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

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Just bottled this up for 2.4 volumes, fg was 1.011. Had a half bottle, was delicious. Can't wait to try it once it's carbed up.

High fg probably due to mashing temp troubles, and not hydrating properly. It sat for around 16 days or so before bottling, 8 @ 68, the rest at 64.
 
This recipe looks delicious, thanks for sharing BM.

I'm new to AG and really keen to brew some beers that dispel the homebrew old wives tales that people seem to have heard!

this beer is planned as my third brew but might jump the queue.. Will keep you posted. Only thing is I currently have simcoe, galaxy and nelson Sauvin, all a lot too hoppy for this recipe, so I'd better go buy some hops!

:mug:
 
Man, thank you for this recipe. I jumped into brewing having skipped extract and went with this recipe first. I've brewed it not with little tweaks 3 times and I love it.....and it does please the wife, which is always a good thing.

Thank you Sir. I'm making it again this weekend as a matter of fact. I can't keep it around long!!!
 
I brewed this last night and it was a very interesting brew day to say the least.

I added an extra 8oz of 2-row because I have been having poor efficiency. The extra 8oz with a very slow drain and extra sparge water, landed me with an O.G. of 1.050. No big deal really.

I cooled the wort to what I thought was 67, when in actuality it was 87 (too many dirt wolfs while brewing). I rehydrated the Nottingham and pitched at 87ish. This was at 7pm. This morning I checked and no krausen and no apparent activity.

Am I screwed here? Should I give it more time (its been 12 hours)? Re-pitch?
 
You're probably fine to just wait. I've had yeast take over 24 hours to begin working. Give it a day or so. As long as it's in the fermenter and air locked, it should be safe.
 
I brewed this recipe because of the massive number of views and comments. I had to know what the hype was about. All I can say is this is a simple yet delicious brew that should please many kinds of drinkers. Thanks for sharing.
 
brewed this about a month ago, got it kegged Monday night. The wife got a taste today (Thursday) over lunch and she loved it... definitely a keeper - Thanks BM
 
Brewing this again this weekend and using blueberries this time...probably my final summer brew before starting on some good fall beers!
 
ballsy said:
Brewing this again this weekend and using blueberries this time...probably my final summer brew before starting on some good fall beers!
Click to expand...

How are you planning on doing the blueberries? I'd like to do the same for half of the batch I have fermenting.
 
mdbrewer1 said:
How are you planning on doing the blueberries? I'd like to do the same for half of the batch I have fermenting.
Click to expand...

Just finished brewing this today. Went well, nailed OG (1.037 @ 81F which corrects to 1.040). I minced up 2 pints (how they measure them...haha go figure) in food processor and added with 10 min left in boil. This is what I did with lemon version of this same recipe, but minced up 1 full lemon and it turned out perfect. Just a nice light hint of lemon which really complimented this style. I totally winged it with that (we only had one lemon in the house at the time) just like I did the blueberries re: quantity. It looked like a decent amt of blueberries c/w amt of lemon I used but obviously blueberries are much less potent so I used more. It smelled good, and the color was pretty cool. Should be really interesting to see the final product. Will post pics in couple weeks after it's kegged up. I don't do fruit additions in ferment bucket.
 
Just tried a bottle from my second time brewing this recipe. It's just as delicious as everyone says! Very simple, very clean, ridiculously easy to drink (dangerously so :)).

The first time was a PM/extract attempt that turned out too bitter (lesson learned on SG of boiling wort and hop utilization). This time I did AG and the results are very pleasing. 2 weeks primary - 2 weeks bottle conditioned/carbed - 2 days in the fridge.
 
Brewed this yesterday:

Centennial Blonde - Blonde Ale
Batch Size 4.612 gal
Boil Size 5.862 gal
Boil Time 60.000 min
Efficiency 75%
OG 1.039
FG 1.010
ABV 3.8%
Bitterness 21.5 IBU (Tinseth)
Color 4.4 srm (Morey)
Calories (per 12 oz.) 130

Fermentables
Total grain: 8.750 lb
Simpsons - Maris Otter Grain 7.500 lb
Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L Grain 8.000 oz
Cara-Pils/Dextrine Grain 8.000 oz
Vienna Malt Grain 4.000 oz

Hops
Centennial 9.7% 0.250 oz Boil 55.000 min Pellet
Centennial 9.7% 0.300 oz Boil 35.000 min Pellet
Cascade 7.5% 0.350 oz Boil 20.000 min Pellet
Cascade 7.5% 0.350 oz Boil 5.000 min Pellet

Yeast
Name Type Form Amount Stage
WLP001
 
Well, the search function on this thread isn't working very well for me this morning, so I figured I'd just add my question here.

What's the highest FG people have seen with this brew? I did my typical two week wait and was planning on bottling last night, but my hydro sample read 1.016. I know they aren't great indicators, but the krausen had fallen over a week ago and I haven't had any airlock activity since then.

My OG was 1.045 since I tossed in a little extra DME to finish off the bag I had on hand. I left the better bottle upstairs today to see if the warmer temperature does anything. I made a 2.5 gallon batch at my old house and it finished at 1.010. The only thing I can think of is that the better bottle was filled almost to the top with foam when I pitched the Notty, and it looked like a fair bit didn't make it down into the wort, but I figured the yeast that made it down in there would reproduce enough to chew through everything.

Anyone have any thoughts on this other than take samples the next couple days and see if anything changes?
 
Mine finished like your previous batch did, at 1.010. Yeast are organic, and getting an on-the-nose consistency can't be expected. Your O2 might have been different, the DME batch could have had a different fermentability, temperature could have been slightly off. Who knows?
 
pfgonzo said:
Mine finished like your previous batch did, at 1.010. Yeast are organic, and getting an on-the-nose consistency can't be expected. Your O2 might have been different, the DME batch could have had a different fermentability, temperature could have been slightly off. Who knows?
Click to expand...
Thanks. I realize that there are a lot of variables that go into brewing. This is the first batch I've done more than once, so I'm hoping to work on my consistency and was curious if anyone else has had a similar experience.

That part about O2 jogged my memory. I forgot to oxygenate the wort right away on this batch. I don't have my brew log in front of me so I don't remember the exact time, but I believe it wasn't until the following morning that I remembered to do it. That definitely couldn't have helped. Combined with a number of the yeasties getting caught up in the foam, they probably weren't functioning at full power.

The hydro sample tasted good and similar to what I remember from last summer, so I'm sure it will be just fine. Just trying to do a little detective work.
 
Meaning you added the yeast, but didn't add O2 until the next day? That may have an impact, sure. I'm sure it'll be tasty. Brew it a third time and see what happens :)

And don't let anyone tell you that you oxidized your beer by adding O2 the next day. The yeast gobble it up pretty quick, within 30m I think I read somewhere. Chris White (White Labs) in his book Yeast actually recommends doing a second O2 hit 12 hours after the first for big beers to ensure strong yeast growth. You don't want to oxygenate a fully fermented beer of course, but your next day shot of O2 didn't hurt anything.
 
This recipe won me third place in the Dominion cup for light american ales category (out of 24 beers)! I dont have score sheets yet, should have them in a day or two.

Followed the recipe as written, but added 1 oz of centennial hops to the keg.
 
brokebucket said:
This recipe won me third place in the Dominion cup for light american ales category (out of 24 beers)! I dont have score sheets yet, should have them in a day or two.

Followed the recipe as written, but added 1 oz of centennial hops to the keg.
Click to expand...

Congrats! I plan on putting mine in a competition next month! Hoping for the same or better results.:mug:
 
mdbrewer1 said:
Well, the search function on this thread isn't working very well for me this morning, so I figured I'd just add my question here.



What's the highest FG people have seen with this brew? I did my typical two week wait and was planning on bottling last night, but my hydro sample read 1.016. I know they aren't great indicators, but the krausen had fallen over a week ago and I haven't had any airlock activity since then.



My OG was 1.045 since I tossed in a little extra DME to finish off the bag I had on hand. I left the better bottle upstairs today to see if the warmer temperature does anything. I made a 2.5 gallon batch at my old house and it finished at 1.010. The only thing I can think of is that the better bottle was filled almost to the top with foam when I pitched the Notty, and it looked like a fair bit didn't make it down into the wort, but I figured the yeast that made it down in there would reproduce enough to chew through everything.



Anyone have any thoughts on this other than take samples the next couple days and see if anything changes?
Click to expand...

How much extract was used total? Extract won't ferment out as low as AG. If it stays 1.016 and that's the official FG, I thinks that's fine ESP of u overshot the OG by a few points.
 
ballsy said:
How much extract was used total? Extract won't ferment out as low as AG. If it stays 1.016 and that's the official FG, I thinks that's fine ESP of u overshot the OG by a few points.



How much extract was used total? Extract won't ferment out as low as AG. If it stays 1.016 and that's the official FG, I thinks that's fine ESP of u overshot the OG by a few points.
Click to expand...
I probably ended up closer to 5.5 lbs of extract since I finished off the bag I had, instead of the 5 lbs of extract that is listed in the recipe on the first page. That gave me an OG of 1.045, which was .005 higher than the first batch I did.

It dropped down to 1.015 and it looks like it is done, which is also .005 higher than the FG from my first batch.

Thanks for the response. I always appreciate the feedback from experienced brewers. At work we'd call this knowledge management...
 
I just got my score sheets back on this recipe, here is a quick synopsis of the critiques (3rd place of 24 in light american ales, 33 overall score):

aroma- all judges noted citrus hops too high for style (good call, I keg-hopped this beer with an oz of centennial).

-appearance- clear to brilliant, golden straw with good white head

flavor- all judges noted citrus hops with sweet malts balanced by appropriate bitterness. One judge noted light phenolic, but did not describe it.

mouthfeel- all over the map...thin, light to medium, medium. I got from a 2 of 5 to a 4 of 5, so take this one with a grain of salt...beer finished at 1.004 though.

Overall- Overall impression was that it was a solid beer with too much hop aroma for style (which is fine, because the aroma is awesome!) The highest score I got was from the only certified BJCP judge, so that is cool.


So, if you are on the fence about brewing this, please note that Biermuncher has put together a solid recipe that will do well in competitions and with your buddies if you follow it! If you like a little more hop presence and dont mind being "out of style", then dry hop it a touch!

Cheers to you for a solid recipe, BierMuncher!
 
Got another batch on the burner but this time I'm going with Centennial/Amarillo because I don't have Cascade. Hope it'll still turn out well.
In the meantime, enjoying a Chico King Pale Ale from the Beer Camp collection. :)
 
Here's 1st glass of the Blueberry version...using natural blueberries I think oxidized to a brownish color while sitting prior to adding so final color was reddish brown...looks like an IPA haha. Very slight tartness from them (blueberries really are more tart than sweet). I like my lemon version better but this still turned out good!! ImageUploadedByHome Brew1409262845.659377.jpg
 
Great recipe, thanks! I used Wyeast 1056 and my efficiency on my mash was a little greater than I expected - 1.050 was my starting gravity, so I upped the hops a bit (27 IBUS) to stay right on that evenly balanced/slightly hoppy line.
 
This is an outstanding summer quaffer. I'm new to brewing and I personally prefer bitter beers , sadly my BMC drinker friends haven't been impressed. This was my first batch that they enjoyed. Drained a keg in about 2 hours. Will brew again . Thanks!

Did only about 11 days primary and straight to keg. Chilled and carbed . Grain to glass in exactly 2 weeks. Great
 
brewed this recipe up a couple weeks ago with some minor modifications. Since I didn't have any 2-Row on hand I used all MO. Recipe came out great, a little darker than Blonde, but still absolutely tasty.

Made 10 gallons and have appropriately deemed it my football beer because that is what I will be drinking on Sat/Sun while watching football this year. :ban:
 
I made an attempt to brew this beer...

I didn't have any Crystal Malt 10L so I used what I had...80L.

Also I made the mistake of not sealing my opened bags of hops so they spilled and mixed in the bottom of the quart baggie I had them all in. I could never recreate this beer as I have no idea how much of what hop I used...I just pitched them all knowing I was still making beer.

What it resulted in was a toasty, malty beer with a nice hop backbone. I'm kinda bummed that I won't be able to mimic it.

I also racked about a gallon over fresh strawberries. The initial taste is good with a slight hint of strawberry and the bitterness comes through but the aftertaste of plastic leaves much to be desired. Only been in the bottle for a little over 3 weeks so I'm going to let it condition some more in the hopes that plastic taste subsides.
 
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?

:mug::mug:
 
I didn't go through all the posts in the thread, but this recipe is a great candidate for reusing the yeast cake for a big beer, right? I'd like to make this, then throw an RIS on the cake.

I'm assuming I'm good to go because it's not high gravity, nor highly hopped.
 
W0GWT said:
I didn't go through all the posts in the thread, but this recipe is a great candidate for reusing the yeast cake for a big beer, right? I'd like to make this, then throw an RIS on the cake.

I'm assuming I'm good to go because it's not high gravity, nor highly hopped.
Click to expand...

That should be perfect for a big beer starter.
 
W0GWT said:
I didn't go through all the posts in the thread, but this recipe is a great candidate for reusing the yeast cake for a big beer, right? I'd like to make this, then throw an RIS on the cake.

I'm assuming I'm good to go because it's not high gravity, nor highly hopped.
Click to expand...


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...


Sent from my iPhone using Home Brew
 

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