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

[jflongo]

Going on 6 days for me, and still bubbling away Also just broke my 3rd hydrometer yesterday, and get a new one in 2 days. So I'll let this go 8 days, and then test the gravity.

I'll be testing the gravity on this soon. Do any of you guys put this in a secondary, or just bottle after it's done?

 

[nasty_rabbit]

I'll be testing the gravity on this soon. Do any of you guys put this in a secondary, or just bottle after it's done?

I have, but only to get to the yeast to wash it because I was following up with the same batch and wanted to harvest it. It has cleared fine in primary so if you don't need to I wouldnt waste the time or risk.

 

[justkev52]

I like the Briess 2- row.

 

[jflongo]

I have, but only to get to the yeast to wash it because I was following up with the same batch and wanted to harvest it. It has cleared fine in primary so if you don't need to I wouldnt waste the time or risk.

I was going to harvest my yeast as well, but figured I could after bottling it. Is there a reason why you transfer it first? I'll be putting this into a bottling bucket, so figured i could seal up my fermenting bucket and then harvest the yeast when i'm done.

 

[nasty_rabbit]

I was going to harvest my yeast as well, but figured I could after bottling it. Is there a reason why you transfer it first? I'll be putting this into a bottling bucket, so figured i could seal up my fermenting bucket and then harvest the yeast when i'm done.

It was a couple of gravity points from being done but there was a 1.5 inch layer of yeast that I wanted to get to and I was brewing this batch again the next day. So I moved it to get to the yeast and let it finish in the secondary. In the future that won't happen as I will plan ahead and have yeast available.

 

[jflongo]

I am definitely going to harvest a couple pints of mine. I already have a couple pints of Irish Ale yeast in my fridge. I figured it would be nice to have a cuople of pints of Nottingham in there as well for the future.

 

[OBayBrewer]

I brewed this 3-FEB-13 exactly to spec. Gravity came out to 1.040; spot on!
Lost quite a bit in the boil, somewhere around 1.5 gal so not quite a 5 gal brew, but it is beautiful.
Tested the SG 6-FEB-13 and it is at 1.000. I'd call that done. It tasted great! Nice and light, with just a slight bitterness and citrus flavour from the hops.
I'm going to cold crash for clarity and then bottle sometime this weekend.
Can't wait to try the finished product in about a week!

 

[jflongo]

I brewed this 3-FEB-13 exactly to spec. Gravity came out to 1.040; spot on!
Lost quite a bit in the boil, somewhere around 1.5 gal so not quite a 5 gal brew, but it is beautiful.
Tested the SG 6-FEB-13 and it is at 1.000. I'd call that done. It tasted great! Nice and light, with just a slight bitterness and citrus flavour from the hops.
I'm going to cold crash for clarity and then bottle sometime this weekend.
Can't wait to try the finished product in about a week!

Wow 3 days. Mine is going on 9 days, still have it in the fermenter, my gravity was 1054 though.

 

[brettwasbtd]

I brewed this 3-FEB-13 exactly to spec. Gravity came out to 1.040; spot on!
Lost quite a bit in the boil, somewhere around 1.5 gal so not quite a 5 gal brew, but it is beautiful.
Tested the SG 6-FEB-13 and it is at 1.000. I'd call that done. It tasted great! Nice and light, with just a slight bitterness and citrus flavour from the hops.
I'm going to cold crash for clarity and then bottle sometime this weekend.
Can't wait to try the finished product in about a week!

Really...Have you checked what your hydrometer reads in distilled water? Not sure I have ever seen a beer finish this dry with an all malt grain bill

 

[BigPicture]

I just did a search on YouTube for washing yeast. It's so easy. Yeast has always been the most expensive item when buying ingredients. This is going to save much $$$$$$ over time & ultimately make a better beer.

I just ordered PacMan special & it took 2 weeks from my LHBS.

I've had very good luck with liquid yeast, a starter, & a stir plate! I made my own stir plate for $5 with instructions I found on HBT. My beer just keeps getting better & better.

Thanks Guys!

 

[OBayBrewer]

Really...Have you checked what your hydrometer reads in distilled water? Not sure I have ever seen a beer finish this dry with an all malt grain bill

No I have not. I have two hydros and will test both in distilled water to make sure each reads 1.000. Thanks for the tip! We can always learn more, can we not?

 

[brettwasbtd]

No I have not. I have two hydros and will test both in distilled water to make sure each reads 1.000. Thanks for the tip! We can always learn more, can we not?

We Can! Which is why I await your results Not that it couldn't be accurate, it just sounds a bit off considering you boiled off more than expected - so your wort SG probably should have been higher and I'd also expect the FG to be higher.

 

[Catfish1320]

Picking the ingredients up to brew this the original way it was written. I'll brew Saturday, and I'm looking forward to this one. Need to have a good everyday after work beer on hand. This seems to fit that role perfect.

 

[Chamuco]

Thanks Mr. Muncher, nice quaffer. I put this on tap next to my DIPA and blend this into many different configurations. Tonight it's just straight-up.

 

[horsepackage]

So this was my first AG... was in my LHBS picking up the list and I guess you shouldn't text n shop but I grabbed Victory instead of Vienna LOL. Just bottled last night and I couldn't help myself from tasting.. oh my is this tasty.. after a quick 2 week conditioning I believe ima keg another... thanks for such a simple delicious brew... God I love this site

 

[Feldmann]

Attempted this as my first AG brew. I realized that my math was wrong very quickly on how much strike water I needed so after putting the grain in, I had to add about 4 quarts more (d'oh!). Other than that it went pretty smooth, learned from my mistakes so now the next batch will be perfect.

Considering that I had to top it off once it was in the primary because I was a little low, my OG was 1.030 for a 2.5 gallon batch. I see that the goal was 1.040 for a 5, what should I be aiming for with this recipe in a 2.5?

Just the smell and taste of the sample I pulled out for the hydrometer already has me excited. I can't wait to see the finished product!

 

[Sippin37]

Yes, OG should be the same regardless of the size of the batch. No worries though, it was your first AG brew so you will find ways to get your efficiency a little higher. Or you can simply add some more grains to your grain bill to make up for the lower efficiency and hit that OG on the nose!

 

[jflongo]

Does this look normal? It has been in the fermenter for 10 days, i just opened, and still saw a ton of junk on top.

Brewed January 29 2013 Gravity 1052, Gravity 1008 2/8/2013

I'm wondering if I should rack this to a carboy, and let it sit another 3 or 4 days.

 

[BigGoat]

I just did a search on YouTube for washing yeast. It's so easy. Yeast has always been the most expensive item when buying ingredients. This is going to save much $$$$$$ over time & ultimately make a better beer.

I just ordered PacMan special & it took 2 weeks from my LHBS.

I've had very good luck with liquid yeast, a starter, & a stir plate! I made my own stir plate for $5 with instructions I found on HBT. My beer just keeps getting better & better.

Thanks Guys!

Search for "do you know how to make a yeast starter? Then why not farm yeast and freeze It?" Pretty good stuff and what I plan on doing as I get more experience.

 

[jflongo]

Does this look normal? It has been in the fermenter for 10 days, i just opened, and still saw a ton of junk on top.

Brewed January 29 2013 Gravity 1052, Gravity 1008 2/8/2013

I'm wondering if I should rack this to a carboy, and let it sit another 3 or 4 days.

So what do you think, rack this into a bottling bucket, and bottle, or rack it to a carboy for another 3 or 4 days to clear up?

 

[Clifton]

Just let it sit. It looks like krausen to me.

 

[jflongo]

Just let it sit. It looks like krausen to me.

I guess I can check it on Sunday and do another gravity reading to see if the krausen has dropped, i was surprised to see it after 10 days, when I hear a lot of other people kegging/bottling this after 5 - 7 days.

 

[Clifton]

Every brew I a little different. RDWHAHB.

 

[papab]

Hi
sorry about my inexperience, but in the centenial recipe when you said ferment 4 days @ 68 then kegged, chilled and carb'd for one week and then secondary for 5 days
secondary means leave it in the keg for an extra 5 days or transfer to a carboy again
any help would be appreciated
thanks in advance

 

[Gothic_Horror]

Secondary means to transfer the beer from your primary fermenter, carboy/bucket, into a second carboy/bucket off the yeast cake. Your keg can also be a secondary. Some people feel you don't need to secondary. It all depends on what you are trying to accomplish. I like to cold crash my beers before transferring them into a keg. If you transfer directly from bucket to keg and then refrigerate, the remaining yeast will drop down and you will end up with some yeast at the bottom of the keg. Not a big deal. You will just pour out a glass of the sludge (my word for yeast and hops suspended in the beer) and then the subsequent pours should be OK. The one reason people advise against transferring a beer into a secondary is you run the risk of infection and oxidizing the beer. Personally, I use carboys, wait to hit my FG, move the whole carboy into a fridge, cold crash for a week or two and then transfer it into a keg to carbonate. Do what works best for your situation.

 

[brevity]

Does anyone have a 5 gallon partial mash partial boil for this? I'm working with 3.5 gallon pre boil volume..

 

[CoopersGoose]

Here's a pic of my Twin Blondes Ale. Very clear, it 's now carbonated to my liking and is very good. There's no way this will last past next weekend when I fire up the kettle for another batch. I now know why I didn't know what SWMBO was, it doesn't apply to me. More of a HWMBO house here. Whatever works for them I suppose.

Thanks for posting such a well received, easy to brew beer!

 

[Catfish1320]

Just brewed this tonight. I have never had a beer this clear going into the primary. Hit my Beersmith #s dead on. Just was really suprised to see it this clear out of the brew kettle.

 

[jflongo]

So what do you think, rack this into a bottling bucket, and bottle, or rack it to a carboy for another 3 or 4 days to clear up?

Well it's been another few days, that krausen is STILL on the top, the gravity has been at 1.008 for 3 days now, so I guess I'll just transfer this into a bottling bucket, and hopefully not disturbe that krausen.

I'm still debating whether it would be better to put this in a secondary for a few days then bottle it though?

 

[carlk47]

Now that we have power back, I am brewing this up as my first partial mash recipe! Using an Igloo 3 gal cooler to do the mash in and planning on batch sparging in my brew kettle. very excited to see how this turns out! Using Beersmith really helped me hit the right mash temp.. heated my strike water to 167, let it preheat my cooler for 5 minutes.. temp dropped to about 160ish and then added my grains and my mash temp was just shy of 150(hit 149.5). Awesome!