cream ale...

What type of malt and grains make up a cream ale.. I'm trying to create a recipe for a cream ale.. any help..

It's usually like a lager with some corn. I'd go mostly regular 2-row malt with a couple pounds of flaked corn.

Jamils' got a great cream ale. Its on tap at my house, and even I like it, and I'm usually into hoppy beers

oops, fogot the link: http://www.beerdujour.com/JamilsRecipes.htm

The recipe in my dropdown is pretty good- I'm drinking it now.

mine was something like this (damnit, i never have the exact recipe available at werk )

4 lbs - American 2-Row
2.5 lbs - Pilsener 2-Row
0.5 lbs - Vienna Malt
0.5 lbs - Munich Malt
1 lbs - Flaked Corn
1 lbs - Flake Wheat

0.5 oz fuggle + 0.25 oz saaz @ 60 minutes (bittering)
0.5 oz saaz @ 5 minutes (aroma)

WLP080 - Cream Ale Yeast Blend

My most popular beer by far

edited: found my hops additions...i knew i'd changed something...

can i steep the grains or should i mash them??

and can the flaked corn be steeped or mashed?? I havent used either before..

dumptrucksally said:

can i steep the grains or should i mash them??

and can the flaked corn be steeped or mashed?? I havent used either before..

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Corn has to be mashed. You could use an equivalent amount of rice syrup to achieve the same result without mashing but corn is traditional. Or you could do a partial mash with the corn.

i'd just do a partial mash. it's as easy as steeping.

here is my "time-saving" partial mash method, which has been working wonders:

1. mash grains in 1.5 quarts/lb of water for 45-60 minutes inside a bag in a 4 gallon stockpot. maintain at 150-160F.
2. while mashing, heat additional water in 7 gallon stockpot to sparge temperature (i get it above 174F)
3. when conversion is complete, dip grain bag in sparge water and "tea-bag" for a few minutes, letting it extract what it can (my sparge will drop below 170F, even with the heat on)
4. remove grains and let water heat to ~190F, then add extract while stirring (again, keep heat on)
5. let the hot break commence and start your boil (i do a partial boil at about 4 gallons)

i've made some fantastic beers this way in a minimal amount of time. if i'm proactive in sanitation and continuous clean up during my mash and boil i can do a batch in under 3 hours (that's cooling in an ice bath for 30 minutes, too)

perfect solution for those after work brews. sure, i don't get the best efficiency (usually 60-65%) but i can relax and enjoy a homebrew while i watch a movie and still wake up nice and early the next morning. worth the extra couple of bucks in grains

Traditional cream ales had 6 row or a mix of 6 and two row with 10-20% corn in the mash. I did one recently similar to what DeathBrewer did, with some corn, some wheat and some vienna malt. I also added some wild rice because I'm a weirdo. It's in the secondary now, so I can't say how good it is, but I would guess something close to Deathbrewer's, while not completely traditional, would be great.

I brewed a cream ale a couple weeks ago using:

12# pale
4# Flaked corn
1# minute rice.

1Oz Willamette (60)
1Oz Sterling (60)

Beer turned out very nice and it's a good house tap beer for SWMBO and company...but I had to really, really fight the urge to toss in an ounce or two of cascade into that fermenter.

I wanted to brew something light for the summer with what I had on hand, so I threw this together last night:

• 7 lbs 2-row
• 1 lb flaked corn
• 1/2 lb Caravienne

1/2 oz. Tettnang & 1/2 oz. Saaz (both at 60 minutes)

Mashed at 150, pitched a Kolsch yeast slurry I had from the previous week.

Not sure how it'll come out, but the first runnings were very tasty. I'll let you know in 3 weeks when I bottle it

Can anyone help me out with an extract version.. I'm not up to AG yet!!!!

dumptrucksally said:

Can anyone help me out with an extract version.. I'm not up to AG yet!!!!

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The Austin Homebrew kit is absolutely fantastic. Best beer I've brewed yet (though I did a partial mash), and I couldn't recommend it more highly. I don't think that kit actually includes corn, but to me, that's a good thing.

I'm knocking together a cream ale loosely based on Biemuncher's cream of Three crops, except I will be brewing with:

6 lb of Six-Row
4 lb of flaked corn
1 lb Lyle's Golden syrup.

Dry Notty yeast, 30 IBU of hops, probably Sterling and Willamette or Tett.
I'll mash long and low for a really crisp beer, and ferment at 65F (I have a nice cold basement).

This should be ready for drinking at the July 4 family BBQ, where there are lots of BMC drinkers.

Feedback?

jds said:

1 lb Lyle's Golden syrup.
...
Feedback?

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Interesting. A touch of "Ole Speckled Hen" in your recipe eh?

Do we have "Speckled Egg, Cream Ale"?

BierMuncher said:

Interesting. A touch of "Ole Speckled Hen" in your recipe eh?

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Yep, or something like that. The LHBS owner claims that Lyle's is his secret ingredient for Cream ale. We'll see how it goes. I know that the flavor from Lyle's is pretty subtle -- it's mostly just invert syrup. Anyhow, we'll see how this goes. I should have a report in early July.

What the hell else is in Lyle's anyhow? Seven bucks for the syrup seems pretty pricey compared with the low cost of inverting up some sugar.

JustDave said:

I wanted to brew something light for the summer with what I had on hand, so I threw this together last night:

• 7 lbs 2-row
• 1 lb flaked corn
• 1/2 lb Caravienne

1/2 oz. Tettnang & 1/2 oz. Saaz (both at 60 minutes)

Mashed at 150, pitched a Kolsch yeast slurry I had from the previous week.

Not sure how it'll come out, but the first runnings were very tasty. I'll let you know in 3 weeks when I bottle it

Click to expand...

I just brewed one very with a very similar malt bill to that, except I had extra pound of 2-row, 1/2 lb. of biscuit. I went with Yooper's cream ale recipe for the hop addtions and yeast selection, though.

Speaking of which, she suggests that there are great benefits to lagering and cold conditioning cream ales (her recipe, anyway). This seems logical to me since this is style has the same goals as a pilsner. I'm planning on following suit. Just something to keep in mind.

What do you suppose the Minute Rice brings to the party?
This is going to be my second AG. Batch....Ed's Pale ale is #1, but it's still like 3 beers out on the schedule.
Also, why do you use the rice hulls?
Did I read that "Technically" this may not be a true Cream Ale?

BigKahuna said:

What do you suppose the Minute Rice brings to the party?
This is going to be my second AG. Batch....Ed's Pale ale is #1, but it's still like 3 beers out on the schedule.
Also, why do you use the rice hulls?
Did I read that "Technically" this may not be a true Cream Ale?

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According to BJCP Guidlines:

Ingredients: American ingredients most commonly used. A grain bill of six-row malt, or a combination of six-row and North American two-row, is common. Adjuncts can include up to 20% flaked maize in the mash, and up to 20% glucose or other sugars in the boil. Soft water preferred. Any variety of hops can be used for bittering and finishing.

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I consider the minute rice to be the "other sugars".

Similar to what the BMC breweries do, adding rice simple bolsters the ABV without adding additional body or flavor. It’s the key to a very light crisp beer.

I use rice hulls in all my batches now. Just part of my routine. A half sack lasts forever and I just toss in a sauce pot full (more or less). Since I fly sparge, my efficiency improved and my sparges (regardless of the grain bill) are smooth and care free.

jds said:

What the hell else is in Lyle's anyhow? Seven bucks for the syrup seems pretty pricey compared with the low cost of inverting up some sugar.

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I don't know but that stuff tastes like caramel. I tossed a can in 5 gallons of cider to up the alcohol a little and found myself licking the can for all it was worth. Now that it is pretty much done fermenting I can't really taste it at all.

Yes, the Lyle's is tasty.

I brewed up the cream ale today. Details are on my blog. The brew day went really smoothly. Luckily, I remembered back to my extract days, and killed the burned before adding it to the boil. Scorched invert sugar does NOT sould like a tasty addition to my beer.

In Jamils book he subs the corn for rice.

4.75 lbs of pilsner
4.75 lbs of 2-row
1lb of flaked rice
.75 lbs of sugar

90 min mash at 149

90 min boil

1 0z liberty 60
.5 oz liberty 1min

WLabs California ale

jds said:

I'm knocking together a cream ale loosely based on Biemuncher's cream of Three crops, except I will be brewing with:

6 lb of Six-Row
4 lb of flaked corn
1 lb Lyle's Golden syrup.

Dry Notty yeast, 30 IBU of hops, probably Sterling and Willamette or Tett.
I'll mash long and low for a really crisp beer, and ferment at 65F (I have a nice cold basement).

This should be ready for drinking at the July 4 family BBQ, where there are lots of BMC drinkers.

Feedback?

Click to expand...

jds said:

Yes, the Lyle's is tasty.

I brewed up the cream ale today. Details are on my blog. The brew day went really smoothly. Luckily, I remembered back to my extract days, and killed the burned before adding it to the boil. Scorched invert sugar does NOT sould like a tasty addition to my beer.

Click to expand...

Just thought I'd post back on this beer. It turned out OK, but not spectacular. It's got a bit of high-alcohol heat to it that I hoped would tame down after a few weeks in the keg, but it doesn't seem to be fading. Since cream ale isn't exactly supposed to be something you'd give extensive aging to, I put that down as a deficency.

I wonder if it's because of too high a ferment temperature (I doubt it, since the basement stays at 65F), not enough malt to balance the alcohol (only 55% of the sugars are malt-based, 5.74% ABV), or just an aging issue.

brewjunky said:

In Jamils book he subs the corn for rice.

4.75 lbs of pilsner
4.75 lbs of 2-row
1lb of flaked rice
.75 lbs of sugar

90 min mash at 149

90 min boil

1 0z liberty 60
.5 oz liberty 1min

WLabs California ale

Click to expand...

I have JZ's cream on tap now. It's a good one for certain guests and I have had a glass or two myself. Crystal clear and cheap to make if your used to brewing IPA's as I am.

Mashing at 149 is to create a light body right?

Just making sure I'm understanding that right.

hammacks said:

Mashing at 149 is to create a light body right?

Just making sure I'm understanding that right.

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It will also create more fermentable wort- so that you get a drier beer, with a low FG.

Ender said:

Jamils' got a great cream ale. Its on tap at my house, and even I like it, and I'm usually into hoppy beers

oops, fogot the link: http://www.beerdujour.com/JamilsRecipes.htm

Click to expand...

I made JZ as well and he uses Rice instead of corn and it turned out very well.

I'm about to do YooperBrew's recipe. Since it's M.O. and I like malty , I'm going to ferment it with US-04 (English Ale) at 65 in my brand new shiny fridge.

British Cream Ale, anyone?

- Eric

i add a small amount of vienna and munich to mine. still very light with a nice malt background.