Opinions and Suggestions Wanted

Please critique my first attempt at my own recipe. I'm going for a light and refreshing summertime easy drinker.

Style: Cream Ale
Type: Extract
Batch Size: 5.00 gal
Boil Size: 4.00 gal
Boil Time: 60 min

Ingredients

3.30 lb Pilsner Liquid Extract (3.5 SRM) Extract 42.04 %
3.30 lb Pilsner Liquid Extract [Boil for 15 min] Extract 42.04 %
0.25 lb Carafoam (2.0 SRM) Grain 3.18 %
0.25 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt - 10L (10.0 SRM) Grain 3.18 %
0.75 oz Williamette [5.50 %] (45 min) Hops 11.0 IBU
0.50 oz Saaz [4.00 %] (5 min) Hops 1.2 IBU
0.25 tsp Irish Moss (Boil 10.0 min) Misc
5.00 tbsp Vanilla Extract (Bottling 5.0 min) Misc
0.75 lb Corn Sugar (Dextrose) (0.0 SRM) Sugar 9.55 %
1 Pkgs American Lager (White Labs #WLP840) Yeast-Lager



Beer Profile

Est Original Gravity: 1.055 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.012 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 5.60 %
Bitterness: 15.0 IBU
Est Color: 4.6 SRM

Notes

Seep the grains in 4 gallons of 150F water for 20 minutes. Return to boil and add 1/2 of the extract and 3/4 lbs of corn sugar, boil according to schedule. Late addition of remainning LME at 15 minutes remainning. Add vanilla 1 teaspoon at a time until its to your liking.

Created with BeerSmith

The recipe looks fine. I assume you'll ferment at 50 degrees, then lager it?

I just gotta ask, though- why the vanilla? Cream ale is such a nice light lager-ish beer and I'm wondering what the vanilla would do? Thanks!

YooperBrew, thanks for the feedback. Actually, I wasn't going to lager it. Unfortunately I don't have the temperature control required for that. My plan was to ferment and condition like an Ale. I was originally planning on using an Ale yeast until I read this on the wiki:

Cream Ale is an indigenous American beer style. Usually brewed with lager yeast at warmer ale temperatures...

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As far as the vanilla goes, just looking to add a bit of additional flavor and perceived sweetness. Trying to make it a bit more original than your run of the mill Cream Ale.

YooperBrew said:

The recipe looks fine. I assume you'll ferment at 50 degrees, then lager it?

I just gotta ask, though- why the vanilla? Cream ale is such a nice light lager-ish beer and I'm wondering what the vanilla would do? Thanks!

Click to expand...

If it was me, I wouldn't use lager yeast at ale temperatures. That often causes some unusual sulfur and other flavors. Maybe a "clean" well attenuating ale yeast at a low temperature would be better. I'd try Nottingham in the low 60s if you can do it, or S05 in the mid 60s. That should give better results than a lager yeast in the 60s.

Well, a cream ale is a nice beer. I'd try it without the vanilla first. Then, take a sample out of the fermenter before bottling and add some vanilla and try it. I can't imagine that vanilla and cream ale go together. But if you want to get an idea of how it might taste, you could get a MGD and add some vanilla to it and see if you like it.