Cream Ale Cream of Three Crops (Cream Ale)

[PCABrewing]

This sounds like a good one, I added it to my "To-Brew" list.

 

[rtstrider]

100 pages! I’ll admit to not reading through all 100 pages. For those making water chem adjustments, what kind of profile are you adjusting to for this beer? Calcium, Chloride, and Sulfate specifically? Thanks

I used the American light lager profile from Bruin Water

 

[Corn Cracker]

I can see this benefiting from the 90 min mash to help dry it out, but what is the reason (if any) for the 90 min boil?

Trying to cut down my brew time so I don't have to hear SWMBO ask "are you don't yet?" every 15 min.

Mine does the same

 

[balrog]

100 pages! I’ll admit to not reading through all 100 pages. For those making water chem adjustments, what kind of profile are you adjusting to for this beer? Calcium, Chloride, and Sulfate specifically? Thanks

You want low minerality, maybe 40 Ca and little else if you can do it. I've done almost 10:10:10 and 50:50:50 but due to other alterations cannot say there wass a tremendous difference between the two other than the amount of balancing phosphoric needed to get 5.3pH.

 

[rtstrider]

Currently sparging and rebrewing this with wlp840. Really eager to see how this turns out

 

[Brooothru]

Currently sparging and rebrewing this with wlp840. Really eager to see how this turns out

Pls post results.

 

[rtstrider]

Pls post results.

Kegged this up today at room temp. This was already significantly cleaner and much more palatable than the us-05 version. I always have issues with us-05 and adjuncts. Will be fining with gelatin in 48 hours or so and letting sit for another 2 weeks to carb up. Really looking forward to tasting the finished product!

WLP080 would be a fine choice here as well. I would not recommend us-05 in good faith with this recipe

 

[matt_m]

The batch of this I made 2 weeks ago has been cold crashed and carbonating for the last 2 days so I just poured a pint right off the fermenter...man I can't wait to be drinking this out on the patio.

 

[spittiz]

Brewing this tomorrow, made one batch last summer, and looking back at my Brewfather log it's honestly one of the best beers I've made. So clean, simple and refreshing. Patio beer indeed. I used 50Ca 50Cl 40SO4 (RO water) last time, with US-05 yeast (controlled 20C fermentation).

 

[rtstrider]

Finished product with wlp840. Worlds cleaner than us-05 and no comparison! Will be giving wlp940 a shot next batch. Either way this is now officially of darn good beer on my palate!

 

[rtstrider]

It’s been a few days and it’s tasting even better! The clarity is something else! I bet wlp080 fermented around 65f would pair EXTREMELY well with this brew. Next brew is this same recipe with Charlie’s Fist Bump yeast fermented in the low 50s. Going to try wlp940 after that. I absolutely love this grain/hop bill! It’s just finding the right yeast to pair with this. Will keep this thread updated as I run through more iterations of this recipe.

 

[Pyg]

Cream Ale Recipe
Batch Size: 11.50 gal
Boil Size: 14.26 gal
Estimated OG: 1.040 SG
Estimated Color: 2.9 SRM
Estimated IBU: 14.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 75.0 %
Boil Time: 90 Minutes

Ingredients:
------------
12.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM)
4.00 lb Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM)
1.00 lb Minute Rice (1.0 SRM)

1.00 oz Willamette [5.20%] (60 min)
1.00 oz Crystal [3.50%] (60 min)

I am brewing this today, but had to cut in half.
Would it be too hoppy if I kept the 1oz of williamette and crystal at 60 mins?

Or could I do 1/2 Oz @60 and then use the other half for late addition hop?

 

[Beekeeper]

I am brewing this today, but had to cut in half.
Would it be too hoppy if I kept the 1oz of williamette and crystal at 60 mins?

Or could I do 1/2 Oz @60 and then use the other half for late addition hop?

I, too, am cooking up this recipe today.
If you don't 1/2 scale the hops then the IBU will 28 instead of 14
1/2 ounce of each at 60 should closely match the original recipe, without any further additions.

I am substituting Tettnang.

 

[Pyg]

I, too, am cooking up this recipe today.
If you don't 1/2 scale the hops then the IBU will 27 instead of 12.88
1/2 ounce of each at 60 should closely match the original recipe, without any further additions.

I am substituting Tettnang.

I don’t mind a little higher IBUs.
My last batch was a 5gallon cream ale with 1 Oz of williamette at 60 and 1 Oz Saaz at 20.

I am going to do 1/2 Williamette/crystal at 60
Then move the other half of crystal to 20.
See how that works.

 

[NitrogenWidget]

giving this another try this week with less corn.
there was an after taste i just did not like and i'm pretty sure it was the corn.

 

[rtstrider]

Wanted to report back. I tried the batch again last night and have found a fix for the acetylaldehyde issues. I used Charlie's Fist Bump for this batch and even that threw some acetylaldehyde after three weeks in primary. I'm thinking there's something about the minute rice or quick grits that may be the culprit. This time I crushed up a campden tablet and racked the beer directly onto that in secondary and that did the trick! This batch is clean and my favorite so far! So if anyone else runs into acetylaldehyde issues it seems one crushed campden tablet at room temp cures it. Hoping a keg kicks this week so this can get to carbonating!

 

[msa8967]

Wanted to report back. I tried the batch again last night and have found a fix for the acetylaldehyde issues. I used Charlie's Fist Bump for this batch and even that threw some acetylaldehyde after three weeks in primary. I'm thinking there's something about the minute rice or quick grits that may be the culprit. This time I crushed up a campden tablet and racked the beer directly onto that in secondary and that did the trick! This batch is clean and my favorite so far! So if anyone else runs into acetylaldehyde issues it seems one crushed campden tablet at room temp cures it. Hoping a keg kicks this week so this can get to carbonating!

Do you happen to know which page Charlie's Fist Bump is located on?

 

[msa8967]

Do you happen to know which page Charlie's Fist Bump is located on? I have not made this in years but would love to try this again if the acetylaldehyde taste can be removed.

 

[kaffeenjunkie]

Do you happen to know which page Charlie's Fist Bump is located on? I have not made this in years but would love to try this again if the acetylaldehyde taste can be removed.

I found two references in a search

Off flavor- I want it​

Try WLP840. It is supposedly the Budweiser strain. Alternatively, WLP1983. Charlie's Fist Bump Yeast. That started as yeast taken from a Bud keg many years ago.

• Wayne1
• Post #2
• Oct 18, 2019
• Forum: General Homebrew Discussion

Cry Havoc has now been rebranded as Charlie's Fist Bump WLP1983, here's Papazian and Chris White talking about it: CBB Exclusive: The story behind Charlie Papazian's Fist Bump Yeast, now available via White Labsfist-bump-yeast-now-available-via-white-labs/

I hadn't brewed this one in a couple years, I have a batch in the fermenter right now.
1oz of Crystal and 1/2oz of Willamette at 60 mins
1/2 of Willamette at 5 mins. According to BS it puts the IBUs at 21.
3rd generation of Imperial Flagship yeast.
Bubbling along merrily at 62° I will rase it up to 70° tomorrow.
I used flaked corn and rice from the LHBS. It was there, I was there.

 

[rtstrider]

Kegged this batch up Saturday morning. Fined with gelatin yesterday. Also shook up the keg at serving pressure until it quit bubbling. Want this batch ready for the 4th. This was nice and clean going into the keg Crushing a whole campden tablet and tossing in secondary first, then rack on top of it and cover the carboy neck with foil instead of an air lock will be my go to going forward. This was really clean going into the keg

Now I'm torn on what yeast to use next batch since this one turned out so well! May just break down and use wlp940. Either way this is a regular staple in this house hold.

 

[rtstrider]

Rebrewed this Saturday on the brewzilla. Incorporated a protein rest to see if that will help knock out the consistent acetylaldehyde issues I've been having with this recipe. Pitched wlp080 less than 48 hours ago and the krausen dropped around the morning of day 2. This is still actively fermenting and reeks of egg farts lol Ferment temp is 65F. Wlp940 is still in the plans but I wanted to see what the Cream ale yeast brought to the table. I bet wlp029 would work extremely well in this recipe!

 

[bwible]

I think I posted this before but I’m a fan of 1056. The closest I ever came to winning a best of show was with a cream ale fermented with 1056. One judge’s comment was “somebody put Gennessee in a homebrew bottle.” My beer was 1 of the final 2 left in the best of show round.

 

[lapolvora]

Does anyone has been able to successfully convert to 5 gallon extract recipe?

 

[balrog]

Does anyone has been able to successfully convert to 5 gallon extract recipe?

This post in this thread talks about it, and others have talked about how you cannot use corn and rice without something with enzymes to convert starches to sugars since corn and rice cannot self convert.

You can search just this thread for "extract" to see every mention in any post.

 

[rtstrider]

Kegged a version of this brew fermented with WLP080 on 11/19. The keg got shook up pretty good at kegging time, gave it 12 hours and shook it again, and then 12 hours after than dosed it with gelatin/campden and shook it again. This was at 12psi and it was shaken each time until it quit taking up gas. Hoping it'll be carb'd up by Thursday. Planning on brewing another batch with WLP800 to see how it turns out. This is such a good test bed for "clean" yeast strains! Trying this with w34/70 fermented at 60F is on the to do list for sure!

 

[BongoYodeler]

Kegged a version of this brew fermented with WLP080 on 11/19. The keg got shook up pretty good at kegging time, gave it 12 hours and shook it again, and then 12 hours after than dosed it with gelatin/campden and shook it again. This was at 12psi and it was shaken each time until it quit taking up gas. Hoping it'll be carb'd up by Thursday. Planning on brewing another batch with WLP800 to see how it turns out. This is such a good test bed for "clean" yeast strains! Trying this with w34/70 fermented at 60F is on the to do list for sure!

Thanks. Keep your experiments and observations coming!!

 

[balrog]

Kegged a version of this brew fermented with WLP080 on 11/19. The keg got shook up pretty good at kegging time, gave it 12 hours and shook it again, and then 12 hours after than dosed it with gelatin/campden and shook it again. This was at 12psi and it was shaken each time until it quit taking up gas. Hoping it'll be carb'd up by Thursday. Planning on brewing another batch with WLP800 to see how it turns out. This is such a good test bed for "clean" yeast strains! Trying this with w34/70 fermented at 60F is on the to do list for sure!

So you have to use campden (sodium or potassium metabisulfate?) every time you make this for acetylaldehyde?

 

[rtstrider]

So you have to use campden (sodium or potassium metabisulfate?) every time you make this for acetylaldehyde?

So far yes. I'm thinking this is more of a process issue than recipe issue since quite a few have brewed this without problems. Decided to add the protein rest this go around to see if that helps. Since this was a beer I was hoping to have ready for Thanksgiving I didn't want to chance it and just played it safe with adding Campden at kegging and gelatin time.

 

[rtstrider]

Thanks. Keep your experiments and observations coming!!

Absolutely! So far my favorite strain for this recipe is WLP840 fermented around 50f. Really curious to see how the cream ale blend turns out!

 

[ArizonaGoalie]

I've been brewing my Vienna version of this for the last 5-6 times, but a few weeks ago I decided to brew the original, using US-05 yeast. Turned out absolutely fantastic.

 

[hout17]

Another great recipe I'll have to try. I wonder how it would be with BRY-97?

 

[z-bob]

Another great recipe I'll have to try. I wonder how it would be with BRY-97?

I'm not going to say the yeast doesn't matter (because it does.) But a beer like this should be good no matter what yeast you use. (even bread yeast)

 

[ArizonaGoalie]

Another great recipe I'll have to try. I wonder how it would be with BRY-97?

I think it would be good with any clean finishing strain, if you're looking for a crisp, clear cream ale.

Otherwise, other yeast would work but would definitely impact the flavor, for better or worse, depending on what you were looking for. I've brewed this with Nottingham, Muntons, and US-05, with the latter being the best by far. But I'm looking for something clean that let's the corn do its magic to the flavor.

I also do not do any temp control during fermentation, so I find that US-05 works best for me during fall, winter, and spring, when the temperature in my house is around 67-70 degrees.

 

[hout17]

I think it would be good with any clean finishing strain, if you're looking for a crisp, clear cream ale.

Otherwise, other yeast would work but would definitely impact the flavor, for better or worse, depending on what you were looking for. I've brewed this with Nottingham, Muntons, and US-05, with the latter being the best by far. But I'm looking for something clean that let's the corn do its magic to the flavor.

I also do not do any temp control during fermentation, so I find that US-05 works best for me during fall, winter, and spring, when the temperature in my house is around 67-70 degrees.

Thanks for your input. I like US-05 I like to ferment it at 65° as I have temp control and I usually get a nice clean ferment. I'm going to use BRY-97 for an upcoming brew so I'll see how it does. It's supposed to be clean and has high flocculation so should clear up a little better than 05.

Looking forward to trying this recipe in a couple of brews.

 

[rtstrider]

I'm not going to say the yeast doesn't matter (because it does.) But a beer like this should be good no matter what yeast you use. (even bread yeast)

I beg to differ there. I used Cellarscience Cali and it produced a lack luster batch. Was it drinkable? Absolutely! However it left an odd doughiness in the background I didn't care for. This latest batch with WLP080 has been extremely tasty! If you don't have the ability to lager then WLP080 is an awesome yeast blend for this brew!

 

[rtstrider]

I also wanted to mention doing a 20 minute protein rest at 122F then a 60 minute mash at 150F got rid of the acetylaldehyde issues I've been having. Going to add that going forward when using corn in any batch. Had the same issues with a Mexican lager. Tried using flaked corn instead of the Jim Dandy quick grits to see if that would help and same exact issue. Honestly couldn't tell a difference other than my wallet was a tad lighter after using flaked corn.

 

[z-bob]

I also wanted to mention doing a 20 minute protein rest at 122F then a 60 minute mash at 150F got rid of the acetylaldehyde issues I've been having. Going to add that going forward when using corn in any batch. Had the same issues with a Mexican lager. Tried using flaked corn instead of the Jim Dandy quick grits to see if that would help and same exact issue. Honestly couldn't tell a difference other than my wallet was a tad lighter after using flaked corn.

Have you (or anyone else) tried using Maseca corn flour for the grits/cornflakes?

 

[rtstrider]

Have you (or anyone else) tried using Maseca corn flour for the grits/cornflakes?

Nope! Then again this is the first time hearing of such a thing lol

 

[balrog]

Have you (or anyone else) tried using Maseca corn flour for the grits/cornflakes?

I went back to just buying flaked when I order the rest, for simplicity and using quick grits (and minute rice for that matter) ends up dinging my efficiency a few percentage points so that I miss my predicted OG, which simply messes with my OCD too much. I know, first world problem.

 

[z-bob]

I went back to just buying flaked when I order the rest, for simplicity and using quick grits (and minute rice for that matter) ends up dinging my efficiency a few percentage points so that I miss my predicted OG, which simply messes with my OCD too much. I know, first world problem.

Look at a box of corn flakes breakfast cereal next time you're at Aldi. (doesn't everyone shop at Aldi? ) Nothing in the ingredients list that would hurt your beer; it's all fermentable or trace vitamins. And it's precooked. The flakes fall apart, so very high surface area for good efficiency. And it's cheaper than brewers flaked corn; at least if you buy store brand or buy it on sale.