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

[jacksonbrown]

What liquid yeast would you recommend for this? Think a Cali would work?

Any clean fermenting yeast should work pretty well (Cali, American, Amer. II). I used 1056 last time and worked out great! I'll be using Nottingham next weekend just for comparison's sake.
Edit: I'm also a big fan of dry hopping this beer; I used 0.5 oz of both hops for 3 days. Might go for 7 days this time.

 

[truckmann]

I have a batch fermenting with the 1056 now.

 

[FEARDIZ]

when I tried this after 2.5/3 weeks in bottle, it was a little bitter for my taste.. It's mellowed out a little after a few more weeks. I think I'll try this again, put a little more grains in to get the OG up to 1.045/ 1.050 ish . Looking for a little sweeter

thoughts?

 

[truckmann]

Sounds good to me. I actually did that with mine.
Here is the recipe I used. Mine ended up a little too dark on the color scale though. Not sure why, may have gotten the wrong crystal malt or something.

[size=+2]Centennial Blonde[/size]
[size=+1]6-B Blonde Ale[/size]

Size: 10.33 gal
Efficiency: 75.0%
Attenuation: 75.0%
Calories: 161.71 per 12.0 fl oz

Original Gravity: 1.049 (1.038 - 1.054)
|==================#=============|
Terminal Gravity: 1.012 (1.008 - 1.013)
|=====================#==========|
Color: 4.6 (3.0 - 6.0)
|================#===============|
Alcohol: 4.78% (3.8% - 5.5%)
|=================#==============|
Bitterness: 20.25 (15.0 - 28.0)
|==============#=================|

[size=+1]Ingredients:[/size]
16.0 lbs Cargill Two-Row Pale
1.5 lbs 2-Row Carapils® Malt
1 lbs Crystal Malt 10°L
1 lbs Vienna Malt
0.5 oz Centennial (9.5%) - added during boil, boiled 55 min
0.5 oz Centennial (9.5%) - added during boil, boiled 35 min
0.6 oz Cascade (6.3%) - added during boil, boiled 20 min
0.7 oz Cascade (6.3%) - added during boil, boiled 5 min
1.0 ea WYeast 1056 American Ale

[size=+1]Schedule:[/size]
Ambient Air: 90.0 °F
Source Water: 70.0 °F
Elevation: 900 ft

00:05:00 Mash In - Liquor: 6.09 gal; Strike: 163.1 °F; Target: 152 °F
01:05:00 Saccharification Rest - Rest: 60.0 min; Final: 152.0 °F
01:25:00 Batch Sparge - Sparge #1: 6.35 gal sparge @ 195 °F, 6.27 gal collected, 10 min; Sparge #2: 6.35 gal sparge @ 185 °F, 6.23 gal collected, 10 min; Total Runoff: 12.82 gal

[size=+1]Notes:[/size]
Brewed 08-09-08
OG-1.050

Kegged 08-24-08
FG-1.004

 

[jcdillin]

Since I only have a 3Gal brewpot I put the recipe into Beer Smith and Scaled it down to a 3 gal boil with a 5.5gal batch size. It upped the hops, would that be correct?

All the hops went to .36 oz

 

[truckmann]

That sounds about right. What is the total bitterness rating for the batch?

 

[Tankard]

I gotta try this one again. My first one came out a 6.5 out of 10 due to it being my first attempt at all grain. I also substituted the wrong hops. Cascades from Argentina are no substitutes for the US version. The beer I had was drinkable, and everyone liked it, so.... it was a success? I know the real thing will be better though.

 

[jcdillin]

That sounds about right. What is the total bitterness rating for the batch?

Thanks

I should mention this is the extract version

When I first entered it into BS it came up with 17.0

that was with a boil volume of 6.57 and a final of 5.50

after I scaled it to a 3 gal boil with a 5.50 batch size it stayed at 17.0

 

[FSR402]

I'm planning to brew this beer this weekend while my 999 is on it's Efin 4 hour boil.

Had to scale back the grain a bit to get the OG you are calling for and I'm planning to use all homegrown hops that I picked and dried last week. :rockin:

 

[Displaced MassHole]

Just brewed this one Sat night. I hit my numbers but only ended up with 5gal in the carboy, probably gonna loose a little bit during transfer to the keg but oh well. I just wish I was sober enough to have tasted the hydro sample

 

[mew]

The glass is a little scratched because it's kinda old-I stole it from Rennie's in Eugene on my 21er in 1991. But the beer cleared very nicely after a week or so in the keg.

I love Rennie's! nice looking beer, btw.

 

[tgrier]

Muncher.

I brewed this 11 days ago (only change was Pils vs pale - due to that fact I got a lot it at the moment and I thought this light beer it would be ok)

Well I Kegged it on Sat. and I dropped the temp to 35 and set the PSI to 20 and boom I tasted it tonight. I need to take pic. It was very fine.

I am on the hook for 10 gallons of beer for the Texas/Arkansas game this week-end and I needed a quick turn time.

Would an extra week help this beer out>? Sure.. but for a 11 day old beer... it is very drinkable.
It is a little cloudy still... but I think that will clear by the week-end in the keg.

I used 05 and it dropped to 1.008
nice...

Thanks for the Recipe.

 

[Skipstr21]

I brewed this last weekend and ended up with a OG of 1.040. A little low but it sure tasted good. Using malt from a local group buy program, notty yeast and hops from Williams Brewing ($2/per oz!), I can brew 5 gals of this for $8.61! At that rate I'be able to pay for my brew/keg equip. in about 10-15 years!

 

[Bopper]

I brewed the extract version of this last night. The only issue was my LHBS only had a half pound of Carapils left (his order did not come in as expected). He recomended that I substitute the half pound of Carapils with biscuit malt. So, my grain bill was .5# carapils; .5# biscuit. How much do you think it will change the recipe?

 

[Funkenjaeger]

I brewed a batch of this a couple weeks ago, and we're really tearing through the keg now - it really is a great quaffer! If I wasn't in dire need of getting some other beers brewed to have some more variety in the house, I'd be doing another batch of this immediately!

Thanks for the recipe, BM, it's a great one as always!

 

[FSR402]

My batch of this did not workout so well. I used all home grown hops so I had no idea how it would be. I pulled the first pint last night and it taste like sweet-tarts. So it seems my hops were really low on the AAU's. I ordered some AI oil extract today so I can bitter it up and make it better.
I'll brew it again but I'll use the store bought hops this time.

 

[jcdillin]

just kegged this after a 10 day stay in the fermenter, awesome stuff I think I am going to make another batch just to bottle

I did the extract version and boiled 2lbs of the DME for an hour and added the other 3lbs at flameout and I ended up with a very very nice pale color. But I did come up low on the OG at 1.042 at only 5 gallons. Also I did not transfer to secondary and it still came out great.

Thanks!

 

[Boodlemania]

just kegged this after a 10 day stay in the fermenter, awesome stuff I think I am going to make another batch just to bottle

I did the extract version and boiled 2lbs of the DME for an hour and added the other 3lbs at flameout and I ended up with a very very nice pale color. But I did come up low on the OG at 1.042 at only 5 gallons. Also I did not transfer to secondary and it still came out great.

Thanks!

I brewed a batch using the method above on 10/4 (2lbs in 3.5 gallon boil, 3 lbs at flame-out). Used WLP001 with a 500ml starter. Bubbling away nicely.

 

[jcdillin]

What OG did you end up with?

 

[Boodlemania]

I am not sure b/c I didn't get a good OG reading due to trying a new technique for drawing a sample (turkey baster instead of auto-siphon). I didn't get my top-off water mixed well enough in the glass carboy, and the sample I took was from the very top.

Not too worried about it since I used the extract method, though.

 

[mew]

I just brewed a batch of this yesterday. It won't be the same beer, though for several reasons:

1) got a new mill and got better efficiency than predicted; ended up with an OG of 1.047.
2) because of the high OG, we added a bit more hops for balance.
3) my centennials smelled funky, a hint of vinegar and gross old cheese (I hate that HBS). So, we subbed Cascades.

It will be a totally different beer, but should be good nonetheless.

 

[Baron ken]

Update:
Brewed 8/3/08, posted here and here.
Some pics from a keg that has set untapped until now (~2 months in keg).
Click for larger pics.


Enjoy. I know I did!

 

[jcdillin]

mmm mmm, that sure looks good, i've been drinking mine almost every day now except for a bit of chill haze mine looks exactly the same.

 

[BigKahuna]

Ok OK OK....I'm jumping on the bandwagon here.
Should have the grains this weekend.
And since kegs keep going dry...I'm actually going to have to get a move on and get it brewed!

 

[jcdillin]

You haven't made this yet? of all people....


sheesh

 

[riored4v]

Finally got my batch of this bottled. Sample tasted excellent, and hopefully I won't get much chill-haze.

 

[Chriso]

I Loved the bottle that BierMuncher sent me, so I think I'll be brewing this pretty soon! I'll probably wind up using Centennial and Amarillo instead of the Cascade, as I only have 2 oz of Cascade laying around, and I'm saving it for SNPA clone. (Got about 1# each of Cent and Amarillo still in my stash, so I'm good there!)

I might do a 2nd batch with some Magnum and some Centennial, too. Just 'cause I've got the Magnum around.

I'll probably wind up using the specialty grain portion of the recipe to build my standard house ale.... Up until now, my "house" has been SMaSH. (Not that there's anything wrong with SMaSH! )

 

[Chriso]

Cross-posted from 10der & Mild Swap:


BM's Centennial Blonde:
- Aroma is heavenly! Floral and somewhat herbal, but a little sweet and honey-y too. Very inviting, even when cold.
- Color is pale straw, and crystal freakin' clear. BEAUTIFUL beer.
- Flavor is hoppier(*) than I expected! I love it! For the "gateway" beer that everyone recommends to new brewers, I was not expecting so much hop presence! I really love the flavor of this though, it's got little notes of honey and malt overtone, but does not dominate. It tastes cleaner than most commercial blondes, and there's something about the water profile that makes this positively sparkle.
Very very nice. I could drink this all day long.

(*) - BierMuncher noted, after I posted this, that the particular batch I tried was dry-hopped in the keg with 1oz Centennial and 0.5oz Amarillo. Please note.

 

[kjones]

BM, i just ordered the grains for this i already had cascades, and i have some nugget, perle, and williamette in fridge so i thought i could use the nugget for the centinniual you think that would be ok?

 

[BierMuncher]

BM, i just ordered the grains for this i already had cascades, and i have some nugget, perle, and williamette in fridge so i thought i could use the nugget for the centinniual you think that would be ok?

Nugget is a great hop and a decent sub...but it is going to require some more time to mellow. Nugget can be a bit more harsh. I use nugget a lot for bittering and if you make sure to dial down the amounts...it should be just fine.