Cream ale for end of summer.

[BeerMe82]

I found a recipe in the brew masters bible (p.264) that seems easy enough and is friendly to my 2.5 gallon brew kettle restriction. Its simple and has a moderate to high ABV, however it doesn't ask for any rice. The July August issue of Brew your Own has a "weed puller Cream ale"(p.20) that calls for rice but this recipe would require a 5.9 gallon brew pot which I don't have, and I only have enough keg space for two five gallon batches at a time. So I am looking a for a good Cream ale recipe that I can make in a 2.5 gal kettle, and am wondering if rice makes any difference. Also one recipe calls for Irish moss and gelatin, and the other calls only for Irish moss.

 

[Wakadaka]

Recipes are easily scaled. for a 2.5 gallon batch from a 5 gallon batch you just divide it in half. Are you doing partial boils? I would assume so, and I don't see why you couldn't do any extract recipes. Especially for a cream ale that isn't going to need as much body as other styles.

Irish moss and gelatin are mostly just for shts and giggles IMO. They help clear up a beer, but if you don't use them its still going to taste the same. Cream ales are so light colored though, it might be good to have a perfectly clear beer. If you have them use them, or if you have the cash to blow get them and use them, or if you really want a clear beer go ahead. If you don't want to don't worry about it.

And I can't comment on how rice affects a cream ale.

 

[BeerMe82]

Im doing partials in the 3 gal pot for 5 gal batches. So thats why I shoot for 2.5 gal of wort. With the recipe from the brew-masters bible, I can simply add a bit more water to the 6 gal fermenter, and that should give me plenty of clarifying space to where I can keep things clear by leaving a bit of excess beer on the bottom while racking to the keg, which I think is why they call for 5.5 gals to begin with. The other cool thing with this recipe is that it is a partial grain brew but uses a lot of grain, so that should be fun, and tasty.

 

[BeerMe82]

I now have a 7.5 gal turkey fryer for full boils. How does this change things? Can I simply follow partial grain recipes? Or does this require modification?

 

[Malticulous]

That's not a very good book.

A cream ale should be 20-30 adjuncts. Rice solids/syrup works best of extract batches. The rest should be light extract. It can have any where from one to three hop additions but it is not a very hop forward beer.

Here is a simple example. I've brewed a lot of Cream ale (even have a ribbon from one) but never with extract.

5 lb Light LME
2 lb Rice syrup
1 oz Saaz at 60
.5 oz Saaz at 10
US-05

Should make five gallons at ~ 1.048 and 17 IBU.

Look at my Popcorn Cream in my recipe pull down.