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

[RedlegEd]

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

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

 

[jturman35]

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.

 

[bamcisman]

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.

 

[Tommy Selggren]

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:

Thank you so much for this recipe!

 

[RedlegEd]

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!

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

 

[dttk0009]

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]

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!

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 ( ;

 

[Samudell]

This was my first all grain and even after just 1 week in the bottle (couldn't wait to try it), this is a great beer.

 

[jpLV]

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.

 

[hogriderj]

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!

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.

 

[jturman35]

I split this into two batches. I did the original recipe with Notty and fermented in my conical, cold crashed for 4 days. The other batch I did in a regular carboy in the sink with a water bath and used US05. So far the US05 samples seem sharper. The notty samples were more rounded. Will post updates and pics soon!

 

[Bent-Brewer]

Anyone try reducing/omitting the hops and using this as a base for a sour? Not sure if it was already discussed, but I didn't see mention on the pages I read through.

 

[Thegundog]

Decided to use this recipe as my first BIAB attempt and I brewed it today.

BIAB was 100% more fun than the Extract kits that I’ve brewed in the past.

Picked up all the ingredients from a local HBS.

While I missed the post boil quantity by .25 Gallon I hit the og dead on!

Great day brewing, hope it comes out good!

Thanks BierMuncher.....

 

[John Kimble]

2nd time brewing this next week. I modified the recipe to include 2x TBSP of coriander @ 10m.
I am having to fight my family and neighbors off from drinking it all.
I aged it in the keg for a month and it smoothed out and the flavors harmonized really well.

 

[rtstrider]

Reporting back. It's definitely infected! Confirmed by a BJCP judge and a few head brewers. Now I'll say we all agreed it wasn't bad and would be a passable belgian blonde, due to the slight phenols, but I'm really not into that style. Anywho I've since upgraded to a glass fermenter as the source of infections has been nailed down to being the bucket. May try rebrewing this over the summer with Nottingham (on the low end) for giggles.

 

[ktheavner1965]

Decided to use this recipe as my first BIAB attempt and I brewed it today.

BIAB was 100% more fun than the Extract kits that I’ve brewed in the past.

Picked up all the ingredients from a local HBS.

While I missed the post boil quantity by .25 Gallon I hit the og dead on!

Great day brewing, hope it comes out good!

Thanks BierMuncher.....

Hey Thegundog, Getting ready to do a BIAB on this one. How was the grains milled? Normal or very fine in order to hit the OG?

 

[Thegundog]

Hey Thegundog, Getting ready to do a BIAB on this one. How was the grains milled? Normal or very fine in order to hit the OG?

KT.... I told my local home brew store that the grains were for BIAB and I wanted them double milled, finely crushed (after reading everywhere that this improved efficiency). The proprietary explained that is was not necessary for him to double mill as he had a brand new 3 roller mill and as he described "it is bad a#$". So I trusted his expertise and went with his suggestions - my grains were single milled.

While draining the grain bag, I did squeeze it pretty thoroughly.

Good luck with your next batch and have fun!

 

[jturman35]

I split this into two batches. I did the original recipe with Notty and fermented in my conical, cold crashed for 4 days. The other batch I did in a regular carboy in the sink with a water bath and used US05. So far the US05 samples seem sharper. The notty samples were more rounded. Will post updates and pics soon!

1/13/19 Update

Well after 2 weeks in the keg here are results.

Left: US05 fermented in carboy water bath basically no temp control.

Right: Nottingham fermented in temp controlled conical and I used gelatin and cold crashed for several days.

I love Nottingham in my Brown Ales and really like this yeast, however it really mutes and rounds out this recipe. The US05 is brighter, crisp and seems to have a dryer finish. Both of these beers finished at 1.010 and ended up 5.25%. I forgot my efficiency was better with lower gravity brews and forgot to adjust. I rarely brew anything under 6%.

I’m really not into lagers or light abv such as this beer, but I wanted something for a quick turn around. The US05 batch is by far so much better beer!

Cheers!!

 

[bamcisman]

I let it ride 3 weeks in primary and now that it's been 2+ weeks in the keg it is really rounding into form. I can't detect any hops. It finished at 1.008 and is

lager-like. I used WLP090.

 

[Tagobolts]

Brewed my first all grain batch today. Decided to do this one. Looks good so far, will update when its done fermenting

 

[JLeuck64]

I made 11gal of this Blonde today. Fermenting with Wyeast 1098 British Ale this time, this will be the third yeast I've tried with this recipe ( ;

 

[RedlegEd]

Enjoying a glass of this tonight! A simply delightful beer that everyone should make at least once. This is from my sixth batch. Ed

 

[regor]

I brewed this 4 days ago , has anyone dry hopped this brew ?

 

[Tagobolts]

Took a final gravity reading on this and it was lower then expected. This is my first all grain batch I made. Can someone tell me what I may have done wrong? And what to expect when gravity is lower?

This thread says should be
1.039

Brewers friend said
1.041


FG here said should be 1.008
Brewers Friend said 1.011

My actual numbers

OG was 1.041
FG is 1.004 and should be 1.008

So everything was pretty good except for the first few hours it was really cooking and it hit 74 degrees (when it calls for 68). So it could have been this high for about 6 or so hours. My new temperature controller (my fault) did not work right when I put it in. ALso should note temperature reading was from the thermometer on the fermenter. It did stabalize to 68 and been there since.

Just curious. It tasted ok. Going to make the same batch again to see what I could have messed up.

 

[robdogj]

Took a final gravity reading on this and it was lower then expected. This is my first all grain batch I made. Can someone tell me what I may have done wrong? And what to expect when gravity is lower?

This thread says should be
1.039

Brewers friend said
1.041


FG here said should be 1.008
Brewers Friend said 1.011

My actual numbers

OG was 1.041
FG is 1.004 and should be 1.008

sounds like you got a great fermentation there bud.

 

[Batteman87]

Took a final gravity reading on this and it was lower then expected. This is my first all grain batch I made. Can someone tell me what I may have done wrong? And what to expect when gravity is lower?

This thread says should be
1.039

Brewers friend said
1.041


FG here said should be 1.008
Brewers Friend said 1.011

My actual numbers

OG was 1.041
FG is 1.004 and should be 1.008

So everything was pretty good except for the first few hours it was really cooking and it hit 74 degrees (when it calls for 68). So it could have been this high for about 6 or so hours. My new temperature controller (my fault) did not work right when I put it in. ALso should note temperature reading was from the thermometer on the fermenter. It did stabalize to 68 and been there since.

Just curious. It tasted ok. Going to make the same batch again to see what I could have messed up.

Sounds like it went reasonably well. Don't stress too much about the lower FG reading. Sounds like the yeast did their job and had plenty of O2 to work with. Might taste a touch dryer than one that finished with higher FG and has a little more alcohol in it.
Cheers!

 

[jlinz]

Any problem in forgoing the cara pils? I have everything for the recipe but that.

 

[iQuestor]

Brewing this today for the second time. First batch had a small aftertaste and I think I’ve figured out that I made a couple mistakes when sparging / lautering. Namely I didn’t let it rest for 10m at 167 deg F and also stirred the basket while draining to get better flow which I think probably got some tannins in it. It still came out reasonably well and cleared up nicely with beautiful color and we drink the whole batch.

Trying again today with a better eye towards mash temp and sparse temps and minimizing disturbing the grain while lautering / sparging. I’ll let you know how it ends up!!

 

[andrewmaixner]

Brewing this today for the second time. First batch had a small aftertaste and I think I’ve figured out that I made a couple mistakes when sparging / lautering. Namely I didn’t let it rest for 10m at 167 deg F and also stirred the basket while draining to get better flow which I think probably got some tannins in it. It still came out reasonably well and cleared up nicely with beautiful color and we drink the whole batch.

Trying again today with a better eye towards mash temp and sparse temps and minimizing disturbing the grain while lautering / sparging. I’ll let you know how it ends up!!

That's kind of an urban myth, well disproved by common BIAB brewing procedures. Tannin extraction is purely a function of temperature and pH (and pH buffering), not physical disturbances.

 

[iQuestor]

That's kind of an urban myth, well disproved by common BIAB brewing procedures. Tannin extraction is purely a function of temperature and pH (and pH buffering), not physical disturbances.

Yeah I’ve read that, wasn’t sure. However I think the biggest part of it was not letting it rest at 167°F for 10 minutes and probably rinsing the grains with too much water which may have raised the pH.
This time I only rinsed with about 5 quarts of water at 169° which I very carefully monitored. Then I used some pre-boiled water at about 190° to raise the wort volume to about 5.5 gallons. I’m just about to pitch the yeast right now.