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

[fragged]

I too found this recipe to a be a little towards the sweeter side when I first brewed it. What I tried on the second batch was to simply move the the 60 minute hop addition to a First Wort Hop (FWH) addition. So those hops ended up sitting in the wort a little bit longer but it balanced the final result so perfectly I haven't felt the need to make any other changes.

So what happens during my brew day is this: When I start draining the Mash Tun into the Brew Kettle I add the 60 minute hop additions when I get approximately 1.5 - 2.0 gal in my brew kettle. It sits there and adds bitterness as the brew kettle continues to fill, plus the time it takes to reach a boil. Once I get past the hot break I will start my boil timer and continue with the remainder of the hop additions from there.

Simple change in the hop schedule but makes such a huge difference in the finished product for me I can't imagine making it any different!

With my equipment the ABV ends up being somewhere in between a Coors Light and a Coors. Not a bad place to be for a Centennial Blonde!
( ;

Sorry, didn't even think about it, I also FWH this beer, and most others.

 

[Shenanigans]

There are plenty of european maltsers that make low colour Pale malt. Low colour Maris Otter is around 2L, Golden Promise is around 2-2.5L, Extra Pale Ale from Simpsons is around 1.8-2L, and on top of these and much more, you have the Pilsner and Lager type malts ( which are around 1.5L ), which are really low coloured. And they are made by german, dutch, belgian, scandinavian, polish and english maltsters.

For 5 gallons/20 L of this recipe, you need like 3.5 Kg / 7.7 lbs of grains and if you are using Halcyon, Pilsner, Pearl, Lager malt, etc. you literally have a beer which is far under 4 SRM and close to 3 SRM, so I don't really understand how you cannot achieve the desired colour with the awesome malt variety available in Europe.

Thanks for the informative reply, food for thought.
No doubt I have great malts available to me and of course it's possible to match the colour of American 2-row but from reading other peoples experience there is nothing available that tastes quite like it. I might have to experiment a bit to see if I come to the same conclusion but I don't have any American pale malt to compare
Anyway its not so important as I have more than enough choice but it would be nice to have a supplier.
You can get the European malts in the States so why not the other way around?
Honey Malt, 2-Row, Golden Naked Oats and Special Roast would be on top of my list. I did hoewver notice that malt in general is more expensive there than Europe and with import costs on top maybe it would be too expensive.

Sorry for going

Brewed this on Saturday with 50/50 German Pale Ale/Pilsner base malt.
Got an OG of 1.038 and it's chugging along nicely.
I will report back in about a month

 

[Genuine]

I'm gonna make this on Friday so it'll be ready mid May. I'm planning on Using the following water profile for it. I don't have lactic Acid so I was thinking of subbing with Citric to get mash to 5.3ph Anyone else use Citric instead? Bru'n Water says .9 in the mash and 1.4g in the Sparge - Just wasn't sure if that would impart any unwanted flavors.

Since I would have to dilute with 60% of Distilled to use my tap water, I decided to go with 100 distilled.

 

[phertric]

Has anyone ever used Lemon drop or Belma hops to add fruitiness to this brew?

 

[BobBailey]

Again a neewbie question ; Is this recipe in us gallon or imperial gallon (canada)

****5 Gallon Batch****

Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.57 gal
Estimated OG: 1.040 SG
Estimated Color: 3.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 21.5 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Probably US Gallons. There are no, "ehs" in it.

 

[Bier1080]

Just made my first batch of this. It is amazing! Thanks for the recipe BM! Was thinking of making cream of three crops soon. Anyone with experience with these two beers, do you think the blonde and cream ale are too similar? I know they are totally different styles but I just don't want two pretty similar beers on tap at the same time. Cheers!

 

[drubes14]

Has anyone every used Lemon drop or Belma hops to add fruitiness to this brew?

Just brewed with lemondrop instead of Cascade on Sunday. Will let you know how it turns out. Same hop schedule.

 

[beerbomb]

I just tried this for my first ever BIAB attempt.
I used 6.5 gallons of water and 1/2 gallons to sparge.
After the hour boil, I was almost 1 gallon short of 5 gallons!
why did I lose so much? There also seems to be a lot of trub too?
How much would I gain by a heavy squeeze?

 

[Shenanigans]

I just tried this for my first ever BIAB attempt.
I used 6.5 gallons of water and 1/2 gallons to sparge.
After the hour boil, I was almost 1 gallon short of 5 gallons!
why did I lose so much? There also seems to be a lot of trub too?
How much would I gain by a heavy squeeze?

I don't know your process or boil off rate but it's always worth it to give a good squeeze.
This beer has a small grain bill but if you are not fully draining the sack you can easily loose a few quarts.
I usually do a 3.5 gallon no sparge BIAB. Take the bag directly out and put it in a sieve over a bucket and let it drain by itself for 10 mins when I do something else. Then squeeze the sh!t out of it for a few mins to get the last quart or two out of it.
with a larger grain bill this is even more important.

 

[Jayjay1976]

I BIAB and always start every recipe with 8.25 gallons cold, giving me 6.5-7 gallons in the fermenter without any sparge water addition. I alway hit 80-85% efficiency, especially with Bestmalz Heidelberg pilsener malt.

 

[phyllobeddo]

I just tried this for my first ever BIAB attempt.
I used 6.5 gallons of water and 1/2 gallons to sparge.
After the hour boil, I was almost 1 gallon short of 5 gallons!
why did I lose so much? There also seems to be a lot of trub too?
How much would I gain by a heavy squeeze?

I MIAB in a cooler and start with 4 to 4.25 gallons of cold water to make 2.5 gallon batches. So if I ever ramp up to 5 gallon batches, I would start with 8 to 8.5 gallons. I've done 75 batches using the same basic MIAB in a cooler process and equipment. It took many batches to dial it in and get the right amounts and learn my system. My mash efficiency is usually in the 80s. Hope that helps.

Edit: Efficiency

 

[beerbomb]

I MIAB in a cooler and start with 4 to 4.25 gallons of cold water to make 2.5 gallon batches. So if I ever ramp up to 5 gallon batches, I would start with 8 to 8.5 gallons. I've done 75 batches using the same basic MIAB in a cooler process and equipment. It took many batches to dial it in and get the right amounts and learn my system. My mash efficiency is usually in the 80s. Hope that helps.

Edit: Efficiency

That seems like the answer here, phyllobeddo. The gravity after the mash was 1.043, then I broke my hydrometer so couldn't take a reading before pitching the yeast. I added 1 gallon of water to bring my level up to 5 gallons. I am now wondering what the ABV is?

 

[beerbomb]

I BIAB and always start every recipe with 8.25 gallons cold, giving me 6.5-7 gallons in the fermenter without any sparge water addition. I alway hit 80-85% efficiency, especially with Bestmalz Heidelberg pilsener malt.

Thanks Jayjay. My next brew is a porter with about 14# of grain, would you still go with 8.25 gallons? The recipe I found stated 7 gallons. Thanks for your feedback.

 

[brianh0669]

Went down to my LHS and picked up the ingredients. Just got in my Brewers Edge Mash & Boil and thought it would be a nice, simple way to break it in. Cannot beat the cost at $18.83 for 5 gallons of homebrew!!!

 

[boomtown25]

I want to do this recipe with maybe some orange peel added to the boil, but I am the type of person (right or wrong) that if I am going to brew a beer, I want it to get me drunk. So my question is- would this recipe lose it's glamour if I jacked up the grain bill (same ingredients, more portions) to create a 6% beer?

 

[funnelweb]

that if I am going to brew a beer, I want it to get me drunk.

LOL . Honesty just beats about everything! You´re definately NOT wrong. Cool

 

[beerbomb]

I MIAB in a cooler and start with 4 to 4.25 gallons of cold water to make 2.5 gallon batches. So if I ever ramp up to 5 gallon batches, I would start with 8 to 8.5 gallons. I've done 75 batches using the same basic MIAB in a cooler process and equipment. It took many batches to dial it in and get the right amounts and learn my system. My mash efficiency is usually in the 80s. Hope that helps.

Edit: Efficiency

Will be brewing soon, so will heed your advice. Thanks.

 

[Genuine]

Just made this yesterday. I was hitting all of my numbers in BrewersFriend, until the last 20 min of the boil and I ran out of Propane. Didn't have time to run and get more, I just through in the last of Cascade, whirl pooled for 15 min and chilled. Reached an OG of 1.041 so that's not bad. I also subbed more base grain for carapils. Bubblying away nicely in the fermenter and it smelled great. Since I purchase hops in 1oz packets, I reserved the last .5oz of Cascade and Centennial to dry hop with. Can't wait to see how this turns out.

 

[andrewmaixner]

You

I'm new to home brewing and need a little help with this recipe. I'm looking to brew this for a pig roast the 1st weekend of August and from what I'm reading if I do this now it should be ready to go by then. I'm thinking of adding some citrus flavors to it (lemon, grapefruit, lime) and I'm thinking of subbing the last 1/2 ounce of cascade with citra. Can anyone help with the citrus amounts for example 2 lemons, 1 lime, 1 grapefruit... and thoughts on the citra hop sub? Thanks.

Ps I'm currently reading through the 500+ pages to find the info. I just figured someone could help me faster.

You can serve this in 10 days if kegging, 20 days bottling. I'd personally skip the fruit, and dry hop with 1oz citra.

Maybe you could use a little lime zest after that, after tasting it, if still desired - maybe.

 

[00Seven]

Forgive me if this has already been posted here but I don’t have time to go through 137 pages. I really want to brew this one (from the original post) and it will be my first all grain batch. I’ll do a 5 gallon batch. How much water do I need for mash and how much do I need for sparge? How much time for mash and for sparge? Thanks for the help

 

[dandw12786]

I just did this yesterday for my first brew in over two years, and considering the following:

-I had a new setup with a keggle that I found out during the heating of my mash water had a leak that I had to fix after mash-in;

-Thought I might run out of propane so had to run to the store which took twice as long as it should have, causing a 90 minute mash instead of 60;

-Didn't test my new wort chiller prior to brew day (dumb, I know, but everything looked just fine) and when I tested it prior to putting it in the wort, the hose barb flew off because the fitting was crappy, so I had to improvise a solution, causing an additional 5 minutes of boiling time (which is kind of impressive since I found out with three minutes left in the boil);

-I haven't done this in years so I was a disorganized mess;

It went pretty well. I hit all of the gravity measurements pretty damn close (1.044ish for OG, I'm happy with that), and while my mash may have been a bit low (I started between 149 and 150 and lost a few degrees along the way, but I measured 145ish after my 90 minute mash, so I'm fine with it). Got everything into the fermenter and into my basement without incident (though I forgot how heavy 6 gallons of wort is, and my new Fermonsters are definitely squishier than the ale pails I was using before... I'm going to need to invest in one of the harnesses I suppose). So all in all, the brew day went pretty damn good for being my first time in a long time, and I'm sure I'll have some decent beer when all is said and done. Now to get the keezer built so I have a way to drink this stuff...

 

[dandw12786]

Forgive me if this has already been posted here but I don’t have time to go through 137 pages. I really want to brew this one (from the original post) and it will be my first all grain batch. I’ll do a 5 gallon batch. How much water do I need for mash and how much do I need for sparge? How much time for mash and for sparge? Thanks for the help

I just brewed this yesterday, and used a total of 8.2ish gallons. 3 for the mash, and 5.2 for the sparge (which I did in two steps). I ended up with about 6 gallons in the fermenter, but that included a bunch of break and hop junk I didn't filter out.

 

[Hwk-I-St8]

Hey Hey BierMuncher: Your recipe has placed 3rd in the first round of the National Homebrew Competition. I made a small tweak to the hop schedule but everything else is the same. I also built a custom water profile for it that seems to make the beer really stand out. All credit to you good sir.
View attachment 566375

Hilarious! I entered this recipe and was told it was too bitter and hoppy and that it was "not the easy drinking approachable beer expected for the style"! It was so light, crisp and smooth I considered naming it "Training Wheels"! Having consumed a keg of it and sharing with multiple non-craft beer drinkers who loved it, I can only assume my bottles got switched out with someone else's. I fully expected a score in the upper 30's at least, would not have been surprised to be in the 40's and would have been shocked not to make the mini-BOS. It scored a 27. The score and comments both are completely baffling. I thought maybe my two entries got swapped but the other was a NEIPA and the scores showed this as being clear.

 

[00Seven]

Brewing this today. First time going AG

Came out pretty well. Managed 64% BE, will need to work on that some. Fun times

 

[NitrogenWidget]

Just tapped this.
It's tasty.

 

[Genuine]

I've been drinking mine for about a week now and Bitter is not even a word I'd use with it. I barely can pick up any bitterness, and surpringly, I thought it would have more aroma. Nonetheless, it's a great summer crusher and I can't wait for my day off Friday. Supposed to be Upper 80's here in CT and I'll be crushing those while working on my control panel

 

[dandw12786]

Kegged this yesterday and put it on 30psi overnight and dialed down to 12 today and grabbed a sample. Still needs far more carbonation, but it's going to turn out great I think. Maybe I'll crank it up overnight again and see if I can get it carbed by tomorrow. Would love to have this ready by Friday.

Definitely a nice re-entry into brewing after a couple years off.

 

[BierMuncher]

Kegged this yesterday and put it on 30psi overnight and dialed down to 12 today and grabbed a sample. Still needs far more carbonation, but it's going to turn out great I think. Maybe I'll crank it up overnight again and see if I can get it carbed by tomorrow. Would love to have this ready by Friday.

Definitely a nice re-entry into brewing after a couple years off.

I always found setting the PSI at 30 for a keg that just went into the chiller and giving it 36 hours was spot-on in terms of hitting proper carb levels.

 

[dandw12786]

Thanks, I'll give that a shot next time. I didn't end up cranking it up overnight and there's a little carbonation now to where I think it might be good by Friday just sitting at 12 (but probably not). I really don't want to risk having to deal with an overcarbed keg by cranking it up again, though, so I'll just have to have some patience, which is definitely not my strong suit.

 

[MikeRight]

I know I am years late to the party, but this is good beer. I am not normally a Cascade Hops guy, but took a chance on this one due to the original post. This is one of the the best beers that I have brewed. (and untested, I brewed 10 gallons instead of my usual five. Glad I did.) I tapped my first keg last night and I am enjoying. Also, I turned this around in 15 days, grain to glass, 8 in primary (I don't secondary) and 7 on gas to prime. Gelatin finings are helpful.
If I screwed this post up, be advised that this is my first post ever on HBT. I had to "create an account" (or try to) just to tell the OP his recipe was excellent. Obviously, I am not the most internet savvy guy in the world.
Thanks again BM. This is definitely going to be in the rotation.