Christmas Cream Ale Adaptation

[msmylie]

Ok, we got the northern brewer cream ale kit but wanted something with more body and kick. So here is what the complete recipe is thats boiling away right now.

The following were mashed/steeped for 20 min:
.75 lb Gambrinus Honey Malt
.25 lbs Dingemans Biscuit
1.0 lbs Flaked Oats

Added to the boil was:
6 lbs Pilsen malt syrup
28.5 oz Briess DME Golden Light

90 minutes: 1 oz cluster pellet hops
90 minutes: .5 oz liberty pellet hops
15 minutes: .5 oz liberty pellet hops

Pitch: Safale US-05

Going to ferment at room temp for 2 weeks and bottle afterwards.

Changes we made to this recipe:
We added the extra 28.5 oz of DME, 1/2 oz of Liberty for the whole boil and 1/2 oz of Liberty for the last fifteen minutes for aroma and flavor. Also added the pound of flaked oats to the sack that steeped in hopes of more body and head retention.

So, any thoughts on this brew? Has anyone tried anything similar? Is this the right thread to post this? Any thoughts will be appreciated. Merry Christmas Brewers!
mfs & trm

 

[PT Ray]

You've got 2 lbs of grain that really should have been mashed with a base malt so you don't end up adding a bunch of starch. You'll find recipes that steep flaked oats, Biscuit or Honey but it's usually a conservative amount. Such as 1 lb or less. The additional hops and DME looks fine.

Why the cream ale kit if you wanted something bigger?

 

[msa8967]

Any advantage to doing a 90 min boil with the hops versus a 60 min boil?

 

[msmylie]

the kit came with a pound of specialty grains that instructed us to steep prior to the boil. we thought this would be a good time to steep the flaked oats as well. I think the whole point of that was to add flavor and color as well as residual sweetness? we went with the cream ale kit since it seemed like an easy one to experiment with. I'm confused though about the oats...if you are looking for head retention, body and flavor from it...does it need to be mashed with 2 row or 6 row? I figured that the steeping part of this recipe was not meant to contribute to the alcohol content of the wort but rather flavor. In regards to the starch in the beer from the oats, would it help to rack into secondary with the addition of a fining agent like gelatin? would that help to clear some of the starch out of the beer? if so, how much would be beneficial to add?

We went with a 90 minute boil to contribute more of a caramelized flavor to the finished beer. The 1/2 ounce of Liberty hops were added during the last 15 minutes for flavor/aroma.

thanks for the advice,

mfs

 

[msmylie]

just an update...

had the beer with a blowoff tube in a better bottle but when I checked on it two days later it had pushed the tube completely off the cork. I hope that doesn't lead to any type of infection! The beer was very foamy when I checked on it but it has gone way down now and is slowly chugging along. Forgot to take gravity reading on brew day, but saved enough wort prepitch that has been in my fridge since. Can I still use that to determine original gravity?

Back to the flaked oats issue, what is the ideal scenario if you are an extract brewer and want to utilize oats for body, head retention and increased fermentables? Should the oats be mashed with some DME or LME? Or since I am just using a grain sack should it be mixed with some crushed grains that have to be mashed?

Thanks again,
MFS

 

[PT Ray]

I don't see why wort sample in the fridge shouldn't still provide an accurate O.G.

It's accepted to steep oats in modest quantities. What's a modest amount? Depends on who you ask. Ideally oats need to be mashed with a base malt. If you use 6-row you'll need about 40% by weight, 60% for 2-row.

For a pound of oats you'll need to add 2/3# of 6-row or 1.5# of 2-row. Use about 2 quarts of water per pound of grain/oats and hold for an hour at 150-155 degrees.

 

[msmylie]

just got done bottling this batch. final grav was 1.0125 giving us abv of 6.1%. not sure what to call this beer. the surprising thing about this brew is that it has a fruity smell to it, almost like a fruit roll up or fruit stripe gum. Used Safale-05 for the ferment...has anyone had fruit smells like that? probably fermented around 70 degrees. brewed on dec. 24th and had it in the primary the entire time until today-1/19/11. first sample was very hoppy but now just in the background. excited to drink this one. probably the best brew we've had in a while here. wondering if the co2 will scrub out some of the fruityness in the bottle or if it will be more pronounced. will update later.
mfs

 

[msmylie]

A lot of people enjoyed this brew but I'm not sure what style it fits into. Anyone know what this can be called? Seems to be similar to a rich pale ale like redhook esb.
Mfs

 

[PT Ray]

I would say a Blonde Ale.

I don't see anything in the recipe to explain the fruit. If anything it takes some trial and error to get a clean crisp brew. Personally I'm never happy with the fermentation I get with the initial pitch of dry yeast. It's not until I use some of that slurry for the next batch that I start to get the results I'm happy with.

 

[msmylie]

since I went with a90 minute boil the brew has a lot of color to it. I'd almost say this is an amber ale but not quite.