Cream Ale Ideas?

I'm making a 5 gallon batch of Cream Ale this weekend from an extract kit and looking for something interesting to add. The guy at the LHBS said he likes Vanilla but i'm not sure about it. Just wondering if anyone has any other ideas about what I might add to make this a bit different.

Vanilla in a cream ale? That sounds really terrible, to be honest. I don't think I'd try that.

A cream is a like a light lager (like Miller Light) with a bit more flavor because it's usually fermented as an ale at low ale temperatures. I can't really think of anything that could be added that would bring much to such a light beer. Maybe "dry peppering" with a couple of jalapenos would be interesting, or turning it into a fruit beer would work.

So I just did my first cream ale, third brew ever, and it's currently bottle conditioning. I added nothing to it, but that's because I wanted to get a base for what it was going to taste like. I'm going to do a few more batches, for the next one I was thinking about secondarying and racking on top of habanero's and chile's I grow myself in pots in my backyard, along with some frozen organic lime wedges.

I would not put vanilla in a cream ale. I like the idea of citrus. You could use orange, or tangerine. I like the lime idea.

I made a BB kit cream and added 1/2 tea of vanilla in secondary. It went over so well 2 of my non brewing friends had me make it for them. Recently brewed a basic all grain ale and added clementine peel to the primary and am very happy. The recipe is at Hopville as "Pin Stripe Ale". Also have used ground cloves (very small amount) in secondary with good results.

Have Fun, John

chai tea. add while cooling at the appropriate temperature

I haven't tried it (yet), but it sounds like it might be good

Thanks everyone for the tips and I agree with most that vanilla might be odd addition to this style. I think I'll stick with making the Cream Ale without addition to get a good feel for the profile of this beer since I've never made one before.

I must say thought that the guy at the LHBS was pretty hyped up about how his friend loved it too @jstraight. I may try it on my next round then the peppers and lime certainly sound interesting too.

I've had a few vanilla cream ales and they were very tasty. Most successful one I tried is from a local brewery called Due South. He dry hops with whole beans....pretty nice.

steelersrbrun said:

I've had a few vanilla cream ales and they were very tasty. Most successful one I tried is from a local brewery called Due South. He dry hops with whole beans....pretty nice.

Click to expand...

I thought that Due South's version wasn't actually a cream ale, but instead more of a light American amber with vanilla?

A "cream ale" tastes an awful lot like a light American lager and it is not the least bit creamy or caramelly. Picture putting some vanilla into Bud Light- that's about the results.

Something called a "caramel cream ale" wouldn't really be anything like a light lager and I think that could be confusing.

I had a Coffee Cream ale from Hess Brewing and it was fantastic.

Yooper said:

I thought that Due South's version wasn't actually a cream ale, but instead more of a light American amber with vanilla?

A "cream ale" tastes an awful lot like a light American lager and it is not the least bit creamy or caramelly. Picture putting some vanilla into Bud Light- that's about the results.

Something called a "caramel cream ale" wouldn't really be anything like a light lager and I think that could be confusing.

Click to expand...

Yoop...I stand corrected. The due south is a lot sweeter due to the crystal.I had it crossed with swampheads wild nights for some reason, which has tupelo honey not vanilla. Dead to style a cream ale will be very light and dry. But check out the cream ale recipe from northern brewer....that would really support some "dry beaning". Even Genesee cream ale could handle some subtle vanilla notes. Great....now i will be heading to the bottle shop to go cream ale crazy

I've added a touch of honey malt and used a little Perle with 10 minutes left in the boil. Turned out real nice.

Yooper said:

I thought that Due South's version wasn't actually a cream ale, but instead more of a light American amber with vanilla?

Click to expand...

I've never tried it but this beer by due south intrigues me. Does anybody have a recipe for it?

On a whim I sub'd out Brewer's Best flavor/aroma hop (1 oz Willamette) to 1 oz whole Citra at flame out. In not sure how the orig. recipe was supposed to turn out, but that oz. of Citra was too much. It's drinkable, but really 'fruit-juicy'.

I might try it again with .5 oz of Citra.