Cream Ale Review and Input Request

[tomwhit19]

Recently brewed a cream ale on 12/6 and just looking for some input and reviews of it

4# 6 Row
3# 2 Row
1.5# Flaked Corn
1# Carapils/Dextrine
.5# Caramel30

.5oz Cascade 60min
.5oz Cascade 20min
1oz Saaz Flameout/Steep

Wyeast American Ale 1056 w/starter

Est. OG - 1.048 Measured OG - 1.044
Est. FG - 1.012
Est. ABV - 4.7

Mash 14.5 quarts H2O @ 153 degrees for 60 min
Fly Sparge @ 168 degrees to get 6.45 gal preboil ---approx 4.5 gal on sparge

Cooled to 70 degrees and transferred to fermenter, pitched yeast and aerated

Stored away for 3 days at 64 degrees, then moved to warmer room to bring up to 68-70 degrees

This is where I'm looking for some input with this, its day 9 of primary and took a gravity reading and its coming out at 1.002....seems a lot lower than it should be, should i be concerned? what could have caused this?

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

1.002 is hella dry for a cream ale, especially with that much caramalt. Calibrate your thermometer and make sure your mash temperature is accurate. Could have been lower than you think. Also check the current reading again in a few days. I'm just not sure how it would get that low without a severely low mash temp.

 

[tomwhit19]

1.002 is hella dry for a cream ale, especially with that much caramalt. Calibrate your thermometer and make sure your mash temperature is accurate. Could have been lower than you think. Also check the current reading again in a few days. I'm just not sure how it would get that low without a severely low mash temp.

pretty confident in the thermometer calibration, my setup has a built in double check with a thermometer on the kettle and then i have a handheld one to double check, but thanks for the input, i know 1.002 is low considering the est fg is 1.012 i have a pic i will post for reference

 

[tomwhit19]

View attachment 550390

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

Yep it's definitely 1.002. That's 95% attenuation. That's just insane! The only other thing I can think of is that an infection can drive down the FG that low, but if you don't taste anything off then that's probably not it either. I would check on your next batch to see if that happens again. The alcohol is higher than you anticipated but it should still be fine. Cream ales are supposed to be thirst quenching beers anyway, so it'll probably end up being great. Just a little dryer and higher ABV than you were expecting.

 

[tomwhit19]

Awesome thank you, I did try my sample from the gravity reading and for not being carbed it was pretty drinkable

 

[MapleGroveAleworks]

Yep cool. Let me know how it turns out once you have one. I honestly bet that the increased alcohol will benefit with the 0 min addition of an ounce of Saaz. It's almost a pseudo IPL/blonde ale/cream ale now with a nice spicy finish from the saaz. I bet it'll be delicious honestly. And probably go down really easy.

 

[tomwhit19]

Yep cool. Let me know how it turns out once you have one. I honestly bet that the increased alcohol will benefit with the 0 min addition of an ounce of Saaz. It's almost a pseudo IPL/blonde ale/cream ale now with a nice spicy finish from the saaz. I bet it'll be delicious honestly. And probably go down really easy.

You couldn’t have nailed it anymore dead on, smooth easy drinking with a nice spice that’s not overpowering

 

[Lefou]

A finishing gravity of 1.002?
Wow. My last hoppy blonde got down to a finish of 1.004 (carbed) from 1.010 on bottling day.
It was mashed between 145F-152F for an hour or so, exactly how you get a nice, dry style. A lower mash temp and highly diastatic light malts will do the trick.

 

[brewcat]

That's quite a bit of carapils.

Is your hydrometer calibrated? Was the reading adjusted for temperature (if necessary)?

 

[tomwhit19]

That's quite a bit of carapils.

Is your hydrometer calibrated? Was the reading adjusted for temperature (if necessary)?

Gonna knock the carapils down next time and the og was taken at 70 degrees and all readings during fermentation were 68 degrees

 

[RuffRider]

That's quite a bit of carapils.

Is your hydrometer calibrated? Was the reading adjusted for temperature (if necessary)?

I think what brewcat means by your hydrometer being calibrated is: Does it read 1.000 in 68 degree water? If it reads higher or lower, you will need to add or subtract that difference to your temperature corrected reading.

That's a great looking beer by the way! Cheers!