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

[kenmcchord]

I'm much too late and guessing you either skipped it or did it, but....


When I did this I used fresh strawberries for an added risk, because the fruit stand was closer to my house than the store. Anyway, I washed them under warm water well, cut the stems, halved them, then froze them. Thawed the day of the brew and pitched at high krausen. My thought was that if anything is still living on them, I want the yeast to win.

It was amazing. That was 2019.

I left the strawberries in there with the yeast cake after racking to keg, and put it under the steps to clean later - God I'm lazy. Your post reminded me of all this. Here they are today in all their glory, I honestly expected way worse.
View attachment 725903View attachment 725902

Holy crap, that was under your steps for 2 years!?! Ha! Hope you gave it a sniff before you dumped it, you owed that to yourself.

I used frozen strawberries that I cooked at 150° for 30 minutes or so, immersion blender the whole mess then dumped that in the secondary. Racked beer on top and left it there for a few weeks (I was awaiting a transfer solution from Morebeer). In the glass now, my abv came in slightly low at 3.75. This beer is LIGHT, very refreshing and a nice little strawberry tartness to it. I detailed the strawberry part in this thread

 

[fragged]

Holy crap, that was under your steps for 2 years!?! Ha! Hope you gave it a sniff before you dumped it, you owed that to yourself.

I used frozen strawberries that I cooked at 150° for 30 minutes or so, immersion blender the whole mess then dumped that in the secondary. Racked beer on top and left it there for a few weeks (I was awaiting a transfer solution from Morebeer). In the glass now, my abv came in slightly low at 3.75. This beer is LIGHT, very refreshing and a nice little strawberry tartness to it. I detailed the strawberry part in this thread

Yep, 2 years - and of course I smelled it lol. 1st whiff "not at all bad", then I got brave and took a big pull into the nostrils.... Honestly it didn't smell near ad bad as I thought it would.

Yours looks like I could crush a growler of it on a boat in midsummer. Mine was strawberry tart too, yum.

Also, I just brewed the original up again for the first time in a couple years, forgot how amazing it is after just a couple weeks.

 

[Romex2121]

Maybe I could get some advise ??
I’ve made this beer a couple times in the past (3 gallons)
the first try was ok
The second time I ended up with more of a brighter citrus flavor from the hops that I loved and want again .....
I’m going to try this again tomorrow in another 3 gallon batch , using Brewers Friend this is what I’ve come up with
3.6 lb 2- row
.43 lb carapils
.27 lb crystal
.27 lb Vienna
Puts brew at an OG of 1.039 ( 4.2 ABV )
Hops schedule —
.12 oz centennial @ 55 min. (10% AA)
.20 oz centennial @ 15 min.
.20 oz cascade @ 15 min. (7.1 AA)
.25 oz cascade @ 5 min.
Puts IBU’s at 22
I changed the original hop schedule thinking more late additions would give me more of the bright citrusy flavor I’m looking for while still keeping some of the bitterness to balance , I’m not really wanting to dry hop if I can make late additions work...
I know water makes a difference but still being somewhat new to brewing I’m still trying to figure that out , I have used RO and Brewers Friend water calcs in the past but brewing small 3 gal. batches I’m never sure how much of what to use to get flavors dialed in ,,,, I’ve also used tap water with Camden tablets and brews seemed ok maybe a little Flat’ish , I’ve yet to send tap water in for a test so I’m not sure what’s in it but being in NM I would bet tap water is kinda hard .
Just tying to get this Centennial Blonde to a nice crisp, little more citrusy flavor ,,
Any suggestions ????

 

[fragged]

Maybe I could get some advise ??
I’ve made this beer a couple times in the past (3 gallons)
the first try was ok
The second time I ended up with more of a brighter citrus flavor from the hops that I loved and want again .....
I’m going to try this again tomorrow in another 3 gallon batch , using Brewers Friend this is what I’ve come up with
3.6 lb 2- row
.43 lb carapils
.27 lb crystal
.27 lb Vienna
Puts brew at an OG of 1.039 ( 4.2 ABV )
Hops schedule —
.12 oz centennial @ 55 min. (10% AA)
.20 oz centennial @ 15 min.
.20 oz cascade @ 15 min. (7.1 AA)
.25 oz cascade @ 5 min.
Puts IBU’s at 22
I changed the original hop schedule thinking more late additions would give me more of the bright citrusy flavor I’m looking for while still keeping some of the bitterness to balance , I’m not really wanting to dry hop if I can make late additions work...
I know water makes a difference but still being somewhat new to brewing I’m still trying to figure that out , I have used RO and Brewers Friend water calcs in the past but brewing small 3 gal. batches I’m never sure how much of what to use to get flavors dialed in ,,,, I’ve also used tap water with Camden tablets and brews seemed ok maybe a little Flat’ish , I’ve yet to send tap water in for a test so I’m not sure what’s in it but being in NM I would bet tap water is kinda hard .
Just tying to get this Centennial Blonde to a nice crisp, little more citrusy flavor ,,
Any suggestions ????

I'm guessing there wasn't anything noteworthy you did different the time you really liked it?


You could try moving the 5 minute addition to flame out, or maybe an additional .2-.5 at whirlpool(165 deg.)?

For water, I use the bru'n water spreadsheet, yellow balanced for this recipe usually. Now the hard but fun part about brewing - only change one thing per brew. Otherwise you won't know which took you to flavor town(but water is my bet...).

 

[danimal92sport]

Ok, after several weeks in the keg, the great balance of this recipe is becoming apparent to me. I’m a habitual drinker of young beers. Halfway through the keg, the yeast is getting out of the way of the hops. The hop aroma off of this beer is so great! Overall, this is a great beer and will be brewed many times at this house!

 

[fragged]

Ok, after several weeks in the keg, the great balance of this recipe is becoming apparent to me. I’m a habitual drinker of young beers. Halfway through the keg, the yeast is getting out of the way of the hops.

Same here, it's actually this recipe that got me into 10 gallon batches, because the last few pints would taste soooo good. It's so easy to have a really short grain to glass though(I think I've turned this in under a week before). One of the few lawnmower beers I could have as a single tap all the time if I wanted, pretty sure I can't get sick of this one.

 

[Romex2121]

My Centennial Blonde ale has just become ARM HAIR BLONDE ALE ,,
Went to take a FG sample using the valve on the bottom of my 3.5 gallon
SS Brew Bucket and since I usually point the dip tube down during fermentation
I gave the valve half a turn (to the right) to get the dip tube pointing away from the bottom and it started leaking pretty good where the valve meets the fermenter ,
I had to remove the lid and reach inside the brew bucket to tighten the lock nut on the valve to get leak stopped.
I did spray my arm and hands with
Star-San before reaching in 3 gallons of beer , really didn’t have a choice but to reach inside , to purge oxygen from the fermenter once the lid was back on I ran Co2 thru the bottom valve for awhile in hopes of pushing out all the air that got in while the lid was off ..
I’m hopeful everything will turn out ok
And glad wife was still sleeping cause I would have never heard the end of it if she knew beer got into the carpet

 

[fragged]

My Centennial Blonde ale has just become ARM HAIR BLONDE ALE ,,
Went to take a FG sample using the valve on the bottom of my 3.5 gallon
SS Brew Bucket and since I usually point the dip tube down during fermentation
I gave the valve half a turn (to the right) to get the dip tube pointing away from the bottom and it started leaking pretty good where the valve meets the fermenter ,
I had to remove the lid and reach inside the brew bucket to tighten the lock nut on the valve to get leak stopped.
I did spray my arm and hands with
Star-San before reaching in 3 gallons of beer , really didn’t have a choice but to reach inside , to purge oxygen from the fermenter once the lid was back on I ran Co2 thru the bottom valve for awhile in hopes of pushing out all the air that got in while the lid was off ..
I’m hopeful everything will turn out ok
And glad wife was still sleeping cause I would have never heard the end of it if she knew beer got into the carpet

I've made this one a lot, my first AG years back. I've learned a lot from brewing it too, and abused it a lot lol. How many times did I get lucky opening my bucket to get a peek? Or how many brews in the big mouth bubbler that replaced it, before protecting it from sunlight? And the number of poor pressure fermentations? Who knows.

I've got no doubt it will still be great, and stupid crushable in short fashion. After your buddies rant and rave about it(a couple pints in), tell them the real name, and then the backstory.

 

[bwible]

Maybe I could get some advise ??
I’ve made this beer a couple times in the past (3 gallons)
the first try was ok
The second time I ended up with more of a brighter citrus flavor from the hops that I loved and want again .....
I’m going to try this again tomorrow in another 3 gallon batch , using Brewers Friend this is what I’ve come up with
3.6 lb 2- row
.43 lb carapils
.27 lb crystal
.27 lb Vienna
Puts brew at an OG of 1.039 ( 4.2 ABV )
Hops schedule —
.12 oz centennial @ 55 min. (10% AA)
.20 oz centennial @ 15 min.
.20 oz cascade @ 15 min. (7.1 AA)
.25 oz cascade @ 5 min.
Puts IBU’s at 22
I changed the original hop schedule thinking more late additions would give me more of the bright citrusy flavor I’m looking for while still keeping some of the bitterness to balance , I’m not really wanting to dry hop if I can make late additions work...
I know water makes a difference but still being somewhat new to brewing I’m still trying to figure that out , I have used RO and Brewers Friend water calcs in the past but brewing small 3 gal. batches I’m never sure how much of what to use to get flavors dialed in ,,,, I’ve also used tap water with Camden tablets and brews seemed ok maybe a little Flat’ish , I’ve yet to send tap water in for a test so I’m not sure what’s in it but being in NM I would bet tap water is kinda hard .
Just tying to get this Centennial Blonde to a nice crisp, little more citrusy flavor ,,
Any suggestions ????

As an aside, I brew 3 gallon batches also. I know I come up with odd measurements on hops all the time. I have a good scale that measures ounces to 3 digits or grams if I want to.

Far as grains, how do you measure .27 pounds? An ounce is .06 pounds. .25 pounds is 4 ounces. So is this really necessary? Do you suppose there is any difference in your finished beer whether you used 4 ounces of vienna malt or 4 and 1/3 ounces?

I try for accuracy and repeatability, but I also try to keep things simple,

 

[B³-]

Going back to my roots! This was the first beer I ever brewed over a year ago at the start of the pandemic.

I just kegged the 2nd 5 gallon batch. Accidentally built the recipe around an OG of 1.044 so slightly upped the hop additions to keep the bu:gu ratio in line.

I used a packet of Verdant IPA yeast this time, which can throw off nice fruity, apricot esters, and ferments very quickly. This one hit FG (1010) in less than 48 hours. I left it on the cake for a total of 7 days and now have it force carbing and cold crashing.

I took a sample and carbed it up in a soda bottle and at only a week in its surprising how conditioned it tastes. Still room for the flavors to meld and the hops to mellow slightly, but so far Verdant is proving to be an excellent choice for the Centennial Blonde, especially for those impatient brewers out there - finished faster than a fair amount of my Kveik brews.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

I have a beer made with lutra kviek in the fermenter.
it'll get kegged this weekend.
looks like i'm going to pour this on top of it since i also have another high temp pale ale going in this weekend ( tropical IPA)

will report back.

 

[Miata's Mike]

I'm planning on doing a 5 gallon version of this recipe maybe this weekend. Can I do like a 2 week primary in a pail and skip the secondary? This will be my first all grain brew.

Also, how much corn sugar should I add to bottle?

So glad to be learning to brew! I've done wine before and 2 kit beers that I still haven't tasted....

 

[NitrogenWidget]

I'm planning on doing a 5 gallon version of this recipe maybe this weekend. Can I do like a 2 week primary in a pail and skip the secondary? This will be my first all grain brew.

Also, how much corn sugar should I add to bottle?

So glad to be learning to brew! I've done wine before and 2 kit beers that I still haven't tasted....

I only secondary when adding fruit.
I've never used a secondary with this beer and I've usually kegged it after a week.
there isn't much for the yeast to munch on so they are usually finished in 5 days.

as for priming, just go to beersmith or some other website with a priming calculator.
put in how much sugar to add for bottling.
add it to a bottling bucket then fill your bottles with that.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

I have a beer made with lutra kviek in the fermenter.
it'll get kegged this weekend.
looks like i'm going to pour this on top of it since i also have another high temp pale ale going in this weekend ( tropical IPA)

will report back.

well, despite mashing in at 156 Lutra took this down to 1.002 from 1.032.
but it tastes pretty darn good out of the fermenter at 80 deg.
time to cold crash and keg.
I did have to sub amarillo for cascade since i just made a late addition cascade ale and didn't want two on tap.

 

[Spundit]

I brewed this on June 6th. I kegged it a couple days ago and burst carbed it. I tried my first sample today and it is pretty darn good. I intended to follow the recipee but as usual i ended up taking a few left turns....

First, I used lalbrews kviek voss. I just couldnt resist the idea of pitching warm and not worrying about it. I pitched one packet (no rehydration or anything) at 85 and just let it ride with no temp control. I also used about 10% vienna which is a little higher % than the original. I just wanted to use up what I had on hand. Finally my OG was a little high at 1.047 and finished at 1.009 for 5% abv. I knew this going into the boil so i increased the hop additions according. This was my first batch milling my own grain and my mash efficiency was much better than in the past.

The cascade and centenial hop flavor and aroma is really coming through. It finishes with a Nice mild malt backbone with a noticable white bread/breadcrust flavor. The beer is still young and quite hazy so we will see if this bready character fades once it clears in a week or two (I really like it as is). I dont think i am getting anything from the kviek yeast. Just seems like a clean fermentation.

Great summer beer that I will continue to brew and tinker with. Thanks to BierMuncher for the recipee!

 

[Talker]

This should get you a very similar beer:

Batch Size: 5.50 gal
Boil Size: 6.57 gal
Estimated OG: 1.044 SG
Estimated Color: 3.2 SRM
Estimated IBU: 16.8 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
Amount Item Type % or IBU
5.00 lb Extra Light Dry Extract (3.0 SRM) Dry Extract 83.3 %
1.00 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) Grain 16.7 %
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (45 min) Hops 7.8 IBU
0.25 oz Centennial [9.50%] (20 min) Hops 5.1 IBU
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (10 min) Hops 2.5 IBU
0.25 oz Cascade [7.80%] (5 min) Hops 1.4 IBU
1 Pkgs Nottingham (Danstar #-) Yeast-Ale

Your recipe sounds great, however I am a coeliac so cannot use traditional grains, instead I use a mix of sorghum syrup and malted rice syrup.
Do you think the following would be ok for a 6 gallon batch?
As I live in Australia, I converted the quantities roughly to your system I also upped the hops slightly and included the rice syrup to try to keep the sorghum taste down.

5.00 lb Sorghum syrup
1.00 lb Malted rice syrup (instead of dextrine)
0.42 oz Centennial at 45 min
0.42 oz Centennial at 20 min
0.42 oz Cascade at 10 min
0.42 oz Cascade at 5 min
1 pkg Nottingham Ale yeast

Any comments you could make would be greatly appreciated.

 

[Ultryx]

Going to brew a version of this on Friday or Saturday. It'll be my first blonde ale. I'm going with a Raspberry Vanilla Centennial Blonde Ale.

7.5 lbs 2-Row
12 oz Carapils
8 oz C10
8 oz Vienna

Raspberry (natural extract)
Vanilla bean (whole bean)

Centennial and Cascade hops, fermented with US-05 probably, unless I can find the original yeast used in this recipe at my LHBS.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

so I was told my Lutra fermented blonde looks and tastes more like a light lager.
I did use crystal 20 instead of 10.
didn't think it would make much of a difference.

learning every day.

either way people like it.

 

[rtstrider]

I ordered the grain bill for this today. I’m going to retry brewing this now that I’m into kegging. I will be ordering a floating dip tube also just because I’m upgrading all my non IPA/Pale Ale kegs to a floating dip tube. I’m using the balanced water profile from Bruin water and RO water so I can build it from scratch. Been wanting to brew a Nottingham brew again for a bit and figured why the heck not

 

[walker111]

Brewed a double batch of CB on monday. Both fermonsters are working away in basement bedroom sitting at 18 C. One is 090 San Diego and the other a 051. I usually try 2 yeasts and always seem to have one of these CB with a US 5 but tried something different.
I do add 1 oz of citra for dry hop by choice. Will add today.
One of my top 5 beers for sure.

 

[walker111]

Dropped 1 oz of mosaic in instead of citra for the dry hop. Still fermenting a bit at day 5 but I fabricated the lids with 2 posts for closed transfer trying to limit oxidation and after dumping in hops I purged with CO2 from my second system set up. I might keg one in 5-7 days as the turn around on this beer seems to be fast.
Cheers all!!!!

 

[Corey22]

Hi All! Quick question.

I started with an OG of 1.040 and ended with a FG of 1.002?? I've read and been told it probably was an infection (I bought my friends brewing equipment but he was very attentive to cleaning and his beers were great). Why do you all think this happened and how would I remedy it?

I already went and just bleached everything just in case so I've probably already fixed this.

This was my first time brewing anything and I PWB'd all my fermenting gear and then star-san afterward. The 5 day fermented wort had nothing on top, and a healthy yeast cake at the bottom. No funky smells, or tastes on the pre-2ndary brew.

Any thoughts?

 

[walker111]

When you say bleached ....... not bleach but pbw I take it?

 

[walker111]

your fg 1.03 is dry but that does not mean it was or is infected . Let it ride .
good luck!

 

[Corey22]

When you say bleached ....... not bleach but pbw I take it?

I took everything into the bathtub, filled buckets up with water, bathtub up with water, and added ~1tbs BLEACH per gallon of water and let it soak for an hour. I rinsed everything and let it sit for another 30min. I'll star san it up next time I brew.

 

[walker111]

Got ya. If you rinsed well that should not be an issue . I use oxi clean for cleaning and star san for sanitize. Sounds like you cleaned all gear well.
Is your beer packaged already?

 

[Corey22]

Got ya. If you rinsed well that should not be an issue . I use oxi clean for cleaning and star san for sanitize. Sounds like you cleaned all gear well.
Is your beer packaged already?

It only went into secondary today, so I'll know how it tastes in ~11 days or so

 

[doogie]

I took everything into the bathtub, filled buckets up with water, bathtub up with water, and added ~1tbs BLEACH per gallon of water and let it soak for an hour. I rinsed everything and let it sit for another 30min. I'll star san it up next time I brew.

That's a strong bleach solution. Old brewer here. I used to use bleach in the 90's, no need for it now. That's also the case with using a secondary. Just let it ride in the primary and don't peek. I have a fermentation bucket with a valve so I can take a sample without exposing the beer to oxygen, and I only check it once, normally around 2 weeks in. If I didn't have a way to check on it without opening it to the air, I would wait 3+ weeks and measure it on kegging/bottling day.

 

[Corey22]

That's a strong bleach solution. Old brewer here. I used to use bleach in the 90's, no need for it now. That's also the case with using a secondary. Just let it ride in the primary and don't peek. I have a fermentation bucket with a valve so I can take a sample without exposing the beer to oxygen, and I only check it once, normally around 2 weeks in. If I didn't have a way to check on it without opening it to the air, I would wait 3+ weeks and measure it on kegging/bottling day.

I am just following old, well established recipes at this point, but yes most people are telling me no need for secondary. I am doing that Westvleteren clone next, but that wants 60 days in secondary at 50F. Would you leave in primary that long?

Would you just do this recipe in this thread for 10 days on primary and then bottle?

 

[doogie]

I am just following old, well established recipes at this point, but yes most people are telling me no need for secondary. I am doing that Westvleteren clone next, but that wants 60 days in secondary at 50F. Would you leave in primary that long?

Would you just do this recipe in this thread for 10 days on primary and then bottle?

My problem would be tying up my fermentation chamber for 2 months. Read around the forum a little, but the general consensus is that the oxygen exposure and risk of contamination from the transfer does more damage than sitting on dormant yeast; at least in the homebrew scale.
This recipe I brewed in 2019 and my records show I kegged after 14 days.
10 days and going into a stainless steel keg would be okay, but I personally wouldn't bottle anything in less than 14 days (I don't like bottle bombs). When I bottle (which is not very often) I'm normally in the fermenter for 21-28 days. I normally keg after 14-21 days for an ale.
Good luck and let us know how it turns out.
I think it's about time to brew this one again.