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

[warex]

****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)

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)

 

[Ariza-Poet]

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)

Post your results on this recipe if you do it. I'd be interested in trying a higher ABV version of this.

 

[Sean Swify]

Post your results on this recipe if you do it. I'd be interested in trying a higher ABV version of this.

 

[rtstrider]

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!

 

[andrewmaixner]

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!

Your call, but I'd stick with an English ale yeast. I've preferred it when tested side by side in this.

 

[Velnerj]

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!

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.

 

[rtstrider]

Your call, but I'd stick with an English ale yeast. I've preferred it when tested side by side in this.

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?

 

[rtstrider]

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!

 

[thehaze]

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.

 

[rtstrider]

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.

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.

 

[rtstrider]

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.

 

[EtchyLives]

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

 

[Redtab78]

@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?

 

[EtchyLives]

@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?

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.

 

[rtstrider]

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

 

[Phildo253]

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.

 

[rtstrider]

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.

 

[carlk47]

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.

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

 

[Bier1080]

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

Hey,
I know your post is from a long time ago but was really curious how this turned out
Thanks!

 

[JLeuck64]

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!

 

[bamcisman]

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 .

 

[applescrap]

This thread is so cool. Hope to make this someday soon.

 

[bamcisman]

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

Hi Ben, care to share your water profile? Thanks

 

[BoozeMedic]

Anybody ever try Centennial Blonde with kölsch yeast? Just curious

 

[BoozeMedic]

I wonder if substituting hallertau mitterlfruh for the 20 minute hop would change things too directly

 

[sleizure]

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!

 

[Batteman87]

Anybody ever try Centennial Blonde with kölsch yeast? Just curious

I did. I prefer the Knotty but thats just my taste.

 

[jturman35]

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?

 

[carlk47]

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?

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.

 

[jturman35]

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?