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

[completegeek]

Just tried my first bottle after a week of carbing. Barely any bubbly right now but it still tastes great. I tweaked the hops schedule to make it lean a bit more toward pale ale bitterness.

Definitely will be a regular in my pipeline.

 

[brettwasbtd]

In the process of making this now and noticed that I had Windsor yeast instead of nottingham. Would Safale SO 5 be ok?

Thats what I used! Turned out great

 

[RugenBrau]

Finished this today. I ended up with 5 gallons which surprised me. I thought I was right on target.

 

[Danbreeze]

The way you phrase this makes it sound like your little brother and his friends are teenagers.

He is turning 25, so he has done his fair share of drinking already. Still a college boy at heart though who loves his Bud Light.

This might be a good "transition" beer for him.

 

[tnbrewer371]

anyone know if there is any harm in letting this sit in primary for a month, i know the original instructions only say ten days or so? thats what I have been leaning towards, mostly, lately and gonna be busy in the next few months and not sure if i will have time to bottle it up and am still getting my kegging system put together? thanks

 

[RugenBrau]

I'm looking at mine right now and it seems awfully dark. Is that normal?

 

[M3Shark]

I brewed a batch thsi last weekend at it seems a lot darker than the photo's I have seen of the finished beer. I am hoping that it just lightens up some during fermentation though...

 

[JonW]

I brewed a batch thsi last weekend at it seems a lot darker than the photo's I have seen of the finished beer. I am hoping that it just lightens up some during fermentation though...

Are you sure your crystal was 10L? I used crystal 20 this time to darken it a bit on purpose.

 

[gkal1964]

I brewed a batch thsi last weekend at it seems a lot darker than the photo's I have seen of the finished beer. I am hoping that it just lightens up some during fermentation though...

Are you looking at the beer through your carboy or fermenter? Your beer will look a lot darker and even a different hue when viewing through your carboy. Look at your beer when you take a hydrometer reading, this is the true color of the beer.

Biermuncher; using your advice I bottled my "rush" super bowl Centennial Blonde today. Brew day went well, however I hit 78% efficiency and ended up with 1.054 OG. Used a re-pitch 1056 3rd gen, from my neighbor. The beer tastes Great. 10 days in primary Straight to bottle. Gives me 2 weeks plus 4 days, should be fine. Will let you know how this tastes. Oh by the way the beer is slightly cloudy so I will be borrowing your "Unfiltered beer" line. Thanks again.

 

[RugenBrau]

Mine has really started to lighten up. Took a reading and am currently at 1.010. Of course I had to drink the hydro sample...really interesting. I like it. I can't wait till this beer is done. Review coming in the next two weeks.

 

[M3Shark]

Are you looking at the beer through your carboy or fermenter? Your beer will look a lot darker and even a different hue when viewing through your carboy. Look at your beer when you take a hydrometer reading, this is the true color of the beer.

Thats probably it. I have been looking through the carboy at it. It has only been fermenting for a couple of days, so I have not take a hydrometer reading yet.

Thank you!

 

[elproducto]

Never judge a beer's color until it's in your glass. I've had IPA's that looked like Amber's in the carboy, and they are super light in the glass.

 

[djr76]

So I brewed this as my first partial mash tonight. My recipe is as follows

4 lbs 2-row
.5 lb Cara-pils
.5 lb Crystal 10
.5 lb Vienna
1.75 lbs Light DME (ended up using closer to 2.5 lbs because my efficiency was low.

Followed the same hop schedule

Does this look like it would be pretty close to the all grain recipe? Played around on pro mash at the LHBS till it was close enough to all the original specs.

Being my first P.M. I kind of had a hunch that my efficiency was going to be pretty low so I added extra DME to the boil. Sure glad I did because when all was said and done my OG was 1.041 with a anticipated of 1.043 Can't wait to have this on tap on my new keezer I'm building this week. Just in time for the super bowl!

 

[Time-Travelers]

So I brewed this as my first partial mash tonight.

I'm looking to do the same, (however a tad bit different with the ingredients)
3.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract
1.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US
Everything else was the same...anyway, can I ask you a couple of questions?

• how much water did you steep grains in,
• at what temperature and
• for how long.
• did you use additional water to rinse the grains? if yes, how much?

I've done other partials (kits or recipes) and everyone has been different. Not sure how to figure out the details on my own yet...

Thanks for your help!

 

[djr76]

I used 1.25 qt of water/lb of grain so it ended up being 8.25 quarts of water at 152 (or tried at least) degrees F for 60 minutes. I noticed that it was definitely warmer at the bottom the pot than the top so I tended to take my thermometer readings from the bottom. To rinse the grains I heated a second pot of water to 180. To rinse I took the grain bag out and put in a strainer http://www.homebrewers.com/product/T1432/10-14-Stainless-Steel-Strainer.html and used a cup to rinsed Verrrry slow till I had as much wort as my pot could handle after adding the DME. And like I said I totally guessed and added more DME than my recipe called for figuring my efficiency would suck. I just got lucky I guess.

 

[ruk]

Here is my very first AG. I had to brew this after reading so many positive comments.

My starting gravity was spot on @ 1.041, FG on the other hand is 1.004. I was afraid it would keep going down is i quickly racked it to secondary w/ gelatin. I left it outside in the cold for 12 hours then afraid it might freeze, put it back inside @ ambient of 60 F. Four days later, i racked to keg and force carb. 15 psi while rolling keg on floor until no more co2 is absorbed in solution.

 

[fartiste]

Noob here. I'm going to try the extract version of this recipe this weekend. My pot isn't big enough to do the full 6.5 gallons boil. Would a partial boil (say 3.5 gallons) make much of a difference?

 

[r8rphan]

Have all the ingredients to brew this one up this weekend... Between this and EdWorts HPA I brewed last weekend (as well as 5G of a columbus IPA that's two weeks into ferment), these fast fermenting APAs will be a nice 20G kick start for the pipeline (25G with the IPA)!

Then it's on to a STONE IPA clone!...

Yeah Baby!

 

[Hawaiianbrewer]

Any thoughts on aging this brew. I saw this as a quick turnaround beer but i've been working on 5 of the 10 gals and starting to think about the other 5 just chill'in (ha) in the secondary for the last month or so. It looks super clear and very tasty but im thinking it may be in there for a bit longer. Will this get better with age or better to drink em young?

 

[BierMuncher]

Any thoughts on aging this brew. I saw this as a quick turnaround beer but i've been working on 5 of the 10 gals and starting to think about the other 5 just chill'in (ha) in the secondary for the last month or so. It looks super clear and very tasty but im thinking it may be in there for a bit longer. Will this get better with age or better to drink em young?

Some aging does not hurt this beer. There is not an abundance of hop aroma to worry about, and the Centennial hops will mellow with some time. Aging this beer is just going to have a lagering (cleaning) effect.

 

[EricT]

This was probably the 3rd or 4th beer I ever made and was my first all grain. I brewed it about 9 months ago and really screwed up this beer. I didnt let it set in primary long enough and racked it from secondary too quickly as well (I was going by the calender and not the yeast). I just cracked open a bottle of this I had siting in a dark closet and it taste like beer champagne. There was no hop aroma at all LOL. I just couldn't drink it all, I had one small cup and pitched the rest. Of course this doesn't mean a properly brewed version wouldn't age well but mine sure didn't. As a side note, I have brewed this 2 more times since and both came out great

 

[ruk]

Here is the MCB after a couple of days in the keg. just a bit hazy from the cold. it was much clearer before i put it in the fridge, hopefully it clears up before the Super Bowl.

The beer tastes a bit sweet even though i hit start/final gravity spot on. I think i'm going to take BM advise and mash at a higher temp...158-160 so as to not have too much malty taste. is this correct?

 

[EricT]

Here is the MCB after a couple of days in the keg. just a bit hazy from the cold. it was much clearer before i put it in the fridge, hopefully it clears up before the Super Bowl.

The beer tastes a bit sweet even though i hit start/final gravity spot on. I think i'm going to take BM advise and mash at a higher temp...158-160 so as to not have too much malty taste. is this correct?

I think you want to mash lower to get more fermentable sugars (taking care of the sweetness). The Malty part can only be taken care of through hop additions. Although I could be mistaken.

 

[r8rphan]

The way I understand it, mashing at higher temps causes more malt to come through, a sweeter flavor with more body and mouthfeel.. where as mashing at lower temps results in more fermentable sugars, giving a beer that is cleaner, drier, with a higher ABV..

 

[r8rphan]

Heating some water to preheat the mash tun now...

mucho cerveza para mi!

 

[nostalgia]

Just did 10 more gallons. Came in at 1.043.

People are now requesting this when they come over. "Do you have my favorite beer on tap?"

Great recipe!

-Joe

 

[Literhoser]

Heres my version of this beer, uncarbonated as of right now though:

 

[r8rphan]

Just did 10 more gallons. Came in at 1.043.

People are now requesting this when they come over. "Do you have my favorite beer on tap?"

Great recipe!

-Joe

I used 5.2 for the first time.. my efficiency went way up to 73% from 64%... This brew came in at 1.042-.043...

11G bubbling away in the fermenters! What are the odds, that this will be kegged and carbed in time for the SB? Might have to do some trickery with the carbing!


Next up, my frist AG attempt at a stone IPA clone..

 

[Jaybird]

I have brewed this beer and gone from grain to glass in (I think) 12 days!! I did pitch a MONSTER starter and fermented it in 70* temps.. I think (it has been a while) it fermented out to terminal gravity in 3-4 days...
Good beer!!
it was a house fav for quite awhile..

 

[inkman15]

Brewed this on Saturday as my first all grain. Was bubbling away yesterday in the fermenter and has since calmed down a little bit. Is racking to a secondary necessary? What is the advantage? I'm not really understanding that concept yet. I'm still new to this...