Cream Ale Popcorn Cream

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Malticulous

Desert Gecko
HBT Supporter
Joined
Aug 27, 2008
Messages
4,254
Reaction score
218
Location
St. George Utah
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
US-05
Additional Yeast or Yeast Starter
T-58 at bottling
Batch Size (Gallons)
5.5
Original Gravity
1.047
Final Gravity
1.009
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
20
Color
3
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
Until it\'s at FG
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
Until it\'s clear
Additional Fermentation
My belly
Tasting Notes
A great summer thirst quencher.
7 lbs American 2-row Pale (2 SRM)
1 lb 12 oz POPCORN, (Yellow or white, hot air popped. After 2lbs popped and old maids removed.)
Mashed at 149F for 90 minutes

1 oz Willamette (4.5% AA) at 60 minutes
.5 oz Sterling (7% AA) at 10 minutes

US-05 rehydrated and then pitched at 59F. Temperature raised one degree per day until finished.

Two or three days after FG is reached raise the temperature to over 70F for a day or two.

Crash to under 40F in secondary (you could keg now.) When the beer is cold add two grams of Gelatin. (Put gelatin in small sauce pan with 1/2 cup water. Put on heat and stir it until it threatens to boil than add it to the top of the fermenter.) Let it sit until it is has cleared two to three days latter.

Bottle or keg. Carbonate to 2.7 volumes. (If bottling sprinkle 1 gram of dry yeast into the bottling bucket as the green beer racks. Stir it in well. Keep it at 75F for a week then it should be ready to be chilled and served.)

This recipe can be changed up quite a bit. About any bittering hop can be used. Sterling and Saaz are my favorite finnishing hops with it but any noble-ish hop would be great (Liberty comes to mind.) You can add corn starch in place of some two-row to dry the beer out more and make it even more BMC-ish (and possibly loose the finnishing hops to lower the bitternes even further.) I also really like to make the base a blend of Pilsner and six-row.

P1020138.jpg

creamale.png

This pic was taken just over two weeks after it was brewed and about five days after it was bottled.
 
I'd describe it as Miller High Life like (but well hopped) with just a touch of toasted flavor to it. It come out just like the BJCP guidelines read, "faint malt notes. A sweet, corn-like aroma...neither hops nor malt dominate."
 
I've made similar recipes with hominy grits and corn meal before, both as ales and lagers. I made another one today with polenta. Someday I'll have to try flaked corn.
 
Just when I think I've seen it all...somebody proves me wrong! Did the popcorn continue to float like that, or did it eventually get saturated and melt into the mash? I wonder how the results differ from simply using flaked corn.

In any case, very interesting and creative. There are a couple guys in my club who would go crazy for this, they are always experimenting with household ingredients: breakfast cereal, matzoh, etc.
 
The corn sinks in as is soaks up watter. In the pic there was what was left from two 2 lb bags of popping corn, one yellow and the other white. It took up about 10 gallons of space after popping and smashing it into buckets. It lauters faster than all malt mashes do.

doughin.jpg
 
I've brewed up similar beers now with rice and corn off the cob (with cereal mash) and still I'd say popped corn is the best. Sometime soon I'll try flaked maize in a CAP.
 
I entered this in the HBT comp. This batch scored 37 and took third pace in the west. It advanced to the BOS round.

This was a 4.25 gallon batch, 1.050 OG, 1.012 FG and 19 IBU

2.5 lbs Six-Row
2.5 lbs Belgian Pils
1.5 lbs Popcorn

.25 oz Magnum at 60 (90 minute boil)
.5 oz Liberty at 5

I used K-97. I really don't like it much. K-97 added more character than when I've used it before. Some people think it's Belgiany. With a cleaner yeast it probably would have scored better.
 
I'm making a "Classic American Pilsner" with 2 lb of un-popped popcorn. Do you have any thoughts on absorbtion rates? Is this going to absorb more than a regular grainbill? I did a quick test with about 3.5 ounces of popcorn and it turned out to hold about 87.5% of the liquid... so I am concerned that I'll need a little more than my typical 1.5 qt per pound ratio of water to grain.
 
Didn't know anyone else was using popcorn. Sun King here in Indy has been making a Popcorn Pilsner for 3 summers. It took home a silver at last years GABF. Using popcorn in a beer is definitely on my list of priorities. This recipe looks really good.
 
I'm making a "Classic American Pilsner" with 2 lb of un-popped popcorn. Do you have any thoughts on absorbtion rates? Is this going to absorb more than a regular grainbill? I did a quick test with about 3.5 ounces of popcorn and it turned out to hold about 87.5% of the liquid... so I am concerned that I'll need a little more than my typical 1.5 qt per pound ratio of water to grain.

I have not really noticed a difference in grain absorption. Popped corn, corn meal or base malt all seem to be close enough for my calculations. Popped corn dosen't get sticky like wheat or rye. I can loose some runnoff to those types of adjuncts but not corn.
 
Maybe I'll just give it a go and try my normal amounts and make it up in the sparge if needed. It sounds like you're happy with it and the pictures seem to suggest that it'll absorb a normal amount of water so I'll leave my worries, relax and have a homebrew.
 
This looks really interesting. I am going to brew this today but I am going to use washed S-04 and NB hops (as that is all I have on hand today). I was also thinking of adding a pound of biscuit malt (as I am addicted to it) for a bit more character. I will post the results if I don't bugger it up.
 
This looks really interesting. I am going to brew this today but I am going to use washed S-04 and NB hops (as that is all I have on hand today). I was also thinking of adding a pound of biscuit malt (as I am addicted to it) for a bit more character. I will post the results if I don't bugger it up.

Did you ever try this with the biscuit malt? I was looking to use this exact recipe plus some biscuit for an even more grainy/toasted grain flavor. I love the corny/grainy approach in this style. Maybe even purposely get some dms into it?
 
Did you ever try this with the biscuit malt? I was looking to use this exact recipe plus some biscuit for an even more grainy/toasted grain flavor. I love the corny/grainy approach in this style. Maybe even purposely get some dms into it?

It's funny you bring this up. I did in fact brew this with biscuit malt and it turned out really nice - I love the profile that biscuit brings. I brought a growler of it to a local brew pub for the brewmaster to try and he thought it was good as well. He had a chuckle at the use of popcorn in the mash. He was saying how neat it would be to do it on a commercial scale but how in the world would you be able to get popped pop corn on that scale?
I am going to brew it again with the same malt bill but this time I am going to use Saaz for flavour and aroma.
I was also wondering about trying to bring out a hint of diacetyl for this. Buttered popcorn! hmm. Maybe not.
 
It's funny you bring this up. I did in fact brew this with biscuit malt and it turned out really nice - I love the profile that biscuit brings. I brought a growler of it to a local brew pub for the brewmaster to try and he thought it was good as well. He had a chuckle at the use of popcorn in the mash. He was saying how neat it would be to do it on a commercial scale but how in the world would you be able to get popped pop corn on that scale?
I am going to brew it again with the same malt bill but this time I am going to use Saaz for flavour and aroma.
I was also wondering about trying to bring out a hint of diacetyl for this. Buttered popcorn! hmm. Maybe not.

Haha I like the story with the brew pub. I love the spice that saaz gives my cream ales around 16 ibu. Here is what I am looking at for my cream ale. My approach is a cream ale that has a decent crisp mouthfeel with some creaminess to it. Very high carbonation of course. Flavor will be dry with a nice grainy wheat-like base and a very subtle dms flavor (the "corniness"". Here is the recipe I am looking at. Give me your thoughts if you would since we seem to think quite a bit alike.

FOR 5.5 GALLON BATCH:
-6 ROW 4 LBS (36%)
-GERMAN PILS MALT 3 LBS (27%)
-POPCORN 2 LBS (18%)
-FLAKED OATS 1 LB (9%)
-BISCUIT MALT (9%)

1.049 ORIGINAL GRAVITY

SAAZ HOPS AT 16 IBU
30 MIN BOIL

SAFALE 04 DRY YEAST
 
Haha I like the story with the brew pub. I love the spice that saaz gives my cream ales around 16 ibu. Here is what I am looking at for my cream ale. My approach is a cream ale that has a decent crisp mouthfeel with some creaminess to it. Very high carbonation of course. Flavor will be dry with a nice grainy wheat-like base and a very subtle dms flavor (the "corniness"". Here is the recipe I am looking at. Give me your thoughts if you would since we seem to think quite a bit alike.

FOR 5.5 GALLON BATCH:
-6 ROW 4 LBS (36%)
-GERMAN PILS MALT 3 LBS (27%)
-POPCORN 2 LBS (18%)
-FLAKED OATS 1 LB (9%)
-BISCUIT MALT (9%)

1.049 ORIGINAL GRAVITY

SAAZ HOPS AT 16 IBU
30 MIN BOIL

SAFALE 04 DRY YEAST


nice! I love the addition of the pils in there. You should be able to turn it around pretty quick too. I think I may give this recipe a shot as well as I have a BBQ coming up....
 
nice! I love the addition of the pils in there. You should be able to turn it around pretty quick too. I think I may give this recipe a shot as well as I have a BBQ coming up....

I am looking for the pils to give me some nice grainy flavor. I just hope I don't get "too grainy" with both biscuit and pils. Six row seems pretty mellow to me. Alot similar to 2 row really. Hopefully the 30 min boil gives me a slight dms taste. May turn it into a 40 or 45.
 
I brewed another variation of this beer last weekend. I will probably keg it on Thursday or Friday:
HOME BREW RECIPE:

Brew Method: All Grain
Style Name: Cream Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5.3 gallons (fermentor volume)
Boil Size: 7.7 gallons
Boil Gravity: 1.033
Efficiency: 66% (brew house)

STATS:
Original Gravity: 1.049
Final Gravity: 1.008
ABV (standard): 5.31%
IBU (tinseth): 17.2
SRM (morey): 5.86

FERMENTABLES:
7.5 lb - Canadian - Pale 2-Row (69%)
1 lb - American - Vienna (9.2%)
1 lb - Hot Air Popped Corn (9.2%)
1 lb - American - Caramel / Crystal 20L (9.2%)
6 oz - German - Acidulated Malt (3.4%)

HOPS:
1 oz - Saaz, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.5, Use: Boil for 60 min, IBU: 14.56
0.5 oz - Saaz, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.5, Use: Boil for 10 min, IBU: 2.64
0.5 oz - Saaz, Type: Pellet, AA: 3.5, Use: Boil for 0 min

MASH GUIDELINES:
1) Infusion, Temp: 150 F, Time: 60 min, Amount: 15 qt, single
2) Sparge, Temp: 170 F, Time: 10 min, Up to boil volume of 8G
Starting Mash Thickness: 1.35 qt/lb

OTHER INGREDIENTS:
0.5 tsp - Irish moss, Time: 15 min, Type: Fining, Use: Boil

YEAST:
Fermentis / Safale - American Ale Yeast US-05
Starter: No
Form: Dry
Attenuation (avg): 81%
Flocculation: Medium
Optimum Temp: 54 - 77 F
Fermentation Temp: 64 F
Pitch Rate: 0.35 (M cells / ml / deg P)

TARGET WATER PROFILE:
Profile Name: Light colored and hoppy
Ca2: 75
Mg2: 5
Na: 10
Cl: 50
SO4: 150
HCO3: 0
Water Notes: Added Gypsum and 3.4% acidulated malt to bring the mash PH to the target of 5.4


Generated by Brewer's Friend - http://www.brewersfriend.com/
Date: 2015-06-15 04:25 UTC
Recipe Last Updated: 2015-06-07 19:25 UTC
 
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