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

I'm going to try using the BIAB method in the coming weeks once I get all the equipment for it (bag). It'll be my first BIAB attempt.

I've made through around 200 pages of this post. Some people are saying they bottled/kegged after 9 days, some are saying wait 2 weeks (or longer). I'll be bottling. Is 9 days in primary really long enough for this recipe?

Fett said:

I've made through around 200 pages of this post. Some people are saying they bottled/kegged after 9 days, some are saying wait 2 weeks (or longer). I'll be bottling. Is 9 days in primary really long enough for this recipe?

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Yep

I go grain to glass with it in 10 days when I need a beer quickly. It is a bit cloudy in that short of time but it settles out after a few days in the keg. I never bottled it, but I bet that 7-10 and then bottle conditioned would be pretty solid

CGVT said:

Yep

I go grain to glass with it in 10 days when I need a beer quickly. It is a bit cloudy in that short of time but it settles out after a few days in the keg. I never bottled it, but I bet that 7-10 and then bottle conditioned would be pretty solid

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Thanks for the quick reply. Looks like I'll be stopping at the LHBS to pick up some corn sugar and extra bottles on the way home.

I was going to ask the same, I only brewed this a week ago today, but it's been done for about 4 days and I was considering bottling it this weekend to free up a fermenter.

I should have added, I used Wyeast 1056. I read a few replies that said that needed a little longer to finish fermenting.

1056 will take a little longer to ferment. But the beer will clear faster.

Fett said:

I should have added, I used Wyeast 1056. I read a few replies that said that needed a little longer to finish fermenting.

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I always make it with Notty, but when it's done, it's done

It was at 1.006, seemed reasonably clear, and tasted damn fine, so I went for it and bottled. Here's hoping for no bottle bombs!

This is now my third brew I've bottled, and I've learned that bottling ~5 gallons at a time is getting old fast. Time to start investing in kegs.

Well I re-brewed this on Sunday to replace the infected batch which now languishes in my septic tank.

The dumped batch used the last of my Simcoe, so this one has Centennial as the 60/30 additions and Citra as the 15/5 additions. Fermented with a new pack of Notty, pitched on Sunday and gravity checked this evening as 1.010. Moved to the fridge to cold crash, I'll rack it over to a keg Monday or Tuesday.

Fett said:

It was at 1.006, seemed reasonably clear, and tasted damn fine, so I went for it and bottled. Here's hoping for no bottle bombs!

This is now my third brew I've bottled, and I've learned that bottling ~5 gallons at a time is getting old fast. Time to start investing in kegs.

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Yes Kegs are a great way to go. Also, switching to 1L PET bottles, makes bottling go faster too.

for those who have replaced the cascade with citra, is there anything to be careful of? I've heard it's easy to over-use citra (in the boil, anyway), is it just a case of adjusting the addition amounts with respect to the AA% content?

daggers_nz said:

for those who have replaced the cascade with citra, is there anything to be careful of? I've heard it's easy to over-use citra (in the boil, anyway), is it just a case of adjusting the addition amounts with respect to the AA% content?

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Adjust for the excess consumption- due to the increase deliciousness!

Has anyone used the White Labs WLP001 yeast on this recipe? How does it compare?

YMMV of course but I'm thinking................................... maybe!

Would crystal malt 15L be an ok substitute for the 10L? My LHBS didn't have the 10L.

tg123 said:

Would crystal malt 15L be an ok substitute for the 10L? My LHBS didn't have the 10L.

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Yes

the lowest my store has is 23L

HBrew71 said:

Yes

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Thx. Just started the Mash. First mistake, temp is a little high at 158... Oops

ww_kayak said:

Decided to go with the US-05 vs. Nottingham.

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Sorry, couldn't resist.

I've only ever brewed this using 20L crystal. No complaints here, its still a nice pale yellow colour.

Secondarily, just racked my last batch of this over to the keg. This one had 0.5oz Citra as the 15/5 minute additions and thankfully is not infected. A good shake of the keg got some carbonation going (although obviously not ideal) and a pint (or two) show a nice flavour going on. My previous experience showed that this really needed at least a week on the gas to actually come together, so this should only get better with time.

I tried a hemp ale in Canada, it was amazing

BierMuncher said:

This should get you a very similar beer:

Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.57 gal
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 3.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 16.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
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Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 83.3 %
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 16.7 %
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (45 min) Hops 7.8 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (20 min) Hops 5.1 IBU
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (10 min) Hops 2.5 IBU
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (5 min) Hops 1.4 IBU
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale

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So with the extract version, you really don't add any hops until 15 minutes into the boil?

Since I'll likely be doing a late extract addition, this means I'll be boiling about 2 lbs of DME for 15 minutes before anything else is added?

Just trying to get my ducks in a row before brewing this weekend.

mgr_stl said:

So with the extract version, you really don't add any hops until 15 minutes into the boil?

Since I'll likely be doing a late extract addition, this means I'll be boiling about 2 lbs of DME for 15 minutes before anything else is added?

Just trying to get my ducks in a row before brewing this weekend.

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Yes.

You'll steep the carapils, get your water volume you need, add the DME, and start the boil. After 15 minutes, you start your 1st hop addition.

Ready start another brewing season with this great recipe. I am going to go with S05 this time around with plans of using the yeast cake to ferment an IPA in two weeks...it's been a long summer need to get some kegs filled.

BierMuncher said:

This should get you a very similar beer:

Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.57 gal
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 3.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 16.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 83.3 %
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 16.7 %
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (45 min) Hops 7.8 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (20 min) Hops 5.1 IBU
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (10 min) Hops 2.5 IBU
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (5 min) Hops 1.4 IBU
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale

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I stopped by the LHBS this afternoon and picked up the ingredients for this. Here's what I ended up with when putting it in Beersmith:

1 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
5 lbs Light Dry Extract (8.0 SRM)
0.25 oz Centennial [8.70 %] - Boil 45.0 min 7.1 IBUs
0.25 oz Centennial [8.70 %] - Boil 20.0 min 4.7 IBUs
0.25 oz Cascade [7.10 %] - Boil 10.0 min 2.3 IBUs
0.25 oz Cascade [7.10 %] - Boil 5.0 min 1.3 IBUs

Estimated OG - 1.041
Estimated FG - 1.009
Estimated IBUs - 15.2 (a bit low, no?)
Estimated SRM - 5.7 (Guess it's a bit high since the DME I got is not extra light)
Estimated ABV - 4.1%

I ended up buying 6 lbs of dry extract due to how it was packaged at the store. If I add this, Beersmith says I'll bump it up to 4.9% ABV, OG 1.049, 6.4 SRM, and down to 14.3 IBUs. Would you also bump up the hops to help balance the added extract? If so, how much of Cascade or Centennial would you add and when? I have 1/2 oz extra of each.

I'd like to keep it reasonably close to the intent of the original recipe since this is my first time trying out the Centennial Blonde. Not sure if 6.4 SRM still qualifies as a blonde.

Brewed this back on the 1st, and decided it would be my 1st kegged beer since I plan to serve it at my 1st annual Oktoberfest party today. It's been in the keg a week now, and tastes REALLY good, but it's hazy for some reason. Since I'm new to kegging, it's probably something I did, but the good news is people will be drinking it from a solo cup, so it's not a big deal

Looking forward to seeing everyone's reactions to this and my other homebrews!

dave8274 said:

Brewed this back on the 1st, and decided it would be my 1st kegged beer since I plan to serve it at my 1st annual Oktoberfest party today. It's been in the keg a week now, and tastes REALLY good, but it's hazy for some reason. Since I'm new to kegging, it's probably something I did, but the good news is people will be drinking it from a solo cup, so it's not a big deal

Looking forward to seeing everyone's reactions to this and my other homebrews!

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Mix a packet of Gelatine with 4 oz. water, heat to around 155-160 F. Stir it up and throw it in the keg. Purge the keg with CO2 and swirl. Let it sit a day or two and pour off a very cloudy pint. The next (and every following) pint will be crystal clear most likely!

dave8274 said:

Brewed this back on the 1st, and decided it would be my 1st kegged beer since I plan to serve it at my 1st annual Oktoberfest party today. It's been in the keg a week now, and tastes REALLY good, but it's hazy for some reason. Since I'm new to kegging, it's probably something I did, but the good news is people will be drinking it from a solo cup, so it's not a big deal

Looking forward to seeing everyone's reactions to this and my other homebrews!

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How'd it turn out. My guess is that it was clearer after the first couple of pints. If not, it will be nice and clear in few more days, IF it lasts through the party

Thanks for the gelatin idea. Unfortunately the party starts in just a little while, so it's too late to try it. And I'm not expecting much if any to survive the party

This is my latest batch. I don't use gelatin and usually keg at about 10 days and its is cloudy for about a week. This has been in the keg for a while but it was clear after about a week in the keg

For the extract version, is there any good reason to boil for 60 minutes when you don't make any hop additions until 15 minutes in (45 remaining)? Why not just do a 45 minute boil?

That extra 15 minutes lets you drink one one beer?!

CGVT said:

How'd it turn out. My guess is that it was clearer after the first couple of pints. If not, it will be nice and clear in few more days, IF it lasts through the party

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Well, it was a huge hit, and the keg didn't last long. Got compliments on it all night. Nobody complained that it was hazy

I have made this beer twice as 5 gallons recipes. Tuesday I'm going to pick up enough to make my first 11 gallon batch.

mgr_stl said:

For the extract version, is there any good reason to boil for 60 minutes when you don't make any hop additions until 15 minutes in (45 remaining)? Why not just do a 45 minute boil?

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My 2 cents - when I do extract batches I've taken to doing a 30 minute boil and I just adjust the hop additions to come close. Not exact science but it works just fine for me.

dave8274 said:

Well, it was a huge hit, and the keg didn't last long. Got compliments on it all night. Nobody complained that it was hazy

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Kegged mine recently (also my first keg) and it was very hazy too. I boiled some gelatin and mixed it into the keg a few days ago. Am hoping to pull a few pints tonight and see clearer beer!

I kegged my latest batch of this tonight. Pretty excited for it.

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Just did another batch of this last night going back to the original hop bill. I poured a batch at a beer festival over the weekend of a modification I did with Simcoe and Amarillo. I don't know if I just didn't like that particular hop combo with this light of a grain bill, or of something a little off was going on, but did not like it personally nearly as much as previous batches I have done. This one is also going to be poured at a festival on 11/2, so good thing it turns around quickly!

I was going to brew this for the first time with the original bill but with an added addition of legacy at flame out. It was the first time a drank more than two while brewing, long story short I thought the 20 minute addition was the flame out and added the the 1/2 ounce of cascade and legacy. Then realized I screwed up and kept boiling adding the next 1/2 ounce of cascade at flame out. Which was miss timed again looks like I only boiled for a total of 45 minutes total. First all grain I haven't done full 60 with. See what flavor it comes out I guess.