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

[Shakybones]

Not having the time to push through 367 pages ... any other recommended yeasts if Danstar is not available? I have US05 and a couple other options on hand.
Also any recommended substitute for Cascade? I want to brew an easy drinking batch soon with what I have on hand. Have a bunch of other hops but don't have cascade right now.

Thanks!

I use US05 for mine and it's always great. Go for it!

 

[shadows69]

I use US05 for mine and it's always great. Go for it!

Wlp080 works very good as well

 

[jflongo]

I use 1056 all the time with this now, so US05 should be fine.

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

Just tried the dry hopped one I made... Soooo awesome

 

[jflongo]

Just tried the dry hopped one I made... Soooo awesome

Yes I will ALWAYS be dry hopping this now in the future. I enjoyed the non-dry hopped version as well, but enjoyed the dry hopped even more.

I am brewing this up tomorrow, I'm trying the 11 gallon size for the first time.

I plan on dry hopping both fermenters with the same amount, kegging one of them, and bottling the other.

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

Yes I will ALWAYS be dry hopping this now in the future. I enjoyed the non-dry hopped version as well, but enjoyed the dry hopped even more. I am brewing this up tomorrow, I'm trying the 11 gallon size for the first time. I plan on dry hopping both fermenters with the same amount, kegging one of them, and bottling the other.

Nice ya I did the 11 gallon batch, bottled one kegged one. Dry hopped the kegged one for 2 weeks 1oz centennial 1oz cascade. I have never used such a small amount of hops to brew such a big batch 2oz lol

 

[globe]

Just brewed a batch for a diaper party...There will be lots of bmc drinkers so hopefully it becomes a stepping stone.

I subbed munich for vienna....Im not a huge fan of vienna, but I am really not sure if I have had good examples of that or not, but didnt want to risk it.

Its bubbling away now and excited to see how it turns out since i usually only brew IPAs mostly.

 

[madman960]

Going to brew 2 separate 2.5 gal batches this weekend. I am using Safale US-05 Ale Yeast for 1 and Danstar Nottingham Ale Yeast for the other. Just getting into brewing. Will there be a noticeable difference? Using my LBKs for primaries.

 

[cublue]

Madman, at lower temps (below 65) might not tell a difference. At what temp will you ferment? I tend to use us-04 now, not Nottingham....

 

[Pole]

Planning to do a 5 gal batch this weekend, but I would like this to come out closer to 4.5% abv. Looks like increasing the 2 row to 8 lbs will get me there per Beersmith, but I'm wondering if I need to increase anything else to keep the flavor true to the original recipe. Thoughts?

 

[AlkiBrewing]

I just brewed a 5 gal batch last Friday and wanted to increase the ABV but wasn't sure exactly how to do it without changing the taste/profile. I've brewed 4 batches of it and really like it would just like to increase the ABV. Hopefully somebody with more experience can help out.

 

[cublue]

An increase of all the grains by 10%, should get you about 4.4%. This is assuming you are hitting the same efficiency (70%) as the original. 15% increase would get 4.6%, but that math is much harder to weigh out.

 

[midfielder5]

I would suggest picking a different recipe, a pale ale that has more ABV. If you add more malt, then you need to add more hops, to retain balance, and you might as well pick a beer that was designed to be 5+% ABV instead of messing with this one. There are hundreds of other American/pale ale recipes in the database. good luck.

 

[jflongo]

Nice ya I did the 11 gallon batch, bottled one kegged one. Dry hopped the kegged one for 2 weeks 1oz centennial 1oz cascade. I have never used such a small amount of hops to brew such a big batch 2oz lol

I am going to let this ferment for about 10 - 14 days in primary, open the lids, put 1oz cent 1oz cascade in each of them, let it sit for another 7 days. Keg one, and bottle the other.

 

[Pole]

I would suggest picking a different recipe, a pale ale that has more ABV. If you add more malt, then you need to add more hops, to retain balance, and you might as well pick a beer that was designed to be 5+% ABV instead of messing with this one. There are hundreds of other American/pale ale recipes in the database. good luck.

Good point about the balance, thank you. Guess I'll brew this as-is and do something else at a later time.

 

[midfielder5]

Good point about the balance, thank you. Guess I'll brew this as-is and do something else at a later time.

It will be a fine beer as is with a bit of extra malt to bump the ABV. A rather small increase (such as 0.5% in ABV) isn't going to make a big difference, don't get me wrong. You could have that much variance depending on your AG efficiency, so I like to check my pre-boil OG and add or subtract hops, or boil longer etc. as needed to match the expected gravity.

 

[Jeepinctbrewer]

I am going to let this ferment for about 10 - 14 days in primary, open the lids, put 1oz cent 1oz cascade in each of them, let it sit for another 7 days. Keg one, and bottle the other.

Sounds great !

 

[tg123]

my FG came out to be about 1.015 which seems a bit high. Stayed there for 3 days so decided to just bottle it. Hope there won't be any bottle bombs.

 

[one-L]

my FG came out to be about 1.015 which seems a bit high. Stayed there for 3 days so decided to just bottle it. Hope there won't be any bottle bombs.

What temp did you mash at and how long was it in the fermenter? This has dropped to about 1.008 for me the last 3 times I've done it.

 

[Faris427]

So I just put this in the primary. I did a partial boil (3.25 gallons...the largest boil I can currently do) with the extract recipe on the first page. I steeped 1 pound of carafoam (I read somewhere in this thread by the original poster that this was an acceptable substitute) for 30 minutes at 160deg and then pulled the grain and took it to a boil. I then added 5 pounds of munton's extra light DME. I used 9.5% Centennial pellets @ 45 mins and 20 mins, and 6.4% Cascade pellets @20 and 10 mins with a total of 60 min boil (according to the IBU calculator this got me 16.75IBU) . After cooling the wort and pitching the rehydrated nottingham yeast and adding bottled spring water to get to the 5 gallon mark on the bucket, I took my OG and got 1.048. Is this okay? The recipe stated a OG of 1.044. I only went to the 5 gallon line (this is the highest line on the bucket)...I have half a gallon of spring water left over...should I add this to the bucket as it will bring the gravity down and the recipe stated it should make 5.5 gallons?

 

[ryansanders]

You'll prob want the headspace in the bucket for the kraeusen, so just enjoy the tiny bit of extra alcohol and leave it at 5gal

 

[tg123]

What temp did you mash at and how long was it in the fermenter? This has dropped to about 1.008 for me the last 3 times I've done it.

The mash started a little higher @ 156 because I didn't expect the temp drop to be so low. Mash out @170 for 10min. It was my first BIAB attempt. OG came out to 1.042. It was in primary for about 3 weeks at 67-69.

 

[madman960]

Cublue;

I can ferment at 65 or lower. I have a mini fridge for lager temps. I use Mr. Beer LBKs for primary.

 

[one-L]

The mash started a little higher @ 156 because I didn't expect the temp drop to be so low. Mash out @170 for 10min. It was my first BIAB attempt. OG came out to 1.042. It was in primary for about 3 weeks at 67-69.

Gotcha. Thats probably it. I am normally hitting 148-149 on mine for 75 min. If it was stable for 3 days dont think you have any bottle bomb worries. Sure it will be tasty.

 

[tg123]

Gotcha. Thats probably it. I am normally hitting 148-149 on mine for 75 min. If it was stable for 3 days dont think you have any bottle bomb worries. Sure it will be tasty.

I see. Thanks for the info. So mashing at higher tremps can cause this issue?

 

[LovesIPA]

Higher mash temps lead to more unfermentable sugars, which will lead to a higher FG as the yeast can't consume unfermentable sugars.

I would suggest picking up a copy of "How to Brew" by John Palmer. It explains this and a lot of other essential subjects homebrewers need to know.

 

[jflongo]

Yep, generally I mash my easy Pale Ales around 150, IPA's around 152, and my Choc Oatmeal Stout around 154 - 156.

 

[Faris427]

You'll prob want the headspace in the bucket for the kraeusen, so just enjoy the tiny bit of extra alcohol and leave it at 5gal

So I did not think of this and added that half gallon of water I had left over...I went in to check the primary and there must have been an overflow out of the airlock...there was maybe 15ml of liquid on the lid and the airlock now has a lovely shade of golden liquid in it instead of the clear starsan. The airlock is bubbling away as well. Is this going to make the brew go bad and should I change out the airlock with a fresh one I have two extra just lying around....thanks!

 

[HBrew71]

So I did not think of this and added that half gallon of water I had left over...I went in to check the primary and there must have been an overflow out of the airlock...there was maybe 15ml of liquid on the lid and the airlock now has a lovely shade of golden liquid in it instead of the clear starsan. The airlock is bubbling away as well. Is this going to make the brew go bad and should I change out the airlock with a fresh one I have two extra just lying around....thanks!

The beer will be fine. You should change the airlock.

 

[bredle]

The beer will be fine. You should change the airlock.

I would change the airlock (just out of an abundance of caution), but I agree that the beer will be fine.