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

[NoTrubble]

We aren't building airplanes, relax dont worry. Even a little off on the numbers and it'll still be tasty.

Actually Japan tried correcting American mistakes on the F-16 and F-14. They built a perfectly balanced and torqued airframe and power plant. The result? They didn't fly. So it's ok to be a little off on those numbers too. :0)

 

[Guidry]

Brewed this yesterday. Everything went great. Hit the OG right on 1.040, but for some reason every time I brew this one I end up with very low volume in the carboy.

Went with Danstar BRY-97 this time. Pitched at noon yesterday and not one bubble yet. Kinda wondering....

 

[NoTrubble]

@Guidry Mine was kinda slow starting too. It took about a full day and a half to finally start kickin the airlock.

 

[Guidry]

@Guidry Mine was kinda slow starting too. It took about a full day and a half to finally start kickin the airlock.

Did you use the BRY-97 also? This is my first time with this yeast. I have always gone with -05 in the past. I have no experience with this yeast at all. Usually with the -05, the bugs are doing their thing in about 12 hours, or there is at least a layer of foam forming in spots on the surface. There is NOTHING in there. I know! Just relax!

 

[NoTrubble]

I haven't tried that one but I like Danstar because it's solid. My experience has been about 12-15 hours minimum providing temperatures were just right for them if not hydrated before hand. I had some iffy yeast in a carboy once that wouldn't start because it got too cold on the floor 68F was just too low to get it started. I put a heating pad under it and covered it with a blanket to jump start the process. That took almost two days to get started. It finally started cranking between 74-76 degrees and maintained that temp without the heating pad.

If the yeast is suspect I would take it up with whoever sold it to you. They might not have stored it properly and it was f'ed before you got it.

 

[Guidry]

I called my wife at 3pm yesterday and asked her to check my beer. "Tell me if the airlock is bubbling or if there are any bubbles at least on the top of the wort"....She told me there was a thin layer of small fine bubbles on the wort. Got home at 7:45 and the head space in the 6.5g carboy was almost completely full of krausen. Nice!

 

[NoTrubble]

I'm drinking this now while watching my Tripel X blow the bung. It's not a bad beer but I don't really care for it. Tastes like Corona to me.

 

[sloose]

I've brewed this twice now from AG and I love it. The first batch went so fast it was ridiculous. I use s05 with a starter, and follow the recipe exactly except for adding gypsum. This last batch I dry hopped with 1oz cascade and it really kicked this beer up a notch. I love centennial and cascade so much that i am brewing a centennial blonde "big brother" as an APA.

It's a big hit among my friends they guzzle it, and I like one after getting home from work. Thanks biermuncher.

 

[jtkratzer]

I tried using google to search the entire thread for any reference to Maris Otter. I thought I saw a reference to someone brewing this beer subbing it for the 2-row. Anyone try that? How was it?

I think the reference I saw was even someone who submitted this for a competition.

 

[llama_boy]

I tried using google to search the entire thread for any reference to Maris Otter. I thought I saw a reference to someone brewing this beer subbing it for the 2-row. Anyone try that? How was it?

I think the reference I saw was even someone who submitted this for a competition.

Was my post, #2404

 

[jtkratzer]

Was my post, #2404

Thanks. Anything else you liked or disliked about the MO version? Have you brewed the recipe as is? If so, thoughts on the comparison?

 

[llama_boy]

Thanks. Anything else you liked or disliked about the MO version? Have you brewed the recipe as is? If so, thoughts on the comparison?

Nothing I would change if I brewed it again. Also this is the only way I have brewed it so I don't have a comparison but can say the the MO gave it a good backbone that was well received by the judges. If anything I would maybe increase the hops a little, maybe 10%, but you see that much variation just in freshness levels.

 

[he-brews]

I brewed this a week ago from yesterday. My first all grain and I think I will never go back to extract. Kegged it last night, force carbonated and I can say that it is truly amazing!! All my friends that came by tonight tried it and didn't believe I made it. I got about 1014 after fermenting which put mine about 4.2% if I calculated it correctly. I also used 7 gallons of spring water from Walmart that I think helped a lot!! Thanks for the recipe! Will be making this the beginning of next week again for Christmas Eve!!

 

[jtkratzer]

I brewed this a week ago from yesterday. My first all grain and I think I will never go back to extract. Kegged it last night, force carbonated and I can say that it is truly amazing!! All my friends that came by tonight tried it and didn't believe I made it. I got about 1014 after fermenting which put mine about 4.2% if I calculated it correctly. I also used 7 gallons of spring water from Walmart that I think helped a lot!! Thanks for the recipe! Will be making this the beginning of next week again for Christmas Eve!!

This was my first all grain and I felt the same way. My wife and brother in law schemed against me to trick me into brewing a 10 gallon batch of this to serve at my surprise 30th birthday party I didn't know I was having. It was very well received.

I have started to dabble with MO and thought the notes above were intriguing and worth a shot.

 

[tre9er]

My variation of this turned out just a tad on the hoppy side. Fine for me, but probably just a touch too hoppy for the wife. Funny, I was shooting for the 21.6 IBU's but I bittered with CTZ, which has been giving a more harsh bittering for me lately...something often unnoticed in PA's and IPA's. Next time I'll use Nugget for bittering and reduce the IBU's just a scosche.

 

[Gear101]

Going to ge the grains for this today

 

[LAbrewer]

I'm drinking this now while watching my Tripel X blow the bung. It's not a bad beer but I don't really care for it. Tastes like Corona to me.

Ditto. I drank from the hydrometer a few times and it kind of tastes like any old bmc, corona, etc. Not bad just not my cup of tea. It did have a strong maltiness like fat tire though so my family will drink it up on christmas.

 

[jtkratzer]

Ditto. I drank from the hydrometer a few times and it kind of tastes like any old bmc, corona, etc. Not bad just not my cup of tea. It did have a strong maltiness like fat tire though so my family will drink it up on christmas.

Funny you mention the Corona taste...I threw a lime wedge in this the last time I had it kegged and enjoyed it. Figured it would be great at the bar by the pool.

I think this is a step up in flavor and hops over the BMC/Corona brews, but still close enough that it's a crowd pleaser and you can enjoy several without passing out in a pool of your own vomit.

My ingredients for 10 gallons is on its way with MO as the base this time to see how I like that. I'm going to see if it's possible to go from grain on 12/23 to glasses on 12/31 with this.

 

[Chriso]

Heck yeah, I bet you can have it done in time. What yeast are you using?

If dry, I'd pitch two packs per vessel, if liquid, make a properly sized starter. If I were doing it (and assuming that I use my usual practices & equipment), I'd hold steady at ~66*F so it ferments cool but doesn't stall out, for 5 days primary fermentation, on the 28th, cold crash and carb for 3 days in a 'secondary' corny keg on about 17-20psi gas at fridge temps of ~40*F, then transfer with a jumper hose into a clean sanitized serving keg on 12/31. Barely in time.

 

[jtkratzer]

Heck yeah, I bet you can have it done in time. What yeast are you using?

If dry, I'd pitch two packs per vessel, if liquid, make a properly sized starter. If I were doing it (and assuming that I use my usual practices & equipment), I'd hold steady at ~66*F so it ferments cool but doesn't stall out, for 5 days primary fermentation, on the 28th, cold crash and carb for 3 days in a 'secondary' corny keg on about 17-20psi gas at fridge temps of ~40*F, then transfer with a jumper hose into a clean sanitized serving keg on 12/31. Barely in time.

I'm planning on using 1056 and making a big starter to ensure fermentation kicks off within hours rather than days and I was going to ferment at 68* for 5 days or so, rack to a keg, then drop the temp to 38 or while force carbing. I don't mind if the first pull has some crud it in. I want to make sure it's finished fermenting and carbed, but who doesn't want those to happen in an expeditious manner?

I've never transfered carbed beer, but I do have some extra liquid ball lock connectors that I could make the jumper.

 

[Chriso]

Sweet. Yeah, I bet 1056 does the trick in no time flat. I like to cold crash for a couple days and transfer so that I have to be less delicate when I'm moving kegs around. I don't do it every time for my fridge beers, but I try to do it at minimum whenever I am taking beer to an event with my homebrew club. I hate pouring yeasty sludge to booth visitors! Just make sure to use a low psi during transferring (I shoot for ~5psi) and go slow. Don't be afraid to let the pressure start building as you pass the halfway mark, and then burping the keg slowly in intervals to let it keep filling. The first time I transferred keg-to-keg, I left the pressure relief twisted in the open position, and by the time I got to the last 10% of the beer, I started shooting foam everywhere because I didn't keep the pressure change gradual enough. Ya get the hang of it after the second or third keg. Usually takes me about 10 minutes, but I can do misc. cleaning and pick-up while it runs, I just stop by the keg every 90 sec. or so to vent some of the pressure.

 

[tre9er]

Lately I've been cold-crashing in primary and then racking to keg, putting gas on 20-30PSI (depends on if I want it ready in 2-3 days or 3-5 days), set to serving and bleed down, then pouring off the first 4-8oz. when it's carbed. Get's rid of a lot of yeast and such. I'm not going for clear beer most of the time, but if I were, I could keep this schedule and just add gelatin after racking to keg.

 

[Chriso]

I can't fit my buckets into the fridge or else I'd totally crash the primary instead of the keg. Maybe once I get my fermentation chamber built up.

 

[jtkratzer]

Lately I've been cold-crashing in primary and then racking to keg, putting gas on 20-30PSI (depends on if I want it ready in 2-3 days or 3-5 days), set to serving and bleed down, then pouring off the first 4-8oz. when it's carbed. Get's rid of a lot of yeast and such. I'm not going for clear beer most of the time, but if I were, I could keep this schedule and just add gelatin after racking to keg.

This is what I do with beers you can drink as soon as they're done fermenting and I'm in a hurry. Otherwise, I set to serving pressure and just wait until they're ready.

I can't fit my buckets into the fridge or else I'd totally crash the primary instead of the keg. Maybe once I get my fermentation chamber built up.

I have a side by side fridge/freezer that I can set different temps on the two sides to include heat on the fridge side. When fermentation is over, I just drop the temp on the primary and let it sit.

 

[orion7144]

Finally have started gathering the grain and hops for my first go at it but my LHBS only had Dingmens pale ale 2-row on hand and not the US variety. Will this change the characteristics too much?

thanks. cant wait for my new pot to come on Monday to try this

 

[brett1341]

Just bottles this last night while I was mashing a honey nut brown ale. For the blonde, I split it into two 2.5 batches and dry hopped one of them with .5 oz Cascade pellets. It will be interesting to see the difference between the two.

 

[tdogg]

brewed 11 gallons today!

 

[jtkratzer]

My ingredients showed up today. Brewing on the 23rd.

 

[Silverbullet]

Just bottled 3 different version of this (15 gal batch split 3 ways). Sat in primary for 3 weeks at 66/67 and looks/smells/tastes great at this point! Didn't have centennial hops on hand so mixed chinook and cascade for the centennial portion of the hop schedule. Not the same obviously, but hopefully close. Of the 3 versions bottled, one was watered down to an OG of 1.042 (my efficiency was crazy good on this 15 gal brew day) and used US-05. 2nd batch was slightly less watered down to 1.045 with American II and the 3rd batch was left undiluted at 1.054 and American II. All yeasties went bonkers and the US05 went down to 1.006 and the AMII finished at 1.008. Much stronger than planned but smelled and tasted great when sampling during bottling.
As an experiment, I stole roughly 1 gal from each batch and combined them along with 1oz cascade. I will be bottling that 3 gal experiment next Sat. (10 day dry hop). So far I'm impressed with the results although I came in a little hotter than planned....although I always liked a beefier "session beer" anyway.

 

[daggers_nz]

I just racked to secondary after 3 weeks in primary (I was out of town) and it smells quite nice, must be why there's an emphasis on using Centennial. I didn't taste it though because I'm sick as a dog so it's Glenfiddich tonight.