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

[midfielder5]

Mine has been in bottles for just shy of two weeks.

Had my wife taste test it last night and she said it tasted bitter.

What could possibly have caused that. I didn't think it tasted bad but who knows

Coors lite is about 5 IBU so of course this at three (or four) times that will be bitter to her. IMO it isn't the beer, if your process was good.

 

[BigRedFan]

Coors lite is about 5 IBU so of course this at three (or four) times that will be bitter to her!
It isn't the beer, if your process was good.

ya according to Brewers Friend my IBU for this brew was 24.99 so in that case of course it is going to be more bitter


Is there a commercially available beer that is similar to this that I can do a blind taste test with?

 

[midfielder5]

At 25 IBU with 4%abv, you made a session pale ale
It is a flavorful blonde ale that is pretty unlike any commercial blondes. I often drop IBU's to 17-18 for this if BMC drinkers are gonna have at it.

 

[BigRedFan]

At 25 IBU with 4%abv, you made a session pale ale
It is a flavorful blonde ale that is pretty unlike any commercial blondes. I often drop IBU's to 17-18 for this if BMC drinkers are gonna have at it.

whats the difference between

IBU TInseth - 24.99

IBU Rager - 21.41

 

[BrewerE]

Is there a commercially available beer that is similar to this that I can do a blind taste test with?

Yes.

http://coopaleworks.com/beers/horny-toad-blonde/ - a very average blonde

http://www.deschutesbrewery.com/brew/deschutes-river-ale - an average to good blonde

I've made this 3 times. Once with S-04 and twice with S-05.
I like the S-05 better.
The best one was when I made it with 100% whole cone picked by me hops.

It has been good for me from day 1 to day last bottle.

 

[plankbr]

So my LHBS is out of Notti and looking to get this in the fermenter before they believe they will get any in....my question is what yeast could I possibly substitute?

I use US-05. Works just fine.

 

[AleHailKrausen]

Just finished brewing this tonight. OG wound up at 1.037. Used all as recommended but trying WLP090 San Diego SuperYeast. Will give all an update in a few weeks! Man i'm thirsty!

 

[WenValley]

I brewed a ten gallon batch of this a couple of weeks ago. We have an IPA, a Stout, and a Pale Ale on tap at all times, and we thought this would be a good addition for our friends that wanted something a little lighter.

We just finished off the first five gallon keg, and I popped the second one into the cooler. This is a REALLY nice beer. Light, fresh, clean and clear. Very drinkable. It's nice to sit down in the afternoon and have a glass and not feel like you need a nap. Easy on the wallet, quick from grain to glass, and a very nice addition to our cooler.

My wife has given instructions to "keep this one on the schedule", so now it's part of our line up.

I did dry hop the second keg with an ounce of Simco, works for us.

 

[branman]

So my LHBS is out of Notti and looking to get this in the fermenter before they believe they will get any in....my question is what yeast could I possibly substitute?

Wlp 001 or us-05 would be good options IMO

 

[Sheldon]

I was a bit short on OG so added DME 2 days AFTER the boil as I couldn't get it any sooner. 6 days later it is down to 1.010 and tasking mitey fine. I will give it a few more days to try to get down a bit lower and then I am gona bottle this lovely brew. The Vienna gives this beer a really nice toast/biscuit flavor that I really savor.

 

[madams]

8 hrs after pitching the yeast and we are rollin'..hit my volumes and OG on the dot. Substituted CTZ for centennial since that's what I had on hand. Mostly later kettle hopping, beersmith estimates 26 IBUs. Pitched a liter of San Diego Super yeast.

View attachment 1430178182344.jpg

 

[thunder92]

sorry. tried to delete this post. Just tried Centenial. Will update when done.

 

[RodrigoEick]

Just kicked another keg of this recipe. It was dry hopped with 2oz of cascade in the keg. It really make it shine. People loved. I found out that it gets better if I don't use gelatin to clear. Looks like get more flavor.

 

[jbb3]

Just put a batch of this in the fermenter/chamber. With the target ferm temp of 68, I thought I would do the first 8 hrs @ 72 to give it a fast start then drop down to target of 68 for the remainder.

Thoughts anyone??

 

[MrTheKing]

Grain to glass - sample taken at kegging vs mashout to kettle

 

[burninator]

Just put a batch of this in the fermenter/chamber. With the target ferm temp of 68, I thought I would do the first 8 hrs @ 72 to give it a fast start then drop down to target of 68 for the remainder.

Thoughts anyone??

What yeast are you using? Nottingham is perfectly fast at temps well below 68, and you won't have to worry about rubbery off flavors.

 

[ChuckS1]

Opened my first bottle after bottling 3 weeks ago. Gotta say this is the best tasting batch I've made since I started last fall.

 

[jbb3]

What yeast are you using? Nottingham is perfectly fast at temps well below 68, and you won't have to worry about rubbery off flavors.

Yep, Nottingham. I certainly didn't want to risk a rubbery blonde. So I got it down to target after 3 or 4 hours.

 

[jwalkermed]

Gonna do this for a 4th of july party. I've seen a couple ppl mention wlp 090 here. Well 090 is my go to strain and I have it banked so I was going to use it vs nottingham. Would this significantly change the beer. It seems like you'd want a super clean ferment with this beer and 090 is pretty clean.

 

[amiller]

I brewed this last night, my first all grain batch. Turned out to be a pretty good brew day, only had 1 mishap. I measured the pre boil gravity (1.035) with a pre boil volume of 7.4 Gal. Boiled for 60 mins, added hops, and had 6.3 Gal in the fermenter. I was about to measure the OG when I heard the hydrometer roll off of the counter and smash on the floor... But based on the volume readings and pre-boil Gravity, I'm estimating an OG of 1.041. Can't wait to see how this beer turns out!!

 

[KVANTAN]

Well I brewed this one according to the DME 5.5g recipe on the first page. It has been in primary for 16 days and is still bubbling in the airlock once every 5 minutes. I don't have a hydro at the moment. I had vigorous bubbling 24 hours after pitching the dry notty yeast and I kept the temp at 68f the whole time. Bubbles we're going every 3-5 seconds for a few days and have slowed STEADILY since then but never stopped. Dang I wish I had my hydro!

Should I go ahead and bottle or continue to wait?

 

[burninator]

In my very limited experience, a bubble every 5 minutes is essentially no airlock activity at all. Sounds like you just have some CO2 coming out of solution. Obviously can't be 100% certain without a hydrometer reading, but it sounds like you're done.

 

[HiImBrian]

You mean to tell me that you're sitting there for 5 minutes watching the airlock! You've got mad patience sir! I'd call that bad boy done cooking.

 

[teddybeer]

Efficiency through the roof, and ended up with a beer with 5,8%. Took a few weeks to "settle out", but now it is an absolutely delicous beer.

Greetings from Norway.

 

[Tegra]

Kvantan:

Nottingham is very fast!

For me three days and it's over.

However, there is good reason to now let it warm up to low 70s for a few more days just to help the yeast do its housekeeping.

I like to let the yeast have at least 8 days (for this low gravity) before cold crashing. (I have had it in the keg at 14 days, but there is rarely the need for such rushing)

Tom

 

[Crispyvelo]

Hello Fellow Brew Heads,

Just completed my second all-grain attempt and decided to go with BM's famous Centennial Blonde! I'm trying to learn as much as possible, so I'd love your thoughts about my numbers from the day. Does this all seem pretty standard, is there anything I can do to improve?

--5 Gallon Batch--
Followed recipe ingredients to the "T".
- Preheated mash ton with 1 gal of water near boiling. Left for 10 minutes, then emptied.
- Added 3 gallons of strike water @168F. Stirred vigorously, and added the lid. Never opened for 60 min.
- Took a sample of the first runnings and chilled to about 72F. Came in at 1.066 OG.
- Decided to batch sparge. Added first sparge of 2.5 gallons @169.3F. Stirred and left for 10 minutes.
- Second sparge of 2.5 gallons @172F for 10 minutes.

I don't have a measure stick and my dang kettle doesn't have marks, but I think my pre-boil volume came in around ~7 gallons.

- Pre-boil OG was 1.031
- I boiled as vigorously as I could and ended up with 5 gallons (could I really have boiled off 2 gallons? If not, I must have had less volume to begin with).
- I added .5 gallons on water to get to 5.5 gallons in my fermentor.
- OG measured in at 1.035 (if you count the 1/2 gallon of water I had to add, efficiency is ~62%).
- Rehydrated yeast for 20 minutes and pitched at 74F
- Hooked up a blowoff tube, because if my fermentor explodes like it did last time my marriage will end immediately. And for those of you who say a low OG beer can't explode...my first all-grain was a hef that had an OG of 1.034 and I used a slap pack of 3068 yeast...clogged the airlock and ka-booooom.

I've ordered a cornie and co2 tank so this may be my first attempt at kegging as well. Wish me luck!

 

[Ricand]

I have brewed at least a hundred gallons of this beer, maybe more. It's a staple on one of my 8 taps. At first I split a brew ferment between Nottingham and Chico yeast. Fermented them both at 64 degrees. Called them Naughty Blonde and Cheeky Blonde and put them both on tap. Cheeky won by a landslide on blind tastings. Just saying this to help anyone trying to decide between yeasts. This beer needs to be as clean and fresh as you can make it, and US 05 is really clean. YMMV

 

[Crispyvelo]

Hi Ricand,

Good to know! Where were you a couple days ago when I was buying supplies

Sounds like Notty will work just fine for me. It will be nice following BM's recipe exactly since this is my first attempt. This will be the "control" batch and give me something to compare changes down the road to.

Just to clarify - did u use us-05 dry yeast against the Notty? How would you describe the taste/aroma differences between that and the Notty?

 

[Zepth]

I must say this recipe is a real winner. I came to the realization that is a must have on tap recipe when I was changing out a different keg and heard the near empty ringing sound of my Centennial Blonde keg. "Oh crap, it's nearly done and I don't have another waiting in the closet." Moment of epiphany.

Next time around I'll likely split it post boil and toss some Wyeast 2206 Bavarian Lager at it. Might even remember to update with that how that goes.

 

[Ricand]

Hi Ricand,

Good to know! Where were you a couple days ago when I was buying supplies

Sounds like Notty will work just fine for me. It will be nice following BM's recipe exactly since this is my first attempt. This will be the "control" batch and give me something to compare changes down the road to.

Just to clarify - did u use us-05 dry yeast against the Notty? How would you describe the taste/aroma differences between that and the Notty?

Yes, I used dry Notty and dry US-05. The Notty was really good, don't get me wrong. It had a bit more estery flavors and didn't seem quite as 'dry' even though they both ended up at roughly the same FG. We liked the Cheeky because the clean, crisp, refreshing characters were a bit more pronounced. Your gonna love either one of those yeasts. While I said it was a landslide, that was on a vote basis, not taste. Everyone liked them both, just one a bit more.

BTW, both of these yeasts can be violent fermentors. I'm told US-05 can ferment out a rusted Volkswagen. Watch your fermentation temperatures closely in the beginning. I use a temp probe in the middle of my conical and the fermentor struggles to keep the temp down when these yeasts are going nuts. You want to keep them at 64 or a bit less if you want a really clean beer.