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

FatsSchindee said:

That's exactly what I did. Brewed this in April, then reused the yeast for a RIS in May. I washed the yeast though, and ended up getting less than I had hoped (maybe poor technique? It was my first attempt... Based off the sticky on here), so I bought an extra vial to add to my slurry. Next time I'd probably just use the whole yeast cake...

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that's exactly what I did. I pitched a 1.120 RIS on top of the cake after transferring to secondary.

I would wash the yeast first to get rid of all the leftover hops. But many do simply use the whole cake.

came a little under the targeted abv due to poorer efficiency than expected, still made a great tasting beer. everyone who's tried it loves it. great stuff!


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BierMuncher said:

Yeah...hard to resist the urge to dry hop it too.



AS is...it will be a crowd pleaser, but still be more flavorful than a BMC.

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AS is...it will be a crowd pleaser, but still be more flavorful than a BMC.[/QUOTE]



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Any ideas to add pumpkin to this? Love the beer and I think it may make a nice light pumpkin blonde...

my fresh off the vine hops variant

I picked 8.5 oz off my first year centennial plant this morning, and figured out how to use it all up! I did screw up the 35 minute addition for the first time ever though, so...

7.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
0.75 lb Cara-Pils (2.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Crystal 15 Malt - 15L (15.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)
1.0 oz Wet Centennial Fresh (55 min)
1.5 oz Wet Centennial Fresh (20 min) (should have been 35 min)
2.3 oz Wet Centennial Fresh (17 min) (should have been 20 min)
3.4 oz Wet Centennial Fresh (5 min)
1056 smackpack

Apologies to Biermuncher for overhopping the flavour and aroma, but I'll survive. Being first year hops, I didn't want to brew too many batches with it.

gkimbo said:

Any ideas to add pumpkin to this?..

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sacrebleu!

heckler73 said:

sacrebleu!

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Yeah, I don't know much, but that doesn't sound like a great idea.

Thanks for the recipe. Just got back from a wedding, huge hit!

I just bottled my first batch of this today. It was my first all grain attempt, and it ended up stronger (about 5%) since I must have been distracted and added extra 2 row.

Either way, the sample was remarkably clear and it tasted great so I can't wait for the bottles to finish conditioning.

I split my batch, both with notty, and just popped open a couple of bottles. I am very impressed. This will hopefully be a hit at the hog roast I'm going to this weekend. Yet another great recipe BM!

Ok, the answer to my question might be buried in this thread somewhere, but at 200+ pages, I'm not too thrilled about digging for it.

So, has anyone dry-hopped this? I just ordered the ingredients and will be brewing it for the first time. Since I'll have an ounce each of Centennial and Cascade and I only need 1/2 oz of each for the boil, I was thinking of just using the extra 1/2 oz of each to dry hop for 5 days before bottling.


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grizzly2378 said:

Ok, the answer to my question might be buried in this thread somewhere, but at 200+ pages, I'm not too thrilled about digging for it.

So, has anyone dry-hopped this? I just ordered the ingredients and will be brewing it for the first time. Since I'll have an ounce each of Centennial and Cascade and I only need 1/2 oz of each for the boil, I was thinking of just using the extra 1/2 oz of each to dry hop for 5 days before bottling.


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Dry hopping works fine in this beer. An ounce total will not overpower. The two times I made it, I hopped it in the keg.

Going to brew a 10g batch of this tomorrow. I'm looking for a 17 day turn-around for grain to glass. 10 day fermentation with 7 days on co2. Excited to see how this turns out.

heckler73 said:

first time on this thread (thanks to the "how many gallons... thread), sorry I can't read all 416 pages...

I have fresh Centennial hops on the vine still that are desperately looking for a recipe. I think this might be it, but I'm wondering why a Centennial Blonde has Cascade flavor/aroma hops...

Has anyone brewed this with all Centennial?

and...

is the first post still the latest and greatest recipe?

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Also found this due to the "How Many Gallons" thread and also wondering if the first post is the one to follow? I read back to page 400 and it sounds like a handful of people do dry hop this with 1-2oz either in the keg or during fermentation. Just wondering which recipe to start with...

HiImBrian said:

Also found this due to the "How Many Gallons" thread and also wondering if the first post is the one to follow? I read back to page 400 and it sounds like a handful of people do dry hop this with 1-2oz either in the keg or during fermentation. Just wondering which recipe to start with...

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Original recipe is the one. There is a reason there are 418 pages here.

Brewed up ~11 gallons of this on Saturday. It's in the conical now I'm thinking I might throw some lemons in the mix at the 1 week mark to give it a little kick. Thoughts?

HiImBrian said:

Brewed up ~11 gallons of this on Saturday. It's in the conical now I'm thinking I might throw some lemons in the mix at the 1 week mark to give it a little kick. Thoughts?

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It's your beer so you can do what you want but i think that's an odd combo. i don't like adding fruit to my beers so i may have a bias.

Having brewed this a few times, i dont think the lemon flavor would benefit this beer at all.

Do you normally add lemon to your beers?

j1n said:

It's your beer so you can do what you want but i think that's an odd combo. i don't like adding fruit to my beers so i may have a bias.

Having brewed this a few times, i dont think the lemon flavor would benefit this beer at all.

Do you normally add lemon to your beers?

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I'm a fruit fan and have brewed this beer twice, and I don't think I'd add any lemon. I'd like to try blueberries the next time I make it though.

HiImBrian said:

Brewed up ~11 gallons of this on Saturday. It's in the conical now I'm thinking I might throw some lemons in the mix at the 1 week mark to give it a little kick. Thoughts?

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I love this beer and I have brewed more than a hundred gallons of it. It is always on tap two at my house. There would be an uprising with pitchforks and torches if my friends came over and it wasn't there. Having said that, don't do it. Brew it and add a lemon squeeze if you want to see if it helps. That way you don't trash the whole batch. Disclaimer: I'm really against stuff in my beer that isn't beer.

j1n said:

It's your beer so you can do what you want but i think that's an odd combo. i don't like adding fruit to my beers so i may have a bias.

Having brewed this a few times, i dont think the lemon flavor would benefit this beer at all.

Do you normally add lemon to your beers?

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mdbrewer1 said:

I'm a fruit fan and have brewed this beer twice, and I don't think I'd add any lemon. I'd like to try blueberries the next time I make it though.

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Alright then, I guess that settles it haha. I'll stick with the original recipe for this batch. To answer your question, no I don't always add fruit to my beers, but I try to emphasize a specific flavor ie. "citrus" IPA, or "espresso" stout, or "apricot" wheat. I appreciate your guys' feedback.

It's been about 3.5 days and I'm not seeing any bubbling. I'm using my new minibrew conical fermenter for the first time, so hoping it just doesn't have a super tight seal or maybe the blowoff tube is oversized to see much constant action in such a low gravity beer. I used dry Nottingham yeast and was told by my LHBS to just go ahead and sprinkle the yeast over the wort and I'd be ok. Guess I'll take a reading this weekend and find out what's going on. Sure hope I didn't blow it!

HiImBrian said:

It's been about 3.5 days and I'm not seeing any bubbling. I'm using my new minibrew conical fermenter for the first time, so hoping it just doesn't have a super tight seal or maybe the blowoff tube is oversized to see much constant action in such a low gravity beer. I used dry Nottingham yeast and was told by my LHBS to just go ahead and sprinkle the yeast over the wort and I'd be ok. Guess I'll take a reading this weekend and find out what's going on. Sure hope I didn't blow it!

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Do you see krausen? At what temp are you fermenting?

Ricand said:

Do you see krausen? At what temp are you fermenting?

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I believe I'm seeing Krausen on the sides, but the conical is not clear and I don't want to remove the cover and allow oxygen to enter. Fermentation temp is between 66-68 according to the other carboys in the room. I don't have a thermometer in the conical yet If when I take my reading I find that my gravity is still pretty high, can I just add another packet of Nottingham? I read that dry yeast can sometimes be a dud...Like I said, this is the first time I've ever used it.

HiImBrian said:

I believe I'm seeing Krausen on the sides, but the conical is not clear and I don't want to remove the cover and allow oxygen to enter. Fermentation temp is between 66-68 according to the other carboys in the room. I don't have a thermometer in the conical yet If when I take my reading I find that my gravity is still pretty high, can I just add another packet of Nottingham? I read that dry yeast can sometimes be a dud...Like I said, this is the first time I've ever used it.

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More than likely with this light grain bill and using Notty...you had full fermentation over night while you were sleeping. Don't pitch any more yeast. Dry yeast packets are way more than adequate and rarely, RARELY are they duds. Give it a full week in the fermenter and take a reading. I think you'll be just fine.

This beer is tasty. I brewed 5 gallons about 6 weeks ago for the first time and already plan to brew 10 in a couple of weeks.

Well done!

Finally got some numbers back and while the sample tasted pretty good, I'd like to try and figure out where I went wrong. Most of my numbers came calculated from Beersmith.

OG 1.05
FG 1.006
ABV 5.8

- I mashed in 24qt at 160F. I was initially low and had to drain off some liquid to boil and add back in to get my temps close.
- I then sparged 37qt at 175F (seemed high)
- I went into my boil with about 12.5gal then about 11gal went into the conical.
- let ferment for 1 week with Nottingham dry yeast added directly to the conical.

Anybody see where I could have gone wrong? Sure it tastes fine, but I'd like to try and figure out why my volumes and ABV are so off...
-thanks

HiImBrian said:

Finally got some numbers back and while the sample tasted pretty good, I'd like to try and figure out where I went wrong. Most of my numbers came calculated from Beersmith.

OG 1.05
FG 1.006
ABV 5.8

- I mashed in 24qt at 160F. I was initially low and had to drain off some liquid to boil and add back in to get my temps close.
- I then sparged 37qt at 175F (seemed high)
- I went into my boil with about 12.5gal then about 11gal went into the conical.
- let ferment for 1 week with Nottingham dry yeast added directly to the conical.

Anybody see where I could have gone wrong? Sure it tastes fine, but I'd like to try and figure out why my volumes and ABV are so off...
-thanks

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I think you mashed too high.

HiImBrian said:

Finally got some numbers back and while the sample tasted pretty good, I'd like to try and figure out where I went wrong. Most of my numbers came calculated from Beersmith.

OG 1.05
FG 1.006
ABV 5.8

- I mashed in 24qt at 160F. I was initially low and had to drain off some liquid to boil and add back in to get my temps close.
- I then sparged 37qt at 175F (seemed high)
- I went into my boil with about 12.5gal then about 11gal went into the conical.
- let ferment for 1 week with Nottingham dry yeast added directly to the conical.

Anybody see where I could have gone wrong? Sure it tastes fine, but I'd like to try and figure out why my volumes and ABV are so off...
-thanks

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Im guessing your efficiency was way better than expected? That drives your OG up and ABV up while keeping your post boil volume in check. Or, your mash temp was low, allowing for more fermentable sugars. Does any of these seem to lead you to something?

Yea this was the first time I brewed on this rig so just guessed a 70% efficiency and went with it. It'll take a few brews to dial in but wanted to make sure I wasn't off on something else before I adjust that. The beer tasted good so I won't complain haha just wanna dial things in.

What temps and pressure are ppl kegging this at?

I grind my grist on a Corona mill (at whatever setting I have, its a lil bit floury) and toss in 1/4 bag of rice hulls every time. I'm around 86% efficiency and I never get a stuck sparge. I tend to put almost all my beers at 9psi. That pretty much is a good starting point for me.

175 is a really hot sparge! Do you notice any diacetyl in that? I had a certified bjcp judge taste a couple of my beers about a year and a half ago and he noticed diacetyl in some of them. I narrowed it down to my sparge temp which was 171-175, I now sparge at 168 and have not detected it since.

basementbrewbrad said:

175 is a really hot sparge! Do you notice any diacetyl in that? I had a certified bjcp judge taste a couple of my beers about a year and a half ago and he noticed diacetyl in some of them. I narrowed it down to my sparge temp which was 171-175, I now sparge at 168 and have not detected it since.

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I wish I could answer this question, but my pallet is nowhere near the point where I'd be able to obviously distinguish diacetyl. I thought that 175F was a hot sparge as well, but that's exactly what BeerSmith advised...

Latest batch!!!

Too high of a sparge won't cause diacetyl. It could extract tannins.

^^ That would make sense. The beer didn't look super clear when I was racking to my kegs. Again, tasted great but I'd like to hit my numbers a bit closer next time. This is a cheap brew so I might just do it again and update my efficiency.

Gonna do this over the weekend for my first blonde. Looked through some of the pages but since there is over 400 just wanna make sure everything is still the same as the recipe in the first post. Can't wait.
Thanks

kurds_2408 said:

Gonna do this over the weekend for my first blonde. Looked through some of the pages but since there is over 400 just wanna make sure everything is still the same as the recipe in the first post. Can't wait.
Thanks

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Just gotta read back 2 pages to #4177 to see that the first page is still the original.

Newbie question

Why is the same amount of yeast used for a five gallon batch as a ten? Shouldn't that be increased too??