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

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I made this all grain style, expecting to get 60% attenuation. I hit 70% and came out with 1.053 OG.

Fermented fairly warm with Mangrove Jack Kveik yeast and the rascals took it down to 1.004 in ten days.

So I’m looking at a 6.6% blonde. A big brawny blonde.

I guess due to the sheer size of the gal, the hops don’t come through much in the hydrometer samples. More of a sweet malty thing going on. I’ll take it.

Into the kegs today, to be carbonated naturally and revisited next month. Sober October. Tolerance break for the liver.

EDIT:

October 24th. The beer is aged, carbonated, and chilled. Pulled a tasting sample. Notes below:


An easy blonde. Goes down real easy. Fun to be around. A little opaque. Good head though. Wet finish. Not at all bitter or harsh. Would definitely do again.
 
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I'm brewing this recipe for Learn to Brew Day on my Advil 6.5 electric. The Brew Store is hosting and has 220, so this will be the 1st time with big juice. I love easy drinkers and this recipe fits the bill. I went up couple percent on the malts ( OG 1.046 ) IBU 22.0. Alittle concerned with SRM 4.1. But this is a Blonde....
 
Will be rebrewing this Friday. The grain order should be here tomorrow. Going to use unfiltered city water treated with campden and adjust mash Ph. Wanted to give this a go on the Brewzilla Gen 4 since it's easy! Coincedentally I will also be brewing Cream of Three Crops using Cellarscience Baja yeast. You might say I'm a bit of a fan of these two recipes :)
 
Welp grain order arrived a few minutes ago. Already have the grains weighed out. Guess I might as well brew this today!
 
I brewed this as my 3rd beer ever. did the extract version.
Great beer, tastes lightly malty and lightly bitter, barely any hop aroma = which means everybody can enjoy such a light beer.
OG and FG both as recipe stated.
Definitely gonna do again. had 55 bottles of this, only 15 left and its been carbonated for about 2 weeks now.
 

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Having read thru only a small part of the total thread, I ran into a post about adding strawberries to the secondary. I have been tempted to try a fruit beer and was curious what would be the process for adding say, dry apricots? I might think about doing a smaller batch size to try it. Any input would be appreciated. RR
 
Just took the last pull off the keg of cream of three crops. It's soaking in oxiclean right now. Kegging the Centennial blonde this evening and dosing with gelatin/burst carbing tomorrow once the keg is at serving temps. Plan on letting it sit until Friday then it's time to enjoy after quitting time :)
 
Just took a pull of this off the kegerator. It's definitely not ready yet carbonation wise. It could use another week cold conditioning at serving pressure. Nottingham does drop like a Flippin rock though with gelatin. May just have to play around with this strain. I can't figure if the nice little tart "zip" I get in the background is the yeast or the Cascade hops. Would have to lean towards the late additions of Cascade. Will take pics when this is properly ready in a week or so!
 
Been in the keg right at a week and a half. Nottingham doesn't play when it comes to floccing out! This tastes significantly cleaner than the other times I've brewed this recipe. Going to have to rebrew to see if I can reproduce these results! Forget the previous posts where I dogged this a bit. If your technique is up to snuff this comes out to be a tasty recipe!
 

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Here's a much better picture of Centennial blonde! 1 and a half weeks in the keg and BAM!
 

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Have had more time to sit back and and wait till almost the end of the keg and will say say I'm still not the biggest fan of this recipe for a blonde. It's too busy for my taste buds. I am going to rebrew this and tweak it for my preferences. First thing is I'm going to get rid of the carapils and try a different yeast strain. The carapils, at these levels, leaves a slickness on the palate I do not care for. Also Nottingham still has a fruity tartness to it. Both of those combined are a bit off putting. I'd be curious to try this with wlp029 fermented around 60f and sub extra base malt for the carapils. It's definitely on the to do list! I'll report back on tasting day!
 
Have had more time to sit back and and wait till almost the end of the keg and will say say I'm still not the biggest fan of this recipe for a blonde. It's too busy for my taste buds. I am going to rebrew this and tweak it for my preferences. First thing is I'm going to get rid of the carapils and try a different yeast strain. The carapils, at these levels, leaves a slickness on the palate I do not care for. Also Nottingham still has a fruity tartness to it. Both of those combined are a bit off putting. I'd be curious to try this with wlp029 fermented around 60f and sub extra base malt for the carapils. It's definitely on the to do list! I'll report back on tasting day!

Try Imperial G03 "Dieter" for the yeast. IIRC it's a Kolsch yeast, reportedly the PJ Fruh strain. It supposedly drops very clean without fining but doesn't take forever to do it like WLP-029, which is also purportedly PJ Fruh from Koln. I've got some of it in a Shaken Not Stirred propagation and am anxious to try it. The pouch was a few months past its prime, but seems to be coming around OK. Not sure what to do with it, but "Cof3C" seems like a logical choice as soon as the days warm up a bit. "Sposed to be in the low 20s F next week, so it might be a while. Brrr.
 
Try Imperial G03 "Dieter" for the yeast. IIRC it's a Kolsch yeast, reportedly the PJ Fruh strain. It supposedly drops very clean without fining but doesn't take forever to do it like WLP-029, which is also purportedly PJ Fruh from Koln. I've got some of it in a Shaken Not Stirred propagation and am anxious to try it. The pouch was a few months past its prime, but seems to be coming around OK. Not sure what to do with it, but "Cof3C" seems like a logical choice as soon as the days warm up a bit. "Sposed to be in the low 20s F next week, so it might be a while. Brrr.
I actually have that yeast on hand in the freezer bank. Now having used both I'd say it's a bit different than wlp029. I'm not sure if it's a mutation or different yeast altogether. It has an initial "tartness" that ages out with cold conditioning. I don't get the same tartness with wlp029. It definitely clears a bit quicker than the banked up wlp029. wlp029 does end up coming out a bit cleaner as it clears though. It's a touch malt forward at first but falls to the background given about 3-4 weeks of keg conditioning and gelatin. Have a few brews lined up before even eyeballing this again though lol
 
Brewed up a 5 gallon batch in my clawhammer earlier this week. Came in a few points low at an OG of 1.035. My problem now is that after 3 days, the Nottingham seems to have stalled out (per my Tilt) at 1.016. Pitched dry. Any thoughts? Recommendations?
 
What temperature did you ferment at? When I use Nottingham at 68F , about 4 days and it’s slowing down, then I’ll bump the temperature up to 74F for another week. During that week , I’m getting a bubble every minute. Then I’ll cold crash for 3-4 days at 36F . I brewed an Irish red on 2-12 SG was 1.052 , I should be kegging this today. Should be about 1.012 . I’ll let you know what I get.
 
What temperature did you ferment at? When I use Nottingham at 68F , about 4 days and it’s slowing down, then I’ll bump the temperature up to 74F for another week. During that week , I’m getting a bubble every minute. Then I’ll cold crash for 3-4 days at 36F . I brewed an Irish red on 2-12 SG was 1.052 , I should be kegging this today. Should be about 1.012 . I’ll let you know what I get.
Good advice. I fermented at 67. Do you think it would be wise to move to a secondary at the increased temp or just leave well enough alone until I get some bubble action?
 
Well neither the stir nor the temp bump caused any reaction over the last 12 hours. Made a slurry of pasteurized dextrose and I'm going to drop that in next as a last resort.
 
The slurry temporarily helped start some action but not for long. Sweet, hot mess. I dumped and rebrewed, this time rehydrating the Notty as suggested in the recipe (my LHBS said not to do it) and it is now happily bubbling away after 24 hours. Having real doubts about the accuracy of the Tilt 2 as SG has gone down and up. Obviously being affected by the action in the fermenter.
 
Finally figured out my problem. My new Clawhammer system was underreporting temp by about 10 degrees. Put three different thermometers in latest batch and verified temp error. I have brewed two batches of beer since and I am getting lots of activity. P/O'd that I ruined 4 batches of beer before I figured it out. Looking forward to trying this one in the keg!
 
Kind of really changes the beer, But I have a bunch of El Dorado and Citra. I was thinking about subbing those into this recipe. Think it’d turn out alright?
 
Kind of really changes the beer, But I have a bunch of El Dorado and Citra. I was thinking about subbing those into this recipe. Think it’d turn out alright?
Go for it!
I am a newbie still, but from friends homebrews citra is pretty dominant.
I wooild use citra for bittering and el dorado for flavor and aroma.
 
Finally figured out my problem. My new Clawhammer system was underreporting temp by about 10 degrees. Put three different thermometers in latest batch and verified temp error. I have brewed two batches of beer since and I am getting lots of activity. P/O'd that I ruined 4 batches of beer before I figured it out. Looking forward to trying this one in the keg!
Temperature was going to be my guess. Thanks for posting your diagnosis.
 
I don't have a way to quickly cool the wort, so was planning on doing this recipe with maybe 2-3 gallons boil and then top up with cold water to 5 gallons - would this work? Excuse the newbie question...
 
I don't have a way to quickly cool the wort, so was planning on doing this recipe with maybe 2-3 gallons boil and then top up with cold water to 5 gallons - would this work? Excuse the newbie question...
It will work, yes. It’s not best practice as you increase potential for contamination unless you can boil and cool the top off water ahead of time. There’s also “issues” with hop utilization if you don’t do full volume. But oh well. It will most likely still make a great beer. When you can, get a chiller though, it makes life much easier and less stress free. In the end: RDWHAHB
 
It will work, yes. It’s not best practice as you increase potential for contamination unless you can boil and cool the top off water ahead of time. There’s also “issues” with hop utilization if you don’t do full volume. But oh well. It will most likely still make a great beer. When you can, get a chiller though, it makes life much easier and less stress free. In the end: RDWHAHB
Thank you - I appreciate all of the replies - I went ahead and ordered a wort chiller tonight...
 
Anyone had luck fermenting this with WLP007 around 65F? I've modified the recipe a bit and would like to try that strain. It was used recently in an IPA and it flocced out like nobodies business! It was nice and crisp too! Planning on brewing this in about a month. Basically I pulled out the .75 lbs of the Carapils and added that to the base malt (2 row). That way it's the same og.

Title: Modified Centennial Blonde

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Blonde Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 6.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.038
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)

Hop Utilization Multiplier: 1

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.041
Final Gravity: 1.010
ABV (standard): 4.12%
IBU (tinseth): 22.82
SRM (morey): 3.72
Mash pH: 0

FERMENTABLES:
7.75 lb - Brewers Malt 2-Row (88.6%)
0.5 lb - Caramel Malt - 10L (5.7%)
0.5 lb - BEST Vienna (5.7%)

HOPS:
0.25 oz - Centennial, Type: Pellet, AA: 10, Use: Boil for 55 min, IBU: 9.41
0.25 oz - Centennial, Type: Pellet, AA: 10, Use: Boil for 35 min, IBU: 7.98
0.25 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 20 min, IBU: 4.08
0.25 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 7, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 1.34

YEAST:
White Labs - Dry English Ale Yeast WLP007
 
Going to be brewing this rendition in about 2 weeks or so. In the process of building up WLP810 now. Wanted a high flocculating lager yeast to try for giggles. Also no carapils...Adds a bit too much to the brew in terms of mouthfeel imo Here's what I've got

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Blonde Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.5 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 6.5 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.043
Efficiency: 70% (brew house)

Hop Utilization Multiplier: 1

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.047
Final Gravity: 1.014
ABV (standard): 4.34%
IBU (tinseth): 20.47
SRM (morey): 3.99
Mash pH: 5.89

FERMENTABLES:
9 lb - Brewers Malt 2-Row (90%)
0.5 lb - Caramel Malt - 10L (5%)
0.5 lb - BEST Vienna (5%)

HOPS:
0.25 oz - Centennial, Type: Pellet, AA: 10.4, Use: Boil for 55 min, IBU: 9.32
0.25 oz - Centennial, Type: Pellet, AA: 10.4, Use: Boil for 35 min, IBU: 7.9
0.25 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 4.4, Use: Boil for 20 min, IBU: 2.44
0.25 oz - Cascade, Type: Pellet, AA: 4.4, Use: Boil for 5 min, IBU: 0.8

YEAST:
White Labs - San Francisco Lager Yeast WLP810
 
Just kegged this up. Can say the pre keg sample was nice and clean! Curious to see how it tastes carbed up and cold conditioned. Will report back in two weeks
 
Just brewed this one up last Saturday for a party that my friends are having on July 8th. They requested this beer as they had it last year and it is the perfect beer to drink on a hot day in the sun. Of course I tweaked it a little and added a little more Vienna malt to make it a tad bit toastier!

John
 
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