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

[FATC1TY]

Any problem using Pilsen malt instead of 2 row?

Shouldn't be. Will be lighter and will need to be boiled for 90 min to drive off the Dms.

 

[Estbrew]

If i would use larger amoun of centennial to reach desired IBU level and use rest of centennial and cascade only for aroma addition at 5 min or even flame out, would it be different beer? Or even use magnum for bittering? Just wondering about these different addition times lately

 

[BillyMojo]

I borrowed this recipe and made some minor changes, to apply it to BIAB.

I've brewed 5 consecutive batches (5.5 gal finals) .. and I'm tasting the second one now.

The first one, I didn't modify the steep time. 60 mins.

Pretty much came out like all the comments I've read in the early stages of the thread.

Second batch, I steeped for 90 mins. and changed to Wyeast 1056.

BINGO.


higher OG (1.049)

let it sit on the yeast in the primary for 14 days (FG 1.009 on day 14, day 13, and day 12.)

simple simple simple rack to bottling bucket on 3/4 cup table sugar boiled in 2 cups of water.

bottled about 46~ or so 12 0z. bottles.

let them sit for 14 days, then chilled.

Now, I compared one side-by-side to a local Pale Ale. (Boulevard.)


mine is more complex, full, and better flavor.

I've got 3 more batches in various stages of primary, secondary, and bottle conditioning. This recipe is a home-run.

final numbers overlap Pale Ales.

Thanks, guys.

 

[sethlovex]

Nice work BillyMojo. I actually brewed this tonite myself, just pitched WL001 that I built up a starter for two days ago. OG was right on the money. Can't wait to keg it. The best part is I still have enough hops and specialty grains to brew another 5 gal batch. Thanks Biermuncher!

 

[cridden]

I made this a week ago and hit 1.040 as starting gravity, but after a week and a half at perfect conditions in a temp controlled freezer, ive only gotten down to 1.020. That's only 2.5 abv but I dont care if itll taste ok. Any ideas on what went wrong?
Hydrometer sample is pretty weak.

 

[FlyDoctor]

I made this a week ago and hit 1.040 as starting gravity, but after a week and a half at perfect conditions in a temp controlled freezer, ive only gotten down to 1.020. That's only 2.5 abv but I dont care if itll taste ok. Any ideas on what went wrong?
Hydrometer sample is pretty weak.

Did you pitch enough healthy yeast and did you oxygenate? Also high mash temps.

 

[cridden]

mashed at 154 for 60 mins, shook the sh%$ out of fermenter for 10 mins, and pitched a rehydrated Notty for 5 gallons.
gonna try it again this weekend and see if i can spot what went wrong.

 

[Komocabo]

I brewed this an fermentation was done after 9 days so I kegged it and force carbed it. Tried it last night after being in the keg for a few days to carb up. My first sip was kind of bland but then I got a very odd taste... sort of like old skunky beer. My wife says it tastes like Budweiser and I have to agree. I used the exact grain bill and hop schedule but used a fresh smackpack of 1056. I mashed at 152 for 60 if I remember correctly. I am wondering if mashing for 90 would make any difference. Any insight? I have a 3 keg set up and I fly sparge, if that helps

 

[user 131481]

I brewed this an fermentation was done after 9 days so I kegged it and force carbed it. Tried it last night after being in the keg for a few days to carb up. My first sip was kind of bland but then I got a very odd taste... sort of like old skunky beer. My wife says it tastes like Budweiser and I have to agree. I used the exact grain bill and hop schedule but used a fresh smackpack of 1056. I mashed at 152 for 60 if I remember correctly. I am wondering if mashing for 90 would make any difference. Any insight? I have a 3 keg set up and I fly sparge, if that helps

Budweiser has the flavor of acetaldehyde, which can be perceived as sour apple (kind of like Jolly Roger candy). That off flavor is caused by fermentation issues such as low pitching rate, low oxygenation of wort, or not letting the yeast complete its process (clean up). Perhaps you pulled it off too early??? Anyway maybe it will dissipate a bit if you give it time.

 

[Komocabo]

Yeah, I'm hoping that it will clear up a bit. If it does then I will be happy because its a cheap beer to brew... I've been trying to make a good session brew... I'll let it sit in the keg for another week and pour off another pint

 

[Komocabo]

Update... well, something magical happened in the keg over the last few days... I couldnt help it so I poured a little... just to try... and it cleaned up really nicely! Yep, gonna brew this one again

 

[cpl-america]

mashed at 154 for 60 mins, shook the sh%$ out of fermenter for 10 mins, and pitched a rehydrated Notty for 5 gallons.
gonna try it again this weekend and see if i can spot what went wrong.

My guess is that you didn't get good starch conversions. Maybe mashing too high. Or possibly not enough viable yeast.

 

[Mojzis]

I made this a week ago and hit 1.040 as starting gravity, but after a week and a half at perfect conditions in a temp controlled freezer, ive only gotten down to 1.020. That's only 2.5 abv but I dont care if itll taste ok. Any ideas on what went wrong?
Hydrometer sample is pretty weak.

mashed at 154 for 60 mins, shook the sh%$ out of fermenter for 10 mins, and pitched a rehydrated Notty for 5 gallons.
gonna try it again this weekend and see if i can spot what went wrong.

If your thermometer is accurate then 154 is definitely not too high. Its probably high for this beer but it wouldn't leave you with 1.02. I suggest you test it to make sure its accurate.

Next, like america said you probably didn't have a good viable cell count. You could have re-hydrated too high, pitched into hot wort, bad packet of yeast, etc. If it were me I would toss in some more yeast to chew that down a little. No doubt its going to be very thick and sweet.

Goodluck.

 

[BierMuncher]

I made this a week ago and hit 1.040 as starting gravity, but after a week and a half at perfect conditions in a temp controlled freezer, ive only gotten down to 1.020. That's only 2.5 abv but I dont care if itll taste ok. Any ideas on what went wrong?
Hydrometer sample is pretty weak.

What temp is it fermenting at. Might be worth getting the ambient temp up to 70 degrees to thaw out some otherwise chilly yeast.

 

[bikenbrew75]

I'm trying this out tomorrow. 10 gallons all grain. Had to adjust the grain bill a little since the LHBS ran out of Crystal 10L. So it is going to be with 14.2 oz of 10L and the rest of the pound with 20L. Shouldn't make much difference. Sounds like a good brew. Gonna use WLP002 yeast as well. I usually let brews sit way longer that a week so I'll let you know how it comes out. Ever play with adding more hops to this? Thinking of adding some Saaz at the end of the boil. Any thoughts?

 

[Jakeintoledo]

So, I made this once, and I didn't care much for the flavor (tasted like soap--but I won't deny this could have likely been an off-flavor).

And it seemed a little sweet to me, so I upped the hop content. This original recipe came in at about 22IBUs, but I instead cranked up the hop content, and did ALL late hopping. 0.75oz Centennial @ 25mins, 1oz @ 15min, and dry-hopped Ahtanum for three days in secondary.

I gave this about a month to age, and it's pretty good. not hoppy, but full of character. because it's a little more complex and aged, I call it Centennial Cougar. LOL

 

[sethlovex]

So, I made this once, and I didn't care much for the flavor (tasted like soap--but I won't deny this could have likely been an off-flavor).

And it seemed a little sweet to me, so I upped the hop content. This original recipe came in at about 22IBUs, but I instead cranked up the hop content, and did ALL late hopping. 0.75oz Centennial @ 25mins, 1oz @ 15min, and dry-hopped Ahtanum for three days in secondary.

I gave this about a month to age, and it's pretty good. not hoppy, but full of character. because it's a little more complex and aged, I call it Centennial Cougar. LOL

You should make your label look like skintight jeans

 

[mhurst111]

I just racked my latest version of this onto 6 lbs of strawberries. The glass on the left is the original recipe that has been in a slightly over carbonated keg for 2 weeks.The one on the right is what came out of the primary and went on the berries.

For the strawberry blonde, I was trying to mash at 154. I wound up at 156 for 30 min and then dropped it down to 154. Definitely maltier than the original recipe.
Only other change was to omit the first cascade addition and just do the entire .5 oz at the 5 min mark.

OG was 1.041 and I was surprised it still finished (so far) at 1.010.

SWMBO is really looking forward to the strawberry version. Plan is to keep it on the berries for 7-9 days then transfer again to let it settle and clear. Probably a month away.

 

[SwivelHips]

Thinking of adding some Saaz at the end of the boil. Any thoughts?

I think it would go great; I finish my house amber with Saaz and love it.

 

[bikenbrew75]

Ended up brewing this today instead of yesterday. Hit all my numbers and it looks good. Didn't add the Saaz though. Maybe I'll add that in the secondary. By far the lightest beer I've brewed.

 

[FATC1TY]

I let a new guy who's wanting to brew make this with me the other day. He milled and got all the grain together. Wanted to sub out some crystal for a wee bit of honey malt, which was okay.

He grabbed and milled victory instead of the Vienna though! Came out darker from the Victory, but otherwise smelled good.

He used Cascade and Amarillo late in the boil for some citrusy and peachy notes. I let him use some Conan ( Alchemist's house strain ) on it to give it a nice dry finish with a peachy note.

Should be pretty good I think, maybe the Victory will be good in there, especially since we ended up around 30 IBU's to balance the added malty side.

 

[kidshowbiz]

Brewed a batch of this on Saturday. Finished perfect with a 1.040 og and yielded 5 gallons. Apparently the yeast were very hungry and happy with my wort. The yeast went on on ferment frenzy and blew the lid off the bucket and decided the floor was a supple environment for krausen to relax. Sunday morning was a bummer! Gonna try again next weekend. This time with a bigger primary and blowoff. Ugh.

 

[MindenMan]

I haven't read every single post, but a large percentage of them. My question is: my house yeast is ESB London 1968, would this be completely the wrong yeast character wise? Any and all suggestions welcome.

 

[Mojzis]

I haven't read every single post, but a large percentage of them. My question is: my house yeast is ESB London 1968, would this be completely the wrong yeast character wise? Any and all suggestions welcome.

I'd just use it even though I haven't used the strain myself. If it's your house yeast then you like it, so why not use it? The point of this beer is a simple drinker that is quite good and if you like a particular strain i'm sure it will also turn out well.

Just report back and let us know how the strain change turned out.

 

[pikeman94]

I am thinking about a quick batch of beer and this would fit the bill. The problem is that I don't have any Cara-pils on hand. I know Cara-pils adds body so what would be a good sub for this?

 

[Mojzis]

I am thinking about a quick batch of beer and this would fit the bill. The problem is that I don't have any Cara-pils on hand. I know Cara-pils adds body so what would be a good sub for this?

I would use light crystal or some flaked wheat. Personally I would use the flaked wheat since there's already light crystal in the recipe. But as always YMMV.

 

[Malty_Dog]

Wow, too much thread to go through but thanks Biermuncher. I am kind of spur-of-the-moment planning this for my first small-batch AG BIAB this coming Friday. This looks pretty straightforward and clearly is a winner. I know its not much and will be gone in a weekend or two, but I want to get my feet wet with this technique. For a 3 gallon batch does this look right:

4.2 lbs Pale Malt (80%)
0.45 lbs Cara Pils (8.5%)
0.3 lbs Crystal 10L (5.7%)
0.3 lbs Vienna (5.7%)
0.15 Centennial @55
0.15 Centennial @35
0.15 Cascade @20
0.15 Cascade @5
1pkg Nottingham dry yeast

Thanks for any feedback!

 

[Hawaiibboy]

Wow, too much thread to go through but thanks Biermuncher. I am kind of spur-of-the-moment planning this for my first small-batch AG BIAB this coming Friday. This looks pretty straightforward and clearly is a winner. I know its not much and will be gone in a weekend or two, but I want to get my feet wet with this technique. For a 3 gallon batch does this look right:

Yes. Here is what I got when I scaled it in iBrewmaster:
BM's CENTENNIAL BLONDE

Style: Blonde Ale OG: 1.040
Type: All Grain FG: 1.010
Rating: 0.0 ABV: 3.93 %
Calories: 131 IBU's: 21.96
Efficiency: 75 % Boil Size: 3.75 Gal
Color: 4.2 SRM Batch Size: 3.00 Gal
Preboil OG: 1.038 Boil Time: 60 minutes

Fermentation Steps
Name Days / Temp
Primary 12 days @ 68.0°F
Bottle/Keg 14 days @ 74.0°F

Grains & Adjuncts
Amount Percentage Name Time Gravity
4.20 lbs 80.00 % Pale Malt (2 Row) US 75 mins 1.036
0.45 lbs 8.57 % Cara-Pils/Dextrine 75 mins 1.033
0.30 lbs 5.71 % Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L 75 mins 1.035
0.30 lbs 5.71 % Vienna Malt 75 mins 1.036

Hops
Amount IBU's Name Time AA %
0.15 ozs 9.67 Centennial 60 mins 10.00
0.15 ozs 8.01 Centennial 35 mins 10.00
0.15 ozs 3.22 Cascade 20 mins 5.50
0.15 ozs 1.06 Cascade 5 mins 5.50

Yeasts
Amount Name Laboratory / ID
1.00 pkg Nottingham Danstar

Additions
(none)

Mash Profile
BIAB No Sparge 60 min @ 150.0°F
Add 19.71 qt water @ 158.8°F
Mashout 10 min @ 168.0°F
Heat to 168.0°F over 2 mins

Carbonation
Amount Type Beer Temp CO2 Vols
2.91 oz Corn Sugar - Bottle Carbonation 74.0°F 2.60

Notes

www.iBrewMaster.com Version: 2.834



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[Malty_Dog]

Thanks man! Stopped in the LHBS and my whopping grain bill expense: $9.03 Hops added a bit more beyond that, but I could use the extra for another BIAB I have planned in a couple weeks.

 

[PSGD]

brewed this one this past Saturday. It was only my 3rd AG BIAB. I scaled the grains up because my first 2 batches I had only gotten 60% efficiency. Well this time, I milled my own grain and got 76%. So I had an OG of 1.048. I increased all the hops aditions to .33oz.