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

Donner said:

see the bolded part.

I know it *can* go grain to glass in 2 weeks, but it will only improve with more time in primary.

That said, you kegged it yesterday. It probably hasn't had enough time to settle completely from the transfer. Give it a bit of time to properly carb and settle and it wil be fine.

I'm also assuming you aren't literally referring to the first pint you pulled. The first pint of any unfiltered keg will be yeasty. You have to disregard that and focus on the next few when the dip tube stops sucking up the yeast that is beneath it.

Click to expand...

Understood. However, 1. it wasn't the very first pint i pulled, more like the 5th or 6th.

I didn't cut any of my dip tubes and would hate to learn im going to have yeast for the rest of this half (5gal) keg.

Suggestions?

Slip_Stick said:

Understood. However, 1. it wasn't the very first pint i pulled, more like the 5th or 6th.

I didn't cut any of my dip tubes and would hate to learn im going to have yeast for the rest of this half (5gal) keg.

Suggestions?

Click to expand...

just making sure you weren't asking about the very first pull. That, of course, would be yeasty.

My guess is the fact that it was transferred recently, combined with the fact that it's relatively young.

I've made this three or four times and never had a problem, but i primary for four weeks and let it sit in my keg for two weeks to carb before i tap it. I've never had issues like you described. I'd just say RDWHABH

Donner said:

just making sure you weren't asking about the very first pull. That, of course, would be yeasty.

My guess is the fact that it was transferred recently, combined with the fact that it's relatively young.

I've made this three or four times and never had a problem, but i primary for four weeks and let it sit in my keg for two weeks to carb before i tap it. I've never had issues like you described. I'd just say RDWHABH

Click to expand...

yeah i don't think it should be a big deal, i still have the other half sitting on the yeast, maybe ill let that sit for another two weeks.

Also i'll probably just wait another week or so till i pull another one to check it.

I brewed this a couple of days ago and we got some unseasonably cool weather here in Texas. It is sitting in my bathtub in a little water with a shirt over it and a fan blowing on it, as well as the window cracked and it probably fermenting close to 60 or in the high 50's maybe. We shall see how this little experiment goes trying to get a very clean finish from the notty at low temps.

Slip_Stick said:

yeah i don't think it should be a big deal, i still have the other half sitting on the yeast, maybe ill let that sit for another two weeks.

Also i'll probably just wait another week or so till i pull another one to check it.

Click to expand...

The beer will be fine. I posted a similar problem a little while ago if you look back in this thread. Theone I rushed to the keg was very bready and unclear. After about 10 days in keg it is as clear as any beer available. Chillax and give it a week or so.

What's the ideal ferment temps for this beer. I tried to keep it in the low 60's for the first week but it's been hovering around 68 for the past few days in a struggle to keep it cool. Should I be trying to keep it cooler?

Anyone successfully dry hop this. I was thinking of doing it and wanted to know of anyone did and what hops they used.

I DH'ed with .5oz each of citra and centennial. I've seen others use any combination of cascade, centennial, or pretty much whatever else is lying around. Just be gentle with it; it's such a light beer, the DH can really overpower it quickly.

smagee said:

I DH'ed with .5oz each of citra and centennial. I've seen others use any combination of cascade, centennial, or pretty much whatever else is lying around. Just be gentle with it; it's such a light beer, the DH can really overpower it quickly.

Click to expand...

Cool that's just what I was thinking of? But when did you DH?

I gave them about a week, as I recall, after two weeks in the primary. I used a bit of Citra late in the boil too, so it came out with a pleasantly light tropical aroma.

smagee said:

I gave them about a week, as I recall, after two weeks in the primary. I used a bit of Citra late in the boil too, so it came out with a pleasantly light tropical aroma.

Click to expand...

Omg thats exactly what I was thinking too. Jeez great mind think alike

Well, I can confidently say that it is not a bad idea then . Enjoy!

Well I decided to take a gravity after about 2 weeks in the primary due to the posts talking about the quick turn around. Gravity had pulled down but I got a heavy diacetyl flavor. Used wlp 005 and kept my fermentation chamber at 66F. After tasting it last night I raised the temp to 72 to try to promote the yeast to finish up those off flavors. I'll check it in another 2 weeks.

UFC 129 tonight and Centennial Blonde on tap. Can't get any better than this!

Brewed 10 gallons last week. 1 week later and the gravity is 1.004! Seems to taste good though. Anyone else gettin these types of gravitys?

It's been 5 days and I took a gravity reading to see where it was at, made it down to about 1.010, then I tasted my sample. Boy was that a mistake! It's gonna make it so much harder for me to wait now!

Racked to secondary yesterday. Down to 1.010 and tasted great. Pretty sure its going in a keg Tuesday so it's ready by Friday.

Just tasting my first (green) bottle with the .5oz centennial and .5oz citra dryhop now. Been bottled for a week now; FG came down to somewhere around 1.011ish. Tastes awesome; Citra comes out extremely strong. I think it should balance out a bit more as it conditions a bit more, but as-is, extremely tasty.

anyone help me pinpoint some potential causes of lingering bitterness with this recipe?

this was my 1st AG attempt (brewed on 4/16) and everything seemed to go well - mashed around 149° for 75 min via BIAB and did a 10min or so dunk sparge at ~170°

my hydro sample last night also looked a bit hazy and reeked like ass when i opened the fermenter but I had read that smell happens with Notty sometimes

gonna leave it for another week before bottling but isn't really as smooth and clear as I would have expected from reading this thread. I had used 1 whirlfloc tablet and had the wort under 80° in 15+min with my IC

i had upped the grain bill very slightly to account for potential lower efficiency but ended up hitting 70% with OG of 1.047 - I had upped the hops additions by .10oz for each addition as well but IBU levels were fairly similar since OG was higher

did a mix of 1/2 RO water and 1/2 Tap water plus ~ 2 grams each of Gypsum and Cal Chloride per the brew science sticky thread

terrapinj said:

anyone help me pinpoint some potential causes of lingering bitterness with this recipe?

this was my 1st AG attempt (brewed on 4/16) and everything seemed to go well - mashed around 149° for 75 min via BIAB and did a 10min or so dunk sparge at ~170°

my hydro sample last night also looked a bit hazy and reeked like ass when i opened the fermenter but I had read that smell happens with Notty sometimes

gonna leave it for another week before bottling but isn't really as smooth and clear as I would have expected from reading this thread. I had used 1 whirlfloc tablet and had the wort under 80° in 15+min with my IC

i had upped the grain bill very slightly to account for potential lower efficiency but ended up hitting 70% with OG of 1.047 - I had upped the hops additions by .10oz for each addition as well but IBU levels were fairly similar since OG was higher

did a mix of 1/2 RO water and 1/2 Tap water plus ~ 2 grams each of Gypsum and Cal Chloride per the brew science sticky thread

Click to expand...

You said it was hazy? Well my Kolsch was hazy and it was the yeast. After I let it settle down it tasted fine. Idk if thts the reason but that's what I had.

haze is much less of a concern, was more curiosity - esp since I'm gonna let it sit another week in primary but I'm a little concerned about the bitter aftertaste

terrapinj said:

haze is much less of a concern, was more curiosity - esp since I'm gonna let it sit another week in primary but I'm a little concerned about the bitter aftertaste

Click to expand...

It might be the yeast but idk when I had my Kolsch I was like it's supposed to be cloudy it was really bitter and not a clean one really. So I let it sit a week or two then It was pretty clear drank it. It was really good.

Holy crap. I cold crashed the carboy last night, came home from work and put it on gas at 30psi, rolled it in my lap for 7 min, purged, set at 6 psi, dumped two pints, pulled me a third.

FRIGGIN DELISH!!

Grain to glass in 11 days.
Real light tasting beer with a nice maltiness to it. It's going to be hard to keep my buddies out of this batch.

Here's to you BierMuncher

I knocked out a 12 gallon batch of this last night, hopefully it will be done in time for the rapture (5-21-11) cause I'm throwing a BBQ/party.

I kegged up the ipa I brewed in febuary for it tonight.

the world only ends once, right

in case nobody told you:

http://www.ebiblefellowship.com/may21/

mountainman13 said:

Holy crap. I cold crashed the carboy last night, came home from work and put it on gas at 30psi, rolled it in my lap for 7 min, purged, set at 6 psi, dumped two pints, pulled me a third.

FRIGGIN DELISH!!

Grain to glass in 11 days.
Real light tasting beer with a nice maltiness to it. It's going to be hard to keep my buddies out of this batch.

Here's to you BierMuncher

Click to expand...

Don't mention it.

Well I broke down and finally brewed an AG batch of this a couple days ago. I was debating on making either this or Bee Cave's Kolsch. I'm growing centennial and cascade hops so I thought I'd give this a try first. So far so good, the Nottingham yeast is working it's magic now. The only thing that I did different than the original recipe was to increase the amount of 2 row up a little bit to account for my inefficient process. My fingers are crossed, I'll report back with the results after it's been in the bottle for a month or so. Wish me luck.

Tapped the keg on this just after 2 weeks of total time. It tastes great and I hit my numbers pretty dead on.

I brewed this up yeasterday, it is bubbling away now. I used Wyeast Kolsch yeast and added the rest of the cascade pellets(0.5oz) at flame out. I'm soooo looking forward to tasting this. This recipe is so well regarded on this site, I have been eager to brew it.

OK, my local shop is slim pickins with yeast. I basically have a choice of WYeast 1272 (American Ale II) or Safbrew T-58. Any opinions or experiences with either of these as a substitute for the recommended Nottingham?


Scratched the S-33 idea. Datasheet says it is best for Belgian style beers.

definetly use the wyeast american ale II.

sagnew440 said:

definetly use the wyeast american ale II.

Click to expand...

Agreed. the T-58 is good for a wit beer (spicy, peppery, etc).

Just bought my grain bill and hops and yeast for this recipe. Wow! $17. At that price I hope it's a winner. Like mentioned before , if this many people gave it a go ...why not.

I can vouch for it - I can't keep this beer around for more than a couple weeks.

I've started dryhopping it for 3 days with .25-.5 oz cascade, and it's awesome. Out of style for a blonde, but really frigging delicious.

bottling tonight

hydro sample had no nasty smell, no astringent taste and was very clear - yeast must have still been active when i took the 2 week sample, even though terminal FG had been reached - really pumped to get this one carbonated!

mountainman13 said:

Holy crap. I cold crashed the carboy last night, came home from work and put it on gas at 30psi, rolled it in my lap for 7 min, purged, set at 6 psi, dumped two pints, pulled me a third.

FRIGGIN DELISH!!

Grain to glass in 11 days.
Real light tasting beer with a nice maltiness to it. It's going to be hard to keep my buddies out of this batch.

Here's to you BierMuncher

Click to expand...

Well, I posted this on May 4 and as of two nights ago (May 10), the keg is empty. And I didn't have that much help either

mountainman13 said:

Well, I posted this on May 4 and as of two nights ago (May 10), the keg is empty. And I didn't have that much help either

Click to expand...

Wow! That's impressive. I am brewing this on Saturday. I hope this is as good as advertised.

gkal1964 said:

I was able to borrow a friends Brew Magic so I brewed 20 gals of Centennial Blonde yesterday. Pitched 4 different yeasts. Danstar Nottingham, Safale US-05, Wyeast 1056 American Ale, Wyeast 1028 London Ale. Brew Went smooth, OG=1.050 for first 10 gals and 1.052 for second 10 gals. All beers bubbling except the US-05 (that has been a slow starter for me in the past). If anyone is interested I can post the taste results in a month or so. Here is a pic of the system. More impressive than my cooler and turkey fryer I usually use!

Cheers

Click to expand...

Tasting update: Let me start by saying I nor anyone who taste tested this beer is a BJCP judge or even a beer tasting expert. All 4 beers came out excellent and any one of these yeasts works great in this recipe. The overall consensus is that the 1028 London ale was the least favorite but still a good beer, very crisp and a touch drier. from here you really are splitting hairs. If we had to make a decision, the Nottingham would probably be third. we really could not pick a winner between the US-05 and the 1056, both yeasts seem to offer a bit more complexity and the malt flavor of the beer seems slightly brighter with some fruit and floral notes. I have to stress these are very slight differences and taste is subjective. I will say I have made this beer many times and my best tasting batches have been with Wyeast 1056 yeast, the best being a 3rd generation re-pitch. Hope this helps. And thanks again to Biermuncher for this awesome recipe.

1056 is essentially the same as US-05 right? so that makes perfect sense you had a hard time differentiating

thanks for sharing your impressions

terrapinj said:

1056 is essentially the same as US-05 right? so that makes perfect sense you had a hard time differentiating

thanks for sharing your impressions

Click to expand...

I forgot about that, you're right.

Just kegged 5 of the 10 gallons. Think I'm going to bottle the rest once I have time.