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

I brewed this on the 4th of July (surprisingly made it through the entire brew day ), and just pulled the first glass from the tap. All I can say is I'm blown away. I can't really say what I was expecting, but this is down right one of the best blonde beers I've ever tasted.

So crisp. So refreshing. Presence of honey and lots of citrus. Everything I was hoping for and more in a summer beer. Even better knowing my office is 84 degrees all day, so this definitely won't last long. Must get to brewing it again ASAP!

Cheers

So I actually splashed a bit of cash and bought some kegs last week, so after a week's cold crash/dry hop I racked it over to one of my new old cornys. A taste of the stuff on its way over wasn't exactly confidence inspiring, however after hooking up the gas, a quick shake at 12psi and left overnight it's really become something very lovely.

Somehow I managed to rack a bunch of dry hop over so the first few pulls have been somewhat leafy, but the citrus notes have really leapt forward. I went a bit off recipe with my hop additions (0.75oz Centennial @ 60min, .5 Centennial @ 30, .5oz Falconers Flight 7Cs at 15 and 5, dry hopped with 1oz Centennial) but it's got the malt body to back up the hops.

I'll definitely brew this one again, I suspect that it will make an excellent base for dipping into some more hops as well. Amarillo and Citra are both on the list for the final additions to future batches.

Joakgust said:

I've been brewing for quite a while and normally like to let my beers age out as I really can't stand green beer. BM's Centennial Blonde therefore sounds like a good alternative for a quick beer requested by a friend just now.

I'll be brewing this tomorrow for a going away party that this friend will be having August 17th, so that's not even 4 weeks from brew day.

Not a lot of time so I would appreciate any kind of advice on these two questions:

1. Would the following fermenting/aging/carbonating schedule be good?
My plan is to do the fermentation (primary) for 6 days and then do a "secondary" fermentation in a 5G keg for for another 6 days (might even dry hop with cascade).
Then I'll move the keg into the kegerator to start carbonating it, 11 days in total.
2 days before the party I will transfer it into a 2,5G keg and bring it over to my friends place.

2. Is Nottingham or US05 to prefer? I'll be able to keep fermentation temperatures down to 17 C the first 48 hrs before needing to use the kegerator for other beers. After that I won't be able to keep ambient temperatures below 21 C. I would rehydrate both.

Thanks!

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I've taken this beer from grain to glass in 12-14 days I think, fully carbed with a set it and forget it. I don't do the shake method.

With this beer, I personally think it needs the full 2 weeks to come into it's own, 3 weeks even and it clears and taste better.

However, it's good right off the bat as well. If you dry hop, don't expect a clear brew, so if thats the goal, toss it out. That quickly it won't be clear with a dry hop.

I'd use US05 since you can't control the temp as long or well. Nottingham will be disgustingly bad if you let it get warm.

I'd brew it, and after 7 days, put it in the keg and carb it while you chill it down. Leave it be for as long as you can. After a week, pull a pint or two of the yeasty crap from the bottom and leave it be until you need to take it to party. Use a jumper if you want to put it in another smaller keg to take with you obviously.

Oooooooooook!

Quick turnover?

10 days in carboy, 10 days in bottle. I'm drinking it right now and it's perfect!

:rockin:

FATC1TY said:

I've taken this beer from grain to glass in 12-14 days I think, fully carbed with a set it and forget it. I don't do the shake method.

With this beer, I personally think it needs the full 2 weeks to come into it's own, 3 weeks even and it clears and taste better.

However, it's good right off the bat as well. If you dry hop, don't expect a clear brew, so if thats the goal, toss it out. That quickly it won't be clear with a dry hop.

I'd use US05 since you can't control the temp as long or well. Nottingham will be disgustingly bad if you let it get warm.

I'd brew it, and after 7 days, put it in the keg and carb it while you chill it down. Leave it be for as long as you can. After a week, pull a pint or two of the yeasty crap from the bottom and leave it be until you need to take it to party. Use a jumper if you want to put it in another smaller keg to take with you obviously.

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I have a batch of this in the primary now. It has been at 70-72F for a week or so. Do you think that's too warm?

NewkyBrown said:

I have a batch of this in the primary now. It has been at 70-72F for a week or so. Do you think that's too warm?

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...using Nottingham yeast.

NewkyBrown said:

...using Nottingham yeast.

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Yes, 72 is too high for Nottingham in my opinion.

Is it actively fermenting, as in, the first roughly 3-4 days? Or is this the temp it's at now that it's slowing down and cleaning up?

If it's 72 now, and it's not actively fermenting early on, then chances are if you didn't control the temp, you got somewhere in the high 70's during the most active time.. You will have some off flavors from that. Whether you detect them, or find them and don't find them offensive is another story.

FATC1TY said:

Yes, 72 is too high for Nottingham in my opinion.

Is it actively fermenting, as in, the first roughly 3-4 days? Or is this the temp it's at now that it's slowing down and cleaning up?

If it's 72 now, and it's not actively fermenting early on, then chances are if you didn't control the temp, you got somewhere in the high 70's during the most active time.. You will have some off flavors from that. Whether you detect them, or find them and don't find them offensive is another story.

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Hmmm. I just fermented mine in 68 F ambient assuming that would be OK. Is the temperature in the recipe supposed to be ambient temp or fermenter temp?

Finally popping open a bottle tomorrow so we'll see how it is.

SWMBO and I fight over the thermostat. I put it at 70* and she sneaks it up to 71* and sometimes all the way up to 72*.

I ferment in a closet and have not had any issues with Notty and this blond. YMMV. And RDWHHB...

Keep in mind the temps for yeasts aren't in ambient. It's wort temp. 68 ambient will have the wort assuming it was cooled to 68 or lower before pitching somewhere around 5-8 degrees warmer during active fermentation.

Ambient means that's the absolute lowest it can be with no reactions taking place in the fermenter.

You might taste some solventy hot fusel alcohol flavors and some other phenols.

Decided to go with US-05 for two reasons really:

First I was a bit worried about the Nottingham handling the higher temperatures. Turns out the basement is is around 73 F so I don't want to risk it even if the first 48hrs would be fermenting at 65 F

But the biggest reason was that the Nottingham yeast pack having become soft and having a bbd Feb 2013. Guess I bought an old packet a few months back...

I'll get back with how this turns out, until then thanks for all the help!

FATC1TY said:

Yes, 72 is too high for Nottingham in my opinion.

Is it actively fermenting, as in, the first roughly 3-4 days? Or is this the temp it's at now that it's slowing down and cleaning up?

If it's 72 now, and it's not actively fermenting early on, then chances are if you didn't control the temp, you got somewhere in the high 70's during the most active time.. You will have some off flavors from that. Whether you detect them, or find them and don't find them offensive is another story.

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I screwed up and pitched yeast at 68F temp has risen slightly (stick on thermometer). It has been a week and fermentation is done -1.010. Should I keg now or wait another week?

NewkyBrown said:

I screwed up and pitched yeast at 68F temp has risen slightly (stick on thermometer). It has been a week and fermentation is done -1.010. Should I keg now or wait another week?

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It's probably done. Check in 2 days and see what gravity is. If stable then keg it.

dukedevil0 said:

Hmmm. I just fermented mine in 68 F ambient assuming that would be OK. Is the temperature in the recipe supposed to be ambient temp or fermenter temp?

Finally popping open a bottle tomorrow so we'll see how it is.

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I think the batch I am drinking now was done at 68 room temp . It is very good .
Before that I used 70 or so and it tasted great also .

Xtant said:

SWMBO and I fight over the thermostat. I put it at 70* and she sneaks it up to 71* and sometimes all the way up to 72*.

I ferment in a closet and have not had any issues with Notty and this blond. YMMV. And RDWHHB...

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I agree . Notty works just fine at 70 - 72 room temp . Maybe has some off flavors but if it does then they are not bad ones as far as I can tell from all my batches but the last two I did at lower temps .
I have two bottles of cream of three crops that were done at 68 to 70 room and two a batch done at 64 to 67 room temp in a fridge . Will be taste testing them maybe today or this weekend to see if there is any difference .
Edit : that was actually temp taken in fridge from side of bucket covered with bubble wrap and duct tape but seemed like the fridge air was the same temp .

MarcusKillion said:

I agree . Notty works just fine at 70 - 72 room temp . Maybe has some off flavors but if it does then they are not bad ones as far as I can tell from all my batches but the last two I did at lower temps .
I have two bottles of cream of three crops that were done at 68 to 70 room and two a batch done at 64 to 67 room temp in a fridge . Will be taste testing them maybe today or this weekend to see if there is any difference .
Edit : that was actually temp taken in fridge from side of bucket covered with bubble wrap and duct tape but seemed like the fridge air was the same temp .

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Understandable from your experience, but if you do some searching, using Notty "hot" isn't good.. at all. Heck, using most ANY yeasts above or near the top end of their temp range isn't good. People get confused with "room temp" and actual temp of the fermenting goods. They assume they fermented at 70*, simply because thats what their thermostat on the wall is set to. Certain the farthest from the case, as fermentation causes a fair bit of heat in it's work, and raises the temp. Your thermostat in the house, doesn't pick up on that, while 70 in the house, the wort/beer is anywhere from 72-80 degrees even.

Checking your fridge temp where you ferment is fine. Thats a small, enclosed space, and checking the temp on the fermenting vessel will be accurate enough if the probe is insulated. Much different than assuming your hall bathroom will stay 70* and chill your beer ( which it won't ).

I don't always understand why people will pass off info and go, "It might have some off flavors, but I don't mind."

Who wants to make flawed beer? Unless your a teenager who just wants to get drunk, it's a craft that everyone strives to make beer better and better each time. If you don't control temp, quite frankly, you'll be hard pressed to make a beer that limits the flaws and off flavors, and takes you to another level.

I also posted this in the yeast forum, but thought I'd try here as well.

I brewed this batch on 7/18 (last Thursday). It's a 5-gallon batch. I followed the recipe to the letter and pitched a 0.7L starter of WLP001 right from the stirplate.

It's now Wednesday (6 days later) and there is still activity. The krausen hasn't fallen yet, there is still blowoff activity, the beer is still swirling around inside the fermenter and it hasn't started to drop or clear at all yet.

The fermenter is in a temp-controlled fridge set at 17.6 C, which is 63.7 F. The temp probe is taped to the side of the fermenter.

No, I haven't taken a hydrometer reading yet. Just by looking at it, I wouldn't waste the beer taking a sample because there's no way it's done fermenting.

I know I'm just going to have to wait it out and it will be done when it's done, but my question is what's going on and why is it taking so long?

LovesIPA said:

I also posted this in the yeast forum, but thought I'd try here as well.

I brewed this batch on 7/18 (last Thursday). It's a 5-gallon batch. I followed the recipe to the letter and pitched a 0.7L starter of WLP001 right from the stirplate.

It's now Wednesday (6 days later) and there is still activity. The krausen hasn't fallen yet, there is still blowoff activity, the beer is still swirling around inside the fermenter and it hasn't started to drop or clear at all yet.

The fermenter is in a temp-controlled fridge set at 17.6 C, which is 63.7 F. The temp probe is taped to the side of the fermenter.

No, I haven't taken a hydrometer reading yet. Just by looking at it, I wouldn't waste the beer taking a sample because there's no way it's done fermenting.

I know I'm just going to have to wait it out and it will be done when it's done, but my question is what's going on and why is it taking so long?

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Just happens.. If it's been 6 days, you could allow it to warm slightly, about another 5 degrees if you want and allow it to finish up and clean up..

I FINALLY got to brew this. 12 gallon batch, BIAB and my first no chill brew. Tasting great just 12 days later. Really exciting to validate the no chill after reading about it for a long time. It was a 5 hour brew day start to finish and most relaxing.

Just cracked open the first bottle from my last batch and it is delicious. Two weeks in primary and two weeks in bottles and its perfect. Hats off for a great recipe BM.

I just brewed a partial mash BIAB version of this yesterday. The only changes I made was I used all cascade hops. I guess it's a cascade blonde I can't wait to try this out in a few weeks.

Also, to all of you. The second time I brewed this, I dry hopped it with 1.5 oz cent and 1.5 oz casc, and enjoyed it even more. I'll always be doing that in the future.

jflongo said:

Also, to all of you. The second time I brewed this, I dry hopped it with 1.5 oz cent and 1.5 oz casc, and enjoyed it even more. I'll always be doing that in the future.

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I was seriously thinking about doing this with the batch I just brewed.

Did you make a 5 gallon batch? That seems like a lot of dry hops for a low ABV, 5 gallon batch.

LovesIPA said:

I was seriously thinking about doing this with the batch I just brewed.

Did you make a 5 gallon batch? That seems like a lot of dry hops for a low ABV, 5 gallon batch.

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Yes, this was just a little over 5 gallons, maybe 5.25 gallons. 3oz isn't that much for dry hopping IMO.

Got this down to 1.01 from 1.05 after 10 days. Forgot whirlfloc so its a little cloudy now but a nice cold crash before transferring should help kegging tomorrow and can't wait to drink some after it carbs. Thanks.

I really like the sound of that recipe when my pills" I know sin" is done and I move the bock to secondary next week ... if I don't try and master that ipa I may just run a batch. the reason for this whole thing is I wanna master something for my fathers b day in jan that I know most of his non brewing friends will enjoy. its just a project I have time to work on I have time lots of it.\

So this is my sample. A little iffy about it being so light. Looks more like a lemonade. Hopefully some time in the keg will do it good. Tastes ok but still green.

bigmike99 said:

So this is my sample. A little iffy about it being so light. Looks more like a lemonade. Hopefully some time in the keg will do it good. Tastes ok but still green.

View attachment 138500

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Did you use any fining agents, like whirfloc, or irish moss?

Was it your first glass from the fresh keg? It should clear with some time and temp, and after a glass or 3.

All grain or extract... That looks really stirred up and murky but could be just the picture.

Extract. Sample while I was kegging. First batch I forgot to use whirlfloc but I was more concerned with what looked like a color difference over some others posted here.

I'm going to brew this for my gal, who likes Bud Lite.

I've got 1056 now so that's what I'll use. Centennial for bittering and whioe Mt Hood for aroma.

Whaddya think?

bigmike99 said:

Extract. Sample while I was kegging. First batch I forgot to use whirlfloc but I was more concerned with what looked like a color difference over some others posted here.

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Probably all murky from being stirred up if it's an uncarbed sample while you kegged it. It'll come around.

Color wise, it's probably because of the extract, and you may have not gotten a ton of color from the steeping of the crystal perhaps.

Some people have changed the recipe a bit, so it's all over the place, for instance, here's mine on tap. Pulled a sample snifter to show; mine has a little honey malt, which is 25L, so might be darker than some.

Not too worried. Seems like it should be nice after it settles and carbs up. Thanks for the replies. Now just to get the carbing down. Swmbo's biggest complaint is none of my legged brew is carbed enough.

bigmike99 said:

Not too worried. Seems like it should be nice after it settles and carbs up. Thanks for the replies. Now just to get the carbing down. Swmbo's biggest complaint is none of my legged brew is carbed enough.

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Well, what temp is your keg at, and what PSI are you putting to the keg?

I keep my kegs at I believe 35* roughly, and carb most of mine to around 2-2.5 volumes. Which for my set up, has me carbing and serving around 9 psi. I get plenty of carb.

Most homebrewers end up over carbing beer.

Set it, and leave it. The shake method just isn't reliable enough to repeat.

Used the shake method the first time and blah. I know rushing anything brewing related is usually not good. Temp inside kegerator is about 35-36 and psi was at about 15 on the main regulator split to 2 kegs so about 7.5 each I guess. Need to get more co2 tomorrow as this tank is now empty.

bigmike99 said:

Used the shake method the first time and blah. I know rushing anything brewing related is usually not good. Temp inside kegerator is about 35-36 and psi was at about 15 on the main regulator split to 2 kegs so about 7.5 each I guess. Need to get more co2 tomorrow as this tank is now empty.

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It wouldn't be 7.5psi if it was split.

If the regulator is putting out 15psi, then there is 15psi in each keg.

Good to know. So once I get the refill ill keep it around 9-10 for a few days and see what happens. Thanks for the tips.

bigmike99 said:

So this is my sample. A little iffy about it being so light. Looks more like a lemonade. Hopefully some time in the keg will do it good. Tastes ok but still green.

View attachment 138500

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I think the color of that one is fairly close to yours.

BigMike99 ;
My centennial looks a bit darker . Just about like the second pic from FACT1TY , his first one is picking up rthe color from the woodwork behind it . hey as long as it tastes good .

My brew day for this beer was June the 24th.

I can now say that it's a beer that I will brew again.

I mixed 60/40 pilsner grain and 2 row.
Mash at 148f
1.001 final gravity
The first 2 weeks after kegging it was way too green. I added a lime in my glass and it was just like Corona (my memory of a corona)

Its a good beer for friends that don't like the hops tea we like to make ;-)

Thanks for the recipe

Just got done brewing this. Came in at 1.052. I used 20% extra grains across the board not knowing the efficiency of my system.