Cream Ale Cream of Three Crops (Cream Ale)

Brewed 10 gallons today. Planned on 90% efficiency, and that's exactly what I got. I did 9# 2-row, 3# corn & 12 oz. of rice. 1.033 pre-boil, 1.040 post boil. I bittered with 100% Willamette, but with just a 60 minute addition it should all be bitter anyhow. Really looking forward to this beer. Thanks for another great recipe BM!

pola0502ds said:

On another note, has anyone had the 2-tone color problem I listed above? Does anyone know what that means? Bad? Good?

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It's not a problem, beer just does that as stuff settles out.

I made an extract version of this earlier this year and it's the only beer I've made that my wife has liked, so she wants me to make another batch to take with us on vacation in a couple months. Even though she liked it, there was an off-flavor I really didn't care for.

The guy at my lhbs gave me a packet of Danstar Munich to use, and it definitely fermented on the high side (over 70), so I'm pretty sure that's where what caused it.

When I make it again, I'm going to rig up a swamp cooler and keep an eye on the temperature. Does anybody have any recommendations on what yeast I should use, and what temp I should aim to ferment at? Should I use Safale-05 at 68 like the original recipe calls for?

Also, in a couple weeks we're going on a different vacation. I'm planning on brewing this sometime before this weekend so it'll get a good 2 weeks to ferment at the correct temp before we leave. I'm wondering if I should leave it in the fermenter while we're gone for the week, or if I should get it bottled before we go. I'm definitely a big fan of the long primary, but no one will be around to maintain the temp in the swamp cooler, so it'll creep back up to around 73 degrees or so. Any thoughts?

Drinking my first one right now after 2.5 weeks of bottle conditioning and fermenting at cooler, more stable temperatures. Gotta admit that I'm very much impressed with it! Very nice light color with great head retention that sticks around for quite some time! I"m about done with the first one and the head has not disappated much at all. The fiancee will definitely like this one (she's almost a non-drinker), and may become more of a staple in my house if it will get her to hang out and have a cold one more often.

Thanks for the great recipe!

I made a half batch and fermented around 67-70 for 2 weeks. Used safale 05 and it came out great!

I brewed this a long time ago and am thinking about brewing a cream ale similar to this, but changing some parameters. What do you think, should I use vegetable fried rice or pork fried rice?

No just kidding, what an inexpensive, quick beer from brewday to belly. You could even tone it down for a real session beer...guzzle guzzle guzzle

Mcbobs said:

Drinking my first one right now after 2.5 weeks of bottle conditioning and fermenting at cooler, more stable temperatures. Gotta admit that I'm very much impressed with it! Very nice light color with great head retention that sticks around for quite some time! I"m about done with the first one and the head has not disappated much at all. The fiancee will definitely like this one (she's almost a non-drinker), and may become more of a staple in my house if it will get her to hang out and have a cold one more often.

Thanks for the great recipe!

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Are you saying that from the time you put it in the primary to the time you drank it, it's only been 2.5 weeks?

I just racked go a secondary and tried it. Has little flavor but finishes with some. Can i expect it to improve?

First off, thanks for the great recipe and getting back to 500 people and their questions. I have brewed many all grain recipes with good luck. I did this one a couple weeks back and didn't have the grain bill exactly and it was Sunday(no open brew shops around here). So I used 1 pound of flaked corn and 1 pound of Minute Rice. The OG was 1.043 but I can't get the FG below 1.016. That would put this as 3.6% ABV and on the sweet side. Any ideas on why I'm not getting this lower? I used a yeast starter w 1056 American Ale WYeast that was shaken like crazy for O2. Just curious on your thoughts?

How much barley did you use? The original recipe is 70% barley, 30% corn/rice. Maybe your bigger barley % kept it from drying out?

Slipperys said:

First off, thanks for the great recipe and getting back to 500 people and their questions. I have brewed many all grain recipes with good luck. I did this one a couple weeks back and didn't have the grain bill exactly and it was Sunday(no open brew shops around here). So I used 1 pound of flaked corn and 1 pound of Minute Rice. The OG was 1.043 but I can't get the FG below 1.016. That would put this as 3.6% ABV and on the sweet side. Any ideas on why I'm not getting this lower? I used a yeast starter w 1056 American Ale WYeast that was shaken like crazy for O2. Just curious on your thoughts?

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Fermentation temperature, yeast nutrient, how big a starter... it's probably a yeast thing IMO.

I used the same 2 row count as the original recipe, but 1/2 the flakes corn, and 1 pound of minute rice.

Starter was: 2/3 cup of DME w 4 cups of water w/ 1056 American Ale WYeast. I shook this up for a long time and got a real strong fermentation for the first 4-5 days. I'm not sure if I'm not getting enough O2. I'm thinking about getting a pump to get better O2. Any ideas on why this stopped at 1.016 and not 1.005?

Oh, fermentation temp was 68 for entire time(air conditioner).

Slipperys said:

I used the same 2 row count as the original recipe, but 1/2 the flakes corn, and 1 pound of minute rice.

Starter was: 2/3 cup of DME w 4 cups of water w/ 1056 American Ale WYeast. I shook this up for a long time and got a real strong fermentation for the first 4-5 days. I'm not sure if I'm not getting enough O2. I'm thinking about getting a pump to get better O2. Any ideas on why this stopped at 1.016 and not 1.005?

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What temp did you mash? If you mashed at a higher temp you may have some long chains that the yeast can't use. You might try some amylase enzyme or beano, it has worked for me a few times.

Mashed at 152 for 90 minutes.

I racked to a keg after a couple days from adding gelatin. Extremely clear but i think I have chill haze. What did i do wrong to cause the chill haze? I didn't do a mash out, would that have prevented it?

rod734 said:

What temp did you mash? If you mashed at a higher temp you may have some long chains that the yeast can't use. You might try some amylase enzyme or beano, it has worked for me a few times.

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Mine started at 1.052 and finished at 1.009

pola0502ds said:

I racked to a keg after a couple days from adding gelatin. Extremely clear but i think I have chill haze. What did i do wrong to cause the chill haze? I didn't do a mash out, would that have prevented it?

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Are you sure it's not just stuff settling out in the keg? I generally expect the first several pints from the keg to be hazy. Boil hard, chill quickly, use Irish moss or Whitlfloc. That's how I combat chill haze.

pola0502ds said:

I racked to a keg after a couple days from adding gelatin. Extremely clear but i think I have chill haze. What did i do wrong to cause the chill haze? I didn't do a mash out, would that have prevented it?

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Give it a few days in the keg. Chill haze will pass as the remaining protein solids settle out and compact on the bottom of the keg.

Always a good idea to make sure your dip tube is off the bottom of the keg by 1/2 inch. If it's a bent tube, just give it a sharper bend. If it's straight, cut off 1/4 inch or so.

You don't want that dip tube sitting in that last bit of sediment at the bottom of the keg.

It's been 3 days after I transferred it into the secondary with the gelatin and it's still got the chill haze. This happened to my last beer too. I really wonder if it's from not mashing out. A club member once told me that every time he doesn't mash out he has a cloudy beer.

However, thanks for all your comments.

My mash temp was consistent at 152.

On another note, I force carbed this at 30 psi @ 33 degrees for 36 hours and it's right where I need it.

So what are the tasting notes on this?

This is what I have found:

-At the beginning there is very little flavor
-Midway you start to get the flavor and it sure does taste like a cream ale. Just a very slight hint of sweetness and then a little bitterness.
-Finishes very strong and dry. Lots of flavor at the end. Really does remind me of a bud light but better.

Very good beer for summer.

About the taste notes, am I correct to say that it doesn't start off with any flavor? I wonder if i should be drinking this at a higher temp like around 45 degrees?

I thiefed a sample from mine last night, 8 days in to primary fermentation. Gravity down to 1.010, and still fermenting. I get a lot of corn in the flavor. Nice bitterness level for the BMC crowd. Still have about 5 points to go before she's done. Tastes a lot like corn flakes to me

Granted, I was drinking a warm flat sample that wasn't done fermenting.

trust everyone on this one ...I followed the recipe and the procedures to the
letter and it far exceeded my expectations

Holy goodness. SOLD! This looks fantastic!! Sorry if this is a repost, on a quick break at work and 99 pages is a bit to read through at once. Couple questions though...

1- I'm doing a five gallon batch, but have never used rice hulls before, what would the quantity be?
2- I am going to do a 90 minute boil, does this mean I boil the bittering hops for the full 90 minutes? Or add them at 60 minutes?

Thanks in advance!!

half pound minute rice...that's right...from the grocery store....add bittering hops at 60 min

When you say minute rice, are you really talking about uncle bens minute rice?

So I don't know what I was thinking! This beer is freaking amazing. I let it sit another day, clear my taste buds and had a few. This beer is truely awesome. I went out to get a budweiser just to see the different and this cream of 3 crops rocks!

Wow! 100 page thread! BM musta done something right. I'm brewing this tomorrow (5.5gal) and had a couple of questions/concerns hopefully you guys can put to rest. And I apologize if this has been asked/answered, I did read through a lot of the thread :

1) This is my first 90min boil, with this smallish grain bill, are you batch sparge guys just sparging to your needed pre-boil volume or are you checking gravity and stopping the sparge at a point then adding water to the kettle to get up to needed preboil? I'm concerned about oversparging this to get 90min boil vol.

2) I read in the earlier parts of the thread that using the op recipe several people thought the amount of corn was a bit much and overpowered the clean,crisp taste of the beer. Lots of folks liked the beer as original, but I noticed a lot of comments like "will definitely make this one again, but next time cut corn in half" or "increase the rice" or both. Whats the consensus from you tweakers who have done multiple batches of this and played around with the adjunct amounts?

Sorry to be so concerned first batch, but I'm making this for my sis's wedding and a bunch of BMC'ers and I usually don't brew this style. I need to get this one right the first time without too much corny-ness! Thanks

pola0502ds said:

When you say minute rice, are you really talking about uncle bens minute rice?

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As long as it's "Minute" rice, you're good to go. No precook, no milling, straight into the mash...

Mudflap said:

Wow! 100 page thread! BM musta done something right. I'm brewing this tomorrow (5.5gal) and had a couple of questions/concerns hopefully you guys can put to rest. And I apologize if this has been asked/answered, I did read through a lot of the thread :

1) This is my first 90min boil, with this smallish grain bill, are you batch sparge guys just sparging to your needed pre-boil volume or are you checking gravity and stopping the sparge at a point then adding water to the kettle to get up to needed preboil? I'm concerned about oversparging this to get 90min boil vol.

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I fly sparge, but I just sparged to collect required pre-boil volume, ignoring the SG of the runnings. I'd plan on a high-efficiency with this grist, I got 90%.

Mudflap said:

2) I read in the earlier parts of the thread that using the op recipe several people thought the amount of corn was a bit much and overpowered the clean,crisp taste of the beer. Lots of folks liked the beer as original, but I noticed a lot of comments like "will definitely make this one again, but next time cut corn in half" or "increase the rice" or both. Whats the consensus from you tweakers who have done multiple batches of this and played around with the adjunct amounts?

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I have only brewed it as originally stated: 70% 2-row, 24% corn, 6% rice. My first batch is at the tail end of primary (1.008 and falling, 9 days in primary.) I've tasted they hydro samples I've pulled along the way. There is a definite corn flavor, but I don't think it's off-putting. The style guidelines say "Adjuncts can include up to 20% flaked maize in the mash, and up to 20% glucose or other sugars in the boil." I'd brew it according to the original recipe before tweaking it.

Mudflap said:

Sorry to be so concerned first batch, but I'm making this for my sis's wedding and a bunch of BMC'ers and I usually don't brew this style. I need to get this one right the first time without too much corny-ness! Thanks

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I think the corn character is nice, and it sounds like many BMC drinkers love it the way it is based on comments in this thread. Good luck!

I had to sub in a few things, a pound of wheat, a little more rice, some different hops. So I can't exactly speak to the original recipe. However, I do think this is a lot of corn and my beer did have a definite corn flavor to it, more than I liked.

Great recipe. But if you think a corn sweetness might be off putting to you, lower the corn a bit and up the rice and maybe even up the 2 row. I think for a second batch of this I'm going to do it this way and cut the wheat. Might throw in some carapils as well.

Thanks a bunch for a great recipe! Here's a good shot at a split batch. That beer was ferment on WY Kolsch (2nd suggestion). The other half was ferment on US-05. The latest being my prefered so far. Also, I finned with gelatin for a good visual. Thanks again for that too BierMuncher!

Cheers!

PS: That's one very popular on my keg-o-rator.

Slipperys said:

I used the same 2 row count as the original recipe, but 1/2 the flakes corn, and 1 pound of minute rice.

Starter was: 2/3 cup of DME w 4 cups of water w/ 1056 American Ale WYeast. I shook this up for a long time and got a real strong fermentation for the first 4-5 days. I'm not sure if I'm not getting enough O2. I'm thinking about getting a pump to get better O2. Any ideas on why this stopped at 1.016 and not 1.005?

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I thought about this some more. Adjuncts don't have a lot in the way of nutrients that yeast need. In an all-malt wort you typically don't need to add nutrient, but when a significant portion isn't malted you could run into metabolic issues for the yeast. If they don't have enough nutrients and trace minerals to do the job, they'll stop early because they simply are no longer to eat any more sugar. There's nothing you can really do at this point, but in the future when using adjuncts you should give them some extra nutrients.

That could be the problem.

Thanks diatonic! I will do just that on the sparge, that is, just sparge til I get my preboil and not worry about over sparging. On the adjuncts, I believe just to be safe since I don't have time to experiment before the wedding, I'm going to drop half a pound off of the corn bill and pick up a half pound on the rice. I want this really clean for folks. Will report back in about 3 weeks with my results!

Is there any reason I couldn't do this in a 5.5 gal batch using bags? I could sparge a bit using a strainer over the kettle. Or just agitate the bags a bit. That would probably get all the goodies out before the boil. Any thoughts?

pola0502ds said:

I racked to a keg after a couple days from adding gelatin. Extremely clear but i think I have chill haze. What did i do wrong to cause the chill haze? I didn't do a mash out, would that have prevented it?

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y

Update, i went on vacation this past weekend for 4 days and when I returned and poured a glass of this wonderful beer it was very clear. Just a hint of a haze. I also found that this beer has a lot more flavor now.

So I brewed on July 4th, transferred to secondary with gelatin on July 16th, transferred to keg on July 18th and started drinking on the 20th. A little time line for you guys that plan to brew this.

This beer is freaking awesome and is a perfect beer for those people who don't know what a craft beer is and typically like bud light. But it has more flavor.

This will be a beer that I ALWAYS have on tap. I just need to figure out what I can do to make the mashing process easier. I got 3 stuck mashes before on my RIMS system before I just decided to do a single infusion with no recirc.

Alright, brewed it up on sat. Man, between the 90min mash, 90min boil, and dealing with 100deg Memphis temps outside and chilling with almost 90deg groundwater made for one exhausting brew day. I had to go immersion pre-chiller with ice bucket to therminator and still had to use a swamp cooler before pitching! haha. Whew, what a day!

On Hops I only could get Willamete AA 4.7. No Crystal went with Liberty 4.5 AA I should be fine with this hop schedule , Dont have brewing hardware help would be appreciated Thanks!

I was in a hurry to get this ready for a BBQ this weekend. I primaried it for 12 days, then filtered warm with a 1 micron filter. Chilled & force carbed for 2 days. Despite having a lot of chill haze, it's a really enjoyable beer. I'll just get red party cups instead of clear. Thanks again for the great recipe!

One more pic. This beer is fantastic!

After i kegged and startee to drink, one week later it was and still is crystal clear. This is going to become a house beer for me

Well, i put this beer in a contest. It took first place in its catagory! This beer didnt turn out like the recipe says but it sure is damn good. Just thought i would mention that. Thanks to the person who started this thread.