Cream Ale Cream of Three Crops (Cream Ale)

Brewskii said:

My turn!

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BAM! Used Notty ( first time ever in 2 yrs home brewing). It fermented out in 12 days or so and I hit it w/ gelatin and cold crashed for 3-4 days at 36 F. After 8 days bottle conditioning, it was carbed but I did get the corn note mentioned earlier. This should NOT be confused with DMS! This was fresh corn like and a little disappointing. This ( today) is 12 days in the bottle and it is hands down BMC all the way with no off notes. Great Beer Biermuncher... Thanks for sharing!

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That is good to know because I just put 11 gallons of CO3C in the fermenters last night using washed Notty yeast from a previous batch...it's at high krausen 16 hours after pitching yeast!

Has anyone tried making this with either a 50/50 split of pilsen and 2-row malt or with using all pilsen for the basemalt?

2 weeks ferment and 2 in bottle. Ready just in time for kickoff tonight. What a perfect game time beer, just what I was looking for. Thanks!

msa8967 said:

Has anyone tried making this with either a 50/50 split of pilsen and 2-row malt or with using all pilsen for the basemalt?

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Yep. 100% pilsen malt is exceptional. Just make sure to give a good hard 90 minute boil to eliminate DMS.

Bier Muncher and other brewers of this great beer,

I tried reading through many of the pages to find this information but with over a 1000 replies it was too much read through.

So has anyone had success brewing this with cream ale style yeast instead of US-05? I was thinking about going the all pilsen route for 8 gallons and splitting 1/2 for US-05 and 1/2 for Cream ale yeast. I was wondering is anyone found other yeast strains that the might recommend with this beer.

msa8967 said:

Bier Muncher and other brewers of this great beer,

I tried reading through many of the pages to find this information but with over a 1000 replies it was too much read through.

So has anyone had success brewing this with cream ale style yeast instead of US-05? I was thinking about going the all pilsen route for 8 gallons and splitting 1/2 for US-05 and 1/2 for Cream ale yeast. I was wondering is anyone found other yeast strains that the might recommend with this beer.

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Did not do it on this cream ale, but in my opinion, 029 would be ideal for this.

Just brewed another batch of this yesterday. Added 8oz of rye for a little variety. This is without questions my most frequently brewed beer. Delicious and approachable!

Brewskii said:

Did not do it on this cream ale, but in my opinion, 029 would be ideal for this.

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I don't have any WL029 Kolsch yeast but I do have WL080 Cream Ale.

WLP080 Cream Ale Yeast Blend
This is a blend of ale and lager yeast strains. The strains work together to create a clean, crisp, light American lager style ale. A pleasing estery aroma may be perceived from the ale yeast contribution. Hop flavors and bitterness are slightly subdued. Slight sulfur will be produced during fermentation, from the lager yeast.
Attenuation: 75-80%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Fermentation Temperature: 65-70°F
Alcohol Tolerance: Medium High

msa8967 said:

I don't have any WL029 Kolsch yeast but I do have WL080 Cream Ale.

WLP080 Cream Ale Yeast Blend
This is a blend of ale and lager yeast strains. The strains work together to create a clean, crisp, light American lager style ale. A pleasing estery aroma may be perceived from the ale yeast contribution. Hop flavors and bitterness are slightly subdued. Slight sulfur will be produced during fermentation, from the lager yeast.
Attenuation: 75-80%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Fermentation Temperature: 65-70°F
Alcohol Tolerance: Medium High

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Yea, I don't like the idea of the blend so much although a beer like this is what they make it for.
It's too hard for me to not be scared knowing what i know about lager yeast at those temps.

029 is better in my mind due to its very mild ester profile and that it seems to clear up better than almost anything else like it.

I used this recipe in the past as a "BMC pleaser" but found I also enjoy them (or at least I must have as they are almost all gone). Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I brewed a variant of this which added 1# of Honey Malt. I don't know the result yet, but will be racking within the next couple of days to a keg and should know in a week or so how it turned out. I will re-post after the first taste test. Has anyone else out there tried it as a "Honey Cream" ale?

I have made this recipe several times and it always turned out great (thanks BierMuncher!) I'm planning to make 20 gallons for an upcoming family get-together. However, I'm unsure about the effects of a change to my water...

We recently moved to a new area and the water here is pretty hard. (I loved our tap water at the old place.) I haven't had a chance to brew yet in the new place and I don't want to make that much for the party and not have it turn out at its best.

Will the increased water hardness have much effect on this recipe? (I'm using the original all-grain recipe on page 1). Should I go to the store and buy 20+ gallons of bottled drinking water or spring water (and save brewing this with my own hard water for when its just me drinking it)?

Any advice is much appreciated!

theIrish said:

Will the increased water hardness have much effect on this recipe?

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Yes, it certainly can. Of course it depends on the specifics of your water, but if it's pretty hard you can end up with a bitter astringency and your mash can be affected if your pH is too high, which is probable.

Believe me, as somebody who brewed without addressing my water chemistry (because I was misled by the "if your water tastes good you can brew with it" bad advice), don't just blow it off and hope for the best. You can end up very disappointed, and having wasted good money and time.

Some things I do for a beer like this is use 1/2 to 3/4 RO water. The RO water imparts no taste and I just add tap water for the rest. I am also trying WLP090 yeast. This is supposed to be very similar to Safale 05 but possibly attenuate a little more and be faster.

copyright1997 said:

I used this recipe in the past as a "BMC pleaser" but found I also enjoy them (or at least I must have as they are almost all gone). Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I brewed a variant of this which added 1# of Honey Malt. I don't know the result yet, but will be racking within the next couple of days to a keg and should know in a week or so how it turned out. I will re-post after the first taste test. Has anyone else out there tried it as a "Honey Cream" ale?

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This is one beer I always brew...and I always add a half pound of honey malt...I also ferment this with SA-05... Simply one of the best beers you can make...

I also add a few more hops and make the IBUs at 25....this pushes it into the Blonde Ale category....and who doesn't like Blondes?

Here is my stupid question for the day:

If I boil for 90mins instead of my traditional 60, am I going to lose 50% more to boil off?

Does my logic make sense?

FuBaR1218 said:

Here is my stupid question for the day:

If I boil for 90mins instead of my traditional 60, am I going to lose 50% more to boil off?

Does my logic make sense?

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Yes and... yes.

For any 90 minute boil, adjust your pre-boil volume accordingly.

And now my 2nd stupid question of the day:

I tried searching this thread but the popularity of your beer is hindering my efforts! Much to vast to read through quickly and the search feature isn't helping me out.

I recognized youre recipe is for 11.5 gallons. I have a 15 gallon kettle and trying to get 11.5 out will be pushing me likely past my limits. So here is my questions:

Does a 10 Gallon recipe exist?

If I just used your recipe at 11.5, would it greatly affect the quality of this beer, beyond making for a slightly higher OG?

FuBaR1218 said:

I recognized youre recipe is for 11.5 gallons. I have a 15 gallon kettle and trying to get 11.5 out will be pushing me likely past my limits. So here is my questions:

Does a 10 Gallon recipe exist?

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Get yerself a brew calculator. I use Brewmate - it's free and does everything I need so far. Just put in the recipe for 11.5 gallons and then adjust the volume. You can do all the calc's by hand, but I'm lazy...

Beersmith seems popular around here, but I've never used it.

FYI... The new dry yeast from danstar, BRY-97 American West Coast Ale Yeast works great for this recipe. Very clean - even at my higher than normal basement temperatures - and not over attenuated. Since i did the no chill cube method, i made a small real wort starter with the dry yeast. Only a couple of days on keg, and it was fantastic. Thanks for sharing!

I brewed 11 gallons of CO3C 20 days ago.

I used washed Nottingham Ale yeast that I made a small 1/2 gallon starter with before pitching about 1 full cup of nice white yeast slurry from the starter to each 5.5 gallon batch of wort. High krausen within 18 hours and fermenting was finished in about 4-5 days at 67F.

Now 20 days in the primary and it is still super cloudy. I didn't have this problem when I used dry ale yeast on my last batch. Could it be from overpitching yeast? Should I cold crash it for a few days before bottling? Can I mix in priming sugar and bottle cold crashed beer that is still 37 degrees from the fridge or will it have to come back up to room temp before bottling?

Sorry for the questions, I've never attempted to cold crash a brew.

Thanks.

Jayhem said:

Now 20 days in the primary and it is still super cloudy. I didn't have this problem when I used dry ale yeast on my last batch. Could it be from overpitching yeast? Should I cold crash it for a few days before bottling? Can I mix in priming sugar and bottle cold crashed beer that is still 37 degrees from the fridge or will it have to come back up to room temp before bottling?

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The last batch of this that I brewed, I forgot the whirlfloc. Was cloudy when I bottled at three weeks, but cleared up nicely in the bottle. That was using US05, so YMMV.

Just picked up ingredients for this today. The hops I got have higher percentages so I'm going to use a little less of each to have the correct ibus. Should I throw the remaining hops in at flameout or dry hop with them? Thanks!

Jayhem said:

I brewed 11 gallons of CO3C 20 days ago.

I used washed Nottingham Ale yeast that I made a small 1/2 gallon starter with before pitching about 1 full cup of nice white yeast slurry from the starter to each 5.5 gallon batch of wort. High krausen within 18 hours and fermenting was finished in about 4-5 days at 67F.

Now 20 days in the primary and it is still super cloudy. I didn't have this problem when I used dry ale yeast on my last batch. Could it be from overpitching yeast? Should I cold crash it for a few days before bottling? Can I mix in priming sugar and bottle cold crashed beer that is still 37 degrees from the fridge or will it have to come back up to room temp before bottling?

Sorry for the questions, I've never attempted to cold crash a brew.

Thanks.

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Are the beers still in their primary fermentors? To cold crash simply place the primary fermentor in the fridge for 24-48 hours. You can also add so unflavored Know gelatin once the beer is cold to help clear things up. These should be done prior to bottling.

First time brewer here. Alot of the guides I'm reading list a mash out step. Is the mash out step necessary for CoC3? If so, anyone have some experience regarding temps?

Brewed this for the first time yesterday, all went smooth, looking forward to trying it in a few weeks. Thanks BM!

poponon said:

First time brewer here. Alot of the guides I'm reading list a mash out step. Is the mash out step necessary for CoC3? If so, anyone have some experience regarding temps?

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It's a matter of personal preference. I usually do raise to mash off prior to tapping my MLT, if for no other reason than to increase the solubility of the sugars. I think it can be argued that there is little benifit to stopping enzymatic activity and I think some people believe you favor tannin extraction at mash off temps as well so... I say, your call.

I generally don't mash out. I batch sparge with water at about 180 and figure that pretty much does the same thing. I go for easy but I don't think a mash out hurts in any way. It all comes out beer!

Brewed this today! For what ever reason I did my first decocation mash. OG came out to 1.055. Probably primary for 10th days then transfer to secondary with gelatin for 4 days then keg. Excited!

Brewing this up now, should be an excellent easy drinking beer for those Coors Light peeps in my life.

Thanks for the recipe!

Brewed this up on Saturday and is bubbling away in the ferm chamber happily at 64*F. Couldn't get to the LHBS for the flaked corn, so I ended up using corn grits from Sprouts. Brew day went like this:

6# US 2-row
1.25# Organic Yellow Corn Grits (Cereal Mash with 1# of the 2-row @ 150* for 20min, then brought to boil for 15-20min)
1.5# White Minute Rice (ran through crusher with the remaining 5# of 2-row)
5 big ol' handfuls of rice hulls

Whole Leaf Fuggles to 15IBU

Mash at 150* for 90min and that's when things got interesting.... opened the ball valve and nothing. This is the third batch in a row - I think that some grains are getting under my false bottom in my 10gal cooler. I've put some tubing around the perimeter now to try and seal it better, so we'll see if that does the trick for next weekends Fresh Squeezed IPA..

Fly sparged with 172* water to 7.5gal in the BK and boiled for 90min to end up with about 5.25gal in the fermenter. My pump was having issues so I never got a good whirlpool and so a lot (read - 90%) of the trub went into the fermenter too.

Last hiccup was that I had WL080 cream ale blend on the stir plate for about 24 hours, but didn't have any activity at pitch time. I decided to just let that keep spinning and save for later in the fridge, so I pitched one pack of US-05 at 70*, but into the chamber and had it down to 64* in about 2 hours.

Looks a bit darker in the fermenter than I was expecting, but that has a lot to do with the volume of liquid in there and all the trub. Really looking forward to this beer!!

I don't think that it has been discussed, but I have not ready every single page of this thread, albeit close. So. I made one of my first 'serious' mistakes with this brew. It is worth mentioning that this was my first BIAB batch, as well. So, I did not account for what the grains would soak OR boil-off. Obviously, I was left with a much smaller batch of beer than anticipated.

Here is the my real point/query:

Would you water it down (read: dilute it) until it reached the intended FG and consistency or would you try and serve it as some sort of freak "imperial" (lol) merikan yellow beer? Keep in mind I am serving to a bunch of barely adventurous (not that I'm knocking it) beer drinkers. They are BMC, all the way.

Help.

I need you, Liam Neeson of brewing.

unfairbeef said:

I don't think that it has been discussed, but I have not ready every single page of this thread, albeit close. So. I made one of my first 'serious' mistakes with this brew. It is worth mentioning that this was my first BIAB batch, as well. So, I did not account for what the grains would soak OR boil-off. Obviously, I was left with a much smaller batch of beer than anticipated.

Here is the my real point/query:

Would you water it down (read: dilute it) until it reached the intended FG and consistency or would you try and serve it as some sort of freak "imperial" (lol) merikan yellow beer? Keep in mind I am serving to a bunch of barely adventurous (not that I'm knocking it) beer drinkers. They are BMC, all the way.

Help.

I need you, Liam Neeson of brewing.

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How far off? (What was your post-boil specific gravity?)

copyright1997 said:

How far off? (What was your post-boil specific gravity?)

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About 3 gallons...pretty damn far off, lol.

Brewing this right now for a party we are having at the end of October and reading comprehension is difficult for me. I mashed for 60 instead of 90. Whoops....

Wingfan13 said:

Brewing this right now for a party we are having at the end of October and reading comprehension is difficult for me. I mashed for 60 instead of 90. Whoops....

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This won't be a problem. There are home brewers that will set the mash up the night before and let it mash overnight in order to brew the next day. You just want to be carefull that the temp of the mash did not drop too much.

I think your beer will be just fine.

So, I am seven days in and it tastes like rice, is that normal? This is so far outside what I normally brew I have no reference for the flavor of the wort. Thanks in advance.

I don't remember mine tasting like rice, but I didn't try it until I was racking it to a keg. Of the 3 beers that I brewed that were similar to this, I liked this one the best, though my friends liked Yoopers fizzy yellow beer better. Give it time, the off tastes should subside a bit. It could be that there was a lot of stuff still in suspension from the fermentation.

LonestarHB said:

So, I am seven days in and it tastes like rice, is that normal? This is so far outside what I normally brew I have no reference for the flavor of the wort. Thanks in advance.

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You still have very green beer! Give it time. I have my 3rd 11 gallon batch of Cream of Three Crops in bottles as you read this! I notice that it has a fruity taste for the first week or 2 after bottling but then becomes much crisper and more "BMC" like after 3-4 weeks. The flavor will also lighten up even further if you condition your bottles in the fridge for at least 7 days before drinking.

Jayhem said:

You still have very green beer! Give it time. I have my 3rd 11 gallon batch of Cream of Three Crops in bottles as you read this! I notice that it has a fruity taste for the first week or 2 after bottling but then becomes much crisper and more "BMC" like after 3-4 weeks. The flavor will also lighten up even further if you condition your bottles in the fridge for at least 7 days before drinking.

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Exactly what I have noticed as well

That is very encouraging! I wasn't very happy after a week in the keg crazy fruity finish...hopefully it will be ready for Sunday's game.

Go Broncos!

Brian