Sugar, suGar, or sugaR???

[sahuaro]

I played around with 4 different Cream ale recipes and came up with this:

2lb8oz Am. 6-row
2lb8oz DME x-lite
1lb flaked maize
8oz honey malt
1lb cane sugar
.5oz n.brewer@60
.25oz goldings@35
.25oz. cascade@15
3 sliced habenero's@30
1tsp Irish Moss

I'm pretty happy with the overall recipe, except the cane sugar. I'm thinking should I use turbinado, honey, belgian candy, or just plain old table.

Any and all thoughts will be appreciated not just on the sugar, but the recipe as a whole. I'm thinking of calling it my "Creamated Ale".

 

[Oldsock]

It depends on what you want. If you wanted to brew a "classic" cream ale either sucrose (table sugar or clear belgian candi sugar) or glucose (corn sugar) would be the right choice, they lighten the beer without adding any flavor of their own. In this case though I could see an unrefined sugar or honey complimenting the peppers.

 

[thebeerbeat]

Honey and habaneros? Do you have a name for this beer? Definitely sounds interesting.

 

[DanielClouser]

I would add the peppers at the end of the boil. The fire-y capsaicin will survive the boil, but the subtle fruit that really distinguishes the habanero's flavor from that of its chile brethren is more delicate.

+1 on the honey, though. Which you would also need to add at the end of the boil.

 

[Freezeblade]

I'll have to disagree with adding the honey to the boil, as any amount of time in water over 170 or so will kill your delicate honey aromas. Instead, add the honey in at high krausen, about 2-3rd day of fermentation.

 

[sahuaro]

I love the idea of being able to add the honey at 2-3rd day of fermetation as Freeze suggests, which will allow better retention of honey aromas. But from everything I've read you need to add honey during boil in order to kill any wayward bacteria that may still exist in the honey.

Any ideas on how to do this and still sterilize the honey. I'm using orange blossom honey from local honey farm?

 

[SpaceInvadingMonkeys]

Grade A honey doesn't need sterilization. Moisture content in grade A and B honey is too low for anything to actually grow in there. Look in the honey, see any crystals? No, it is fine. :-D
Do you think us mead-makers sterilize our honey? The most I do is heat up water to like ~160F or so adn then add the honey; but I most do it because it makes it so much easier to handle...
Adding honey at the end of your boil or when the wort has cooled down some won't kill off too much honey aroma I think...

 

[Freezeblade]

As the previous poster mentioned, nothing can really grow in honey. I make all my meads without heating the honey, and have added honey on the 2nd or 3rd day of fermentation plenty of times without a single ill effect yet. I've even done it with raw, unpasteurized honey, never had any issues.

 

[Oldsock]

While nothing can grow in honey that certainly does not mean that there isn’t anything alive in it (which is why you are never supposed to feed raw honey to a baby). Raw honey in mead is generally safe because of the extremely high alcohol. I think there is some risk of introducing spoilage microbes when adding raw honey to a beer, that said (much like dry hopping) it is rarely if ever enough to cause a problem.

 

[Edcculus]

WEll, you could pasteurize. You probably want to dissolve it in water anyway, or it will just sink to the bottom of the fermenter.

 

[Revvy]

WHy do you need the sugar anyway? I can't recall any cream ale recipes on here that has any added...I know mine doesn't.

Are you just trying to boost the abv? The maize is for the creaminess...But I don't see the purpose of the sugar one bit. If you want to raise the abv bump the dme...if you want to thin it some more but not dry it out, and still make it creamy, double the maize...I usually use a pound in my cream ales.

If you are looking for a sweeter taste, then use lactose instead of the sugar, it won't ferment out...but I don't think the sugar really serves a purpose in this recipe.

Everything else looks interesting.

 

[Saccharomyces]

I use 10% flaked rice in my cream ale instead of sugar but I don't have a problem with sugar as long as it's kept around 10% of the fermentables. I use 10% table sugar in my Tejas Wit to get it to attenuate for a dry finish and it works great.

 

[remilard]

While nothing can grow in honey that certainly does not mean that there isn’t anything alive in it (which is why you are never supposed to feed raw honey to a baby). Raw honey in mead is generally safe because of the extremely high alcohol. I think there is some risk of introducing spoilage microbes when adding raw honey to a beer, that said (much like dry hopping) it is rarely if ever enough to cause a problem.

C. Botulinum doesn't grow in beer either, so just don't feed the beer to a baby.

 

[remilard]

Sugar is pretty common in cream ales, both commercial and from what I can tell popular homebrew recipes (Denny Conn's and Jamil's both use sugar IIRC).

The BJCP guidelines say:

Ingredients: American ingredients most commonly used. A grain bill of six-row malt, or a combination of six-row and North American two-row, is common. Adjuncts can include up to 20% flaked maize in the mash, and up to 20% glucose or other sugars in the boil. Soft water preferred. Any variety of hops can be used for bittering and finishing.

Not required but certainly not out of place or uncommon.

 

[sahuaro]

Well I went with the orange blossom honey at 5min, hoping to retain some flavor and avoid and possible contamination.

The thing is i love beer and i love "heat" in most everything so this seemed like a match made in heaven. I tasted some of it from my overflowing airlock this morning (had to put on a blowoff tube) and "wow" the heat is there, but just enough for me.

The next five to six weeks is the part that kills me, but patience is a thing I've come to have a love/hate relationship with since I started homebrewing.

And to Revvy, yes the sugar was all about the ABV boost. I haven't come to understand the purpose of a low gravity beer yet. Give me a year or two, then we'll see.

And thanks everyone for input:rockin: