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

Brewed 2 gallon on Sunday. Added .20 Centennial at flameout and will dry hop with .20-.25 oz of cascade for 2 days.
Pre-boil OG was 1.032/ post boil was 1.054 so went a little over but was about 1/4 gallon short due to trub. Need to go back in and adjust trub loss, etc.
brewhouse efficiency was 73% if I figured it right.

Zepth said:

I must say this recipe is a real winner. I came to the realization that is a must have on tap recipe when I was changing out a different keg and heard the near empty ringing sound of my Centennial Blonde keg. "Oh crap, it's nearly done and I don't have another waiting in the closet." Moment of epiphany.

Next time around I'll likely split it post boil and toss some Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager at it. Might even remember to update with that how that goes.

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So I remembered. And here we go with the results:
I found the 2206 had more hop flavour to it as compared with the US-05 batch. Didn't get a whole lot of malt from either yeast (one boil, split ferment). Come to think of it I've never really noticed this to have a much of a maltiness to it. Perhaps a dash of Munich next time. I didn't get my brew logs done properly, but I have done a couple of overnight mashes as of late - the longer time could help explain that one. Should also note that both the US-05 and Wyeast 2206 had identical attenuation. 1.048 - 1.008.

Also used Sterling as my Centennial supply seems to have run out. A couple adjustments to amount added to keep IBUs in check and it was good to go. That came through quite nicely, I declare it to be a perfect substitute.

As an added bonus it was also the first time that I managed to get this crystal clear. That is until I racked up part of the cake. Fail on my part. Before this I have always had some cloudiness in this recipe. In conclusion, I really don't know. Brew it this way, brew it the BM way, use it as inspiration, draw your own conclusion. Happy brewing!

My third time brewing this beer. Did a 10 gal, then two-simultaneous 10 gal batches and now another two-10 gal batches simultaneously. I Went with a mash temp of 152.

I made all the right grain mesurements, but screwed up thinking the orig recipe was for 5 gals. when it was for 10.

Did manage to screw up my hops additions. Rather than .5 oz Cascade for the first two additions on Boil Kettle #1 - and the first addition on Boil Kettle 2, did 1 oz at each. Realized the error of my ways, then skipped the last Cascade addition in Boil Kettle #2. Result is that I used 3 oz of Cascade as bittering instead of 2. Any predictions?

Pitched a pint of a WLP-005 slurry that I harvested from an English Mild. It took off within a few hours.

OG was 1.038, and the recipe targeted 1.039.

A friend turned me on to whirlfloc, so I tried it with these boils.

Can't wait.....

I brewed centennial blonde a few weeks ago, its carbed and im drinking it now
here was my version as it is what I had on hand.

6 lbs 2 row
1 lb pilsner
.5 lb Vienna
1/3 lb caramel

.25 centennial 60 min
.25 " 35 mins
.5 centennial 5 mins

us05 yeast

og 1.043
fg 1.005

its a little light for what I prefer but it is really drinkable and similar to commercial light beer but subtle flavours throughout. I can taste the centennial and the grain variations ive never had a fermentation come out that low on the fg

will make again but probably add another lb or two of grain and little more flav hops or dry hop.

Hey man,

Recipe looks awesome! I'll brew this within the next month. My question (sorry if I sound like a newb) is: why is the batch for a 5 gallon listed at a batch size of 5.5 gallon and a 10 gallon listed at 11 gallon? Is this to counter act the yeast trub? If I'm doing a 2.5 gallon batch, should I top my fermenter off at 2.65 gallons instead of 2.5 gallons?
Thanks in advance.

astrolic said:

Hey man,

Recipe looks awesome! I'll brew this within the next month. My question (sorry if I sound like a newb) is: why is the batch for a 5 gallon listed at a batch size of 5.5 gallon and a 10 gallon listed at 11 gallon? Is this to counter act the yeast trub? If I'm doing a 2.5 gallon batch, should I top my fermenter off at 2.65 gallons instead of 2.5 gallons?
Thanks in advance.

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You're on the right track. Everybody loses beer somewhere in their brewing process. Sometimes it's trub, sometimes it's what doesn't get pumped from hoses. It varies based on your system.

Anyways, if you just top up your fermenter you'll end up watering down your beer. That throws off your balance. You end up brewing more consistently if you brew extra beer expecting to lose some along the way. Hope that helps.

Hey guys,

I have brewed a batch this spring, it was one of my first all grain beers.
The beer came out smelling great! I really love the hoppy aroma the cascade gives.

The beer tastes OK, but I do think I made a mistake with this brew, I hope you guys can help.

The beer has a kind of bitter, astringent aftertaste. Also the mouth-feel is a bit 'sticky'. After 5 months of bottle conditioning the beer is still very cloudy. The yeast (I used Nottingham) settled nicely at the bottom, so I do not think it is the yeast.

I think the sticky mouth-feel may be starch from incomplete conversion during mashing. I did do an iodine test before mash-out, everything seemed OK.

It may also be a water chemistry issue. I used tap water with no additives. Our Ca is 38 ppm, SO4 9 ppm, Cl 9 ppm. The pH of my tap water is about 8, I did not measure the mash pH.

Any thoughts?

Just put one of these down last night, I kept it true to the recipe. It taste fantastic going into the fermentor and the Notty is already fired up doing it's thing. Looking forward to trying this.

Raving_Elk said:

Hey guys,

I have brewed a batch this spring, it was one of my first all grain beers.
The beer came out smelling great! I really love the hoppy aroma the cascade gives.

The beer tastes OK, but I do think I made a mistake with this brew, I hope you guys can help.

The beer has a kind of bitter, astringent aftertaste. Also the mouth-feel is a bit 'sticky'. After 5 months of bottle conditioning the beer is still very cloudy. The yeast (I used Nottingham) settled nicely at the bottom, so I do not think it is the yeast.

I think the sticky mouth-feel may be starch from incomplete conversion during mashing. I did do an iodine test before mash-out, everything seemed OK.

It may also be a water chemistry issue. I used tap water with no additives. Our Ca is 38 ppm, SO4 9 ppm, Cl 9 ppm. The pH of my tap water is about 8, I did not measure the mash pH.

Any thoughts?

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My first thought is that 5 months is a long time to bottle condition this beer.
Hops fade with time and take on a cardboardy aspect if not overpowered/balanced by a complex malt character. And this beer isn't all that complex.
As far as the mouthfeel, I'll leave that to the more chemistry minded. But it seems that if you had a clean iodine test then conversion shouldn't be the issue.

Sunward33 said:

My first thought is that 5 months is a long time to bottle condition this beer.
Hops fade with time and take on a cardboardy aspect if not overpowered/balanced by a complex malt character. And this beer isn't all that complex.
As far as the mouthfeel, I'll leave that to the more chemistry minded. But it seems that if you had a clean iodine test then conversion shouldn't be the issue.

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Thanks for your reply. I know this beer is best enjoyed fresh and the hops will fade over time, but the mouthfeel problem existed from the beginning. I kept some bottles to see if the cloudiness and mouthfeel would improve over time, but unfortunately they didn't.

I think the pH of my mash has been a bit high. I have recently started using CaCl2 and CaSO4, I will try this recipe again next spring. Any recommendations on what concentrations to aim for?

I use a whirlflock tablet in the last 5 minutes of the boil it clears the beer nicely. Did you do anything to clarify yours?

after a few weeks in the keg its outstanding. I posted earlier that next time I will add a lb more grain and more hops .. im not sure that I will, for what it is its very tasty and refreshing. I think I will brew it for xmas at the inlaws, jump the keg and bring with. im sure there will be a snowbank to keep it cold.

These are my water targets. The BMC crowd I know can't get enough of this beer, me included. In fact, this past weekend, I brewed up 21 gallons.
Ca=91
Mg=10
Na=10
Cl=99
SO4=129

chuckcomm said:

I use a whirlflock tablet in the last 5 minutes of the boil it clears the beer nicely. Did you do anything to clarify yours?

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Ah, forgot to mention I used Irish moss. The cloudiness does not really bother me that much, it is the mouth feel and astringent taste I would like to fix for the next brew.

Ben58 said:

These are my water targets. The BMC crowd I know can't get enough of this beer, me included. In fact, this past weekend, I brewed up 21 gallons.
Ca=91
Mg=10
Na=10
Cl=99
SO4=129

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Thanks! I will try to aim at these values next time I brew this recipe.

The pH of my mash may have been a bit on the high side as well.

I shoot for a Ph of 5.35 to 5.4. Also, if you are fly sparging, make sure your sparge water Ph is below 6, as that can cause astringency.

Has anyone brewed this multiple times and dry hopped after trying the original recipe? I'm planning to brew this for the first time but thinking about a dry hop.

How much fruit aroma/flavor does it have as is?

Why does everyone want to change this beer without having ever brewed it? Why not brew it as posted and see what you think?

This is not a pale ale. It is a blonde, and as such is not a hop bomb, either in flavor or aroma.

It is a damn fine beer as designed. If you want more hops, ABV, malt, etc, there are many recipes that may be better suited to your tastes

This is a great beer as is but I did dry hop my second batch for five days with .5oz Cascade. Wasn't much different but had a nice hop aroma.

CGVT said:

Why does everyone want to change this beer without having ever brewed it? Why not brew it as posted and see what you think?

This is not a pale ale. It is a blonde, and as such is not a hop bomb, either in flavor or aroma.

It is a damn fine beer as designed. If you want more hops, ABV, malt, etc, there are many recipes that may be better suited to your tastes

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I'm sorry not trying to insult the recipe creator and I'm sure it is a fantastic beer by the awesome reviews it has which is why I am interested in brewing it....but as home brewer's and beer drinkers we all have our own tastes and I simply asked other people a simple question about the flavor/aroma of this recipe, not looking to make this a hop bomb or something very different at all. If one size fit all we would all be using one recipe and never experimenting, what fun is that?

Sorry, arnobg. My mini-rant wasn't really directed at you, although it seems as if it is.

This thread reminds me of the the cooking recipe cites that have reviews of recipes that have people reviewing the original recipe except...

"I added a half pint of cream" or "I replaced x with xyz and just didn't think it was very good"

It just has me scratching my head because about a third of the posts in this thread are "I brewed this except I changed this to this"

Apparently it brought out the grumpy old man in me this morning.

Once again, sorry.

Maybe I should heed the message in my signature

I brewed as is, and as the keg is about to kick I thought I'd extend on my previous comments. This recipe is a BMC killer. As the first bit crosses your lips the mass appeal is apparent. After a couple weeks in the keg it began clearing up nicely, and now just over a month (brewed 9/18 ), it is crystal clear. Its so clean, and refreshing... Sure I tend to sway towards something more hoppy if paying $5 a pint, but regardless its so, so good. It will always be in rotation.

Here's a pic from a few minutes ago. Cheers!!!!

View attachment 1445716197528.jpg

CGVT said:

This thread reminds me of the the cooking recipe cites that have reviews of recipes that have people reviewing the original recipe except...

"I added a half pint of cream" or "I replaced x with xyz and just didn't think it was very good"

It just has me scratching my head because about a third of the posts in this thread are "I brewed this except I changed this to this"

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Guilty. The first time brewing was exactly as the recipe dictated. Aside from not noting the efficiency of the recipe and having about 10 more points of gravity to begin with that is.

The second time around I was just mashing in when I went to measure my hops and discovered to my horror that I had no Centennial left. With the LHBS closed on Sundays, I was in a bit of a jam. Sterling to the rescue. I also needed to build up some lager yeast for an upcoming brew, and thought this would be a good step up for cell count. Splitting the wort 2 way got that job accomplished. At the end of it all I did post back, more of a "This is how it turns out if..."

I think I've heard the expression "This is a great recipe. It's also a great starting point for something that you can adjust to your personal preference and probably not screw up."

FWIW the first time I made it I dryhopped with cascade and centennial. I am now doing it a second time with the stock recipe because I am now curious about what it will taste like without the dry hopping.

I hear you thou CGVT.. In my search throughout this thread there was a lot of what you describe in terms of people writing it off after changing something. To be positive about it, I did find those comments to be useful in terms of providing me with direction of what not to do.

Can't we all just get along?

The only reason I went all-Centennial on my batch was because I had no Cascade, I had exactly the amount of Centennial to make up for my lack of Cascade, and Centennial is pretty much a "super-Cascade" anyway, so I figured it can't hurt. But that's the only change I made.

I hate to say it, but I am going to keep it that way when I re-brew this. It was just too good to mess with my mistake.

I just brewed this last month. Made it with double the hops for each addition. Was awesome!

jrbraley said:

I just brewed this last month. Made it with double the hops for each addition. Was awesome!

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Is it frozen? How did you get it to stay in the glass like that?

Way to much gelatin to clarify. 1/2 teaspoon per 5 gallon wort, not 1/2 lbs!

Beer Jello

When you make the perfect beer from a perfect recipe it is impossible to spill. That's how you know you've done it right.

I just pitched the yeast on this. Due to some supply and time issues I made some slight changes where I used Avangard Cara Crystal 8L instead of 10L (I'm sure this will be minor) and pitched WLP005 since I don't have time to deal with what seems to be some recent Nottingham lag issues. I also had an efficiency epiphany where I had pre-boil gravity of 1.042 and an OG of 1.050 so this will be a bit stronger than expected.

However it smelled delicious and looked divine. I loved the color as I was putting it in the buckets and I'm really looking forward to bottling/drinking this one.

Hopefully the event for which I'm making this appreciates it - I know I will.

You will be fine with the higher gravity, mine hit 1.047 came out great. As for Nottingham, mine has worked perfect two batches in a row. Takes 24 hours to get going.

jrbraley said:

You will be fine with the higher gravity, mine hit 1.047 came out great. As for Nottingham, mine has worked perfect two batches in a row. Takes 24 hours to get going.

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Thanks. The gravity was more of a happy accident (to me). I'm still dialing in my efficiency and will *have* to suffer through a bit of extra alcohol. Oh the horror

As for the yeast: I was offered the opportunity to brew a large amount for an upcoming work function. Due to my fermentation chamber limits I can only brew 11gal at a time. I was "pretty sure" that I would have no problems with Notty but since I absolutely HAVE to have my fermentation chamber empty by next Saturday I decided to go with my a yeast that is similar and that I know will perform. When I'm not under a tight timeline I will do this again with Notty because... oh man the wort looked and smelled so good. I really want a batch of this for me done to the letter of the recipe. :rockin:

broncosaurs said:

Way to much gelatin to clarify. 1/2 teaspoon per 5 gallon wort, not 1/2 lbs!

Beer Jello

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Mmm... beer Jell-O...

I have never tasted a gravity sample as flavorful and delicious as this one. All kinds of malty flavors balanced with the hops. Crisp, clean, and super clear. This also came out a bit drier than expected at 1.005 - 1.006 which I'm attributing to the WLP005. That puts the ABV on this sucker between 5.75 and 5.9%. Whoops.

I did a search .. and couldn't find an exact answer.

What style is this for BJCP? I am guessing 10A (American Pale Ale)?

Unfortunately I entered as a 6B (Blonde - Light Hybrid) and didn't win a medal in two competitions .. BUT I got some fantastic feedback from the two comps. All 4 judges loved the beer and even though my entry was out of style, I got an average of 38 and 35. I think it would have medaled in the appropriate category. Sadly I only bottled 4 bottles, the rest went in a keg. I will definitely be brewing this one up again. Any other hop recommendations? Citra, Mosaic, Amarillo?

Here is a pic of my beer .. it was clearer than it appears in the pic. I used NO finings.

Cheers!

I've been looking for the category answer also. I think it doesn't have the hop profile of a pale ale , so when tweaking recipe on a recipe builder it comes up out of style for pale ale. The category that I also got it to match to was a Hyrbrid. Would be interesting to see what others have labeled it as

I used all Centennial in my one batch, came out awesome. Amarillo sounds like it would pair well, too.

Brewed this Monday night with a 30 minute mash and 30 minute boil. Moved the centennial hops to 30 minutes and increased it to 1 oz.

3 hours total start to finish for a 5 gal all grain batch is not bad in my book!

snd1990 said:

I've been looking for the category answer also. I think it doesn't have the hop profile of a pale ale , so when tweaking recipe on a recipe builder it comes up out of style for pale ale. The category that I also got it to match to was a Hyrbrid. Would be interesting to see what others have labeled it as

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I entered under Light Hybrid Beer (6B) BJCP 2008 Guidelines.

DC_0602 said:

I entered under Light Hybrid Beer (6B) BJCP 2008 Guidelines.

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Yeah, I did too (6B). Two comps at the same time. Sadly only bottled 4 beers, so I didn't enter any other comps.

If I could redo it, I would have entered 10A .. that was the recommendation from two of the judges. I got some great feedback from them though, I brewed this beer perfect! Some really great scores for the wrong style and positive feedback about how much they liked the beer.

Awesome recipe! I'll be making a few tweaks and brewing again .. Cheers!