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

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B³- said:
Made 5 gallons of this BIAB as my first brew experience. It's a bit over 2 weeks in the bottles now, still needs some more time for the carb to build up. Definitely tasty and easy to down in a matter of minutes if you're thirsty. Mine came out darker than most of the photos, likely due to using Crystal 15 instead of 10, which my LBHS didn't have. I had let my milled grains and hops sit out for a couple months at room temp before I was able to find the time to brew, so I'd imagine this would be even better with fresh ingredients. Looking forward to brewing this again and giving whole leaf hops a try for a bit more aroma.
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As long as your grains were sealed up in a plastic bag they will be fine. Next time just put your hops in the freezer and they'll stay fresh for quite a while.

Cheers!
 
Hah! Well the grains were more so in a taped up paper bag... (and definitely had bug eggs and mites crawling around when I opened it up...and might have smelled kind of off) ... But hey, the mash smelled good! What's a little extra protein between friends?
 
B³- said:
Hah! Well the grains were more so in a taped up paper bag... (and definitely had bug eggs and mites crawling around when I opened it up...and might have smelled kind of off) ... But hey, the mash smelled good! What's a little extra protein between friends?
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Well, one of my favorite parts of this hobby is constantly learning and improving. Here's to a little extra protein. 😃
 
Ok dumb request, I want to see if my version of this as far as mash etc are correct in brewtarget. Anyone have this in beerxml exported that I can import to see if my numbers for mash and boil amounts are correct?
 
This was my first all grain batch (small enough grain bill to work with my 5 gallon pot) and after three weeks I think I need to brew another batch. I used some Kveik I had leftover and it fermented really quick. Came out pretty clear, and the beer is delicious with a good ABV so I can have a few in a sitting. Definitely a hit with everyone who has tried it, thanks for the great recipe!
 
I'm 0-2 in brewing this one a totally different recipe. I came down with the plague the day after brewing the first batch, and had an overheated fermentation with the second batch. Is the third time the charm? Maybe it's time to try this one instead.
 
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I love this recipe. One on the left is 2 weeks from yeast pitch out of my keg. The one on the right is out of a bottle that was brewed in April. Recipe was similar except for water chemistry and the one on the right had williamette hops instead of centennial. Both are great. Can't decide which one I like better. Used s05 yeast for both. Much thanks to the OP @BierMuncher for the recipe.
 

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In my almost 2 years of home brewing, this is the only recipe that I have brewed more than once. Such a great beer, and a huge crowd pleaser.
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Brewed this for the first time last weekend, I pitched the Notty rehydrated and fermented the wort @ 55 degrees F. Activity was rapid and vigorous and after only 72 hours I measured an FG of 1.004 (confirmed with two hydrometers)! After 10 years of homebrewing I've never had a beer finish <1.008 and this was my first time using Notty. I'm going to cold crash this weekend and keg next weekend. So far the flavors out of the fermenter have been great (although drier than I like in an ale). I also flipped the hops around to use cascade for bittering and centennial for aroma/hopstand. I had a harvest of first year centennials that I threw in the hopstand.
 
I'll be doing my first ever all grain brew this weekend, and I think I'm going to use this recipe. I want to bottle 5 gallons or so, and will be using the BIAB method. Any tips for using this method versus traditional as far as this particular beer goes?
 
HuskerCubsBrewer said:
I'll be doing my first ever all grain brew this weekend, and I think I'm going to use this recipe. I want to bottle 5 gallons or so, and will be using the BIAB method. Any tips for using this method versus traditional as far as this particular beer goes?
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Im not a particularly precise brewer and this was also my first all grain BIAB. My pot doesn’t even hold five gallons so I had to toss in top off water to get closer. I just kept the grains at around 152 for an hour, boiled for another hour with the hops added on schedule and used Kveik yeast instead since I had some on hand. Beer turned out great and there weren’t any real tricks I needed to employ while brewing it - it’s really straightforward. Good luck!
 
HuskerCubsBrewer said:
I'll be doing my first ever all grain brew this weekend, and I think I'm going to use this recipe. I want to bottle 5 gallons or so, and will be using the BIAB method. Any tips for using this method versus traditional as far as this particular beer goes?
Click to expand...

Have you tested your kettle yet to see how much boil off you will get for an hour boil? I know that I use about 6.6 gallons of total water to get the final amount at 5 gallons of beer.

With most all grain BIAB brews, you need to crush your grain as fine as possible. If you don't have a malt crusher, tell your homebrew store that you would like the grain crushed for BIAB and very fine. After you mash in and pull the bag, make sure you squeeze it to get as much wort out as possible. This will up your efficiency. I'd mash at 152 for this brew.
 
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TyGent said:
Have you tested your kettle yet to see how much boil off you will get for an hour boil? I know that I use about 6.6 gallons of total water to get the final amount at 5 gallons of beer.

With most all grain BIAB brews, you need to crush your grain as fine as possible. If you don't have a malt crusher, tell your homebrew store that you would like the grain crushed for BIAB and very fine. After you mash in and pull the bag, make sure you squeeze it to get as much wort out as possible. This will up your efficiency. I'd mash at 152 for this brew.
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This will be the first use of my new kettle...the 15 gallon MegaPot from Northern Brewer, so I'm not sure how the boil off will look. I'd like this beer to be around 4.5 abv....when I load info into Brewers Friend I'm at 3.85 or so....but I'm not sure I'm using Brewers Friend right either haha.
 
HuskerCubsBrewer said:
This will be the first use of my new kettle...the 15 gallon MegaPot from Northern Brewer, so I'm not sure how the boil off will look. I'd like this beer to be around 4.5 abv....when I load info into Brewers Friend I'm at 3.85 or so....but I'm not sure I'm using Brewers Friend right either haha.
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https://biabcalculator.com/^^^^^^
This will help you get in the ball park with how much water to start with. Looks like you should put in about 7 gallons of water. Your megapot may be thick and heavy duty (less boil off). So I'd try an all water boil just to test the equipment. Put in about 7 gallons of water. And just boil it for an hour. You should be able to see how much water you lose once the hour is done. Then you can plug that boil off rate in on the calculator on the link above. This should help get you close.

OR

Just go for it. See what happens. You may not get the abv you were looking for. But this recipe is pretty full proof IMO. More than likely, you will end up with a very drinkable beer. Follow the hop schedule from post 1.

Let us know how it goes.
 
TyGent said:
https://biabcalculator.com/^^^^^^
This will help you get in the ball park with how much water to start with. Looks like you should put in about 7 gallons of water. Your megapot may be thick and heavy duty (less boil off). So I'd try an all water boil just to test the equipment. Put in about 7 gallons of water. And just boil it for an hour. You should be able to see how much water you lose once the hour is done. Then you can plug that boil off rate in on the calculator on the link above. This should help get you close.

OR

Just go for it. See what happens. You may not get the abv you were looking for. But this recipe is pretty full proof IMO. More than likely, you will end up with a very drinkable beer. Follow the hop schedule from post 1.

Let us know how it goes.
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Much appreciated!!
 
Does anybody know what a comparable commercial beer to this recipe would be? I just brewed this and it wasn't quite what I was expecting, would love to compare it to something that should be similar. It's probably just some off flavor but I'm still new to this so I don't know what it is... Thank you!
 
For me, it's hard to compare it to something commercial. It's meant to be an easy drinker (like a lager) but obviously it's different than that.
 
TyGent said:
For me, it's hard to compare it to something commercial. It's meant to be an easy drinker (like a lager) but obviously it's different than that.
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Yeah, hard to fit it into a box. But that's the best part of this recipe: uniquely simple, easily modified, frequently brewed, plus you don't have obsess over, "What's it taste like?"

Whenever I need a break from hoppy IPAs or smooth lagers, and just need a an enjoyable, quaffable beer, I look no further than this recipe. I really like variety but for some reason this one gets brewed at least a couple of times a year.

Next into the rotation (later this week if the weather agrees) I'll be brewing this one again for the third time this year. Although it's hard to improve on the original recipe, I'm adding a whirlpool charge of 1 oz Cashmere while dialing back the Centennial and Cascade in the boil to keep the IBUs within the range for a Blonde ale.

Hoping for a killer combination between hops to improve rather than change the original, remaining loyal to the solid, OP recipe. Thirteen years and still going strong.

Brooo Brother
 
HuskerCubsBrewer said:
I'll be doing my first ever all grain brew this weekend, and I think I'm going to use this recipe. I want to bottle 5 gallons or so, and will be using the BIAB method. Any tips for using this method versus traditional as far as this particular beer goes?
Click to expand...

Not useful for this brew but maybe your next. I do BIAB and this was about my 10th batch. As the grain bill was small I got a much higher efficiency on this than all the brews before which had a few pounds more grain. So if you are doing another BIAB keep that in mind. Depends on your system but with a higher water to grain ration you can get a better extraction. You will eventually find the optimum level. It takes a good 5 or 10 batches to fine tune it anyway. After about 75 batches I still haven't perfected it :p
 
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Can anyone recommend a good sub for Cascade from what I have in my freezer?

Centennial
El Dorado
Azacca
Magnum
Mosaic
Citra
Simcoe
Chinook

I’ve over used Mosaic, Citra, Simcoe since starting to brew so ideally want to leave these unless they are a great sub.

Was thinking of maybe swapping magnum in for the early addition and centennial in place or cascade OR going single hop with centennial.
 
nreed said:
Can anyone recommend a good sub for Cascade from what I have in my freezer?

Centennial
El Dorado
Azacca
Magnum
Mosaic
Citra
Simcoe
Chinook

I’ve over used Mosaic, Citra, Simcoe since starting to brew so ideally want to leave these unless they are a great sub.

Was thinking of maybe swapping magnum in for the early addition and centennial in place or cascade OR going single hop with centennial.
Click to expand...

https://www.brewps.com/hop-chart-hop-substitutes.html
 
I've always liked the way Centennial and Chinook play with Cascade, but if you're looking to eliminate Cascade altogether you'll find a significantly different beer. Maybe bitter with Chinook and flavor with Centennial, or single hop with Centennial like Bell's Two Hearted. Cascade as a single hop is Sierra Nevada PA. Both are excellent "old school" American ales if you're looking to get back to basics.

Brooo Brother
 
Centennial and Chinook will probably work best, but they will also be a bit different. In this recipe, I think you wouldn't go wrong with either.
 
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Brooothru said:
I've always liked the way Centennial and Chinook play with Cascade, but if you're looking to eliminate Cascade altogether you'll find a significantly different beer. Maybe bitter with Chinook and flavor with Centennial, or single hop with Centennial like Bell's Two Hearted. Cascade as a single hop is Sierra Nevada PA. Both are excellent "old school" American ales if you're looking to get back to basics.

Brooo Brother
Click to expand...

I don’t have any cascade in so trying to find a good alternative. I’ve yet to use centennial so maybe a good reason to try it as a single hop
 
Brooothru said:
Yeah, hard to fit it into a box. But that's the best part of this recipe: uniquely simple, easily modified, frequently brewed, plus you don't have obsess over, "What's it taste like?"

Whenever I need a break from hoppy IPAs or smooth lagers, and just need a an enjoyable, quaffable beer, I look no further than this recipe. I really like variety but for some reason this one gets brewed at least a couple of times a year.

Next into the rotation (later this week if the weather agrees) I'll be brewing this one again for the third time this year. Although it's hard to improve on the original recipe, I'm adding a whirlpool charge of 1 oz Cashmere while dialing back the Centennial and Cascade in the boil to keep the IBUs within the range for a Blonde ale.

Hoping for a killer combination between hops to improve rather than change the original, remaining loyal to the solid, OP recipe. Thirteen years and still going strong.

Brooo Brother
Click to expand...
I do a simple pale ale that has some mosaic for bittering and A few ounces of cashmere at the end. I think you will like yours and I in fact was considering doing the same to this blonde recipe.
 
Brooothru said:
I really like Centennial as a single hop (fan boy for Bell's), though not everyone is. Still, can't go wrong at least trying it out. Grab a Two Hearted and see if you like it.
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I brewed this will just Centennial on the weekend, just sampled when checking gravity and this was not what I was expecting from the usual descriptors! I'm getting serious pine/herbal aroma and taste, very little citrus character, not my usual go to but the sample was strangely moresome..
 
nreed said:
I brewed this will just Centennial on the weekend, just sampled when checking gravity and this was not what I was expecting from the usual descriptors! I'm getting serious pine/herbal aroma and taste, very little citrus character, not my usual go to but the sample was strangely moresome..
Click to expand...
That's actually my impression as well. I don't sense citrus as a major component, but it is also true that Bell's is very selective about the Centennial hops they use in Two Hearted. The "clones" I've brewed of 2H don't seem all that 'clonish' to me. Some Citra or Amarillo late in the boil or WP might enhance the perception.
 
Brooothru said:
Some Citra or Amarillo late in the boil or WP might enhance the perception.
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I was tempted to do a citra hop tea in the bottling bucket but I’m not sure my OG is going to finish at 1.010 so it’s already going to be low ABV. Hopefully it’ll mellow out a little after a few more days in the primary and conditioning.
 
First try of this with only and centennial and it’s really grown on me. This is my best brew yet - thanks for the great recipe! Can’t wait to try it with cascade as well!
BAFEA06B-4AE7-4C5D-8D2B-3D7EF92CE417.jpeg
 
cblack85 said:
I took a 4 year hiatus from brewing, and will be getting back into it this weekend starting with this recipe. looking forward to brewing again!
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I'm with you man! I took 4 years off as well but jumped right back in it and have my first batch in 4 years chugging away in primary! Also have 2 gallons of mead and 5 gallons of apfelwein. Gotta get the pipeline going again!
 
I live on 2200m altitude, so I will have to adapt hop quantities a bit, any suggestions on how to adjust over the 4 hop additions? just equally?
normal recipe, 21.5 IBU - 5 gal
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)

0.25 oz = 7.1g

my hop schedule: (my cascade has only 5.5%)
10g Centennial [9.50%] (55 min)
15g oz Centennial [9.50%] (35 min)
15g Cascade [5.5%] (20 min)
15g Cascade [5.5%] (5 min)
 
Brewed this over the weekend, and it was a great brew day! I was afraid it would take a little time to knock the rust off, but everything went smoothly, and I am looking forward to my next brew day!
 
I've brewed this numerous times, and its now a standard at my house and my brother-in-laws house who I brew for. I always brew it per the original recipe.

Recently I've come into a bunch of El Dorado hops. Has anyone done this brew w/ a single hopped El Dorado? What do you think?

K
 

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