Cream Ale Cream of Three Crops (Cream Ale)

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kapbrew13 said:
Make sure to use extra rice hulls or peanut shells. Helps prevent stuck sparges.
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I don't use hulls or anything and I grind my flaked with the grains for the hell of it.. I see better efficiency when I do so it just depends on the filter setup in the MT.. :mug:
 
1.002 Final Gravity after adding AE. Five Weeks from

This (Primary):
IMG_0781.jpg


To This (secondary):

IMAG0059-1.jpg


To This:

IMAG0069.jpg


IMAG0072.jpg
 
i am going to brew this tomorrow, have everything ready but have a couple questions that i would love to have answered if possible.

what temp did you sparge? do you wait to sparge after the entire 90 minute mash? i am sorry as i am new to all grain, going to get the first use of my home-made mash tun with this recipe.

thank you for this recipe, i think my bmc loving friends just might finally drink some of my homebrew!


BierMuncher said:
Cream Ale Recipe

This is a very simple, inexpensive cream ale recipe that will get every BMC drinker in the room enjoying homebrew. So named because of the three different crops that go into the grist (Barley, Corn and Rice).

I brewed up 10 gallons of this and after kegging, bottled up a case to take to a family event (Mothers Day). Even my 78-yr old FIL, who is strict Miller Lite drinker, ended up having two pints. The chics dug it and we ran out well before the end of the evening.

The grain bill is cheap and in this case, you can use Minute Rice instead of flaked rice. No step mashing required. Simply combine the ingredients and follow a simple single infusion mash at around 152 degrees. I also mashed this for 90 minutes to get a highly attenuated beer. FG was 1.005...leaving a very dry, crisp beer with no noticeable graininess.

While this doesn't adhere to the strict beer laws, and I don't consider this one of my "craft" efforts, it is without a doubt the beer that I get the most "you really made this beer?" comments.

So if you've got some hard core "If it ain't Budweiser it ain't beer…" drinking friends…give this a try.

This beer clears up quickest of any of my recipes.

View attachment 5581


Batch Size: 11.50 gal
Boil Size: 14.26 gal
Estimated OG: 1.040 SG
Estimated Color: 2.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 14.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
12.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
4.00 lb Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM)
1.00 lb Minute Rice (1.0 SRM)

1.00 oz Williamette [5.20%] (60 min)
1.00 oz Crystal [3.50%] (60 min)

Click to expand...
 
beanbagz1 said:
i am going to brew this tomorrow, have everything ready but have a couple questions that i would love to have answered if possible.

what temp did you sparge? do you wait to sparge after the entire 90 minute mash? i am sorry as i am new to all grain, going to get the first use of my home-made mash tun with this recipe.

thank you for this recipe, i think my bmc loving friends just might finally drink some of my homebrew!
Click to expand...
Yes..Begin the Sparge after 90 minutes.
My process is to Drain the mash till it about an inch above the grain bed lay in a piece of aluminium foil over the bed and poke some holes in it. I heat my water to 170-180 and use about a half gallon at a time to sparge with the valve open enough to get a nice slow flow.
I have also done a batch sparge buy draining the cooler and then adding all of the sparge water at 170 stirring it up and letting it sit for 10-15 minutes. then collect the rest of the wort. I found I get a few extra points with smaller batches of water. Either way this recipe has turned out great.
 
that is EXACTLY what i needed to hear. thankyou so much! it has been mashing for 25 minutes now, hit my target temp spot on!


Dhack61 said:
Yes..Begin the Sparge after 90 minutes.
My process is to Drain the mash till it about an inch above the grain bed lay in a piece of aluminium foil over the bed and poke some holes in it. I heat my water to 170-180 and use about a half gallon at a time to sparge with the valve open enough to get a nice slow flow.
I have also done a batch sparge buy draining the cooler and then adding all of the sparge water at 170 stirring it up and letting it sit for 10-15 minutes. then collect the rest of the wort. I found I get a few extra points with smaller batches of water. Either way this recipe has turned out great.
Click to expand...
 
evandena said:
Darn. Did a blonde instead.
1:1 on the corn flakes to flaked corn?
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I used a product called "Goya P.A.N" For this recipe. Its precooked cornmeal. No cereal mash needed. comes in yellow and white. Used it 1:1 for flaked corn. turned out well. I found it in the Ethnic Dept of my local grocery. 1 kilo for around 3-4 bucks.
I dont use Rice hulls but I do use a 5 gallon paint filter over top of the manifold. They are cheap you can buy them at any paint supplier or big hardware store and they are reusable many time over. Have not had a stuck sparge since I started using them. They also make great bucket cleaners once they are a bit worn, holds lots of soap bubbles and doesn't scratch the bucket.
 
How come the 10 gallon and 5.5 gallon versions both use the same amount of Minute Rice?
 
How much will using 2 row brewers malt instead of pale malt affect the flavor? Can I add something to help it taste like pale malt was added?
 
msa8967 said:
For recipes like this I have substituted 2-row for pale malt w/o any taste difference. You won't need to add anything to compensate.
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Thank you. Im brewing this as we speak!
 
I brewed five gallons of this and it is done in primary. Smells good. I will be kegging four gallons and racking the remaining gallon over raspberries. I can't wait for this!
 
This may be my fourth or fifth batch of this. I am trying water treatments, and went with somewhere between a dry and a sweet pale ale. Definitely happy with the color, which is very light. Before boil, I had about 11 brix. I ended up with a little over 4.5 gallons. I expect this to be a good beer. It sure looked great going into the fermenter! A friend of mine happened to have a starter of S-05 ready to pitch, so I traded him a pack of Nottingham, and it is very active less than a couple hours from pitching.
I love this beer.
 
Just bottled 11 gallons of this recipe. For some reason I had super efficiency on the mash (86% measured) so my OG was high at 1.049. Beer finished at a super dry 1.008! 5.5% ABV! This is for my brother's wedding...I have a feeling there will be a few drunk people on this...it tastes super smooth at bottling! Doesn't taste like it has over 4.0% abv.
 
Dhack61 said:
I used a product called "Goya P.A.N" For this recipe. Its precooked cornmeal. No cereal mash needed. comes in yellow and white. Used it 1:1 for flaked corn. turned out well. I found it in the Ethnic Dept of my local grocery. 1 kilo for around 3-4 bucks.
I dont use Rice hulls but I do use a 5 gallon paint filter over top of the manifold. They are cheap you can buy them at any paint supplier or big hardware store and they are reusable many time over. Have not had a stuck sparge since I started using them. They also make great bucket cleaners once they are a bit worn, holds lots of soap bubbles and doesn't scratch the bucket.
Click to expand...

I made a copper manifold like the one in John Palmer's book. I get great efficiency but I always have take it completely apart to clean after brewing to get out all the little husk pieces that slip through the slits. (glad I didn't solder it together.)

Anyway, putting a paint-strainer bag over my manifold is a great idea! Thanks! =)
 
Brewed 5.5 gallons yesterday, OG was 1.052...oops. I guess it will be a bit stronger than planned.
 
theIrish said:
I made a copper manifold like the one in John Palmer's book. I get great efficiency but I always have take it completely apart to clean after brewing to get out all the little husk pieces that slip through the slits. (glad I didn't solder it together.)

Anyway, putting a paint-strainer bag over my manifold is a great idea! Thanks! =)
Click to expand...

I do the same thing. It's genius.
 
This is a great, crisp beer. But I'm also a bit torn over the corn flavor.

Do you think I can sub carapils for some similar mouthfeel without the corn taste?

Cheers.:mug:
 
Dgonza9 said:
This is a great, crisp beer. But I'm also a bit torn over the corn flavor.

Do you think I can sub carapils for some similar mouthfeel without the corn taste?

Cheers.:mug:
Click to expand...

Is the corn flavor truly from the corn or process driven? I've done pre-pro lagers in the general grist profile of this and never had corn jump out at me in flavor. Maybe a touch of sweetness, but definitely not "corny".
 
Dgonza9 said:
This is a great, crisp beer. But I'm also a bit torn over the corn flavor.

Do you think I can sub carapils for some similar mouthfeel without the corn taste?

Cheers.:mug:
Click to expand...

Is your beer kegged or in bottles? If I have a beer that lacks a little in the body/mouthfeel department I have used some maltodextrine powder added to a keg and shaken. Few days later I tested it and my wife liked it better. I dissolved 3-4 oz in boilled water and cooked for a few minutes prior to adding to the keg. Just a thought...
 
I've made two batches of this and both came out very bitter. I looked at my recipe and I was using double the hops. Somehow I halved the ingredients for a 5 gallon batch.......... all but the hops. It was bitter and not tasty so I dry hopped with 2oz of cascade in the keg and it is fantastic.
 
Just doughed in my second batch. I'm making a couple of changes this batch...I've added 1/2 tsp of AE to the Mash tun, and I'm thinking of changing the hops for this batch...I used Hersbrucker and Chech Saaz last time and it came out great. I can do that this time or I could substitute either NZ Rakau or Amarillo for a more fruity~citrusy finish. Any opinions on either of these for this beer?

Thanks,

Keyth

Update: went with Amarillo @ 15 IBU
 
I tested my beer one week after bottling (Wednesday) and I don't know if I like it all that much. In the defense of the OP, I DID add 2x the hops on accident. However, it had a pretty strong sulfer smell to it and it hasn't cleared a bit. It spent one week in primary and now has been two weeks in secondary. The entire ferment temperature has been between 72 and 76 degrees (White Labs says 70-75).

I entered this beer in a state comp and today starts the preliminary judging. If it is cloudy, sulfery, and too bitter- then I am either going to be "out of style" or just have a really bad example of a light hybrid.

I think had I used the correct amount of hops things would have been better. Also, I'm feeling a little uneasy about White Labs. Every beer I've made with Nottingham has 1) Had a quick, violent fermentation within 8 hours of pitching; 2) had no funny tastes; 3) Placed in comp.... Since switching to WL (per recommendation of the LHBS, probably because the huge price difference) every batch I've made has had a complete opposite to #s 1,2, & 3....

So.... We'll see how it goes. I'm going to try another one today (10 days bottle).
 
FloridaCracker said:
I tested my beer one week after bottling (Wednesday) and I don't know if I like it all that much. In the defense of the OP, I DID add 2x the hops on accident. However, it had a pretty strong sulfer smell to it and it hasn't cleared a bit. It spent one week in primary and now has been two weeks in secondary. The entire ferment temperature has been between 72 and 76 degrees (White Labs says 70-75).

I entered this beer in a state comp and today starts the preliminary judging. If it is cloudy, sulfery, and too bitter- then I am either going to be "out of style" or just have a really bad example of a light hybrid.

I think had I used the correct amount of hops things would have been better. Also, I'm feeling a little uneasy about White Labs. Every beer I've made with Nottingham has 1) Had a quick, violent fermentation within 8 hours of pitching; 2) had no funny tastes; 3) Placed in comp.... Since switching to WL (per recommendation of the LHBS, probably because the huge price difference) every batch I've made has had a complete opposite to #s 1,2, & 3....

So.... We'll see how it goes. I'm going to try another one today (10 days bottle).
Click to expand...

hey cracker.. i think your a little green still... give that puppy more time and and that sulfer will go away.. i brewed mine up that day i mentioned the hops and im just getting around to putting it in the keg tonight and carbing it up for a luau on the 21st.. i thought i was rushing it!! btw, us-05 all the way.. if you didnt make a starter with the liquid you prolly under pitched a little :mug:
 
I have to disagree slightly with both of you. When i brew 3 crops its in my glass in 3 weeks and damn good. Now i didnt go through and read all of the posts leading up to these two and i may be talking about something completely different, but, typically 7-10 days primary, 3-4 days cold crash, in the bottle for a week and drinking. Thats one of the reasons i like it so much, its quick and easy. And i have tried numerous different yeasts and this beer is always better with good ole S-05!
 
This is a wonderfully quick brew. I think 3 weeks is an easy turnaround. It is tasty, light, and crystal clear so remarkably fast. i added a half pound of rye to my current batch and it is just as delightful as always. Big smile here!
 
This is my first all grain batch , Doing it as I speak .God I love my wife , around here all grain brewing just doesn't happen. Well she went visiting family for the weekend so I checked and sure enough there was a brew place that handles all grain. I gave her the list of what I need to brew a 5 gallon batch . I was happy to get that much. To my surprise when she got home .She had bought me 50 lb sack of pale malt, about 3 lbs of assorted hops. Enough yeast to do 10 batches. I was like holy crap I don't need that much. She said this should keep you busy for a while. Got to go ,mashing is almost done, holding 150 ish. This is so exciting.
 
First time brewing . After all said and done og. was at 1.039 but I burnt off a little too much water , came in at 4.5 gallons . Just kept it as is and called it a success. Now the waiting game.
 
Holy moley! There's alotta posts about this "Three Crops". I know why too. It's great brew. It is with out a doubt the one brew I've made (three times now) that recieves hands down the most positive comments of any other. I haven't read through oll the replies, still working on that. BUt this recipe sure has gotten a heap of attention. Thanks Muncher, this one is a house standard here.
 
Anybody brew this as a lager? I'm very tempted to do it with the Budweiser or Coors yeast.
 
BIAB 75% efficiency gets you this, thanks to Jason at Ontario Beer Grains! I used nothing to clarify this! And yes that is only chill haze, check out the bottom of the glass.

IMG_00000033.jpg
 

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