Cream Ale Glendale Cream Ale (AG)

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jwalker1140

Well-Known Member
Joined
Sep 26, 2011
Messages
593
Reaction score
68
Location
Glendale
Recipe Type
All Grain
Yeast
Wyeast 1272
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.049
Final Gravity
1.011
Boiling Time (Minutes)
60
IBU
15.1
Color
4.1
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
10 days at 67 F
Additional Fermentation
2 days at 40 F
Tasting Notes
An ale designed to appeal the the BMC crowd
Profile:
OG: 1.049
FG: 1.011
IBU: 15.1 (Rager)
SRM: 4.1
ABV: 5.0%

Recipe:
6.0 lbs 2-row
2.0 lbs Flaked Corn
4.0 oz Victory Malt
4.0 oz White Wheat Malt
0.6 oz Willamette (4.6%) at 60 min
0.4 oz Willamette (4.6%) at 2 min
American Ale II (Wyeast #1272)

78% efficiency
Mash at 150 for 60 min
Ferment for 10 days at 67 F
Crash for 2 days at 40 F
Fine with gelatin while racking to the keg

Other Brewing Notes:
I added 0.5 tsp Wyeast Yeast Nutrient at 10 min to keep my repitched yeast happy, and 0.5 Whirlfloc Tablet at 5 min. I used 5 gal RO water and 2.38 gal tap. I added 3g calcium chloride to the total volume and 3.2ml lactic acid to the mash to bring the mash pH down to ~5.4 (room temp). I batch sparge and usually hit my final volume within +/- 1 cup but with this recipe I end up with an extra 0.5 gallons so you may want to adjust accordingly if you batch sparge.

I've been trying to nail down a nice cream ale off-and-on for several years. All of my earlier attempts, especially those with rice, seemed too watery or just lacked flavor. This one checks all the boxes for me: nice head and color, grainy/soft corn character, and very drinkable. This is usually what I brew when I want something like a BMC on tap but don't want to mess with a lager.

This is the first recipe I've posted on HBT. Hope someone enjoys it.:mug:
nP4yZ7.jpg
 
That is a nice looking beverage!! Nice work.
Thanks! It took me more attempts than it probably should have but I'm finally happy with this version. It was the first time I wasn't constantly thinking about what needed to be tweaked as I was drinking it.

Kind of reminds me of the Little Kings we used to sneak back in high school. But that was decades ago so I could be way off base on that.
 
Looks good! I assume you could sub any hops you wanted in this recipe. Such as Crystal or liberty. I make the cream of three crops all the time , only thing i need to do is knock down the corn from 2 lbs to just under 1 lbs.
 
I'm sure any type of noble hop like crystal or liberty would be great. At 15 IBUs you're really not picking up much hop character, but still, I'd probably avoid any of the 'C' American hops.

And yeah, 2 lbs of corn looks kind of scary, right? For me, that was the hardest thing to dial in because that's exactly what I would have thought going in. I started with something like 0.75 lbs each of rice and corn but I was disappointed with the lack of character/flavor. I eventually dropped the rice entirely and started increasing the corn until I ended up at 2 lbs. This was over the course of 6-7 batches.

Maybe my palate has been damaged from drinking too many cheap beers from the Midwest when I was younger, but this recipe doesn't taste as corny as you might think (plenty of commercial beers use a larger portion than this). But if it freaks you out, I'd suggest dropping the corn to .75 lbs (replacing the other 1.25 lbs with 2-row) and on future batches gradually sub the corn back in until you think it tastes 'old timey macrobrew' enough. I can see how .75 lbs might be perfect for a lot of people, and it certainly would be a nice beer that way, just a little different than what I was aiming for.
:mug:
 
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