Cream Ale AG Cream Ale

we just killed our last keg of this, so good... we just picked up another 20lbs of grain...lol. This is a great "house" ale. Appeals to the masses, and the discrimanting pallet. A real nice combo of grain & yeast.

we brewed 12 gallons on sat night of this again. We did 2 things we have never done before. We washed and reused the yeast from the last batch and used it, and we also just recently just got an oxygen stone. Between the washed yeast w/starter and the oxygen.... we airlocked them at 1AM and by 9AM we had crazy activity. So I am curious how these things work.

brewmasterbates said:

we just killed our last keg of this, so good... we just picked up another 20lbs of grain...lol. This is a great "house" ale. Appeals to the masses, and the discrimanting pallet. A real nice combo of grain & yeast.

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We like it too! We especially like it for the summer, when a lighter beer is especially appreciated on hot days.

This is my first all grain batch. A lesson in what can go wrong. New 10 gal MLT at the ready, I missed the strike temp on the high side and kept mixing until panic set in then added ice. Over shot this and had to add boiling water to get back up to 148. Kind of like the old joke about sawing a table leg to get it even. Likely mashed for 90 min or more with what had to be about 5 gallons of water by the time all was said and done. Set up to fly sparge with what little water I could use to 6.75 gal. 90 min boil and my OG is 1.054 which seems high. Found out after that my digital thermometer was failing. Blew the airlock out today (less than 24 hrs) so it's going. Hope it's drinkable after a rough start. Extract seems simple by comparison 😃.

you need to know your equipment. For instance, if we are going to mash at 152, we factor in "dead space" in our tun, as well as temp outside. We use the orange home depot coolers, which are tremendous for keeping temp, IMO. Also, we stick the digital thermometer onto the grain.. usually around 70 degrees. All those things bring temps down. So we usually heat to 170. by the time we transfer water from kettle to cooler, dough in grains, we usually drop to 155ish. Let sit with top off if want to come down. We have valve in ours, so we drain from bottom and add back to top. Always cooler at top. That usually brings us down to 152ish, seal it up. doesn't move a bit. Look at it this way, if you come in a little cool, you can always bring temps up by adding some hot water. Cooling, and coming in way to hot, to me, is harder to correct during the process.

Saving this recipe for later. Need to do another cream ale soon, and I've never used the MO/biscuit/saaz combo. I'm getting tired of my usual 2-row/rice/cascade mix, it's time to do something new. I'll probably keep the rice instead of using corn though.

the flaked maize is tremendous in this recipe. It dries it out, makes it crisp. I love it in there. This is a solid recipe, we stuck pretty much to yoops original on page 1, only modifying our water, and it turned out fantastic. Everyone who's tried it, LOVED it as well. Live a little, try something different.

Just threw in gelatin and put it in the fridge to crash. Actually put in freezer for 3 hours after pitching gelatin. Already was clearing up nicely!

Gotta brew this. Didn't have time to read whole thread but curious what concensus yeast choice was? Wyeast 2112 or maybe 1007?

FYI, on our 2nd keg of this, our second time brewing... I cannot stop drinking this.. lol AWESOME!! One of my new house faves. Great flavor. Brewing a gloden ale tonight, with a little zythos pellet hops, and a human heads worth of fresh cascades. also, we are going to use our newly created hopback system to flow though. Even know this isn't an IPA, or pale ale, it may be a cross between a blonde & light IPA. but who knows!!

I have Pacman yeast on hand, would that work well in this?

ted464 said:

I have Pacman yeast on hand, would that work well in this?

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Yes, especially if you can ferment at 60-62 degrees or thereabouts. That would be ultra "clean" finishing.

Yooper said:

Yes, especially if you can ferment at 60-62 degrees or thereabouts. That would be ultra "clean" finishing.

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Sounds great, just got a fridge from a buddy that I am setting up for temp control so low 60s should be no problem

Yooper said:

Yes, especially if you can ferment at 60-62 degrees or thereabouts. That would be ultra "clean" finishing.

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Brewed this the other day, going it give it about 14 days. I used Pacman at 61 degrees. I had an OG of 1.047. What does it usually finish out at?

aschupner said:

Ok, I wasn't thinking when I was grinding up my grain and accidently put in a full pound of carapils and biscuit rather then the 1/2 pound it calls for. How much is this going to change the OG of this recipe? Just so I know how close I am when it comes out. Also, how much do you think this might alter the flavor??

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I did the exact same thing! Accidentally added a full pound of both carapils and victory. Smells awesome, haven't brewed indoors in quite some time, since my Partial mash days. Stove is doing awesome though, got 26L up to a boil in no time, and now the whole house smells wort-y.

SWMBO hates the smell of wort though. LOL sucks to be her! Payback for all the Party-lite candles!! lol

I recently brewed this, screwed it up, and it still is awesome. I forgot to put the corn in the mash and didn't realize it until I was done sparging. I didn't do a mash out, so I decided to add the corn to the kettle in a hop sack and bring the temp back up to 150 for an hour, hoping there would still be enough enzymes to do the job. Well I now realize that was a poor decision and I ended up with a starchy beer. So it's a bit hazy, has zero head, and a bit of a corny aftertaste, but it is still great! I can't wait to do it again correctly!

This is by far the lightest beer I've ever brewed as I usually favor the darker beers, but it is my new favorite. The maris otter really gives it a great flavor. Thanks, Yooper!

Hey yooper thanks for the great recipe! I've made it twice now and it's definitely a crowd pleaser. Goes down really nice on a hot summer day, hence the reason I'm about to make a 10 gallon batch.

One question though- The Maris Otter I use is a liittle darker than most (around 3.5L) so I was thinking of cutting it with about 30% pils malt to get a slightly lighter beer. Any thoughts on how this might tun out? Think it's worth going through the trouble of having to do a 90 minute boil, or should I just cut the maris with some 2-row instead? I'm hoping it will still have that nice bready character, just a tad lighter.

Cheers!

Hi Yooper,

First, thanks for the recipe. A few days ago I bought ingredients for the Da Yoopers Pale Ale, and this Cream Ale. I just brewed this one.

Now, as I was going to reply to this thread, I noticed that I maybe f**d up... I bought pale ale, and maris otter, and on this one I used the pale ale, but now I notice that I should have used the maris otter... I hope it doesn't ruin the recipe!!

Well.... I guess I will have to use the Maris for the House Pale Ale

Thanks again and I'll try to remember reporting the results here.

Irreo said:

Hi Yooper,

First, thanks for the recipe. A few days ago I bought ingredients for the Da Yoopers Pale Ale, and this Cream Ale. I just brewed this one.

Now, as I was going to reply to this thread, I noticed that I maybe f**d up... I bought pale ale, and maris otter, and on this one I used the pale ale, but now I notice that I should have used the maris otter... I hope it doesn't ruin the recipe!!

Well.... I guess I will have to use the Maris for the House Pale Ale

Thanks again and I'll try to remember reporting the results here.

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That actually sounds better to me anyway- I think you'll be happy with the switch!

Just setting up my nitro tap and I recall having a cream ale on nitro a few times at a local pub.. Anyone try this ale on a nitro tap before?

I am working this recipe for my next brew. It is a three gallon recipe. I have changed the hops just because these are what I have on hand.
Beer smith is estimating my OG at 1.052 and the IbUs 21.4. The IBUs are high but I don't want to deal with amounts smaller than 1/4 oz.

Thoughts on this recipe? Think this hop combination will work?

4.8 pounds Maris otter
1/2 pound flaked corn
4 ounces biscuit malt
4 ounces Carapils

.5 ounces Fuggles 5.1% (60)
1/4 ounce Cascade 7.1%(10)
1/4 ounce Willamette 4.4%(flameout)

RichBrewer said:

I am working this recipe for my next brew. It is a three gallon recipe. I have changed the hops just because these are what I have on hand.
Beer smith is estimating my OG at 1.052 and the IbUs 21.4. The IBUs are high but I don't want to deal with amounts smaller than 1/4 oz.

Thoughts on this recipe? Think this hop combination will work?

4.8 pounds Maris otter
1/2 pound flaked corn
4 ounces biscuit malt
4 ounces Carapils

.5 ounces Fuggles 5.1% (60)
1/4 ounce Cascade 7.1%(10)
1/4 ounce Willamette 4.4%(flameout)

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I haven't used fuggles for bittering hops in a long time- maybe 7-8 years(?), but I don't see why that wouldn't work!

OG was 1.052, Following through the recipe after 24 days and my final gravity ends up at 1.032. What should I do now? Did it not ferment all the way?
Thanks

Well, I screwed up. Instead of Marris Otter, I bought plain old 2 row base malt. I loaded the specialty grains on top of the two row so, in traditional RichBrewer fashion, I'll go ahead and brew her up as is.
It will be lighter in color and it won't be as malty but it will be beer.

RichBrewer said:

Well, I screwed up. Instead of Marris Otter, I bought plain old 2 row base malt. I loaded the specialty grains on top of the two row so, in traditional RichBrewer fashion, I'll go ahead and brew her up as is.
It will be lighter in color and it won't be as malty but it will be beer.

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And, in traditional RichBrewer fashion, it will be better than the original.

That's what you always seem to do- "screw up", and make it better than I ever did.

Triton said:

OG was 1.052, Following through the recipe after 24 days and my final gravity ends up at 1.032. What should I do now? Did it not ferment all the way?
Thanks

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Sorry for the late response.
Any updates on this? Can you give some specifics on your brew session? What type of yeast did you use and was it fresh?

Yooper said:

And, in traditional RichBrewer fashion, it will be better than the original.

That's what you always seem to do- "screw up", and make it better than I ever did.

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Oh I think not! You are THE Yooper of legend here at HBT and I would never presume to make a beer better than you.

RichBrewer said:

Well, I screwed up. Instead of Marris Otter, I bought plain old 2 row base malt. I loaded the specialty grains on top of the two row so, in traditional RichBrewer fashion, I'll go ahead and brew her up as is.
It will be lighter in color and it won't be as malty but it will be beer.

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If I may say so, I humbly submit that I accidently subbed 2 row for MO when I made this too. And because Yoop makes such great recipes, it still came out great!!


"Sometimes Im right half of the time ...."

RichBrewer said:

Oh I think not! You are THE Yooper of legend here at HBT and I would never presume to make a beer better than you.

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Well, I've had your beers. And they are great. So I'm sure this will be fine, if not better than fine.

Well, this tastes great even without the MO. It is a beautiful, golden beer that quenches the thirst!

Brewed yesterday.

I made this about 2 months ago. Subbed 2-row for the maris otter.

OG came in low at 1.044 but fermented down to 1.010.

It's been in the bottle for a month and shows no signs of carbonation.

I'm just going to leave it alone as I have plenty of other beer but was really looking forward to trying it.

--It just dawned on me as I was typing this. I cold crashed it for a day and then siphoned only 2.5 gallons out and gave the rest to my neighbor for him to keg. I'm betting all the yeast had dropped out of suspension and I siphoned the top half which probably had very little yeast in it.

May have to pop the tops and add a few granules of yeast to each bottle.

*Heavy sigh*

Did you add priming sugar before you bottled? I doubt yeast is the problem.

Brewing this right now with a few tweaks !

OG was 1.054 .. Fg 1.010 .. 5.8%

WLP080 w 1L starter .... Little extra Biscuit malt... n mashed at 153.... kegged @ 2.5 vols and waiting..

Has anyone thought about using Vienna malt for the base malt or a blend of Vienna and something else for the base malt? Yooper's Fizzy Yellow Beer uses Vienna which I love and have an excess of right now so I was thinking about using it for this recipe.

I normally don't post any reviews but I thought I would comment on this one:

I made this back in July when it was hot as the dickens and read "great lawnmower beer" and thought "This is what I need right now."

Final product when we were drinking it fresh was ok... I say that living just outside of beer mecca (San Diego county) so my home brews are often competing with Stone, The Bruery, Mother Earth (who has a most excellent cream ale and pretty sweet HBS), Hanger 24, Green Flash, Lost Abbey.... you get the idea. (in before 'You're spoiled')

That being said, our general opinion of the beer was that it wasn't bad. Not terribly great, but certainly not bad. Pretty much stuck to the recipe, only might have added a little more hops. (I brew 2 gallon and don't have a scale at home to ensure I'm getting the precise amounts) I didn't have any plans to make this one again.

I had a growler sitting out in my garage that didn't get used and to be honest, I was kinda dreading having to drink it. (so spoiled and terrible I know) My thought was it's a Summer beer light in body, and probably won't hold up well. So on a whim last Saturday, I decided to take it and another Sassafras porter over to my extended family's house for a Christmas party.

After 5-6 months, the body and character of this beer had completely changed... and it was amazing. Seriously, it was a new beer. It might be my recollection, but I think it might have darkened ever so slightly. Suddenly there were tons of honey notes and sweetness that just wasn't there before. It actually reminded me a lot of an '08 Double Bastard I had on tap at Stone earlier this month. Really really (no no -really-) good. Totally amazed at how it had changed for the better.


Knowing what I know now, I'm probably going to brew up another batch in a month for Summer time. So if you make some, cellar at least one bottle for me and let me know how it changes.

Brewed this 12/27/2014. All numbers spot on. I brewed 10 gallons. 5 gallons I dry hopped with 2oz Pacific Jade. Awesome... 1 key to this beer is to carb high - 2.7ish. Super light and the dry hop added just enough flavor. I can't stop drinking it. It's so light and refreshing. I am still conditioning the other five gallons and will keg when I have one open. Considering dry hopping the keg with simcoe (i love simcoe) but may be too over the top for this style. Oh and when you dry hop it will not be super clear but, damn it, I like hops...

I am out of 2-row and pale malt but I have plenty of 6-row. Anyone want to tell me if they think using 6-row as a base malt for this recipe would be a good idea?

msa8967 said:

I am out of 2-row and pale malt but I have plenty of 6-row. Anyone want to tell me if they think using 6-row as a base malt for this recipe would be a good idea?

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I know this is a late answer.... I am sorry. I just found this thread. But, traditionally, American Cream Ale was made with a base malt of 6 row. So, I am guessing it would be great! I make my Kentucky Common Beer with six row. And it is, essentially a dark Cream Ale. I hope this helps, even late.

Cheers!

Mike

Old thread, but I liked the recipe and the reviews, so House of Malbec Brewing with the assistance of the Jovial Curmudgeons brewed this up today. We substituted Hallertau for the Hersbruker, but other than that, identical. Hit the numbers bang on. Looks good, smells good. We are going to partition it in 5 gallon batches; control, blueberry, blood orange, cucumber and yes, grilled asparagus. All inspired by our recent 6 week trip to the UP and back and the beers we tried. Stay tuned!!