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

[CGVT]

Brew update. After leaving this in the primary for 14 days, and has now been bottle conditioned for a full 5 weeks this beer is EXCELLENT. I did taste the slightly bread-type flavour after 1 week in the bottle, but that is gone now. Just clean, crisp, and just enough body to it. To bad I drank half of the 5 gallon batch before it reached this point...

*******.

 

[Barker]

*******.

Agreed, but tell me you haven't done the same thing at some point...

 

[MattyIce]

Brewing another batch tomorrow with K97 just for kicks

 

[branman]

Agreed, but tell me you haven't done the same thing at some point...

Also agreed

 

[chlehb]

I'm going back and forth on whether I should dry-hop this with Cascade. Can anyone that has done both (no DH vs DH) on this beer share their thoughts?

 

[Bowtiebrewery]

I honestly don't think it would hurt. I didnt dry hop mine, but I would love to have a little more hops in the nose.

I've actually thought since this is such a clean beer, we could almost emulate a bo-pilsner with it by using some Saaz hops to get a little more crispness and hop bite. I might have to try making this again with some modifications and report back.

 

[Barker]

I'm going back and forth on whether I should dry-hop this with Cascade. Can anyone that has done both (no DH vs DH) on this beer share their thoughts?

Definitely dry hop. I did a spilt batch and both myself and my girlfriend preferred the dry hopped

 

[chlehb]

Definitely dry hop. I did a spilt batch and both myself and my girlfriend preferred the dry hopped

I know I'll prefer it, more hops is always better imo . But I brew blonde ales mostly for my girlfriend and she's not huge on hops. But you have me convinced, this is getting a dry hop tonight.

I need to get two 2 smaller carboys to split batches.

 

[DaveSquared]

I know I'll prefer it, more hops is always better imo . But I brew blonde ales mostly for my girlfriend and she's not huge on hops. But you have me convinced, this is getting a dry hop tonight.

I need to get two 2 smaller carboys to split batches.

Or get a bigger kettle and brew 10 gallons at a time!!!

 

[chlehb]

Or get a bigger kettle and brew 10 gallons at a time!!!

Fair enough! Until now I was bottling so less was more. I don't want to ever have to bottle 10 gallons by hand. But I just ordered kegs and am in the process of upgrading to a dedicated brew room with my buddy so soon that should be a possibility

 

[Jwin]

Fair enough! Until now I was bottling so less was more. I don't want to ever have to bottle 10 gallons by hand. But I just ordered kegs and am in the process of upgrading to a dedicated brew room with my buddy so soon that should be a possibility

10g can go real fast with help
Add a second spigot and bottling wand to your bucket, about 3.5-4 inches from the other
Then just double fist the bottles
Have someone else cap and crimp
Doing that you can bottle 10g with 2 people less than the time it takes 1 to bottle 5.

 

[chlehb]

Ok yeah I get that. Until now I was brewing solo in my kitchen though. My girlfriend isn't too keen to help every time I want to bottle a batch. Smaller batches are just less hassle that way, plus you can brew more often. Even 5g is a lot to drink, especially if a batch doesn't turn out as great as you hope.

 

[chuckcomm]

Doing my third 5 gal batch of this tomorrow, everything is weighed out and ready.

Im going with Mosaic for the first two additions then centennial for the last two.

Trying to decide if I want to dry hop with an ounce of Mosaic or the Centennial. Thoughts?

 

[olotti]

Ok this may sound stupid but this is the first blonde I've brewed as I usually brew hoppy IPAs and apas, I tried my first after five days of bottle conditioning and it was mostly sweet malt tasting with a touch of hop bitterness. Is this what a blonde should taste like, and don't get me wrong this is what i was going for a quaffable beer to drink in between all these hoppy beers I make. I used centennial at 30 and 15 then homegrown cascade for the 10 and 5 min additions. Total ibus were around 50 but I only did a 35 min boil because my burner was messed up. Hopefully I got enough ibus to add some hops to this beer.

 

[woo_pig]

Doing my third 5 gal batch of this tomorrow, everything is weighed out and ready.

Im going with Mosaic for the first two additions then centennial for the last two.

Trying to decide if I want to dry hop with an ounce of Mosaic or the Centennial. Thoughts?

Mosaic sounds good to me

 

[chlehb]

Ended up doing a generous dry-hop with Cascade pellets. Bottled on Saturday. Fingers crossed for a nice beer in a few weeks.

I filled two 2L growlers and bottled the rest. Anyone have any experience with conditioning in growlers?

Also, kegs arrived this weekend. Possibly the last time I bottled a whole batch.

 

[Jwin]

Ended up doing a generous dry-hop with Cascade pellets. Bottled on Saturday. Fingers crossed for a nice beer in a few weeks.

I filled two 2L growlers and bottled the rest. Anyone have any experience with conditioning in growlers?

Also, kegs arrived this weekend. Possibly the last time I bottled a whole batch.

The tricky things about growlers are
A) a firm seal. Those screw on caps pretty much suck.
B) not made to take high pressure
C)no way to not kick up sediment in them unless you have a really big mug
So, as long as they seal well and don't explode, you are ok...
But, you could end with flat beer or a big mess.

I would advise to wrench down on the caps and check them every couple of days for looseness. In theory, the pressure could push them up enough to leak. If you have the nicer plastic caps with the silicon nipple thing inside, run the caps under hot water for a minute, then tighten. Something about expansion and contraction makes those caps seal better warm (and better in general).

 

[Jiffster]

Brewed this yesterday. According to BierMuncher's first post on this recipe, you can go grain to glass in 2 weeks.

How soon could I keg it, based on your experience with this brew?

Could I have this ready to drink by July 4th?

She's kicked off nicely after about 16 hours at 68F.

1.045 OG

View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1467035493.981368.jpg

 

[EvansPA]

I did a 2.5 Gal BIAB batch of this. Very good! But now I am near the last bottle and want to brew another larger batch.
Has anyone added Lemon/Black Pepper to this or even Grains of Paradise? I am getting ready to do a 4.5Gal batch and want to add a little lemon/spice. Do you think this would work out?

 

[olotti]

Wow this beer is crushable. I bumped mine up to 5.6% but still crazy good. Used centennial and homegrown cascade hops from last season, definite keeper to offset all the 6-8% hop bombs I usually make. Bottle carbed in 7 days too.

 

[RedlegEd]

Brewed this yesterday. According to BierMuncher's first post on this recipe, you can go grain to glass in 2 weeks.
How soon could I keg it, based on your experience with this brew?
Could I have this ready to drink by July 4th?
She's kicked off nicely after about 16 hours at 68F.
1.045 OG

I think that would be pushing it, that's only one week. When I brewed this, it finished primary in about 5 days, but I let it sit until day 10, then cold crashed and kegged. It was good at 14 days, superb at 21.

 

[andrewmaixner]

Made this again for the first brew on my new 20Gal eBIAB rig, in an 11gal batch, as it's an almost foolproof recipe to learn with. Used .5oz/5gal centennial at first wort hop with a 30 min boil, then cooled to 165F and added another 1oz/5gal centennial for a 30 minute whirlpool. Efficiency into the fermentor was 77% using filtered/softened house water and no water adjustments (pH stabilized at 5.5).

Hoping that with this higher hopping rate I'll not feel the desire to dry hop it at all, and can get it on tap inside of 2 weeks.

 

[brewbama]

I tapped mine today to get started on a 4th of July weekend. Cheers!

 

[chlehb]

The tricky things about growlers are
A) a firm seal. Those screw on caps pretty much suck.
B) not made to take high pressure
C)no way to not kick up sediment in them unless you have a really big mug
So, as long as they seal well and don't explode, you are ok...
But, you could end with flat beer or a big mess.

I would advise to wrench down on the caps and check them every couple of days for looseness. In theory, the pressure could push them up enough to leak. If you have the nicer plastic caps with the silicon nipple thing inside, run the caps under hot water for a minute, then tighten. Something about expansion and contraction makes those caps seal better warm (and better in general).

I have something like this:

So I'm not to worried about the seal. Also, I got a kind of pump thingy for it with which you can create pressure and pour with a tap handle. Haven't tried it yet but I hope it solves the sediment problem.

 

[trapae]

I am thinking about Brewing this great recipe substituting mosaics for Cascades. Has anyone done this or have an opinion? I have brewed the original many times as is and it's a fantastic summer time easy drinker.

 

[chuckcomm]

I am thinking about Brewing this great recipe substituting mosaics for Cascades. Has anyone done this or have an opinion? I have brewed the original many times as is and it's a fantastic summer time easy drinker.

I just did this. I used mosaic as the first hops and centennial as the last. Its been fermenting for a week and I dry hopped today with an ounce of mosaic. Hydrometer sample tasted great.

I will be kegging it next weekend so can give you a better review after it carbs up.

 

[brewbama]

Has anyone put a lime wedge in their Centennial Blonde? I did it today on a whim and I really like the addition.

 

[MadHomebrewer]

Brewed this up yesterday on the 4th. Everything went smooth. My OG was a little higher at 1.045. Smoothest brew day yet. Can't wait to try it! Pictures of the brew day below!
View attachment ImageUploadedByHome Brew1467727650.386976.jpg

 

[vance]

I'd like to brew this but I don't have a way to do any temperature control on fermentation... is there a yeast I can use that won't give too many off flavors when fermented at room temperature? I was planning to use HotHead ale yeast for my first brew but idk if it would work here.

 

[BlackWraith]

Vance what temperature are you dealing with?