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

[TxBigHops]

So I'm drinking this now. Really nice refreshing beer! After giving one to my son who's mostly a BMC drinker, I asked him "did you think I could make beer that tasted this good?" He said that he didn't. Not sure how to take that, but I'll say it's a compliment to me and to the beer. Doesn't say much for his faith in me though.

One particular observation: My bottles have no discernible sediment to speak of. I've never had a home brew before without sediment. There's plenty of carbonation, so I know there's yeast in there. But the beer is cloudier than I expected from other descriptions in this thread. Could it be that all the yeast is still in suspension? All were in the fridge a minimum of 2-5 days before opening. And the carboy was cold crashed for 2.5 days prior to bottling. Any possible explanations?

 

[jflongo]

Leave them in longer. Check after 10 - 14 days.

 

[MrIPA]

So I brewed this beer in November. My brew came out with a higher OG and ended up at about 5% abv. It was a decent beer after some cold aging. It did taste a lot like a BMC beer but I was expecting something more flavorful. I got no hop flavor at all. I was expecting just a touch.

I took the rest of the keg to a party this weekend and something very strange happened. There was half a keg left to start and after a couple pints it started tasting like shock top or something. It developed a very strong orangey, citrusy taste. It got stronger as the keg went on. Anyone ever had this happen?

 

[insanim8er]

Best brew day I've ever had as far as time efficiency goes. I started at noon and just finished the boil at 4pm on the nose.

I knew my efficiency would be a little higher, but I didn't adjust my base malt. My final volume is 12gallons with a gravity of 1.040. I ferment in 1/4 kegs, so this is perfect.

My mash was 151f when I put the lid on, but I loss 2 degrees over an hour.

I couldn't be happier with my numbers and I'm hoping this turns out well in 2 weeks. Half is going with me to a wedding up on mt. Hood where we will be staying at a friends cabin over night. The other half is going with us to the beach during spring break.

I'm also bringing cream of three crops to both events.

Thanks!

 

[itsratso]

brewed this today, will go on nitro. forgot to order vienna malt so had to make an hour run in the chicago snow to get some. then when i went to sparge, no beer flowing. hmmm.... stuck sparge? no. didn't take long to realize that i had mashed in my hot liquor tank and my sparge water was in my mash tun. that was fun. :smack:

 

[snowveil]

I took the rest of the keg to a party this weekend and something very strange happened. There was half a keg left to start and after a couple pints it started tasting like shock top or something. It developed a very strong orangey, citrusy taste. It got stronger as the keg went on. Anyone ever had this happen?

I had this happen with an APA and I guessed that some of the hop oils settled out and concentrated a bit more towards the end of the keg. I don't know that it's true, but it seemed to make sense to me

I think I'm going to use this as a base recipe to try out some of the Mandarina Bavaria hops I picked up. Thanks

 

[bobeer]

You prob wont be out money at all. It'll prob be really good!! I always seem to get sg higher and volumes lower. And it drinks jus fine lol


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Just wanted to update. This was my first kegged beer and even though I forgot a gallon of sparge water this beer still turned out great! I dry hopped with an ounce of centennial to help the hops balance out the OG (1.070) and it worked well. The beer tastes great. Sort of a hybrid blonde ipa. I might even keep this in my rotation. I'm going to a shindig tomorrow and bringing a growler of this so we'll see how it's received.

 

[Carlscan26]

What temps are you guys fermenting at with US-05? Sorry if it's been discussed - There's a lot of posts to read through


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[brew_ny]

I brewed this with US-05 just changed the hops to what I had on hand very nice brew

I like to keep 05 at 65 degrees F

all the best

S_M

 

[Carlscan26]

I brewed this with US-05 just changed the hops to what I had on hand very nice brew

I like to keep 05 at 65 degrees F

all the best

S_M

Thanks brew_ny!


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[BansheeRider]

What temps are you guys fermenting at with US-05? Sorry if it's been discussed - There's a lot of posts to read through


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Just stay within the temp range for that strain and you'll be fine. I used that yeast on my last batch, fermented at 64-66 and it was good. This weekend I'm brewing another batch but with Nottingham. I'm interested to see the difference.

 

[insanim8er]

It's been 12 days. I racked ten gal to kegs.



It came out the fermenter crystal clear.

Chilling it now. I'll probably quickly force carb it with 30psi, so I can take some with me to a cabin up in Mt. Hood for a wedding this weekend.

The sample was great—even flat. It has that dry crispness but with a bit of a sweetness, no bitter, smooth and clean... I can tell this will be as easy to drink as the cream of three.

 

[insanim8er]

So I kegged it after 12 days in primary. I crashed it in my kegerator for a day then added gelatin the next evening. I carbonated it by doing 30psi and rolling it around for about 2minutes. The carbonation level is nice maybe even a little under carbonated. It's at about 32f now and still hazy. The flavor is great, but it's a little young still. There are some subtle flavors I expect will round off with a bit more age.

For about 2 weeks, it's very drinkable and good, but I think this will become excellent when it has a couple weeks in the keg.

I'm still bringing it with me to the cabin tomorrow. I know it will be better in a week for our spring break beach trip.

I really love centennial. The citrus is there. It's like I added lemon zest. That citrus profile and the dry crisp bite this beer has is going to make it an excellent beer for our seafood boil...

 

[natural]

After my apricot wheat **** the bed due to a disgusting apricot extract (tastes like cough syrup) i'm tossing it and brewed this today. It was on my list and wanted something quick. OG of 1.050 which is definitely high but absolutely cannot wait to try this beer.

 

[icebob]

just kegged the thing, OG was 1040 and FG1004ish, was really clear going in the keg, now sit down and wait!

 

[hasenman]

So I've got 10/15 gallons of this that I plan on brewing next week.

I'd like to play around with the yeast and an 'extra' partial-mash (perhaps..by 'extra' partial mash I mean an AG mash with a specialty grain partial mash while the wort is heating in the boil kettle).

My choices for yeast: Notty, US 05, and Rochefort salvaged from bottles. Obviously, it's the Rochefort that I am concerned/titillated with. I enjoy the complex fruitiness of it but I'm not sure how the yeast will play with hops (I haven't made a Belgian pale yet).

Any thoughts or experiences using Rochefort yeast on a recipe like this?

As for the 'extra' mash, I was actually going to put it into this Rochefort batch to get a deeper, creamier color and mouth feel (I'll hold at 160 for a pure beta extract). I have lots of Munich 2 so I was thinking of using that so color isn't too effected but I can perhaps get some significant malty flavors/mouthfeel from it.

Any thoughts on this? How much?

<Klank>

 

[adriedel]

I have a 42 oz is apricot purée does anyone think that would be good in secondary.


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[insanim8er]

I have a 42 oz is apricot purée does anyone think that would be good in secondary.


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I love this beer as is... but I don't see why it wouldn't work if you wanted to do that.

I took a 3 gallon keg of this and Cream of three crops to a cabin with some friends. Both beers were a hit, but the blonde ale definitely became the favorite. So much so that when I had to go home, and take my kegerator, they actually grabbed a big ass water pitcher and filled it

 

[FatsSchindee]

I haven't read through all the posts on this thread, so apologies if this has been asked before...
Has anyone used Falconer's Flight for the hops in this one? I have some extra I've been looking to use in something, but I want to brew something lighter than an APA or IPA for the upcoming warm weather. The Falconer's are supposedly a blend of many C hops, of which Centennial and Cascade are two, so I was thinking it may work... Just hoping it won't be too over the top. Figure if I keep the total IBUs around 20, it shouldn't be too bad, no?

Thanks...


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[natural]

How necessary is this to secondary? Any benefits? If I can keep it in one carboy for the 9 days I'd like to but if not I've got plenty of secondarys to transfer it to I'm just sick and don't have the energy haha.

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[masskrug]

As delicious as this is (brewed it per the recipe), I had to tinker. I bumped it up to 7% ABV and 7 oz of C/C hops. In the tun now. Will report back in 6 weeks.

 

[icebob]

first sample this afternoon while finishing the keezer... force carb at 30 psi for 2 days, purged and set it at 12 psi... been 2 days, lot of foam but this is frikkin good.good thing I'm going on the road for a week, should be better when I get back...!

 

[BBQB]

Ice bob, off topic, what do you do on the road? I travel quite a bit myself


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[geoffm33]

A little cloudy, 2nd pint off new keg. My second batch, already looking forward to my next

 

[insanim8er]

How necessary is this to secondary? Any benefits? If I can keep it in one carboy for the 9 days I'd like to but if not I've got plenty of secondarys to transfer it to I'm just sick and don't have the energy haha.

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Not at all ... I think majority of us done use secondary unless it's for something with fruit in it that needs clearing.

 

[icebob]

Ice bob, off topic, what do you do on the road? I travel quite a bit myself


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I'm an Avionics, I fix aircraft...

 

[UNIbrewster]

First 10 gal batch of this amazing beer! Got the boil cranking!


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[WhyBeNormal]

Decided to try a modified version of this:

5gal batch

1 lbs Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
5 lbs Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM)
0.40 oz Centennial [9.70 %] - Boil 45.0 min
0.40 oz Centennial [9.70 %] - Boil 20.0 min
0.40 oz Cascade [6.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min
0.40 oz Cascade [6.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min
0.20 oz Cascade [6.50 %] - Steep/Whirlpool
0.20 oz Centennial [9.70 %] - Steep/Whirlpool
1.00 oz Cascade [7.30 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days
1.00 oz Centennial [11.00 %] - Dry Hop 7.0 Days

Added the dry hops (both leaf) last night and will bottle next weekend Very excited for this one!

 

[natural]

Not at all ... I think majority of us done use secondary unless it's for something with fruit in it that needs clearing.

Thanks! I figured as much.

Any harm in kegging this one day early? All of my fermentation has stopped. I have some people coming over Saturday and was going to keg this Wednesday but was thinking of kegging it Tuesday night to try and have it ready for Saturday.

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[scogan9]

First time poster, thanks everyone for all the excellent info. I've always been able to find an answer without having to post, but this thread is too damn big to read all the posts, so I apologize if someone may have had a similar question. Anyway, I brewed this yesterday to have for my brother's bachelor party. Everything went well but my second centennial hop addition was a little heavy (since I don't weight or measure it out, just eyeball the packet..) so it was probably closer to .5oz instead of .25oz (for 5 gal batch). How much will this effect the final product? I like the thought of it being smooth and well balanced, for those who may not be into hoppy brew. Thanks for the recipe, looking forward to it!

OG 1.045, pitched WLP001, and is happily sitting at 70'F.