need another critique - creme ale

I really appreciated your help with my wheat recipe, now if you would, please give me suggestions on this creme ale. I found this recipe on the web, and I have tweaked it to fit what my homebrew store had in stock. I am a bit concerned it is going to be too hoppy. Would love some opinions. Should I lessen the hops? which? and by how much?

Thanks!
-J

3.3 lbs. Muntons Extra light LME
1 lb. Muntons plain light DME
1/2 lb. corn sugar

Grains:
1 lb. flaked maize
1/2 lb. German Light Crystal malted wheat (10-L )
1/2 lb. German Pilsner malted barley (1.6-L)
1/2 lb. Belgian Pale malted barley (3-L)

Bittering hops:
1/2 oz. Perle [7.6% AAU] (60 mins.)

Flavoring hops:
1/2 oz. Willamette [4.5% AAU] (15 mins.)

Finishing hops:
1/2 oz. Cascades [6.4% AAU] (5 mins.)

Fining agent:
1 tsp. Irish moss (15 mins.)

steep grains with 2.5 gal water 30 min at 155*, sparge with 1 gal@ 155*. Add extracts and boil 60 min, following hop additions.

Yeast: White Labs WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch

I have never liked flaked corn, I would replace it with flaked barley, rye or even oats.

I really don't mean to be an EAC here, but that is a realllly weird recipe. From the canned extract, to the pale barley. The cream ale style calls for flaked maize, but I am not too sure. It comes out to about 22 IBU's and the style calls for 10-22, so you are a the extreme top, but a lot of it does not sound good. NO corn sugar! Can I ask what you are looking for in a beer and help you with a recipe? A simple cream ale is very tasty and a great session beer.

Are you really trying to get a Boddington's type, or just a good session light ale?

There are some recipe's in the database from cream ale, maybe pick one and we will convert to extract for you.

I really wasn't looking for anything specific, other than something to compliment my other 2 brews (IPA and oatmeal stout) wanted something with a lighter color and a lower (ideally under 5) ABV.
-J

How about a blonde or an ordinary bitter? I could hook you up with an easy one of those. Or a hefe. If you are into hefeweizen's the recipe are super easy and really good.

Agree, hefe is a standard in my kegerator. Except that I'm all out right now!

cool, if you have a good heffe recipe, shoot it my way. I am looking for one as my 4th beer actually.
-J

6 lbs. wheat DME
1 oz hallertau at 60 mins
WLP300

Bottle after 2-3 weeks in primary, no secondary. No need to clear a cloudy beer .


That's it! The yeast gives this baby it's flavor and you don't want to jack it up with anything else.

Tastes awesome, super easy. You will not be dissapointed. Make the stater 3 days in advance and rig a blow-off tube for sure. It is super fun to watch this bad boy go crazy in fermentation as well.

Yup, you can be drinking a hefe in about 3 weeks if you time it right and maybe even 16 days or so if you are kegging!

This thread has the recipe that I've been regularly using. I found I had to tweak the hops quantity and timing (on the bittering hops) but got it perfect my 2nd time on out - depends on how you do yours, I tend to add my extract late. Try it out:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/showthread.php?p=70991

I totally agree with Lout. Do a late extract DME addition and get it nice and light colored.

miatawnt2b said:

I really appreciated your help with my wheat recipe, now if you would, please give me suggestions on this creme ale. I found this recipe on the web, and I have tweaked it to fit what my homebrew store had in stock. I am a bit concerned it is going to be too hoppy. Would love some opinions. Should I lessen the hops? which? and by how much?

Grains:
1 lb. flaked maize
1/2 lb. German Light Crystal malted wheat (10-L )
1/2 lb. German Pilsner malted barley (1.6-L)
1/2 lb. Belgian Pale malted barley (3-L)

Bittering hops:
1/2 oz. Perle [7.6% AAU] (60 mins.)

Flavoring hops:
1/2 oz. Willamette [4.5% AAU] (15 mins.)

Finishing hops:
1/2 oz. Cascades [6.4% AAU] (5 mins.)

Yeast: White Labs WLP029 German Ale/Kolsch

Click to expand...

This is a rather strange recipe and I don't really think it will give you the results you desire.

1. With a Kolsch yeast, you should probably lager it for a couple weeks. Try a Safale-05/1056 with cooler temps.
2. What's the corn sugar for? Corn sugar won't give you a corn/cream taste that you'd want with the cream ale, but will give you 100% fermentable sugar and up the alcohol. With a cream ale, you shouldn't be shooting for a high-alcohol beer but more a session ale.
3. I wouldn't use any finishing hops, especially if you have flavoring hops and bittering hops. Cream ales are supposed to be lager-like which is real crisp and doesn't have a lot of hops flavoring. I would do a First wort hopping and a bittering addition. Plus, cascades probably isn't right for the finishing either. It'll give you a grassy, slightly citrus taste which you wouldn't want.

If you have the capabilities to do all-grain, which you probably don't, try this recipe: corn cream ale. If not, sub out the base malts for the extra light DME. I've brewed it twice and really enjoy it. Real nice light, crisp taste and a good session ale.