Cream Ale AG Cream Ale

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Yooper

Ale's What Cures You!
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Joined
Jun 4, 2006
Messages
75,108
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Location
UP/Snowbird in Florida
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Safale S05
Yeast Starter
No
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.052
Final Gravity
1.008
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
12.3
Color
5 SRM
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
10 at 68
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
14 at 55
Additional Fermentation
Cold conditioning
8 pounds maris otter
1 pound flaked corn
8 ounces biscuit malt
8 ounces carapils

1 ounces hersbrucker (60)
1/2 ounce saaz (10)
1/2 ounce saaz (flameout)

Mash at 150 for 75 minutes.

Notes: This really would be best cold conditioned after carbonating. Unfortunately, my husband is drinking it as fast as I'm sticking it in the fridge. So, it's still got a bit of maltiness and perhaps some fruitiness to it- which he likes. More complex than BMC, but I think people who like BMC will like this beer.
View attachment creamale.bsm
 
Can you taste the character of the corn or did it just lighten up the body? It sounds really good.:mug:
Makes me want to run out and mow the lawn!
 
There is absolutely no corn taste at all. It's just lighter bodied. It's a great lawnmower beer, I would think. (I haven't mowed grass in at least a decade- that's my least favorite household job). :D
 
Yooper Chick said:
There is absolutely no corn taste at all. It's just lighter bodied. It's a great lawnmower beer, I would think. (I haven't mowed grass in at least a decade- that's my least favorite household job). :D
Now I have this image in my brain of you sitting next to the pond drinking a cold home brew while your HWMO mows the lawn. :D :mug:
 
Yooper Chick said:
Um, yeah- I BREW THE BEER! :D
The most important household task!:rockin:
Oh my... I want a spouse like that.
I can hear it now. SWMBO says "Baby I'll mow the lawn for you but only if you keep brewing the beer".:D
 
Brewed this a while ago with Wyeast 1728 (Scottish Ale)...it's coming around now and is very tasty. Likely the most drinkeable beer I've brewed. Thanks!
 
I've done 14 batches now, and I've gotta say so far this one if my favorite.. a definite brew over!! :mug:

I'm having a party next weekend and I'm hoping nobody likes it so I can have the whole keg to myself! :D
 
I've been looking for a lighter ale with greater BMC-drinker appeal, and this one sounds pretty good. It seems sort of Miller-esqe with the corn. Is it?

I'm thinking of using Paul's Pale Malt instead of Maris Otter. They're both English malts. I believe Paul's is a shade paler on the Lovibond scale and a bit less malty than Maris Otter.

One other thing I'm thinking of changing is the percentage of corn. 10% of your grain bill is corn. I might try bumping it to 20%. I think Miller and Coors are in the 30% range.
 
I've been looking for a lighter ale with greater BMC-drinker appeal, and this one sounds pretty good. It seems sort of Miller-esqe with the corn. Is it?

I'm thinking of using Paul's Pale Malt instead of Maris Otter. They're both English malts. I believe Paul's is a shade paler on the Lovibond scale and a bit less malty than Maris Otter.

One other thing I'm thinking of changing is the percentage of corn. 10% of your grain bill is corn. I might try bumping it to 20%. I think Miller and Coors are in the 30% range.

It is kind of Miller-esqe. My dad said it was "almost as good as MGD", so take that for what it's worth.

I think you'll be happy with the pale malt instead of the MO. I love MO, but a less malty flavor would be good in this for BMC drinkers. I have no idea how much corn is "too much" in this recipe- so be sure to post back afterwards to let us know.
 
I had a party last weekend and almost half a keg of this stuff magically vaporized (and the guests were quite :drunk:). It was all the rage.

Next time I will drop the biscuit to 1/4# and bring the gravity down to 1.045. I think 1# of corn is perfect, and I use MO for everything that doesn't use Pils malt because I love the smooth maltiness it gives.
 
I brewed a variation of this a couple of weeks ago and racked it to secondary this past weekend. It looked and tasted great when I racked it.

I made a 10 gallon batch. I used 15 lb of Paul's Pale Malt instead of Maris Otter. I used 4.25 lb of flaked corn because I wanted 20% of the fermentables from the corn. Hallertauer Traditional instead of Hersbrucker, which I couldn't find. But still basically your recipe.

Will update in a few weeks after it has aged.
 
I brewed a variation of this a couple of weeks ago and racked it to secondary this past weekend. It looked and tasted great when I racked it.

I made a 10 gallon batch. I used 15 lb of Paul's Pale Malt instead of Maris Otter. I used 4.25 lb of flaked corn because I wanted 20% of the fermentables from the corn. Hallertauer Traditional instead of Hersbrucker, which I couldn't find. But still basically your recipe.

Will update in a few weeks after it has aged.

Bill, you made me laugh out loud. You changed the base malt. Doubled the corn. Changed the hops. But still gave me the credit!

J/K- I know the base malt is similar, etc. But I think YOU can take the credit if this beer turns out as good as I think it will!
 
Is this similar to a New Glarus Spotted Cow?

It's been a while since I've had Spotted Cow, so I don't really know. It would be a similar style, but I think New Glarus calls theirs a "farmhouse ale". Brewmeister Jeff tried a Spotted Cow clone, and he used Saison yeast, and I think he said that his wasn't a good clone.
 
I would have to say this brew has been a collaboration of unique and odd events to date for me brewing. I will just start a shortened version of this “Off Day” so not to lose everyone before I get to my ultimate question.

The day started off like a normal day so the wife and I setup to brew this beer for the first time. Everything started off fine until we had unexpected guests which took my attention off the brew though out the day. First I missed the start of boil hop addition by 20 minutes so I extended the boil a little. Then I forgot to sanitize the carboy (It was washed though), of course the beer was already sitting inside with the yeast added by the time I noticed.

Figured DWRHAHB and finished cleaning up and storing the equipment away. Two days went by with little to no activity in the carboy then it decided to wake up. It blew the top off the fermenter 7 times before I threw on a make shift blow-out tube.

Still I figured relax this could be normal with this brew so we waited 3 weeks then I added gelatin and attempted to keg 4 days later.
Yes I said attempted to keg because I am not sure what you call racking beer syrup… Still kegging? When we filled the keg it was all this light syrup type of ooze. I hit the original gravity but after seeing the ooze forgot to take the final but by the looks of it I am a little scared of this creation.

Now to the question(s) at hand: Did an infection get into this making it thick, Should I even bother aging this to drink later or do I clog my drains with beer syrup I created?

For a little background I use a Coleman extreme cooler mush tun with a cpvc manifold and hit all my temperatures listed in the recipe. Boiling took forever to start due to a dirty burner so a lot of heat was applied for a long time. Also even with the gelatin this thing is no where near clear. I do have some pictures if needed.

Thanks in advanced…
 
Yoop, would you please convert this to an extract recipe? :)

I don't think I can. Maybe you could use corn sugar for the corn, but I don't think there is any sub for maris otter or biscuit malt in extract form. Possibly a partial mash with the corn, a couple of pounds maris otter and the biscuit malt in a grain bag, and then making up the fermentables with light DME- but I've never tried that so I'm unsure of how close it would be.
 
most of us would want to have yooper as the neighbor next door who says "come over and have a beer anytime". i just printed out that recipe and changed my haus cream ale. i'll use tettnanger instead of saaz since that's what i have, but that looks good. you're right about the extract conversion. they suck :D
 
I made a very similar cream ale a few months ago...10 gallon batch, first 5 gallons was good(kegged) Second 5 gallons, I wanted to mix it up a bit so 3 days before bottling I threw .25 oz of hops and there and dry hopped it. Then I primed it with Honey instead of corn sugar (was all out), and it turned out Awesome! It is amazing what a little bit of hops and honey can do to a beer. mmm, I can't wait to go home and have one tonight :)
 
My local HBS does not have Biscuit Malt, is there a subsitute?
 
My local HBS does not have Biscuit Malt, is there a subsitute?

Victory malt would work, or some toasted malt.

I'm making this today, with a few changes.

I'm using regular two-row, and subbing .5 pound of pale wheat malt in. So, it's 7.5 pounds two-row, and .5 pound pale wheat. I'm also using nottingham yeast, and fermenting at no more than 62 degrees. I don't have any hersbrucker, so for bittering I'm using cluster. Other than that, it's the same! :D
 
Victory malt would work, or some toasted malt.

I'm making this today, with a few changes.

I'm using regular two-row, and subbing .5 pound of pale wheat malt in. So, it's 7.5 pounds two-row, and .5 pound pale wheat. I'm also using nottingham yeast, and fermenting at no more than 62 degrees. I don't have any hersbrucker, so for bittering I'm using cluster. Other than that, it's the same! :D

Well, with the nottingham and mashing at 150, this finished at 1.004! I kegged today, and it's tasty.
 
Just made a half batch today. I wanted to try my hand at easy stove top all-grain. I think it went pretty well for my first time doing it. I first had too much water for my sparge so my pre-boil gravity was low by 10 points. So I boiled the wort for about 20 minutes before starting the 60 minute boil. That brought the gravity up to around 40 which I was ok with. I might have boiled it a little too long though because I only ended up with about 2.3 gallons instead of 2.5, which again I'm ok with. My SG was 1.055 which isn't far off from the recipe. I used about 6 grams of S-05 sprinkled right on top.

My basement is too cold right now (we are getting hit with some snow, finally) so I have to keep it in my house. I have it wrapped in a few towels to keep it warm until it starts going and then I'll remove them. After the primary 10 days, I'll move it to my basement for the next 10 days keeping it around 55 and then I'll keg and carb at 41.

Right now I have two Yooper recipes going (this and 60 minute) and I can't wait to try them both. Thanks Yooper!!!
 
I make this recipe on a regular basis for our gaming group. I used European 2-row with the last batch. I also went with WLP080 American Cream Ale yeast blend. The end product is so clear and the taste is clean, yet the malty character comes through nicely. I'm not trying to pass it off as a lager by any means but it's pretty darn close.
 
With thoughts of summer coming, I think I'm going to make up 11 gallons of this soon, and I'll try the cream ale blend yeast. I have US saaz hops, so I'll use those.
 
I use this exact same grain bill but Chinook for bittering and Cascade for aroma in what I call "Corinthian Cream Ale". v2.0 changes the grain bill to Pale 2 row and Crystal 20, (flaked corn stays the same, so similar body) but I prefer the maltier version and my wife prefers v2.0, so I make both. Your hop selection has me intrigued... I guess I am running to the Beer Nut (my LHBS) tomorrow to try it out!
 
Brewed a batch of this today, but ran into an effciency problem. Came out with a 58% efficiency. I did have an issue with my mash temp dropping more than usual. I ended up with a temp of 145 after the 75 minutes. I did put some 195 degree water in for sparge and let it sit for about 10 minutes which brought the temp up to 168. Second batch sparge was a bit cooler. Ended up with a SG of 1.040. I am still trying to get my loses nailed down. Wort does taste pretty good though.
 
Brewed a batch of this today, but ran into an effciency problem. Came out with a 58% efficiency. I did have an issue with my mash temp dropping more than usual. I ended up with a temp of 145 after the 75 minutes. I did put some 195 degree water in for sparge and let it sit for about 10 minutes which brought the temp up to 168. Second batch sparge was a bit cooler. Ended up with a SG of 1.040. I am still trying to get my loses nailed down. Wort does taste pretty good though.

I've had efficiency problems in the recent past (won't go into alot of detail) and had OG 1.044 but the beer finished at SG 1.002 so the ABV% ended up about right for the style.
 
Hey yooper!

I was thinking of making this to build up glob of WLP838 yeast for an octoberfest. Just curious if you have ever used this yeast in this recipe because I obviously want the cream ale to be good, but have never used this yeast.

Generally I was curious of what fermentation temp you use when you brew a cream ale to build up lager starters. At least I think I recall you saying you built up lager starters like this in the past :)
 
Yoop, would you please convert this to an extract recipe? :)

This is a perfect recipe for a stovetop all grain batch instead of extract...or partial mash if you can't do a full 5 gallon boil.

I would use the "deathbrewer method" to mash:

3 lbs Maris Otter
1 lb Flaked Corn
8 oz Bisquit Malt
8 oz Carapils/dextrine

then add 3 lbs Extra Light or Pilsner DME at the start of the boil. The end result should be pretty close.

Personally, I need something for the BMC folk at an upcoming party so I'm starting a batch of this tomorrow: but dropping the MO a touch, and swapping a lb of Vienna for the bisquit. Have not decided on the hops...have a leftover 1/4 oz of Motueka and Nelson Sauvain but that certainly is outside the Cream Ale guidelines....so pretty much the same but totally different.
 
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