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

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I agree with cryhav0c on this one. The concept of grain to glass in 10 days or two weeks seems skewed. I would agree that with a cold crash in the carboy and then kegging with the set pressure and forget method I am 2.5 to 3 weeks in the keg until my brew isn't tasting green and is "ready".
 
I agree with cryhav0c on this one. The concept of grain to glass in 10 days or two weeks seems skewed. I would agree that with a cold crash in the carboy and then kegging with the set pressure and forget method I am 2.5 to 3 weeks in the keg until my brew isn't tasting green and is "ready".

7 Days primary.
24 Hrs in secondary with gelatin (room temp)
Racked to keg at 30PSI for 30 hours in the chiller.

Just a bit shy of 10 days. ;)

(But really only possible with a light grain bill and a low IBU beer)


Sterling_Pour1.jpg
 
WOW. I recon experience pays. What kind of gelatin are u using? It takes me at least 3 weeks to get to that point. Not disapointed with results at all. I'd love to compare mine @ 3 weeks to one @ 10 days though, (for flavor). Had a man tell me that mine @ three weeks tasted like God pee'd in your glass it was so good....LOL, (I think)...<G>
 
So I decided to brew this beer tomorrow and due to the restrictions of the store I went to I had to make some substitutions. I had to buy LME so I figured I needed 6LBS. They didn't have light so I had to buy Amber and the lowest I could get was 6LB 10oz. I bought the correct amount of hops though it is dried hop leafs. I happen to have .5oz of centennial pellets in my freezer and was wondering if I should add some to the start of the boil to make up for the extra amber LME. Should I bother or stick to the regular additions?
 
If using whole leaf hops, you need quite a bit more to get the same bittering potential as pellets. There are many online references for the conversion, but if you bought the same amount of leaf that the recipe calls for in pellets, it'll be under-bittered. I'm sure it will still be fine but just an FYI.

As for the amber DME, that will definitely result in a darker, different beer than the CB. Again, like above - I'm sure it'll still be good but definitely different than this recipe....
 
Thanks for the reply. I added 3grams of pellets I had in the freezer to the first addition. Sample tasted good, it was actually more bitter then what I was expecting. I used 1056 yeast and it is happily bubbling away in the basement at 68F. This yeast is kind of a let down after using White Labs 380 my last two batches, both were volcanos after 24hrs :rockin:
 
Each strain has its own behaviors & properties. Just because 1056 may not develop the same level of krausen doesn't indicate lesser performance or attenuation...
 
Took a keg of this to a party last night. 18 days after brew day. Used gelatin for the first time and this was my clearest beer ever. No one at the party had ever had homebrew before. Keg was floating at the end and was well received! Thanks BM!
 
I am going to make my second batch this weekend. I washed my notingham yeast and saved it from the first batch. This might be a stupid question but since this was a dry yeast i am going to ask. Can i use the yeast i washed and refrigerated for my next batch?
 
grasshopperfirestarter said:
Took a keg of this to a party last night. 18 days after brew day. Used gelatin for the first time and this was my clearest beer ever. No one at the party had ever had homebrew before. Keg was floating at the end and was well received! Thanks BM!

What process did you use for the gelatin?
 
I added 3grams of pellets I had in the freezer to the first addition. Sample tasted good, it was actually more bitter then what I was expecting.

Depending on when you sampled, it might mellow some. I know after only a week in primary, mine has a pronounced bitter note but after the second week I mellows considerably and more of the maltyness comes through.
 
Tuckferrorists - I got a cup of warm water from the kitchen sink and put 1 whole packet of Knox original unflavored gelatin sprinkled in it. Waited 5 minutes then stirred it up. Heated on stove to 170F stirred again then put in secondary and transfered beer on top. This was done at room temp for four days then I kegged. Since then I have tried other methods with only a 1/2 pack but have not seen those results.
 
Made this on Saturday. Used some pacific ale yeast though, we'll see how she goes. Chugging away like crazy in the ferm chamber. I keep dialing down the temp a few degrees to slow 'er down (looking for a more clean finish on this one).
 
I'm wondering if 3 IBUs will make any noticeable difference. My hops are a bit weaker than the recipe calls for (estimate ~18 IBUs vs 21.6 IBUs). (I did a quick search but didn't find anything). However, I was able to bring it up to 20 IBUs (in theory) by doing a first wort hopping instead of the 55 minute addition. The pre-boil smells were amazing. Can't wait to try this one!
 
I'm wondering if 3 IBUs will make any noticeable difference. My hops are a bit weaker than the recipe calls for (estimate ~18 IBUs vs 21.6 IBUs). (I did a quick search but didn't find anything). However, I was able to bring it up to 20 IBUs (in theory) by doing a first wort hopping instead of the 55 minute addition. The pre-boil smells were amazing. Can't wait to try this one!

Certainly within tolerable range. You should have a great beer on your hands. :mug:
 
I brewed up 10 more gallons of this over the weekend for a joint birthday party in a couple of weeks. Such a fun, easy brew day, too!
 
I have 6 lb of amber lme I need to get rid of. Can I sub it for the extra lt Dme in this recipe? If so how will it change the taste?

Thanks!
 
You'll get a much darker beer if you use amber LME. You could still certainly use the regular hop schedule and come out with a "Centennial Amber" instead of a blond. But I think it's going to be a redder and more caramelly beer than the clear & crisp taste of the original.
However I did a little searching and found this suggestion "You could steep 4 oz of chocolate malt, then add 6 lbs of the amber LME, and ~22-23 IBUs worth of Fuggles hops to make a nice Northern English Brown." from this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/8-lbs-amber-lme-i-need-use-350529/
And here's an "Imperial Amber Ale" with honey that looks interesting... like a stronger (and differently hopped) version of the White House Honey Ale, maybe. Weird. https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f63/simple-imperial-amber-ale-334047/
 
Brewed this yesterday (5-gal) as my first attempt at all-grain. Fermenting like mad right now. Will post pic and feedback when done. It smells great so far.
 
I thought about scaling this back about 10% due to my efficiency being high each time I've brewed, but I decided to just go with it. Well, ended up at 1.048, but it looks so nice and golden!
 
Brewed this a week ago yesterday and went to rack to a keg yesterday. The beer was still very cloudy so I opted to rack to another carboy and cold crash. Took a gravity sample and it read 1.006 after a week on mingling with US05. Hopefully it won't be too dry.
 
In the process of brewing this now. No Irish Moss on hand but oh well - hope it won't be too murky. Sure it'll be tasty either way - first batch I brewed of this was great!
 
Just cracked my first of this recipe after two weeks in the bottle and 48 hours in the fridge. Crystal clear with a beautiful, snow white head and the color of sunshine - delicious, clean flavor and utterly impossible to quaff just one. Thus batch isn't going to last long at all. I can't wait to serve this to unsuspecting BMC drinkers. I foresee a strawberry version next summer. What a great recipe!
 
Guidry said:
Brewed this a week ago yesterday and went to rack to a keg yesterday. The beer was still very cloudy so I opted to rack to another carboy and cold crash. Took a gravity sample and it read 1.006 after a week on mingling with US05. Hopefully it won't be too dry.

I dont have my brew log handy but i think my CBs usually finish around 1.010 or a little higher. I'm surprised yours is so low but it isn't too far off.
 
My extract bacthes are 1.010-1.012. My BIAB batch went to 1.006. It is delicious.
 
My keg of CB just spewed foam into my glass.... Looks like i got a brew sesh coming this weekend!! Gonna do this one again and an ipa!
 
Clifton said:
My extract bacthes are 1.010-1.012. My BIAB batch went to 1.006. It is delicious.

Interesting that you said that. This was my first batch of this from all grain. Maybe an increase in mash temp is a good idea? To keep the FG a little higher.
 
My temps dropped during mash. If you maintain 154 it should finish higher than 1.006. Someone back me up here.

Edit: I just looked at page one. BM shows an FG of 1.008. Looks like I wasn't that far off. I also just checked my notes, mine finished at 1.005 not 6.
 
I thought the extract version was really good, but the all grain is even better! Will be brewing this recipe several times as i nail down my process.
 
I kegged 9.5 gallons today. The batch was brewed on 9/18/12. I missed my numbers a little as it was my first all AG batch. I used S-05 for 5 gallons and notty on 4.5 gallons. Non-carbed I clearly prefer the S-05. Due to global warming my tap water was hitting 78 degrees in september. Thus, I pitched at 79 degrees. I put the carboys in fridge and got them down in the mid 60's within a day. I'm not giving up on notty until I correct some of my other rookie AG mistakes. I would guess that day at 78 degrees created some off flavors in such a fast fermenting yeast. Notty was done in 3 days....done. S-05 took 6-7 days to finish. Both yeast started within 6 hours the notty was started faster. The recipe was exactly what I was looking for. I have several BMC+ friends and this will impress them. Should have went AG a longtime ago. Thanks for the recipe.
 
Notty is my least favorite of what I've tried in this recipe so far. Brewing Sunday with WLP001 since the LHBS doesn't have 1056, which has been my favorite, but this is a last minute brew day.
 
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