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

[pikeman94]

I brewed this about a week and a half ago. I did make a change to the 2-row load out as the brew software I was using stated that I wasn't going to get any where near the OG. I ended up adding one more pound of 2-row. I think the only thing I accomplished was increase my ABV to 5.25%. Also, I under-estimated my brew house efficiency as I hit 1.042 for OG. Anyways prior to adding the finnings last night this beer is super clear! It is chilling right now and I plan on kegging it tonight or tomorrow night. If all goes well is should be ready by Saturday.

On a separate note, what other hop combos have people tried with this base recipe? Anyone do a Tettnanger/Saaz combo?

 

[jcojr72]

Hi all,
As many others this was my first shot at all grain brewing. BM, thanks for the recipe. I felt like everything went great on brew day, which was Sunday. My OG was low 1.033, which I think was due to the crappy mill at the LHBS. I am going to get my own mill. Anyhow, I just racked to the secondary, and had a FG of 1.008. Beer color looks good, however I tried it and it had an overwhelming taste of grain. This beer is super green, only about 4.5 days old, but I was wondering if anyone else had similar results in the taste of the beer from the primary. I was hoping to keg it about a week from now, and am hoping the grainy taste will subside.
Thanks.

 

[EricT]

I brewed this today for the first time, I had to use 2 different pots since I don't have a big enough one to do it in. after all was said and done, I ended up with 5 gallons and an OG of 1.042 so pretty close to the expected OG from BM. This is my first AG and so far so good. Will keep ya'll posted but I would expect it to turn out like everyone elses on here Thanks for the recipe BM

 

[pikeman94]

Hi all,
As many others this was my first shot at all grain brewing. BM, thanks for the recipe. I felt like everything went great on brew day, which was Sunday. My OG was low 1.033, which I think was due to the crappy mill at the LHBS. I am going to get my own mill. Anyhow, I just racked to the secondary, and had a FG of 1.008. Beer color looks good, however I tried it and it had an overwhelming taste of grain. This beer is super green, only about 4.5 days old, but I was wondering if anyone else had similar results in the taste of the beer from the primary. I was hoping to keg it about a week from now, and am hoping the grainy taste will subside.
Thanks.

The grainy taste could be you that you got some grain husks into the boil and they leached tannins into the beer. As for "gree", I hope you mean the taste and not the color. If it truly is green then it sounds like you have some sick beer -- infection. Let us know how it progresses in the next day or two. Also, how is the aroma? Does it smell skunky or "off"?

 

[jcojr72]

Thanks for the response pikeman. Thankfully the color is not green, what I meant is the beer is quite new only 4.5 days from brewing. In fact the color looks dead on with the pictures I have been seeing here. I did not notice any husks in the boil. I am reading up on water chemistry. I have well water and am trying to determine if the water chemistry could have anything to do with it.
The beer does not smell 'skunked'. I am hoping a week in the secondary will resolve this, I will post back.

 

[pikeman94]

I should probably state the my final gravity on my first batch of this was 1.002. Remember, I did increase the 2-row by a pound. In hindsight the goofy recipe calculator I was using was way off on that and the color. I will stick to the original recipe next time. The other thing I did was rack it straight to the keg from the fermenter. I don't have two carboys to do a rack to a secondary. So I only brew beers where I don't need to dry hop or add any special ingredients to a secondary.

 

[DavidSteel]

Drinkin' my first bottle of this after sitting for 2 weeks. It's clear as day, pretty much all the way carbonated, just needs to sit for another week or so. Tastes clean and drinkable. Mine turned out at 5.1%. A pretty good session beer. I get a very small smidgen of lacing. Not bad; 11 gallons of a 5.1% beer for only around 17.50. Jawesome.

 

[pikeman94]

Any opinions on replacing the 2-Row with Marris Otter?

 

[derekbooth]

Made this beer for my 2nd AG batch on Wednesday, but first attempt at chilling with my shirron plate chiller. That didn't go so well... temperature in the fermenter was 100 degrees, so I waited to pitch the yeast until Thursday morning. It's now Saturday morning and I still have no activity in the airlock and no visible trub. Any idea how I can get this one going?

 

[SaintAnky]

Has anybody tried this recipe with all Centennial? I misread the recipe and used Centennial instead of Cascade for the third and fourth additions. I imagine it'll still be pretty good, maybe just a tad more bitter, which is fine by me -- guess I'll know in a few weeks!

 

[EricT]

OK, I am at day 7 of this brew and just took a gravity reading. I'm at 1.018, which seems a bit high still. I moved this to secondary on day 4 of fermentation and my gravity reading that day was 1.018 as well. Its not very clear at all at this point, but I put my tester into the freezer for about 10 minutes just to cool it down and see what it taste like cold. It has a nice flavor for a beer on a hot summer day, at 3.1% ABV I can drink it all day. I'm thinking I will leave it in the primary next time the whole 10 days instead of racking to secondary. My Fermentation temp is between 68-70 degrees. I would like to take this camping in a week and a half, do you think it will be carbed enough? I should have bottled for 8 days at that time.

 

[BendBrewer]

Yeah, I left mine in Primary for 10 days and hit 1.009. Another 7 days in Secondary and I can read a newspaper through it.

 

[BeantownR6]

I just Kegged mine after being in the Primary for 12 days. FG was 1.008 and i used S-05. Had a taste and it was light and refershing, def ready to drink. i put it in the kegorator and hooked up the gas gonna drink it this weekend

 

[gunner11]

Mine is carbing up now. Had a sample last night and the light/crisp/clean style makes for a great warm weather beer. The cascades and centennial hops smell great in this beer.

 

[EricT]

I'll be bottling this Sunday 4/25. I don't think my final gravity will change much. After taking my sample yesterday my airlock has not filled back up with Co2. I will try this one again for sure as I do like the taste, maybe a pinch more Hops at flame out but that's about it. More updates to come.

 

[BeantownR6]

Well the centennial blonde went fast. i built a 2 tap kegorator and one keg was centennial and the other a pale ale. they both gone after one night of partying and bbqing. centennial blonde was awsome and everyone loved it! i kegged it after 12 days in the primary, carbed it in 2 days and gonezo!

 

[SourHopHead]

FG 1.007 with WLP001 after 8-9 days. Added my chili's yesterday. 2 Hot and 4 Medium for 5 gal.

 

[Pubwilson]

Well, unfortunately this was my first try at AG, and I didn't realize I should use all my calculated sparge water. I ended up with 4.25 gallons. Beer was still excellent, and now with 4 AGs under my belt, I will be giving BM's CB its proper treatment with a full 5 gal brew next week.

 

[Keff]

Added 6 lbs. Fresh frozen strawberries after 8 days and let it sit for another 7 days, just carbed up today and its already a hit! Split the batch with my buddy and he is already half way through his 5 gallon's and wants to add blueberries next time.

 

[smokinghole]

Brewed this up yesterday. What an easy brew day. Can't wait to drink some in a month or so.

 

[brewmatersmike]

BM,
Thanks for this great recepie. Brewed 10Gals up on Sat 5/1. Hit and OG of 1.045.
Using my RIMS system, Beersmith calculated my Brewhouse efficency at 83%. I am a little sckeptical of that number. anyway, I will let you know how it comes out in 3 weeks.

Cheers!

 

[EricT]

So its been in the bottle almost 3 weeks and is still cloudy. Any Ideas?

 

[pikeman94]

EricT,

During the boil did you scrap off the protein break aka that nasty foamy stuff at the start of the boil?

Pikeman94

 

[smokinghole]

My idea is to just drink it cloudy.

 

[BrewNinja1]

My idea is to just drink it cloudy.

Thats what I did! Im gonna use some whirlfloc next time...but for now Im just calling it "Dirty Blonde."

 

[smokinghole]

Yeah use some sort of irish moss product in the kettle. I can read through my carboy with this stuff right now and I used a half packet of gelatin when I transferred from primary. Since this was one of my lighter beers I could immediately see the stuff the gelatin was pulling out falling to the bottom. I was going to bottle today but don't have time. I'll have to do it when I get back from this weekend in Chicago.

 

[Ricand]

I made this recipe on Sunday and used the Danstar Nottingham yeast for the first time. Chilled to low 70s, hydrated two packs of yeast per Danstar instructions, ~80 degree water, sprinkle on top, wait 15 minutes and stir. Put in a small measure of cooler wort until everything came out close to the same temp. Then pitched yeast in 10 gal and swirled (they say "Aeration of wort is not necessary." in the rehydrating instructions). Here it is now Wednesday 3 days later and absolutely no activity at all. I have a clone of Anchor Steam done the same day with WL830 lager yeast in the same 68 degree fermentor fridge and it's been blowing up since Monday. I verified this was not the lot number from the previous bad batch, it is 1080961099V exp 12/11. I have a couple packs of US 05 around, should I pitch that to get beer going? I'm worried about infections if this sits around as wort and 68 degree for too long.

OK, so I pitched two packs US-05 and still nothing. Checked gravity and it's 1.009, meaning the Nottingham blew through it so fast I missed it. Doh! What a bonehead. I'm fermenting in a Milk Jug so no view and evidently the top wasn't on tight enough to get the airlock bubbling. By day 4 when I checked it, it was a quiet pond.

 

[mgortel]

I gotta try this.....I think I will put this on my scedule for next week....this week I am doing a stout.

Anyway...I do have a couple questions on doing the EXTRACT version:

1) How long in primary and how long in secondary?
(I am assuming for this it would be a good idea to do secondary?)

2) I was planning on using irish moss in boil and gelatin in secondary to aid in clarity ....sound like the thing to do? How much gelatin in secondary? Ive never used it before as this is the first lighter beer I will be doing.

 

[EricT]

Pikeman94,

No I didn't crape anything off. I did let the wort sit for a bit while it cooled and siphoned it to my primary fermenter to leave a little trub behind but that's about it. I have been drinking it as is but just wondering why it was so cloudy since so many people have made this beer and it turned out crystal clear. I have some Irish Moss from my Stone Pale ale Clone I will use next time. Thanks for the input all.

 

[289tiger]

Hi - just did my first batch of of Centennial Blonde all grain. Missed the OG a bit at 1.036. Finished brewing on Saturday evening and added 1056 yeast. First thing on Sunday the airlock was showing vigorous signs of fermentation. Was very active thru Monday, but by Tuesday evening it appeared pretty inactive. No signs of activity today (Wed). Temp was around 66 or 68 and has since cooled to about 62 which is the lower end of 1056 which says it's good to 60 degrees. I haven't taken a hydrometer reading which I'll do in the next day or so. Could it really have pretty much fermented out in 2 days?