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madman960

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I ordered enough to brew 2 batches of BMs Centennial Blonde. First batch will be original. 2nd batch I am swapping 2 pounds of biscuit malt for 2 pounds of 2 row and I will be using a Kyviek Voss yeast.

I have never used biscuit malt or the Voss yeast. I have also not made the Centennial Blonde with notty as it's not been previously in stick when I brewed it. I know some batches used US 04 and US 05.

I moved to where I am now 5 years ago. I have a beer supply store 9 miles from me. Not a fan. They do mail order or curbside pickup only. Didn't realize how spoiled I was before I moved as the homebrew store was 5 miles away and they actually brewed in house. You could go in and ask questions about brewing. I may just take the hour plus drive to shop there. They have a small bar inside and you can drink a pint or 2 while you shop or while they grind your grains.

I plan to brew tomorrow or Monday depending on when I get to pick up my order.
 
Brew store had my order ready for pickup today. Grabbed it this afternoon. Assembled my grain mill. Ground up 1 pound of Carapils. Still need to grind the rest of the grains for the Centennial Blonde. Hopefully tomorrow or Wednesday, I will be brewing.
 
That would be a lot of Biscuit malt in a 5 gallon batch of 1.040 OG. Are you dropping all the Crystal?
Let us know how it turns out!
I was going to keep everything else the same in this recipe. Chose the Voss yeast as you can ferment at higher temperatures. Should I only add 1 pound of biscuit malt and go with 6 pounds of 2 row?

I would expect this beer to be very different. Not sure what to expect.
 
I was going to keep everything else the same in this recipe. [...] Should I only add 1 pound of biscuit malt and go with 6 pounds of 2 row?
If you want to try using 1.5-2 lbs of Biscuit to see what that does, I'd drop the Crystal.
And add the difference of 2-row back in.
 
If you want to try using 1.5-2 lbs of Biscuit to see what that does, I'd drop the Crystal.
And add the difference of 2-row back in.
Interesting. Reasoning? I have less than 20 brews under my belt. And I have taken a long break from brewing. The end goal is to learn how to formulate my own recipes from scratch.

This would be my first attempt at altering a known recipe. I don't want to change too much. Already concerned, for lack of a better word, that the Voss yeast is already going to change the beer by itself.

Also wondering if reversing the hop schedule would effect the beer. I'm sure it will, just not sure in what ways.

Thinking I should scale the Centennial Blonde down to 1 or 3 gallon batches and try each of the above experiments.
 
If you want to try using 1.5-2 lbs of Biscuit to see what that does, I'd drop the Crystal.
And add the difference of 2-row back in.
Additionally, I don't recall which thread here or what YouTube video I saw that gave me the idea to try biscuit malt in this recipe.

When you say to drop the Crystal malt, does that include the Carapils and victory malt?
 
When you say to drop the Crystal malt, does that include the Carapils and victory malt?
There's no Victory malt in the original recipe.
Do you mean dropping the Carapils and Vienna?
Yes, I would drop both.
And make up the 8 oz of Vienna with the same amount of 2-row.

BTW, Victory malt is a Biscuit malt.
Since Victory (and many other Biscuit malts) are around 24-28°L your "Blonde Ale" will be a bit darker, toward light amber.

So this will be your malt bill:
7.50 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
1.5-2.0 lb Biscuit Malt (28.0 SRM)

This is the recipe you're referring to, correct?

BierMuncher's Blonde Ale:

****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)


Mash at 150 degrees for 60 minutes.


https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/centennial-blonde-simple-4-all-grain-5-10-gall.42841/
 
That is the correct recipe. Sorry, I meant Vienna not Victory. Didn't even order any Victory malt.

With the new recipe, which yeast would you suggest? I have Notty and Voss. I can go to a different LHBS to grab something else if needed.

Thank you for the recipe conversion.
 
I moved to where I am now 5 years ago. I have a beer supply store 9 miles from me. Not a fan. They do mail order or curbside pickup only. Didn't realize how spoiled I was before I moved as the homebrew store was 5 miles away and they actually brewed in house. You could go in and ask questions about brewing. I may just take the hour plus drive to shop there. They have a small bar inside and you can drink a pint or 2 while you shop or while they grind your grains.
That is a LHBS that sounds worth the drive. The only one near me - or near work I guess - closed at the end of June after 20 something years in business. They were near a couple of tap houses but nothing onsite. Getting your brew supplies and having a nice pint to go with sounds awesome.
 
That is a LHBS that sounds worth the drive. The only one near me - or near work I guess - closed at the end of June after 20 something years in business. They were near a couple of tap houses but nothing onsite. Getting your brew supplies and having a nice pint to go with sounds awesome.
It's definitely worth the drive. I will make it a 2fer trip. I will take my kayak and go fish after I get my supplies or on my way home. They moved to a new location and now they also distill spirits in the store.
 
Got my grain milled for the first batch. It's raining off and on here so I will be brewing in the kitchen once it cools off some.

I bought yeast nutrient and potassium Campden tablets. I have never used either. We have very hard ground water and it's chlorinated. Water tastes fine so I am not adjusting anything. I didn't pull water yesterday so will be using the Campden tablet. Have to weigh out all the grains minus the 2 row.

Plan to brew a second batch tomorrow but it may be put off until the weekend.
 
With the new recipe, which yeast would you suggest? I have Notty and Voss.
Either would work fine. They're both dry yeasts, correct?

I bought yeast nutrient and potassium Campden tablets. I have never used either.
What nutrient is it?
You may not need yeast nutrients when pitching dry yeast, everything the yeast needs is already stored inside them. Now when you're repitching (a saved slurry from a previous batch) or making yeast starters you may or may not need nutrients.

1/4 of a Campden tablet will treat 5 gallons of water. To make it dissolve faster, crush that 1/4 tablet into fine powder.

When you've used them up, just get Potassium (or Sodium) MetaBisulfite, it's a white powder. It's the same as Campden, but without the binder to press them into tablets. 1/16 of a teaspoon (1/4 of a 1/4 teaspoon) will treat 5 gallons of water. You can add it when filling the bucket, when full, give it a good stir. ;) Works almost instantly.

We have very hard ground water
Do you know what the mineral content is? It can be important when brewing. But that's a different chapter. ;)
 
What nutrient is it?
You may not need yeast nutrients when pitching dry yeast, everything the yeast needs is already stored inside them. Now when you're repitching (a saved slurry from a previous batch) or making yeast starters you may or may not need nutrients.
Does any wort made from 80%+ malt ever actually need any nutrients? I've made at least a dozen 1.100+ worts from malt/dme/sugar without any "yeast nutrient", and they all turned out great (tho I always pitch them on top of a full yeast-cake)...
 
Does any wort made from 80%+ malt ever actually need any nutrients? I've made at least a dozen 1.100+ worts from malt/dme/sugar without any "yeast nutrient", and they all turned out great (tho I always pitch them on top of a full yeast-cake)...
You're right, wort provides most if not all nutrients yeast needs. We have had many discussions on that topic. Some swear by adding nutrients, others never do, and anyone else in between.

Adding Zinc, in a form that's accessible to yeast, may be an exception. We had recent thread on that. Jury is still out.
 
Does any wort made from 80%+ malt ever actually need any nutrients? I've made at least a dozen 1.100+ worts from malt/dme/sugar without any "yeast nutrient", and they all turned out great (tho I always pitch them on top of a full yeast-cake)...
From what I've read, you only need nutrient if your beer is a particularly high gravity and alcohol (8%+) or if your wort has a large addition of straight sugar like you would have in some Belgian trippels and quads.
 
I've brewed plenty of high ABV (> 10%) beers and plenty of Belgian tripels and quads (up to 30% candi syrup). Never added nutrients. Never had a problem. You do need to make sure you pitch enough yeast.
Between reading and YouTube, it is my understanding that most or all Kviek east do much better when nutrient is added vs no nutrient added. While technically not necessary, I don't see any reason not to use it for Kviek yeast.
 
Are those pre-milled already?
They are not pre milled. I have a mill at home and prefer to mill as needed. I milled the specialty makts and they are slightly more than flour. Kept playing with the mill and finally got the right setting at the 2nd pound of 2 row. The mill is brand new. 1 run is close to 2 runs from the LHBS.
 
Either would work fine. They're both dry yeasts, correct?


What nutrient is it?
You may not need yeast nutrients when pitching dry yeast, everything the yeast needs is already stored inside them. Now when you're repitching (a saved slurry from a previous batch) or making yeast starters you may or may not need nutrients.

1/4 of a Campden tablet will treat 5 gallons of water. To make it dissolve faster, crush that 1/4 tablet into fine powder.

When you've used them up, just get Potassium (or Sodium) MetaBisulfite, it's a white powder. It's the same as Campden, but without the binder to press them into tablets. 1/16 of a teaspoon (1/4 of a 1/4 teaspoon) will treat 5 gallons of water. You can add it when filling the bucket, when full, give it a good stir. ;) Works almost instantly.


Do you know what the mineral content is? It can be important when brewing. But that's a different chapter. ;)
Water makeup according to the city's water management page:

Alkalinity 46 mg/L
Hardness. 90mg/L
Non Carbonate 45 mg/L
Calcium (CA) 16mg/L
Magnesium. (MG) 12mg/L
Fluoride .94mg/L
P. H. 9.21

If there's any other information needed, I will need to call.
 
Water makeup according to the city's water management page:

Alkalinity 46 mg/L
Hardness. 90mg/L
Non Carbonate 45 mg/L
Calcium (CA) 16mg/L
Magnesium. (MG) 12mg/L
Fluoride .94mg/L
P. H. 9.21

If there's any other information needed, I will need to call.
If that's accurate (and all year round), it's good news: Your water is not crazy hard!
At 90 ppm hardness, your water is on the low end of being "moderately hard:"
Water is considered soft if total hardness is less than 75 ppm,
moderately hard at 75 to 150 ppm,
hard at 150 to 300 ppm,
and very hard at 300 ppm or higher.

Chances are, for beer with a light color, you'll need to add a little acid* to get your mash pH within range.
You can use Bru'n Water (link, it's free) and see how much acid (and other minerals) to add.

* Lactic Acid is typically sold by your LHBS at 88% and Phosphoric Acid at 10%. They may run about the same price... o_O
So, Lactic Acid is much more economical to use, as it's so much higher in strength. That also means it generally needs to be pre-diluted, creating a working solution that's at a much lower % to be able to measure it out accurately when adding it to your strike (and sparge) water. ;)
 
Brewed yesterday. Used no chill method. 1.050 SG. Was supposed to be 1.040. Will see how it ends up. 62 degrees in the room with the fermenter. Did not add anything to the water except for 1/4 of a Campden tablet.
 
Today is day 5 of fermentation. Not seeing any airlock activity. Temperature has been between 55 and 65 degrees. Was vigorous the first 24 hours. Have not brewed in so long that I don't remember if this is normal for Notty. Still going to let it go for another ten days before getting another gravity reading.
 
Today is day 5 of fermentation. Not seeing any airlock activity. Temperature has been between 55 and 65 degrees. Was vigorous the first 24 hours. Have not brewed in so long that I don't remember if this is normal for Notty. Still going to let it go for another ten days before getting another gravity reading.
I have only used Nottingham a few times in many years, but in the 66F range it has ripped through beers in 2 to 3 days. There is no reason to rush to packaging, but what you describe sounds normal.
 
I have only used Nottingham a few times in many years, but in the 66F range it has ripped through beers in 2 to 3 days. There is no reason to rush to packaging, but what you describe sounds normal.
Thanks. I am going to keg the beer today. Bought 2 used pin locks yesterday and a 2 tap keezer without taps. LOL. I just plugged in the keezer. I do not know what the settings are at this time. It has a built in Lerway STC 1000 that is direct wired to the freezer. I placed the probe in a jar of water. waiting for the temp to stabilize.
 
Yesterday, I bought a 2 tap keezer minus taps, 4 glass carboys, 5 fermentation buckets, 3 bottling buckets, full 20 pound C02 cylinder, 2 pin lock kegs, 2 hand cappers, 1 hand corker, 1 floor corker, plus a bunch of miscellaneous pieces and parts and caps for $200 on marketplace. Today I ordered 2 no chill cubes on amazon. One was $19 and will arrive today. The other was $11 and will be here in 10 days. I plan to do a side by side comparison after the second arrives. I plan to use the other one this week.

My Centennial Blonde was brewed 16-17 days ago. So it is ready to keg. Trying to decide what to brew next.
 
Final gravity is either 1.008 or 1.016. I used 2 different hydrometers. The second, 1.016 was with the same hydrometer I used for the original gravity. In the keezer with the C02 connected. I shook it off an hour. Put it back in the keezer. Will shake some more later and hopefully it will be ready to drink tonight or in the morning.
 
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