Cream Ale Cream of Three Crops (Cream Ale)

Mgt-

Actually, my OG was't significantly higher than 1.040. I got 90% efficiency and came out with 1.050. What was your efficiency?

At any rate, you're batch will come out well. A mash on the thinner side will lead to a thinner body, which is actually probably better for this style. I wish mine was thinner.

my efficiency was 78%.

Don't sweat the higher efficiencies. I had made several changes to my system, and instead of my normal 70%, I hit 84%. I was quite happy about that, but this brew came in a little under 5% which was a bit higher than I wanted for a session beer.
Didn't matter in the least, this is a freakin' awesome brew.

So apparently my batch did not ferment out in a day. :cross:

I checked it yesterday and there was an actual krauzen ring. What I saw earlier must have been from the foam when I poured it in. When i saw it I thought it was a pretty light ring but i just figured that was how it was since it was a light beer. But no I was wrong. I had a day or two lag time and then it kicked in... I can't wait to get this one kegged and in the on deck circle for my kegerator

Took some of this batch to my physical therapist on Monday.He was sceptical about homebrew having tasted some crappy homemade wine.Normally drinks miller lite.His main worry was about the carbonation being normal???
Went in today for therapy and he was all smiles.Genuinely loved it so much that he told his wife he wanted a brewing starter kit for his anniversary gift.
Hooked another one!!:rockin:

RCCOLA said:

...Genuinely loved it so much that he told his wife he wanted a brewing starter kit for his anniversary gift.
Hooked another one!!:rockin:

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Excellent!!!!

I'm drinking my last glass of this brew right now....

I guess the time to make another batch was a few weeks ago...

just wanted to chime in with a picture of the finished product. thank you so much BM for this recipe... had a party last weekend for the big 3-0 and the cream ale was a hit. there was only about 1/2 gallon left afterwards and the beer got REALLY clear in that last half gallon. here's a pic of it!

i mentioned this before, but this came out at 6.2% ABV and was deceivingly drinkable.

android said:

...6.2% ABV...deceivingly drinkable.

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Well somebody had to have gotten lucky that night.

i plead the fifth... and by that, i mean 'yes sir, someone did'.

Yambor44 said:

Should be fine. Let us know how it tastes. I'll bet great!

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Surprisingly it turned out great. Even with the yeast issue. The yeast arrived the following Monday with an "ooops" letter attached. >< All is well though - and now I have some extra yeast so I guess its a win-win.

I just bottled some of this last night. The FG was 1.006 and it started at an OG of 1.052. Like others have stated this really seemed to ferment very quickly with the US-05 yeast especially when I had it in the basement at an ambient temp of ~62%. It seems to taste great and should be a great beer for camping and boating. It doesn't seem like I will have the clarity that others have shown in their pictures but honestly that never bothers me. I sometimes feel a more turbid looking beer has more character as long as it's not contributing off flavors. I have some Irish moss but really haven't felt the desire to use it. Oh well, I'll let you guys know how it turns out in a couple weeks.

Mine came out pretty strong due to the addition of half pound of Cane sugar and a little more rice. 6.5% ABV. 3 of these and I am buzzing on an empty stomach. Its mellowing out really nicely. SWMBO loves it. Next time I will make it as per recipe just to see the difference.

When this first started I thought it looked like such an odd color but over time it really does evolve.

The last 3 pics are after we tossed it into the secondary - unfortunately we
had some spillage. No worries tho =)


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I just did this recipe but tweaked it abit because I did not have 4lbs or Corn.

I did 2lbs corn 2lbs of minuet rice 1lb of that being hole grain rice. The other 1lb white rice.

I used 2oz of Williemette because I did not have the Crystal hops.

I also added .75 lb of cane sugar.

I split the grain bill in half with 50% 2-row and 50% Plisner Malt.

I will post a picture soon.

I'm brewing this sucker tomorrow... I'm gonna add amylase enzyme (AE) to this beer for a high AG extraction. Then use AE to dry this one out to 1.000

THis stuff really grows on you. I really like it.

JesseRC said:

THis stuff really grows on you. I really like it.

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agreed, i can't wait to brew it again.

JesseRC said:

THis stuff really grows on you. I really like it.

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Dat ist vhy I du it again. Its sehr gut! Oh yah, its sehr gut....

Got another batch of this cranking away.

def gotta get another keg of this going after the move. it'll be a good one for the new neighbors, too!

Thank you for the recipe, it is a great success. I brewed up a 5 gal batch and took it to a family boat outing and two cases disappeared before the first case of Bud Light was ever opened. I'm brewing up another batch to trade for a fridge to lager beer in and store beer. The recipe cost me $18 and I purchased a second dry yeast to make sure my yeast count was up. I prefer stouts and dark beers but this was good enough for me, what BMC drinkers refer to as a snob. BierMuncher is exactly right on the questions, I must have heard "You made this beer? Bulls#*T".:rockin:

Rubberband said:

....BierMuncher is exactly right on the questions, I must have heard "You made this beer? Bulls#*T".:rockin:

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................:rockin::rockin::rockin:

cimirie said:

Hey FishinDave-

I brewed this batch with the total intent to make a Miller Chill/Bud Lite with Lime type of brew. I'm in the process of making some lime extract that I'll add at bottling along with a touch of Splenda (just under a 1/4 cup in a 2.5 gallon batch.) because the above mentioned macros have a touch of sweetness. I'm expecting great things. I let you know how it turns out!

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Not that anybody was holding their breath waiting for an update but...

My attempt at using BM's recipe as the basis for a lawnmower lime ale was a complete success. It wasn't nearly as clear as others or as light of body as others have attested, but I'll mash lower next time and use a thinner mash. Those two hiccups aside, the 1 cup of vodka mixed with the zest of 4 limes added to the bottling bucket gave exactly the lime quality I was looking for. It's a really refreshing, tasty summer brew!

cimirie said:

Not that anybody was holding their breath waiting for an update but...

My attempt at using BM's recipe as the basis for a lawnmower lime ale was a complete success. It wasn't nearly as clear as others or as light of body as others have attested, but I'll mash lower next time and use a thinner mash. Those two hiccups aside, the 1 cup of vodka mixed with the zest of 4 limes added to the bottling bucket gave exactly the lime quality I was looking for. It's a really refreshing, tasty summer brew!

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How long did you soak the zest in the vodka?

I have had this kegged for like 2 weeks and i'm almost out it is one of the best beers I have made by far.

I think i'm going to go with the same recipe as before 2 oz of mount hood at 60 mins .75 lbs of cane sugar and split the corn down to 2 lbs and 2 lbs of minuet rice.

maybe .25 ounces of a noble hop at 5 min this was for 10 gallons used s-05 yeast

i tried this recipe:The Jamil Show - Cream Ale

it cant hold a candle to this great recipe, i have made this beer 6 times in less than a year and it is very good...much better than Jamils recipe.

thanks for a nice beer!

Can't wait to get started on this brew... Will be brewing a 5 gallon batch on Monday. Should be perfect timing for our 4th of July party. Little bro is coming home from the Army and want to have several types of beers on tap for him. So far I have the Centennial Blonde, Apfelwein, and a monster IPA (Green Flash Clone). Hopefully this will be a great addition to the already wonderful beers on tap!

Just tried it tonight after kegging for over a week... very good! But I might pare down the corn next time, it certainly has a strong corn flavor.

fastricky said:

Just tried it tonight after kegging for over a week... very good! But I might pare down the corn next time, it certainly has a strong corn flavor.

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I found that if I pull the corn and rice down by 50% and replace with table sugar, that cream ale characteristic (slight corn flavor) goes away and the beer gets much crisper.

Thanks BM... good news:

Here's a report one day later - this is a great beer that anyone here devoted to experiencing a very well conceived beer needs to try.

I'm finding now, that I've lived with this flavor for a couple of days, FOR MY TASTE (and at the end of the day, what do I know versus anyone else out there? ;-) it actually isn't so much that the corn flavor is too much, but that the super crisp/clean finish is too abrupt a finish after that juicy corn midsection... I'm going to try this again but replace the rice with wheat and keep all the other ingrediants as is. My idea is to give a chewier finish/aftertaste and that will, again, for my taste, work better (that's the plan anyways).

The final word: that's my opinion. I'd brew the recipe AS IS initially and then see what your take is... it's a great base!!

BierMuncher said:

I found that if I pull the corn and rice down by 50% and replace with table sugar, that cream ale characteristic (slight corn flavor) goes away and the beer gets much crisper.

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How much table sugar do you use and how (when) do you use it?

Yambor44 said:

How much table sugar do you use and how (when) do you use it?

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I've used up to 10% sugar...taking out whatever that equaled in corn/rice.

I just toss it in to the kettle as it's filling with wort from the tun.

fastricky said:

Just tried it tonight after kegging for over a week... very good! But I might pare down the corn next time, it certainly has a strong corn flavor.

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One tsp of Amylase Enzyme (AE) will remove that corn taste completely. The enzyme will convert those corn-like starches to sugar and ferment them away. All the way down to 1.000. Makes it dry and boosts the ABV.

I have two batches like this going now and two read to drink. 3 of the 4 batches had ~33% of the grist made up from corn. The corn taste is non-existent.

1 of the 4 batches is the Three-Crop. I followed BM's recipe exactly except for the AE addition in the 2ndary.

I think the tast is right, except for the alcohol. I messed up and put in more rice and sugar than the recipe asked for. My swmbo luvs it. I can drink it fine, but it's def strong. Next time I'll keep the additional rice and leave the sugar out.

BierMuncher said:

I've used up to 10% sugar...I just toss it in to the kettle as it's filling with wort from the tun.

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FWIW, I've added small amounts of sugar to dry out extract beers before and added the sugar in the last ten or fifteen minutes of the boil.

Friday Hockey Night in the US of A! With 4 or 5 or more of these Corn beers!

fastricky said:

Friday Hockey Night in the US of A! With 4 or 5 or more of these Corn beers!

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g-damn that looks good.....

//starts heading over to brew masters warehouse to plan his next two brews, even though he's brewing one right now and has two more on deck for this weekend. One on deck is BM's porter though.

How long were you in the fermenter, and how long in the bottle?

I followed BM's recipe to the letter... I'll try it again as mentioned earlier and will cut down on the corn a little and up either the 2-row or replace the rice with wheat. A worthy beer to try as is and then see what your taste dictates...

Another pic... just wanted to get the hockey game in there (Hey, I lived in Canada for 10 years and my wife is from Toronto so I gotta get the game in there!) Pitts: 2 Det: 1