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

[Clifton]

I thought this was the good stuff.

 

[cruizer8]

I decided to brew the extract version of this and made 5 1-gallon batches using different yeasts. The yeasts I used were Munich, Nottingham, Safale US-05, Safbrew S-33, and S-04. For my tastes I liked the S-33 and S-04, but I am not a fan of using the Munich. At least now I know how different yeasts affect the beer now.

 

[Beernewb]

anyone ever think about adding some fruit to this beer? apricot puree maybe? or frozen strawberries/raspberries?

 

[smagee]

I've tried blackberries and cucumbers with this recipe. The former imparted a *very* light hint of blackberry (but I only used a pound or two). The latter got infected because I got lazy with the cukes. So yes, I've added fruit, just not successfully yet .

 

[jmf143]

anyone ever think about adding some fruit to this beer? apricot puree maybe? or frozen strawberries/raspberries?

I racked a 5.5 gallon batch onto 6 15oz cans of tart cherries and kegged it 2 weeks later. The secondary fermentation dried out the beer and left if very tart. Not objectionable, but I prefer something sweeter. Still learning to work with fruit so more of the fruit flavor comes through. Next time I'll try cold crashing in the primary first then rack to secondary and continue to keep it cold to keep the yeast dormant. I keg my beer so I don't need the yeast for carbonation.

 

[cmw6300]

The batch that I did last summer I fermented on 3 lbs. of frozen strawberries. They imparted a slight pink hue to the beer, a great strawberry nose, and just a slight hint of strawberry in the finish. Overall I thought it was really good.

 

[Gear101]

there are so many cool things to do with this beer, i just bottled mine today, or i should say my friend loves to bottle my beer for me,

i made the first one with citra, because that wass all i had on hand, but i just bought the bill for this yesterday and will make it as posted, then play with it down the road. Like to work off a base with this beer.. GOOD STUFF

 

[Big-J2000]

Make sure you mix the priming sugar well into the wort without oxygenating it. When I used to bottle I noticed this same problem when I did not swirl the wort and priming sugar very lightly with the racking cane to combine when in the bottling bucket. This could be your problem.

Will try this next time (and there will be a next time!). Normally I rack the wort on top of the sugar. I assumed that the wort and sugar would mix evenly as the bucket filled. Guess it couldn't hurt to give it an extra stir just in case.

 

[BetterSense]

I brewed this a couple weeks ago and measured OG at 1.040 and now it's down to 1.004! That's the lowest I've ever seen one of my beers. It seems to taste fine; I will probably bottle it soon.

 

[southside2234]

Made this today for my first all-grain batch. Dropped a screwdriver by accident into the wort when I was tightening the hose clamps on my wort chiller. Those 2 things combined...I shall call it:

My First Screw Was a Blonde

 

[alestateyall]

My First Screw Was a Blonde

Nice!

 

[JasontheBeaver]

You mean your first blonde was a screw.

 

[ido50]

So I tried to brew this yesterday (the 5 gallon version). My first AG after three extracts and two partials (all of them wheat by the way). Seemed like a good recipe to start AG, as OP said "hard to screw recipe" but I guess I managed to screw it up anyway.

I can't do full volume boils yet so I went with Maxi-BIAB in an 18 liter pot. Adjusted recipe with the Maxi-BIAB calculator from biabrewer.info. Brew day went pretty good, or at least so I felt. I mashed in the pot at 65.5C (more like 66), insulated with a sleeping bag, after 70 minutes it was at 65C, so I really haven't lost temperature. I had a post-mash gravity of 1.082 and was pretty certain I'm on track.

It seems I made a few key mistakes:
1. Left too much wort in the pot after the boil, I should have continued straining it into the fermenter even though it had a lot of trub in it.
2. Didn't take a post boil gravity reading, which would have helped me calculate how much water to add (with Maxi-BIAB you have to do post-boil dilution).
3. Diluted too much. Went according to target volume instead of target OG.

So I ended with an OG of 1.032 where I expected 1.042-1.046. That's a very big difference. I wonder if my mash wasn't very efficient too.

Live and learn I guess, I'm hopeful it will still turn out a good beer, even if on the weak side.

Attached is a picture of the beer 12 hours after pitching the yeast.

 

[brew2enjoy]

Just finished this one up. Hit 72% efficiency double batch sparging. Cooled my wort from 212 to 67 in under 15 minutes with my homemade wort chiller! (It's 27° outside today). Pitched rehydrated S-04. I'll report the results in a few weeks. Thanks for the recipe BM!

 

[ddelgado77]

Brewed extract yesterday but found out I got chinook instead of cascade hops. Ended up using centennial only. Hopefully it won't affect the taste too bad.

 

[JasontheBeaver]

Brewed extract yesterday but found out I got chinook instead of cascade hops. Ended up using centennial only. Hopefully it won't affect the taste too bad.

Probably be totally undrinkable, send all bottles to me.

 

[Alelager]

Probably be totally undrinkable, send all bottles to me.

I was thinking the same, I'll be glad to help!

 

[sneeron]

Brewed this beer 3 times and I'm lookin forward to the next batch. I call it my "lawn mower brew" because it's great for cooling off after/during some yard work. My first batch I fermented 5 gallons as is and 5 gallons with strawberries. I used 6 pounds of fresh picked (took the wife and kids picking) and did not use a blow off tube Well you know how bad that can get. I might use fruit on this again but with less fruit and a blow off. Thanks BM for a great brew.

 

[Gear101]

Drank my first Citra last night, all I can say is very nice. Bought the bill the other week for this again and will make starter tonight and brew on Thursday. Might add just a little more DME and just a little bit of honey. This is a fun brew to play with.

 

[brew2enjoy]

S-04 ripped through this in no time. Only took about 1 1/2 days to do it's thing and drop out. I'll give it a week on the yeast cake and keg/force carb. This will be my quickest grain-to-glass so I am very interested to taste the results.

 

[Boek]

Do you think this would work well as a brew in a bag? Would I have to add some grain to make up for lower effeciency?

 

[mid_knight]

Thanks BierMuncher for a great recipe. I used Cascade and Amarillo in my variant. Delicious!

 

[pvtschultz]

Do you think this would work well as a brew in a bag? Would I have to add some grain to make up for lower effeciency?

I've make this in a bag and it turned out fine. The best bet is to use Beersmith to determine the grain amounts according to your setup. I generally get 68%-72% conversion efficiency with my setup so I adjust accordingly.

 

[OlatheSurferDude]

Do you think this would work well as a brew in a bag? Would I have to add some grain to make up for lower effeciency?

I just did this using Biab method. I took the original recipe and scaled down to a 2.5 gal batch. It is now drinkable and have to say probably my best batch yet. Was also first AG I have done. I would have to look at my notes but I seemed to remember hitting my numbers pretty well.

 

[brew2enjoy]

So what is the fastest turnaround time anyone has done with this recipe? I plan to cold crash with gelatin on Thursday (day 11) for a few days and rack straight to the keg and force carb. I used S-04 so I shouldn't have to worry about yeast still being in suspension.

 

[elproducto]

I made it for a BBQ in 10 days, grain to glass.

But having made probably 50 gallons of the stuff.. it' so much better at about 5-6 weeks. A bit harsh when it's young.

 

[brew2enjoy]

I made it for a BBQ in 10 days, grain to glass.

But having made probably 50 gallons of the stuff.. it' so much better at about 5-6 weeks. A bit harsh when it's young.

Have you tried it with S-04?

 

[elproducto]

Yep, it will be ready.

I just think it's so much better at even 4 weeks. Keep the temp a bit lower if you are using S-04.. you really want this beer clean.

 

[Brickout]

Just brewed this yesterday as my first all grain brew. And I'm happy to report I hit all my numbers.

I'm looking forward to drinking this!

 

[rld04]

I brewed this one this weekend. I bumped up the 2-row a pound and used All citra in this brew(it was all I had on hand). I pitched US-05 that I washed from a pale ale. This was my 1st time washing and reusing yeast and this Blonde is going crazy. I needed a blow off tube with this one. Anyone else use all citra?