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

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BierMuncher said:

****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

Ingredients:
------------
Amount
7.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
0.75 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)
0.50 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (55 min)
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (35 min)
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (20 min)
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (5 min)
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) (Hydrated)
Click to expand...

My wife prefers 6 to7%abv. So I was thinking.
Amount
10.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)
0.75 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)
0.50 oz Centennial [9.50%] (55 min)
0.50 oz Centennial [9.50%] (35 min)
0.50 oz Cascade [7.80%] (20 min)
0.50 oz Cascade [7.80%] (5 min)
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) (Hydrated)
 
warex said:
My wife prefers 6 to7%abv. So I was thinking.
Amount
10.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM)
0.75 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM)
0.75 lb Vienna Malt (3.5 SRM)
0.50 oz Centennial [9.50%] (55 min)
0.50 oz Centennial [9.50%] (35 min)
0.50 oz Cascade [7.80%] (20 min)
0.50 oz Cascade [7.80%] (5 min)
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) (Hydrated)
Click to expand...
Post your results on this recipe if you do it. I'd be interested in trying a higher ABV version of this.
 
Going to be brewing this for the first time this weekend. The guys at the LHBS actually recommended this recipe. They said this has turned into one of their regular rotation brews at the house. The only change I'm going to make is I'll be repitching us-05. I can't wait to try it!
 
rtstrider said:
Going to be brewing this for the first time this weekend. The guys at the LHBS actually recommended this recipe. They said this has turned into one of their regular rotation brews at the house. The only change I'm going to make is I'll be repitching us-05. I can't wait to try it!
Click to expand...
Your call, but I'd stick with an English ale yeast. I've preferred it when tested side by side in this.
 
rtstrider said:
Going to be brewing this for the first time this weekend. The guys at the LHBS actually recommended this recipe. They said this has turned into one of their regular rotation brews at the house. The only change I'm going to make is I'll be repitching us-05. I can't wait to try it!
Click to expand...
I also repitched US-05 and was very pleased with the outcome. I did change some other things too but it turned out to be one of my best beers so far.
 
andrewmaixner said:
Your call, but I'd stick with an English ale yeast. I've preferred it when tested side by side in this.
Click to expand...

I would but right now I'm working on learning yeast pitching/repitching techniques so wanted to use what I have. Per brewers friend it should only go down to 1.007 and notty would go down to 1.009 so not TOO big of a difference. Plus I prefer a drier beer anywho when it comes to blondes. Will definitely have to rebrew with notty IF this turns out decent :) Velnerj do you mind sharing the changes you made?
 
I just put in the grain order. This has been on the to do list for a good bit now! Can't wait to get this brewed. After reading through the posts it seems like the main difference between notty and us-05 is notty is a tad rounder and us-05 accents the hops a bit more which would be my preference anywho. I'm really not a fan of english esters at all so us-05 will probably work out much better on that end too. Anywho I'll keep everyone posted!
 
I've brewed Pale Ales and IPAs with Notti and I never felt like it did not accentuate the hops. I think it's relative from brewer to brewer, especially when not all taste are the same. I use 15-20 oz hops for 5-6 gallons and have not experienced any rounder flavour to Notti.
 
thehaze said:
I've brewed Pale Ales and IPAs with Notti and I never felt like it did not accentuate the hops. I think it's relative from brewer to brewer, especially when not all taste are the same. I use 15-20 oz hops for 5-6 gallons and have not experienced any rounder flavour to Notti.
Click to expand...


I've never used Notti so if this turns out pretty good with us-05 that'll definitely be on the to do list! Pitched the us-05 starter slurry Friday night and have kept it riding at 64F. Fermentation has slowed down a good bit this morning so I bumped up the temp to 66F and will be bumping it up to 68F in 12 hours or so and letting it ride out at that for a few more days. I ended up overshooting the OG a bit at 1.048 which was nice! Per brewers friend this should get around the ballpark of a 5.2% abv Blonde.
 
Just pulled a gravity sample and looks to be right under 1.007. Guess that US-05 was HUNGRY! It's only been 2 and a half says since pitching the yeast slurry/starter into the wort and man that was quick! The krausens dropping and fermentation is most likely about to kick over to the yeast cleaning up after itself. Will say that's the fastest US-05 ferment I've ever had! Anywho it's very hop forward right now, centennial really sticks out, and no malt backbone. Figure that'll fix itself after a week or two on the yeast cake (prior experiences point to it does). Anywho I'll probably sample this again on Friday since that's a week from brew day to get a better idea of what the finished product will be.
 
So I did all the math for an 11 gallon batch, calculated for my efficiency, built the water profile, and started the mash. As I was draining the mash I realized I didn't feel like doing a full sparge and decided to do a large enough sparge to get a 6 gallon batch and rolled with what is now a strong blond.

I ended up at 1.068 and the Nottingham is chewing through it at 64°F. This will end up around the high 7% to low 8%, depending on how hungry the yeast are.

Looking forward to how this turns out.

6 gallon batch
14.5 pounds 2 row
1 pound 8L
1 pound Vienna
.42 oz centennial (10.8%)at 55 minutes
.42 oz centennial (10.8%)at 35 minutes
.45 oz Cascade (7.1%)at 20 minutes
.45 oz Cascade (7.1%)at 5 minutes
2x packs of Nottingham
 
@EtchyLives so if I understand you correct, you mashed in with 16.5# of grain on a 6 gallon batch and only got to 1.068?? I feel as though that is WAY off from what it should be. What, if I may ask, did your grain crush look like, and how long and what temp did you mash in at?
 
Redtab78 said:
@EtchyLives so if I understand you correct, you mashed in with 16.5# of grain on a 6 gallon batch and only got to 1.068?? I feel as though that is WAY off from what it should be. What, if I may ask, did your grain crush look like, and how long and what temp did you mash in at?
Click to expand...
Yes it was low. That's because I essentially did a full volume, no sparge mash. I mashed at 150° for 90 minutes in my Brew in a bag. The crush was .022, so darn near powder. I actually ended up with closer to 8 gallons of wort, but could only get 6 into the fermenter.

Overall I'm not upset with the poor efficiency relative to what I usually get (82-85% mash efficiency) with brews of this gravity, considering it was a literal spur of the moment decision.
 
Just pulled a sample and it went from 1.048 to 1.004 with the US-05 repitch. It's dry just like I like it. Per brewers friend that puts this in the 5.7%ish range. Anywho that's just after 6 days. Giving it at least another week on the cake to do it's thing. I can see where some citra finishing hops would work well
 
This has been a staple beer in our household for at least 5 years. I have always used Nottingham and have always had compliments. My LHBS guy recommended that I try Imperial House Yeast. Holy smokes. Night and day difference in quality. That was the only thing that I changed and it is SO much better. I kept a bottle of the Nottingham version and did a side by side comparison with three other people and we all preferred the Imperial Yeast version to the Nottingham version by far.
 
Bottled last night. I wanted to mention the sample at 1 and 2 weeks had a good bit of flavor. It was a tad malty and the hops shined through. 3 weeks and it was almost neutral. Wonder if that's normal or if I may have picked up an infection? Also the beer dropped clear even with us-05. The bottles aren't clear though because I made sure to suck up a tad of the yeast cake just in case.
 
Phildo253 said:
This has been a staple beer in our household for at least 5 years. I have always used Nottingham and have always had compliments. My LHBS guy recommended that I try Imperial House Yeast. Holy smokes. Night and day difference in quality. That was the only thing that I changed and it is SO much better. I kept a bottle of the Nottingham version and did a side by side comparison with three other people and we all preferred the Imperial Yeast version to the Nottingham version by far.
Click to expand...

Yea I brewed my last version of this beer and used imperial house yeast for a big party last month. Rave reviews and I had quite a few myself. Came out excellent and direct pitching was awesome! Will be using imperial from now on with this beer
 
Just kegged up a 10gal batch yesterday. Like others have done I went with a different strain of yeast, I used Wyeast Pacman.

In the past when I've used Nottingham to ferment, this beer was unremarkable during bottling day... but it always improved during conditioning.

Yesterday I noticed a night and day difference in flavor of the sample I pulled. Super stoked to see how it turns out after sitting on CO2 for a while!
 
What's the ideal water profile for this beer? And has anyone used WLP090 for this? Figured it could really dry it out and get it really crisp and clean .I have some in my fridge right now .
 
HappyBen said:
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
Click to expand...

Hi Ben, care to share your water profile? Thanks
 
Been waiting to find some Zythos hops and today was able to do a batch of this in a 5.5 gallon batch w/Nottingham. Zythos .25oz went in at 5 min before flameout. Preboil Gravity was 1.042 and OG 1.051 - a lot higher than original recipe but used same grainbill as per OP's recipe. This was also my first day crushing my own grains. Waiting for the yeast to fire up now!
 
Last edited:
I am thinking of giving this a shot! For those who have done this recipe several times how fast can i get this out of my conical? Is 7-10 days long enough for this beer before kegging?
 
jturman35 said:
I am thinking of giving this a shot! For those who have done this recipe several times how fast can i get this out of my conical? Is 7-10 days long enough for this beer before kegging?
Click to expand...

Sure thing! I’m about to cold crash tomorrow and I brewed it this past Friday. I’ve never had an issue with a short turnaround for this beer, but like always extra time in the fermenter doesn’t hurt either.
 
I will be building my water up from distilled which will require 1.5ml of Latic acid to get my ph down to 5.3. I’m BIAB so I am going to have to account for my boil off rate which is about 18% if memory serves me correct. This is the lightest beer I have ever attempted and really want to get the water right. Anyone else build up from distilled and can give me some pointers?
 
BoozeMedic said:
I wonder if substituting hallertau mitterlfruh for the 20 minute hop would change things too directly
Click to expand...
Hi. Based on your location, I'm guessing you're asking because that's what you have? If so, I'd say the Kölsch yeast should work just fine (I love a good Kölsch!) As for the Hallertau, again, it should be fine, but will definitely change the flavor character of the beer. In addition to BM's original version (which is excellent,) I've tweaked my other versions (I'm on my sixth batch now) by changing some of the base malts, hop additions (Ahtanum is a really good flavor/aroma hop addition,) and yeast. This is truly one of the great beers that shines just about any way you make it. I suspect with a Kölsch yeast and a noble hop, your version may come out more like a German Blonde than an American Blonde. Still wonderful, just with a little different accent! :) Hope this helps,
Ed
 
OG came in a little hot! I forgot to adjust for my efficiency increase. I typically only brew 1.70-1.90 and this is by far the lightest beer I have brewed.

IMG_4414.JPG
 
Brewed this last Friday. I had some WLP090 on hand already so I pitched that. It took off like a rocket and has not had airlock activity since 48 hrs post pitch. Not surprising, 090 has torn through DIPAs in 96 hrs for me. Gonna let it sit for another week or so, cold crash, and fine with gelatin then keg.
qxMWqRT.jpg
 
Tommy Selggren said:
Hi all!
I brewed this recipe some weeks ago without changing anything and now it has been on bottle for about 2 weeks and I must say wow!!! Taste really good!
This will be really nice to have at the cristmas dinner table! :)
The result:
View attachment 603408
Thank you so much for this recipe!
Click to expand...
Hello Tommy and welcome to the HBT forum from Tennessee! You picked a wonderful beer to brew, and it will only get better in the bottle over time (it's even better when you keg it.) I think your brewing the original recipe is the best way to try a new recipe. When you brew it as originally intended, you can see how it should taste. Then, if you want to make changes (mash, grist, hops, yeast, etc.) you will have a basis of comparison. Good luck on your future brews and Merry Christmas to you and yours! Ed
 
This beer is so friggin good, I think I'm gonna make it a regular in my rotation. Brewed up another batch today just as the keg ran dry. If you're looking for an easy drinkin beer with a refreshing finish, I think this blonde will be hard to beat.

Chapeau to OP for the recipe.
 
JLeuck64 said:
Just kegged up a 10gal batch yesterday. Like others have done I went with a different strain of yeast, I used Wyeast Pacman.

In the past when I've used Nottingham to ferment, this beer was unremarkable during bottling day... but it always improved during conditioning.

Yesterday I noticed a night and day difference in flavor of the sample I pulled. Super stoked to see how it turns out after sitting on CO2 for a while!
Click to expand...

Just reporting on my experience using Pacman yeast for this recipe. I would say that it drives the flavor of this recipe more towards a Pacifico style... maybe just a hint of flavor like Corona? Anyway, it tastes better when I add a slice of lemon ( ; Not my first choice when it comes to easy drinking beers... but if someone else is looking for that style of beer maybe this yeast strain will help get it there? Think I will try Wyeast British Ale next time ( ;
 
Brewed this for Christmas so the non IPA drinkers could have something to enjoy during the holidays. It was a big hit. Even the BMC drinkers thought it was great so mission accomplished in my book.
 
Tommy Selggren said:
Hi all!

I brewed this recipe some weeks ago without changing anything and now it has been on bottle for about 2 weeks and I must say wow!!! Taste really good!

This will be really nice to have at the cristmas dinner table! :)

The result:

View attachment 603408

Thank you so much for this recipe!
Click to expand...
OK. I am a newbie and am curious. Is this a blonde? It looks delicious and I want to try this just from the picture.
 

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