A little for a new recipe

[Urban_Samurai]

Hi;
I've been brewing for roughly 6 months doing 'wort-in-bag' kits (brewhouse), and a LHBS pre-packaged boil at home kit. All have turned out ok, or at least no complaints from the people I gave it to . I'm aiming for a Labatt 50 clone. I know it'll be pretty pale and have no place for off flavours to hide, if any flavours at all.

Grains:
1lb flaked maize
1lb Domestic 6-row malt

Mash:
Mash @ 155F for 60min 1gal, Sparge @ 170F 1gal

Boil:
Volume - 2gal 60min

Fermentables:
7lbs light LME

Hops schedule:
Centennial 0.5oz @45min
Centennial 0.5oz, Amarillo 0.5oz @30min
Amarillo 0.5oz @15min
Centennial 1oz, Amarillo 1oz @flameout

Final Vol:
5gal

Yeast:
Wyeast 2007 Pilsen Lager 71-75% Attenuation
(Trying for a cream ale)
temp @ 65-68F

May use secondary for clearing

estimated OG:1.066
estimated FG: 1.016

So, here are my questions;
Is there enough maize to help reduce body and color? Will it give the silky mouthfeel of corn?
Will the high fermentation temp. effect the yeast drastically?

Any insight would be helpful. Thanks in advance.

 

[chickypad]

I don't see where you list your fermentation temp but yes, if you can't ferment that yeast at the proper lager temps then it likely won't be what you want. You'd be better off with a clean ale yeast like S-05 or a kolsch yeast. S-05 would be my choice for a cream ale. Seems high on the hops and OG for that though.

 

[krackin]

I would up the 6 row by 25%. Mash at 152*. By doing that you will come in dry at that end. With that amount of extract you need the fermentables. IMHO.

 

[Urban_Samurai]

Edited OP to include fermenting temps.

Chickypad - I'm looking for an authentic cream ale, and my understanding was this was done fermenting lager yeasts at ale temps (correct me if I'm wrong) and unfortunately the LBHS did not have the wyeast california 2112 I wanted so I got this. I guess I could hold on to the yeast for another batch.
And yes the hops and OG are a touch high, but I'm not sure where to reduce to not lose flavour and stay in the appropriate range.

Krackin - would you suggest reducing the LME?

 

[chickypad]

It sounds like you're describing a California common, or steam beer. California lager yeast can be fermented warmer than most lagers (i.e. at low range ale temps) without the off flavors you would get with other lager yeasts. Cream ale is typically brewed with a clean ale yeast and designed to mimic an American lager. I think they can be brewed with a lager yeast but I wouldn't do it that warm even with the cali lager yeast let alone the Pils yeast.

 

[Urban_Samurai]

Well I guess it's a trip back to LHBS for me . So now I'm looking for a clean finishing ale yeast...

 

[chickypad]

That's what I would do unless you can get the ferment temps down under 55 or so for the WY2007. You'd also need a pretty big starter for a 1.066 lager. A packet of S-05 would be a cheap and easy alternative.

 

[Urban_Samurai]

how large of a starter? 1L? 2L? would reducing the LME be helpful?

 

[chickypad]

I use yeastcalc. I don't know how fresh your pack is but it looks like probably around a 3L starter with a stir plate, much larger without one. Reducing the gravity will require less yeast if that's what you're asking.

 

[Urban_Samurai]

Wonderful! thanks for all the help, I'll let you know how things turned out.

 

[Urban_Samurai]

So this is the recipe i went with...

6.3# light LME
1# 6-row malt mashed @150F for 60min in 2L water
12 oz. flaked maize mashed @ 150F for 60min 2L water
Sparge with 2L 170F water

Boil 60min
Centennial 0.25 oz. @45min
Centennial 0.5 oz. @30min
Amarillo 0.25 oz. @30min
Amarillo 0.25 oz. @15min
Centennial 0.5 oz. @flameout
Amarillo 0.5 oz. @flameout

chilled to 22C before pitching

Yeast Wyeast 2565 (Kolsch)
two 2L starters 1.036 SG
estimated cell count 240 billion

ambiant temp has been 16C for 4wks

OG - 1.046
IBU - 35 (brewtoad)

Krausen stayed on top for 3wks plus, looks and smells great.

I do have a question tho.... Will this beer clear while sitting on the yeast cake? Because the Kolsch yeast is a low flocculating one and will take time to clear without filtration, but do i need to transfer to a secondary?

 

[jCOSbrew]

IMO you never need to secondary unless you are bulk aging for multiple months. Keep it in the primary, less risk of infection, etc.

If you want clear beer, cold crash for a week before you bottle to reduce the sediment. If you can't cold crash, don't worry about it. The sediment (and yeast) will settle to the bottom of the bottle or keg.

On future batches try increasing your boils size closer to a full volume boil and reducing top off water to improve your beer.

 

[Urban_Samurai]

So left it in primary, tried to cold crash but it didn't work well the brew has bottle conditioned now for the three weeks and I had a taster a few days back. I must say it tastes good, a little hazy but that was to be expected with the botched cold crash. The bittering hops are a little more forward than I'd have liked but oh well something to change for the next time round. I would like to say thank you for all the help I recieved on this recipe.

 

[Gcc_mtl]

Id like to work on a Labatt 50 clone this summer.
Any advise on modifying your recipe to achieve a more accurate clone, other than the bittering hops part?

 

[Urban_Samurai]

Honestly, not really the major remark from a few hardcore 50 drinkers is that the bitter was too much. I'd suggest using more flavour hops with less bitter to stay near the same IBUs.