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

[geoffm33]

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.

I just tweaked my beersmith file for this recipe and if I move the second addition from .25 to .50 the IBUS go from 22 to 29. This assumes all other additions remain the same.

The IBU range for the Blonde Ale style is 15 - 28 IBU so this puts it from comfortably in the middle of the range to just out of range.

Taste wise? I haven't the foggiest idea how it will impact taste. I mean, I know HOW it will impact it, but couldn't tell you if it will be negligible/terrible/awesome.

 

[heckabrew]

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.

The first time I made this recipe (5 gallon all grain) it was late at night and I wasn't paying much attention so I put in 1/2oz of the centennial at 55 and then another 1/2oz at 35. I think it turned out pretty well, actually. I let it bottle condition for 2 weeks and it was very hoppy for the 1st 2-3 weeks after that but it was very drinkable. After about a month or so, I started tasting more of a sweetness. I found one hiding in the fridge after about 3 months and it was great.

I just made another batch this weekend and followed the right schedule, can't wait to put it into the keg next week, it smelled so good going into the carboy!

 

[scogan9]

OK I won't worry about it too much then. I will be kegging it and I have until April 26th for the party.

 

[sputnam]

i brewed this on 3/9 first taste was 3/20 (kegged). Gotta say, I was a little disappointed...but then each day it got a little better, today (3/27) it is just a really, seriously tasty beverage. It started out as a glorified yardbeer but it just gets better and better. I love it and I will brew it again and again. Thanks beirmuncher---awesome

 

[Snausages01]

Brewed 10 gallons at the beginning of December and just tapped a keg today. It tastes great. Thanks for the recipe.

The keg was tapped early February.

Still have some of this around and I'd say it's definitely gone down hill a bit. It tastes sweeter now, and I don't notice much of hop flavor now. Still drinkable, and I will brew again, but it's better fresher.

 

[Chops1867]

Started my cold crash of this today. Hoping to bottle Wednesday.


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[soccerdad]

CB goes over well at my house - especially with 'transitional' beer drinkers who are beginning to appreciate something beyond BMC. So I brewed a 3 gallon batch this weekend and I inadvertently made a huge mistake that will either turn out awful or awesome. The math is simple, right? Take a 5 gallon recipe, divide by 5 and multiply by 3. Maybe I had not consumed enough coffee or maybe I am just a bozo, but I divided by 5 and multiplied by FOUR???? I had crazy wild efficiency and could not for the life of me understand a pre-boil gravity of 1045 and OG at 1060. If I had understood my mistake early on ~ while chilling ~ I probably could have topped of with one gallon of cooled, filtered water and hit 1040 on the nose. As it was, I added about 1/2 gallon to get below 1045 and decided that was the best I could do without majorly impacting taste or bitterness. Several hours later I re-ran the numbers and did the forehead smack! The yeasties like it ... happy kruesen this morning, and there will be beer. But who knows how far I'll be from the original??? Fingers crossed.

 

[Johnnyhamer]

Haven't brewed in months and am finally "getting back in the game." This was one of my favorites, excited to get it going tonight!

 

[spartan21]

I just brewed this as my first AG attempt. I'm not efficient with all the math at this point but my efficiency wasn't great. I hit my temps for the mash, 150 for 1 hour. I used a 5 gallon water cooler MT and did a batch sparge but I think I lost my efficiency by not waiting long enough during the sparge for my 2 second runoff. (I hope I have my terminology right). My pre-boil gravity was only 1.032 when I adjusted for temps. After some reading I decided to try to adjust for the low gravity by adding some DME. Not wanting to overdo it I added 1 lb of extra light DME but then forgot to take my gravity reading again before I pitched my yeast. Hopefully I got it close enough to still make it good. I brewed on Tuesday and by Wednesday evening I had some activity, this morning my airlock is rocking away. Hopefully this turns out as good or better than the 3 extract batches of this I've brewed.

 

[kirbcheck]

Sounds like you did alright. Don't get too caught up on efficiency and gravity readings until you get a feeling for your all grain set up. After about 3 brew sessions, you'll have your system down and everything else will fall into place. Enjoy the beer!

 

[insanim8er]

I just brewed this as my first AG attempt. I'm not efficient with all the math at this point but my efficiency wasn't great. I hit my temps for the mash, 150 for 1 hour. I used a 5 gallon water cooler MT and did a batch sparge but I think I lost my efficiency by not waiting long enough during the sparge for my 2 second runoff. (I hope I have my terminology right). My pre-boil gravity was only 1.032 when I adjusted for temps. After some reading I decided to try to adjust for the low gravity by adding some DME. Not wanting to overdo it I added 1 lb of extra light DME but then forgot to take my gravity reading again before I pitched my yeast. Hopefully I got it close enough to still make it good. I brewed on Tuesday and by Wednesday evening I had some activity, this morning my airlock is rocking away. Hopefully this turns out as good or better than the 3 extract batches of this I've brewed.

I doubt you loss efficiency on the batch sparge since you sparge with hotter water to basically stop the process. When you batch you just fill with water, stir like hell, vorlouf and drain. The conversion is already done when you reach that point. You're just rinsing the grain bed of the residual sugar.

I would evaluate the crush, or verify water levels.

If you added DME you expect about 1.040 per lb per gallon. So you raised your gravity about 1.040/5 since you diluted it down by 1/5th. So it would be about 1.008

So you should be about 1.039 (right on the money for this recipe)

I THINK my math is right, but someone mightier than me will correct if wrong.

Btw, assuming you ended up at 5gal, your efficiency was about 50%, so ya I'd evaluate a few things to determine what happened. When you did your batch sparge, did you add the amount of water you needed to hit the volume or did you just fill the tun?

Edit: I just noticed you said your PRE boil was 1.032. How much extra volume did you have and whats you're boil off rate? Depending on that, you very well could've hit target since 1.039 is the target.

Assuming you had 1.032 at 6 gallons and you boiled off 1 gallon during the boil, you're at about 1.038 (just shy of target) add your 1lb DME and you're sitting at around 1.046.

With your 1lb DME addition, you're definitely over target. But this is such a low ABV beer. Next time I make it, and I will, I'm going to aim for closer to 5/5.5%

If you finish at target FG, you can expect about 4.99% ABV right where I'd want it.

 

[spartan21]

I doubt you loss efficiency on the batch sparge since you sparge with hotter water to basically stop the process. When you batch you just fill with water, stir like hell, vorlouf and drain. The conversion is already done when you reach that point. You're just rinsing the grain bed of the residual sugar.

I would evaluate the crush, or verify water levels.

If you added DME you expect about 1.040 per lb per gallon. So you raised your gravity about 1.040/5 since you diluted it down by 1/5th. So it would be about 1.008

So you should be about 1.039 (right on the money for this recipe)

I THINK my math is right, but someone mightier than me will correct if wrong.

Btw, assuming you ended up at 5gal, your efficiency was about 50%, so ya I'd evaluate a few things to determine what happened. When you did your batch sparge, did you add the amount of water you needed to hit the volume or did you just fill the tun?

Edit: I just noticed you said your PRE boil was 1.032. How much extra volume did you have and whats you're boil off rate? Depending on that, you very well could've hit target since 1.039 is the target.

Assuming you had 1.032 at 6 gallons and you boiled off 1 gallon during the boil, you're at about 1.038 (just shy of target) add your 1lb DME and you're sitting at around 1.046.

With your 1lb DME addition, you're definitely over target. But this is such a low ABV beer. Next time I make it, and I will, I'm going to aim for closer to 5/5.5%

If you finish at target FG, you can expect about 4.99% ABV right where I'd want it.

Sounds right, I started with just over 6 gallons and ended up right at 5 after the boil

 

[brokebucket]

I know this is off topic, but this is THE spot to post pics about blondes....

I brewed a recipe I formulated off this thread, a couple other recipes on the net, and my own personal tastes. The preboil and post boil samples tasted off....a sour and tart flavor along with the normal sweet flavor of wort. It has me quite concerned since I brewed this for a party. How do wort samples taste on these lighter beers?

One note, I was supposed to brew this last weekend, but didnt get around to it, so the grains sat for a week.

 

[geoffm33]

My sample at the time of kegging was not that great. I definitely had concerns but rolled with it.

Now that it's carbed, it's fantastic.

 

[BadBeagleBrew]

Decided last night that it was time for my first all grain beer. After reading the recipe and reviews, figured with the light grain bill this was a good place to start. So with my 3 Gallon Kettle the help of a potato pot, a coleman cooler and a giant nylon bag I was off to the races. My Mash temps were all over the place mostly low, had a crappy thermometer that slowly went up and lost a lot of heat when opening the lid and measuring temp, had to top up the fermenter to 21 ltrs to get 1.040. 3 hours later my hydrated yeast is still sitting in a glass as the beer is still to warm to pitch in. Oh well I made beer and I'm sure it will be fine, either that or I made some hoppy starch water that will be filled with some confused Nottingham. Had a great afternoon with this.

 

[HopinJim]

Brewed this back in December, and getting ready to brew again. Great session beer that the SWMBO really likes.

 

[PeteNMA]

I found that it takes a little while to come together if you use Nottingham yeast. I did my last batch with WLP007 and it was ready a lot faster, the Notty seems to leave a slightly tart flavor which takes about a week to subside IME

Also I'd recommend Mangrove Jack M79 dry yeast for this. I've just finished 10 gallons of a different brew, 5 gal got WLP007, 5 got M79 and the yeast profile is very similar, certainly close enough to skip messing around with liquid yeast starters for such a simple beer.


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[BansheeRider]

This beer is way better with Notty yeast and dry hopped with 3oz of random hops. It's a whole different tasting beer imo. The last one I made I used us-05 yeast and no dry hops, I like my current batch much better.

 

[icebob]

this one pass the test, got some visit today, bush light drinkers, and they keep hitting tap #2, centennial blonde... winner in my book!

 

[BadBeagleBrew]

I have conversion, my mash temp was pretty low when I checked it at the end of the 60 min, but carried on with the brew anyways. Just checked the gravity and she is down to 1.012 (was worried I wouldn't get past 1.018), even though the sample is yeasty it still tastes amazing. I deff over hopped it a little due to improper calculations on my end, I don't have the gear to boil 6.5 so I boil 3.5 and top up with water. So far turning out to be a great first AG, now to wait to see if she has chill haze when I keg this batch.

 

[carlk47]

Have a batch of this in the ferm chest that I brewed up yesterday morning.. I rehydrated the Nottingham and good thing I checked on it today.. Needed a blowoff tube! Even with using fermcap to knock down the krausen this thing is fermenting like mad!


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[cowboy1]

Here's an Extract/Steeped Grain version.

BierMuncher, I tried the link you posted for the extract/steeped grain recipe and it wasn't there. Is there anyway I could get that with steeping instructions. I'm a very novice home brewer. This will be my 4th. Brew and need as much instructional help as possible.

Thanks

 

[cjbalough]

Cowboy, see Post #10, page 1 of this thread. I did it a couple months back and it is good beer.

Steep the grains - carapils- in a gal or so of 150-160 degree water for 20 to 30 mins then remove and discard.

For partial boil add desired volume of additional water to pot, bring to a boil. (I used 3 gal in a 4 gal pot) Take off heat and add part of the extract (I did 2 lbs). Then bring back to a boil and follow the hop schedule for the 5 gal grain recipe. At/before the end of the boil add the rest of the extract (3 lbs).

I used golden DME and wyeast american ale yeast. I have another batch in fermenter using extra light DME, Pilsen lme, 3/4 lb carapils, 1/3 lb crystal 10 and 1/4 lb honey malt....will see which I like more.....I may dry hop this one.

 

[cowboy1]

Cowboy, see Post #10, page 1 of this thread. I did it a couple months back and it is good beer.

Steep the grains - carapils- in a gal or so of 150-160 degree water for 20 to 30 mins then remove and discard.

For partial boil add desired volume of additional water to pot, bring to a boil. (I used 3 gal in a 4 gal pot) Take off heat and add part of the extract (I did 2 lbs). Then bring back to a boil and follow the hop schedule for the 5 gal grain recipe. At/before the end of the boil add the rest of the extract (3 lbs).

I used golden DME and wyeast american ale yeast. I have another batch in fermenter using extra light DME, Pilsen lme, 3/4 lb carapils, 1/3 lb crystal 10 and 1/4 lb honey malt....will see which I like more.....I may dry hop this one.

Thanks for your help. The temperature in the closet I ferment in is getting warmer..74-75 and could get warmer during the mid day. Wiill the American ale yeast be ok?

Thanks again

 

[LovesIPA]

Thanks for your help. The temperature in the closet I ferment in is getting warmer..74-75 and could get warmer during the mid day. Wiill the American ale yeast be ok?

Thanks again

That's definitely much too warm. Look into using a swamp cooler for cheap and effective temp control. It's also not that hard to convert a chest freezer into a fermentation chamber.

 

[FatsSchindee]

That's definitely much too warm. Look into using a swamp cooler for cheap and effective temp control. It's also not that hard to convert a chest freezer into a fermentation chamber.

+1
I did the exact same progression:
First two batches fermented too warm in the closet, next two fermented cooler in a swamp cooler (Rubbermaid container filled with water to height of beer, swap out ice packs/bottles - which was kind of a pain in the butt to keep a steady temp - but still better than no temp control!), then I bought a used chest freezer on craigslist, an STC-1000 on eBay, and some parts (~$100 all in; could be cheaper depending on parts you may already have or deal you can get on freezer/fridge)... Best investment in my beer I've made!



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[cowboy1]

That's definitely much too warm. Look into using a swamp cooler for cheap and effective temp control. It's also not that hard to convert a chest freezer into a fermentation chamber.

Will have to go with swamp cooler or something very cheap. I just finished my Keezer and my wife would kill me if I took on another costly home brew hobby project. Keezer "4our"
Any direction to something that doesn't need constant attention and can be contolled enough to give me good results would be greatly appreciated.

This sounds like a beer that I would really like so I want to brew it some kind of bad.

 

[LovesIPA]

My ferm chamber is a chest freezer I scored for $80 out of a buddy's garage with a $20 STC controller.

 

[cowboy1]

My ferm chamber is a chest freezer I scored for $80 out of a buddy's garage with a $20 STC controller.

How about a wine fridge? I can find those around the $50 range and it doesn't take up that much space. I'm down to my walk-in closet for fermenting space, so a deep freezer would be out, too big. The wine fridge would work until winter I think? Then I would need to install a temp controller on it and a heating pad. I think a mini fridge seems like a lot of work and all I'm finding on craigslist is the units with the compressor hump in the bottom taking up half the floor space.

 

[LovesIPA]

Any refrigeration unit will work. You might even get lucky and not have to do any wiring at all because wine temp storage temps are not all that far from beer fermentation temps.