First Cream Ale

[ndrwtcm]

I'm planning on making my first cream ale, and after reading some of the well reviewed recipes and seeing what I had on hand I was planning on the following:

8 lbs of pale malt
2 lbs of flaked corn
0.5 oz warrior at 60min
1 oz monroe at flameout (I have this from a Yakima Valley starter kit and berry/citrus sounds nice)
Ferment with Nottingham
With all my equipment setup info, this puts me around 26ibu, 5.3% gravity hopefully.

Any input/constructive feedback? I know this will be on the fruitier side and maybe straddle the line with straight up pale ale, but I think it should work. I'd love to emulate my favorite cream ale (Cake Walk by Right Brain in Traverse City) but I can't quite come up with a way to make it that creamy. I'm guessing there's some lactose involved, but I'll have to play with it sometime.

Thank you,

 

[Snark_Wolf_Brewing]

26 IBUs is out of the bitterness range for cream ale according to the BJCP style guidelines, but if that's what you're aiming for, go for it! According to what little bit I can find on Cake Walk, they use Madagascar vanilla beans, and the corn used in the mash is what gives it that creamy mouthfeel.

 

[kevin58]

26 is not that far out of range. The top end is 20 IBU. I wouldn't worry about it. Brew it as is.