this well below 70.

(Unless you love banana beer)

Tom

Brewed a half batch of this on Monday, and the airlock smells fantastic. I was hoping to bottle today or tomorrow, but the US-05 hasn't flocced out yet. Can't wait to get this into the bottles.

NoahBeach said:

Probably 2-3 weeks to get this clear. Only was slightly hazing going into keg. I did cold crash before going I n to keg.

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So, cold crash, then let sit in keg for 2-3 weeks before hooking up to gas and serving?

I'm not NB but you cold crash before putting it in the keg and try not to get the yeast cake in the keg. Once there you can go ahead and put it on gas. Although sometimes it can take a while for it to clear up completely. Yours may be suffering from chill haze after a week. Time should clear it up either way. The main thing is don't move the keg once it is in the keezer/kegorator.
Just a little movement can stir it up quite quickly.

Had a cook out yesterday and it was a cloudy and all! As soon as a couple of people tryed it and said it was very good the rest dove in!

Brewed this yesterday. For once I don't think I had a mishap or missed a number. (I usually have to spill something, grain or wort or at least something.) Well one point higher on the OG, but who's counting.

For the first time I also adjusted the hops ratio's slightly since the AA's on mine were a bit higher than originally posted. Got it to within a point of the IBU's BM asked for according to beer smith.

Couple of weeks, or a little less, at 67 degrees and I'll crash and keg. I'll be back after that. We'll see how the 22.2% of flaked barley makes the head look.

Wreck99 said:

So, cold crash, then let sit in keg for 2-3 weeks before hooking up to gas and serving?

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My normal process is cold crash, gelatin, xfer to keg, put in kegerator, hook up to gas at serving pressure (12-15psi) and then let sit for 2 weeks before pulling a pint. Usually pulls crystal clear.

This one was pretty clear coming out of cold crash that I skipped the gelatin, worked perfect.

Add me to the list of BM' Centennial Blonde brewers....I'll be brewing this as shown (on page 1) this weekend. I've never brewed with dry yeast before (always use Wyeast and a starter) and my LHBS owner said she doesn't care much for dry yeast, but I'm going to give it a shot as-is before I try tweaking anything. This will be a test batch for a brew I plan on bringing up to the lake house in August, but with a lot of lawn mowing ahead of me, I'm sure it won't last that long.

You know you've got a problem when even 2 weeks from grain to glass is too long!

I was going to give this a go tonight as a partial mash. I noticed that the crystal 10 & vienna malt were left out of the extract recipe. Any reason for this? Should I exclude them from a partial mash? Thx

Brewed this today and got crazy good efficiency. I ended up with a half gallon more than planned and was still 2 points over my expected gravity. All that means is more beer for me! [emoji16]. I'll give an update in a month or so when it's fermented, bottled, and carbed!

I bottled a half batch of this yesterday. Halfway through, my bottling wand popped off and spilled a bottle's worth on the floor. My garage has never smelled better. :-D

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I had mine do the same thing. All foam right of the bat.

Just brewed 5 gallons. Had a little higher efficiency then normal and hit around 1.043 OG. I made a starter for the WLP-001 just solely for the fact of keeping a pint manson jar from the starter for a future brew.

The main reason I picked this beer was so I could harvest a pitch for my RIS that has an OG of 1.106.

Pitched my yeast for this yesterday. I am brewing for a party on June 18th.

I dropped some servomyces in there with the Notty. Notty's a beast as it is - with servomyces I am sure this thing will be done in no time. Crossing my fingers on this because the 18th will be the very first time of my co-workers will have tasted my home-brew.

Any suggestions on PSI levels for this beer on a party tap?

bondra76 said:

Pitched my yeast for this yesterday. I am brewing for a party on June 18th.

I dropped some servomyces in there with the Notty. Notty's a beast as it is - with servomyces I am sure this thing will be done in no time. Crossing my fingers on this because the 18th will be the very first time of my co-workers will have tasted my home-brew.

Any suggestions on PSI levels for this beer on a party tap?

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If your beer line is 5ft long then set to 5 PSI. CO2 will come out of solution over time serving at lower pressure but if you're going to kick the keg in a day then it won't make much difference. I'm assuming the keg will be on ice. Keep most of the beer line on ice to keep it from foaming up.

OK, so, I plan on brewing this on Friday (extract version) but I have no Cascade and enough Centennial to cover the volume - basically, I want to use all-Centennial in the recipe. Has anyone done this, and if so, how did it turn out? I don't think it will be bad, I am just looking for opinions.

TIA!

slym2none said:

OK, so, I plan on brewing this on Friday (extract version) but I have no Cascade and enough Centennial to cover the volume - basically, I want to use all-Centennial in the recipe. Has anyone done this, and if so, how did it turn out? I don't think it will be bad, I am just looking for opinions.

TIA!

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Centennial is perfect for both bittering and flavor/aroma. Use BeerSmith or another program to know how much you need.

My Centennial is 9% AA, the Cascade called for is claiming 7.8% - it's only a 10-minute & 5-minute substitution, I looked and using it as a straight substitution, it will raise the IBUs by like, 1.3

I am not concerned, but thanks for looking out for me!

I brewed this Sunday and it's bubbling away. I also used wyeast American ale yeast. Efficiency was closer to 75 than 70 with a 1.041OG. Not sure when I'm going to have room in a keg but will report back.

Just took the first few pints from a strawberry addition that I put on tap recently. 5 lbs for a 10 gallon batch...first pint was really tart, and I was a bit worried. But I'm guessing it was either sediment that settled or something because the following 2 glasses were much better. I've also read it mellows after some time, so we'll see.

I recently felt a little tingle...

Now I know why...

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Cheers BM!

Looking like 1.007 after 5 days. Letting it sit until probably next weekend. I need a bigger keezer!

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I made an extract version of this tonight, used all Centennial & some steeped grains, looks great! I meant to only use 2-1/2 pounds of extra-light DME but forgot & dumped the whole 3-pound bag into the boil. Ended up with an OG of 1.058. Rehydrated 1/2 a pack of Nottingham and pitched it into 2.4 gallons of wort.

This should be awesome!

here she is. Still a little chill haze from only being in the keg one week but come July 4th she will be a gem. Thanks for the recipe.

slight citrus aroma which carries through on the front end. balanced perfectly by bready malt on the back end. No bitterness at all. Well balanced beer. This came out super clean too due to using WLP 090.

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1434235600.690142.jpgheres mine!

444 pages of posts im gonna have to try this recipe

sheephrdr said:

444 pages of posts im gonna have to try this recipe

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Its pretty good....on the light side and easy drinking. Im planning on making my second batch soon to go into the keg this time around. Its a nice sharing beer as most people enjoy it over my other beers which is good because I dont like sharing those as much.

Centennial Blonde is a classic! I've made it several times. Congrats on the milestone Biermuncher

Like many others, I made it straight by the recipe the first few times, then added fruit a few times. Great in original form or a tasty backbone for a fruit beer.

Cider123 said:

Centennial Blonde is a classic! I've made it several times. Congrats on the milestone Biermuncher

Like many others, I made it straight by the recipe the first few times, then added fruit a few times. Great in original form or a tasty backbone for a fruit beer.

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What's the best fruit and method (secondary?) you've tried?