Cream Ale Cream of Three Crops (Cream Ale)

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i used instant rice and course cornmeal and it turned out great. took a bit for it too clear up though.

This will always be on tap unless my friends and family drink it quicker then i can make it!!
 
Gravity was low. I used regular rice and should have cooked it first. I think we ended up at 1.032.

We'll see in a few weeks. Also, I am having temp troubles. Need to work out a fern chamber on this heat. I am having trouble keeping it below 78.
 
Gravity was low. I used regular rice and should have cooked it first. I think we ended up at 1.032.

We'll see in a few weeks. Also, I am having temp troubles. Need to work out a fern chamber on this heat. I am having trouble keeping it below 78.

You can get the temp lower by building a cheap swamp cooler. Find a plastic tub that your primary will fit into and fill it 1/2 way with water. Set your primary into the tub and drape several towels (wet) over the top with the ends hanging in the water. Add ice or cold packs to the water as needed. I have found that this makes a very big difference with this recipe.
 
I experimented I have one I fermwnted around 70f it will b 14 days old sunday. 1 the will b 7 days old sunday fermed at 66f both r 5gal batches. Then a 2 gal fermed at 62 in a cooler used a washed us-06 yeast on that one cause was all I had. The first has nottingham n the second 5gal has us-05.
 
msa8967 said:
You can get the temp lower by building a cheap swamp cooler. Find a plastic tub that your primary will fit into and fill it 1/2 way with water. Set your primary into the tub and drape several towels (wet) over the top with the ends hanging in the water. Add ice or cold packs to the water as needed. I have found that this makes a very big difference with this recipe.

I have it in wash sink in the laundry room. I have to swap ice out 4 times a day to keep it @ 70. Planning on using a temp control to switch an aquarium pump on running through a cooler w ice. But need the extra funds
 
I did a 5.5 gal batch, used

6 lbs 2 row pale malt
2 lbs instant grits
1.5 lbs minute rice
1 oz williamette 60 min
1 OZ crystal 60 min

Only mashed about 70 minutes, about a 75 minute boil, post boil gravity was 1.050, tasted pretty good.

I brewed this recipe 2 months ago and the keg lasted just over a week....everyone loved it, even people who don't like craft beer.
I'm sticking to over hopping it a bit. It seems to go very well with the corn sweetness.
I know I sound like a broken record at this point, but I'm definitely brewing much more of this next summer to make sure I always have it on hand. I have no home brew to drink ATM :( I'm a week away from tapping my blonde ale and I already miss the Cream ale :(
 
I brewed a cream ale using this grain bill and added of few customizations. It has been a hit with everyone that has tried it.

5gal batch
Grain
6.0 lb Pale 2 row - US
1.5 lb Corn flaked
.5 lb gambrinns honey malt
1.0 lb minute rice

Added #1 sugar to boil

Hops
.5oz Fuggle @ 60
.5oz Hallertau @ 60

It was only my 2nd all grain batch and I didn't expect to get 79% efficiency....so it ended up at 6.5% ABV. so I just call it cream ale "extra".

I have noticed a fair bit of sediment in the bottom of the bottles and even glasses when poured carefully. Has anyone experienced this with this brew?
 
leave it in primary for 3 weeks . siphon carefully . Or use shadows69 method . never tried it but I here it works .
Use a filter when siphoning from boil pot and fermenter . i use a metal screen coffee filter .
 
BadDeacon said:
Gravity was low. I used regular rice and should have cooked it first. I think we ended up at 1.032.

I think I found part of my gravity problem. Digital term reading 25 deg higher than the plain ole temp probe. Need to check batteries or something. Brewed a SMASH last night and only got 60% efficiency. Crap!!!!!
 
Ok, i have three different batches going for this recipe and used what yeast i had. One has nottingham, another US-05 and the third i didnt have anything but washed us-06 so i pitched it to see what the results would be. The nottingham was a very quick yeast it has been two weeks and my FG is at a stand still. The us-06 is only one week into fermentation havnt checked it yet. The US-05 after a week still has a three inch thick krausen on the top. I have only brewed 12 batched over the past 8 months and have never experienced Krausen hanging around this long. Is this normal for a non big beer? I did not test nor am i really worried. I usually leave my wort ferment for 3-4 weeks minimum in the primary then bottle.

I want to cold crash my wort for a few days just before i bottle is there a recommended temp and time frame i should follow? Also if i cold crash then bottle do i need to then have the bottles in the fridge afterwards since the wort is already chilled?
 
Bottled mine today, 2 weeks in primary and 6 days in secondary. It cleared up nicely

image-1969037420.jpg
 
i made this with us-05. went from 1.047 to 1.007 in 6 days. It has a little lemon taste to it. I put it in a keg an chilled it. it kinda has a witbier taste to it. it's good but i know it's not supposed to taste like that. not sure what went wrong.
 
Enjoyed a bottle of my new batch last night . made this one at lower temp in a fridge . between 65 and 67 I think instead of the usual 70 or so and it tastes just the same I think .
I am beginning to wonder about my hydrometer since I never get below 1.011 with AG . oh well still great beer .
Going to make another batch and I think I will hop it up a bit with perhaps a ounce of chinook at 10 minutes unless someone has a great idea for a late hop of another variety
 
Well I have an idea . I am going to up the grain bill and the hops to balance it out I hope . Currently using this :

6 gallon batch
6 Lbs 12.3 oz 2 row
2 lbs 6.7oz corn
9.7 oz rice
.63 willamette 60 minutes
.63 crystal 60 minutes

I am going to up the 2 row to 8 lbs
up the corn to 3 lbs
.75 wilamette at 60 min
.63 crystal at 60 min
1 oz crystal at 10 minutes

So any thoughts on that one ?
Sure would like BierMuncher to chime in on this since I am sure he has played around with this a bit
 
That's alot of corn. I can't do more then 2 lbs of corn maze. The taste to me is just off. I do up the rice by alot. 1.5 lbs of rice seems to smooth it out. As far as the hops I would of tried something other then crystal if your going to go with that much. I did it with cascade and it came out pretty good. I think the original recipe is the best even after toying around with the recipe. That my 2 cents.
 
I agree with Shadows69. I would make the corn 2 lbs and up the rice to a full 1 lb. If you have any 6 row you could use that in place of increasing the 2 row. A blend of 2 row and 6 row is nice for this recipe when you increase the adjuncts of corn and rice.
 
The corn does take away malt flavor which is what I am after partly .
I do like the original but I like a bit more malt and hop flavor . Not much though .
I have about a half pound of 6 row vienna I might use up in this to add in a bit of malt flavor since the biscuit flavor is low in vienna . Also have a few oz of carapils I might just toss in since it will add no flavor really . then use the 2 row to up to the rest of the grain bill.
the reason I was going with the oz of crystal instead of the cascade ( I have both ) is that cascade has a strong spice flavor and the grapefruit flavor and I do not want it to be that strong so I thought the mild flavors in crystal would be better for such a light beer. I just want a small taste of hops .
Might leave that corn at the 2 lb 6 oz so it does not take away the malt flavor I added . That 2lb 6 .7 is from beer smith for 6 gallons as per the original sized down and is what I have been using and works well .

Also going to use Bry 97 yeast since I have a pack I need to use up .
Well I am off to brewing since I will be busy this weekend . We will see what happens .
 
Marcus, you may want to check out the Midwest Supplies liberty cream ale recipe. It sounds like it might be a little closer to what you're after than this recipe - 7 lbs 2-row, 2 lbs flaked corn, 0.5 lb carapils, cascade hops. It does call for cascade hops, but I would almost certainly sub those with something like willamette. I'm actually trying to decide between these two recipes.
 
ended up tossing in 8 grams of hallertauer since I was short on willamette . Had to run to the store as I did not have that oz of crystal I thought I had . Used 71/2 pds of 2 row and 21/2 pds corn .
It is all beer it should be good since it has the real good base to start with .
I will try that midwest recipe . sounds good
 
Have you ever tried toasting the corn and barley, for a more amber color? I wonder what the taste would be? Thanks I will try this on a small scale and put in my Mr. Beer keg. I really appreciate this!
 
I have to say that cream of three crops is very good after you have been in the hot sun and humidity working . It is refreshing and tasty but I think loses that appeal after I cool down and am in the house under the AC . That is why I am brewing a more hoppy malty version of it but also am keeping on hand the original .
thanks to BierMuncher for this great versatile recipe .
 
Well finally after two days in the fridge at 60 degrees this started to ferment . Yet again it is very slow and will probably take a couple weeks to finish . I think this may be due to using the manufacturers method of rehydration . Both times I used it I got this slow fermentation going but also both times I used the fridge . I might just try another batch at room temp and see if it is the method or the cold temp of the fridge.
Any how i am anticipating a great tasting beer
 
I just finished my second cream ale from my batch brewed 6 weeks ago. It is frigging great! Definitely need to put this one in rotation for my pipeline. It's still young and should age well. By next month it will be hard not to drink a six pack in one sitting! Lol
 
Got my batch bubbling away . got it sitting at room temp for about 18 hours till it got off to a good start then I just put it in the fridge at 66 degrees . Used 8 lbs 2 row - 2 1/2 lbs rice - 2 lbs corn - .75 halertauer 30 min - .75 cascade 60 min - .50 rather old whole leaf chinook 5 min - notty . Bottle in 2 or 3 weeks .
 
I have read a lot of this thread throughout the last couple months here and there and have even brewed this beer 2! Great stuff! just wondering for those that have brewed with Kolsch and safale-us 05, which do you prefer of the two?

Thanks so much! Recipe is great!
 
I have read a lot of this thread throughout the last couple months here and there and have even brewed this beer 2! Great stuff! just wondering for those that have brewed with Kolsch and safale-us 05, which do you prefer of the two?

Thanks so much! Recipe is great!

I just made this today. 12 gallons split into three 4 gallon batches. US-05, White labs American Ale and Kolsch. I really like this with US-05 and American ale yeast, but this will be the first time with Kolsch style yeast.
 
I have read a lot of this thread throughout the last couple months here and there and have even brewed this beer 2! Great stuff! just wondering for those that have brewed with Kolsch and safale-us 05, which do you prefer of the two?

Thanks so much! Recipe is great!


I prefer us-05 over kolsch. However you need to try nottingham i thought it was better!
 
Almost opened up the fermenter on my special version of this just so I could taste it . But better sense prevailed and I will leave it for another week until I have time to bottle it . Unless I do not work tomorrow then it is on . I really want to taste it .
 
Anyone try using brett to ferment this out and see how it tastes? Any thoughts on it? I was thinking of using Mosaic... throwing brett in, letting it sit then POSSIBLY dry hopping it with a small bit of mosaic for a few days....
 
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)


where do u get corn flaked?
 
If you have a mill can you just run whole corn through it? If not why would this not work...
 
Whole corn is very hard and large . It would tear up your grain mill . It needs to be more of a grinding and crushing instead of milling . A real good food processor might work. A corona mill could do the job most likely. It also needs the starches gelatinized with a good hot cereal mash I think . Also use field corn not sweet.

Seems to me that for small batches flaking your own might be not the best bet as you buy the corn $ then you buy some grains to add in the cereal mash $$$ Then the time to mash and I guess allow to dry if your making more than you can use in one batch ? Mill . I think I would just buy them but I could be wrong on this as I have not added up the cost of everything .
 
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