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

[MarcusKillion]

I think my scale F'd me on this one. Anyone know how much space the roughly 17 lbs of grain for this recipe takes up? I had it in 1 and a half 5 gallon buckets. Actually a full bottling bucket, 6 gallons?, an half a 5 gallon bucket. I'm at 17 brix, and not half way through the boil. Stupid scale! No idea how much grain is in this damn beer! I thought the mash tun looked pretty full.

I use a Polder food scale . The bowl holds a pound . Just dip it in the bag till full . Checked it against my quad beams . It is accurate to the half ounce at least . had it many years . do not think they sell one like this any longer but perhaps one of the others would hold exactly a pound also . sure makes weighing pounds easy .

 

[MarcusKillion]

I've only found whole-leaf Centennial hops so far (Austin HB and my LHBS). If I used whole-leaf instead of pellets, would I adjust the amounts compared to the 0.25 oz @ 45 min and 0.25 oz @ 20 min? Doing the 5.5 gallon extract recipe.

You need 11% more leaf than pellets . .28 or so in your case . Might want to use a bag . them leafs soak up wort and clog up filters and the siphon tube . Pain in the arse . Although if fresh they sure do have a great aroma but that does not last long in storage and they become useless for sure . I just tossed a few bags of chinook that lost their aroma .
Seems odd that your LHBS does not have centennial pellets .

 

[n240sxguy]

I use a Polder food scale . The bowl holds a pound . Just dip it in the bag till full . Checked it against my quad beams . It is accurate to the half ounce at least . had it many years . do not think they sell one like this any longer but perhaps one of the others would hold exactly a pound also . sure makes weighing pounds easy .

I had a bucket sitting in my digital scale. I think it hit part of the frame or something and threw off the weight that way. It's still beer, just not exactly what I intended to make. The sample tasted good, so it should be alright. Just a little less hops than the recipe called for.

 

[rjthomas21]

I brewed this a few week's ago. It sat in my fermentation chamber at around 68 degrees for 2 weeks and then closer to 70 for a few days. The gravity is down to 1.014. Any idea if I can expect it to drop another few points down to 1.008? Should I try to rouse the yeast some? Or go ahead and begin to cold crash it?

 

[jflongo]

I brewed this a few week's ago. It sat in my fermentation chamber at around 68 degrees for 2 weeks and then closer to 70 for a few days. The gravity is down to 1.014. Any idea if I can expect it to drop another few points down to 1.008? Should I try to rouse the yeast some? Or go ahead and begin to cold crash it?

Let it go another 2 days, check the gravity again, if it's 1.014 still, I would just roll with it. If it drops, then let it go another week.

 

[LovesIPA]

Brewing this great recipe today, but since I was a good boy and brewed the first two batches to the letter, I decided to experiment a bit and do some substitutions.

For the first time I'll be fermenting with Nottingham. The others were WLP 001. Subbed 1.5 lbs of 2-row with 1.5 lbs of Vienna malt. I have some milled laying around and want to use it up. Subbed the last two cascade additions with East Kent Goldings. I've been looking for a reason to break that bag open.

Mashing at 149.8 right now.

 

[FATC1TY]

I did this recipe, with a few grain changes, like adding a little victory for some malt backbone to hold up to some bigger hops.

I've done it a couple time, but the latest, was a single hop Mosaic.. Taste great, kegging it today.

 

[keezerj]

I'm thinking about brewing this one up next. Would increasing the amount of late addition hops a bit and or dry hoping throw off the balance of the beer? Has anyone tried that or should I just brew it as is for the first time?

 

[daggers_nz]

brew it as is for the first time

^

 

[LabRatBrewer]

Brewed this as 2 (one gallon) batches one with Vienna and one substituting Munich. After fermentation, I blended the two into a small keg. Drinking it now, and it is fantastic.

 

[dgr]

n240sxguy,
I just put a 50 lb sack of ground 2-row into buckets. I used 11 pounds out of it and it just fit into 2 5-gallon buckets. There was maybe room for 1 more lb. So call it 4lbs/gallon ground weight.

What was your brix/OG?

 

[n240sxguy]

n240sxguy,
I just put a 50 lb sack of ground 2-row into buckets. I used 11 pounds out of it and it just fit into 2 5-gallon buckets. There was maybe room for 1 more lb. So call it 4lbs/gallon ground weight.

What was your brix/OG?

Well that confirms my fears and my math. Looks like I used about 2.5X the amount of 2-row I needed. 33lbs by my math. By far my biggest F..k up in brewing ever. Brix at about the 4 gallon mark were 25.5. Preboil 16. Post boil 18. I added three gallons of distilled water to dilute it and still had an OG of 1.052 going into the fermenter.

 

[orion7144]

Well that confirms my fears and my math. Looks like I used about 2.5X the amount of 2-row I needed. 33lbs by my math. By far my biggest F..k up in brewing ever. Brix at about the 4 gallon mark were 25.5. Preboil 16. Post boil 18. I added three gallons of distilled water to dilute it and still had an OG of 1.052 going into the fermenter.

It will still be beer and taste good.

 

[n240sxguy]

I just got it kegged two days ago. I had roughly 12 gallons at 5.5%. It is good. I think I'm gonna dry hop one of the kegs though. I have some cascade pellets. What would be a good amount to use? 2oz?

 

[one-L]

Knocked my third batch of this out last night for a beerfest in October. I just got a new mill, and I forgot that when I did the recipe the last time it was accounting for my LHBS's crappy crush and resulting efficiency in the mid 50s. As a result, instead of coming out with about 5.25 gal. of 1.055ish (I like this one bumped up a bit anyway), I wound up with 5.25 gal. of 1.069. First time I have had to top one off with water. Added about a gallon to get back in the mid 1050s. Also calling this one my Simarillo as I am comfortable with the base recipe now and will start playing with it going foward, subbing out Simcoe and Amarillo on this one.

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

Just ordered the stuff to brew a ten gallon all grain batch, question would it be ok to do a 1oz for each hop addition ? Or would I be better of dry hopping with the extra? Ordered 2 oz for each hop


And what temp for the sparge water? Thanks

 

[BierMuncher]

Just ordered the stuff to brew a ten gallon all grain batch, question would it be ok to do a 1oz for each hop addition ? Or would I be better of dry hopping with the extra? Ordered 2 oz for each hop


And what temp for the sparge water? Thanks

I'd stick with the original recipe and stay away from dry hopping. Otherwise, you have a totally different beer.

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

Will do ... Thanks

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

The cascade I got is 6.8% and centennial is 9.0%

 

[jflongo]

I'd stick with the original recipe and stay away from dry hopping. Otherwise, you have a totally different beer.

As much as I like this beer, I dry hopped mine the 2nd time I made it, and enjoyed it even more.

 

[LovesIPA]

I think I'm going to try dry-hopping the batch I made the other day as well. I dry-hopped a wheat beer a few months ago and it was one of the best beers I've made.

 

[sa1126]

Is there a mini mash recipe for this one?

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

Brewing a ten gallon batch tomorrow morning

 

[Xtant]

Just finished brewing my 6th or 7 th batch, today.

Thanks BM!

 

[bredle]

I am getting ready to do this as my first AG. I've ordered the grains and build a mash tun, as well as purchased a copy of Beersmith 2. I plugged the recipe into Beersmith and got the numbers below. I am new to Beersmith, but the numbers don't match the OP with the recipe details, so I'm concerned this won't come come out right. My biggest concerns are the calculation of mash water, 2 step batch sparge (instead of 1), and the IBUs and OG appear to be off.

Any comments on what I'm doing wrong in Beersmith would be GREATLY appreciated in preparation for brew day (and in helping me to learn the software):

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.89 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.76 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.75 gal
Estimated OG: 1.040 SG
Estimated Color: 3.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 19.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 82.7 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
7 lbs Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 80.0 %
12.0 oz Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 2 8.6 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 3 5.7 %
8.0 oz Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM) Grain 4 5.7 %
0.25 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 55.0 min Hop 5 8.3 IBUs
0.25 oz Centennial [10.00 %] - Boil 35.0 min Hop 6 7.0 IBUs
0.25 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 20.0 min Hop 7 2.8 IBUs
0.25 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 8 0.9 IBUs
1.0 pkg Nottingham (Danstar #-) [23.66 ml] Yeast 9 -


Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body, Batch Sparge
Total Grain Weight: 8 lbs 12.0 oz
----------------------------
Name Description Step Temperat Step Time
Mash In Add 14.14 qt of water at 158.8 F 150.0 F 60 min

Sparge: Batch sparge with 2 steps (1.86gal, 4.35gal) of 168.0 F water

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

I'm so used to brewing IPAs .. Seems like 2oz of hops in a ten gallon batch is nothing

 

[brewmasterbates]

Bredle, this is ours after we put it onto beersmith2

Here's our recipe for this. All grain 8.25 gallons

boil size 10.50 gal : brewhouse efficiency 78%: total water needed 12.85 gallons

10 lbs 2-row pale malt
1 lb Caramel 10L
1 lb Vienna malt
1 lb carapils
12 oz honey malt

1.80 g gypsum (mash water)
1.20 g epsom salt (mash water)

mash in 4.1 gallons (Ph 5.4) 152 degrees F 60 minutes steep

fly sparge 8 gallons at 168 degrees F

add sparge water to achieve boil volume of 10.50 gallons

estimated pre-boil gravity of 1.038 SG

Boil Ingreients

0.35 oz Centennial (9.7%) boil for 45 minutes
0.35 oz Centennial (9.7%) boil 35 minutes
1.00 oz Cascade (6.2%) boil 20 minutes
1.00 oz Cascade (6.2%) boil 5 minutes

est post boil volume 9.35 gallons Est post boil gravity 1.044 SG

cool wort to ferm. temp

add yeast (.50 qrt starter) 1 pkg Danstar 05 ale yeast (no starter, you may want 2 packages to have enough)

measure actual gravity target 1.044 (our last batch was 1.049)

measure actual batch volume of 8.25 gallons

final gravity est of 1.010 SG

est ABV 5.3%

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

Not having any luck today. By the time I got my mash temp right the 10 gallon cooler is full to the top. Way more water then I should have used . Anyone know if this is going to be a problem. It's a ten gallon batch

 

[LovesIPA]

Recipe Specifications
--------------------------
Boil Size: 7.89 gal
Post Boil Volume: 6.76 gal
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.50 gal
Bottling Volume: 4.75 gal
Estimated OG: 1.040 SG
Estimated Color: 3.5 SRM
Estimated IBU: 19.1 IBUs
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Est Mash Efficiency: 82.7 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

There's why your OG and IBUs are off. Your volumes are very high. The first thing to do in beersmith is set your equipment profile.

Start here: http://beersmith.com/video/

There are several very good videos there that explain the entire process of setting beersmith up for you.

 

[jflongo]

Not having any luck today. By the time I got my mash temp right the 10 gallon cooler is full to the top. Way more water then I should have used . Anyone know if this is going to be a problem. It's a ten gallon batch

Not sure what you mean here, if you are doing a 1:25 : 1 grist : water ration, a 10 gallon cooler is MORE than enough, should take less than 7 gallons total for this recipe. Did you add in a couple more gallons of boiling water to raise your temp?

Now to answer your question will it hurt anything probably not, just take readings on your runnings to see where your gravity is at, and more than likely you will use less on your 2nd runnings to do volume, or get a bigger volume and boil longer.