Cream Ale Cream of Three Crops (Cream Ale)

[kapbrew13]

Can't exactly run down to the LHBS and fetch some flaked corn here. So it's a matter of improvising.

Stock up for the "end" of the world...again.

 

[edmanster]

Can't exactly run down to the LHBS and fetch some flaked corn here. So it's a matter of improvising.

mine was 2 cans of creamed corn in the mash...it worked good..

 

[winvarin]

Made this today and had a first. I am usually fighting effeciency on the downside. I batch sparge and usually am in the 65-68% efficiency range. I calculated this at 65% efficiency and adjusted the base malt accordingly. For 5.25 gallons I went with

6.5# 2 row
1# Flaked Rice
2# Flaked Corn
1# Rice Hulls (I figured, what the heck, I had room in the mash tun for them and it's cheap lauter/sparge insurance)

I like a little late hop aroma, even on something this light, so I went with
.5 ounce Hallertauer (4.3%)- 45 min
. 5 ounce Tettnang - (3.7%) - 45 min
.5 ounce Hallertauer - (4.3%) - 7 min
. 5 ounce Tettnang - (3.7%) - 7 min

Mashed at 152 on the nose for 90 min. I think I accidentally got some grain in my dish when I did an iodine test and got a bad reading off the top of the mash. So I mashed another 10 min (not sure if this accounts for the efficiency bump).

But I collected about 6.75-6.8-ish gallons. I pulled a sample from the pre-boil wort, cooled to 75F and checked with a refractometer and got 10.8 (which one of the calcs I use converts to 1.043). Uh oh. I was expecting 1.041-42 at my normal 65% efficiency and I had not even boiled yet.

I boiled 90 min and got just shy of 5 gallons that came in at 13.6 brix (1.055 SG, which was darned close to the 1.052-3 I got when I double checked with a hydrometer). Since I was light on volume and heavy on gravity, I popped open a bottle of distilled water and topped up in the fermenter to my expected 5.25 gallons). This settled at 10.8 brix (1.048 SG) which will have to do.

So I figure my efficiency jumped by about 15% or more on this batch. I did take a little more time stirring than I have on recent batches, because I had been having lower than hoped for efficiency. Could that have justified the jump? Or is it the extra long mash? I usually mash a little higher in temp for around 60 min (until I get a good iodine test). Does the high level of adjuncts have something to do with it?

And finally, what should I expect from the finished product. Will I be massively under bitter by still coming in 6-7 points over what I was shooting for?

The final product is still pretty though. Pale gold and crystal clear pre ferment anyway. I did draw about 1/2 inch of unexpected trub in the fermente. But I figure 10-12 days in the primary and I will rack it and ad gelatin for about a week before I keg.

 

[CanadianDave]

...and was quite surprised as well at how nicely the whole process went. No rice hulls used, and once the grain bed settled I opened the tap the whole way and everything flowed fantastic. Nice colour, anad hit OG dead on. I was amazed at how much foam was made, and how long it lasted! BierMuncher, I read through this whole thread 2x ... why fix what ain't broke??
Will update when I secondary, thanks so much for keeping things simple!

 

[Varmintman]

Cream Ale Recipe

This is a very simple, inexpensive cream ale recipe that will get every BMC drinker in the room enjoying homebrew. So named because of the three different crops that go into the grist (Barley, Corn and Rice).

I brewed up 10 gallons of this and after kegging, bottled up a case to take to a family event (Mothers Day). Even my 78-yr old FIL, who is strict Miller Lite drinker, ended up having two pints. The chics dug it and we ran out well before the end of the evening.

The grain bill is cheap and in this case, you can use Minute Rice instead of flaked rice. No step mashing required. Simply combine the ingredients and follow a simple single infusion mash at around 152 degrees. I also mashed this for 90 minutes to get a highly attenuated beer. FG was 1.005...leaving a very dry, crisp beer with no noticeable graininess.

While this doesn't adhere to the strict beer laws, and I don't consider this one of my "craft" efforts, it is without a doubt the beer that I get the most "you really made this beer?" comments.

So if you've got some hard core "If it ain't Budweiser it ain't beer…" drinking friends…give this a try.

This beer clears up quickest of any of my recipes.

View attachment 5581


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

Great recipe BM. I joined the forum because I also have some friends who claim to be die hard bud lite drinkers yet every Thursday at beer and cigar night drink my beers. I want something cheap for those guys so I can have my beer for myself LOL

Any way I read the entire thread twice and tweaked it a little cutting down on the corn and using sazz since I have a ton of it. Having never brewed a light colored beer I am going to have to say it was a butt ugly brew in the pot.

Any way I read the whole thread 2 and I am sure you addressed this but I missed it. When you use gelatin in the secondary to clear the beer will that affect the carbonation when bottling. Sadly I do not have a kegging system yet and bottle everything.

I am going to rack this to the secondary in 4 days and start another batch tossed right on the same yeast I think. Tired of my buddies drinking my good beer LOL.

This is for anybody. I fought the temps with this recipe simply because it is a long mash and my tun is huge. Any ideas how to keep it warm. I used a blanket but even using amylasse enzyme in the mash it was a full 2 hours before the iodine test did not go black. I know the simple answer would be buy a smaller cooler but honestly my brew room is getting to the point it is hard to walk in as it is

 

[foonogg]

Brewed this two months ago did 12 gallons I kegged five normal, and five with cranberry blue berry haven't tasted the regular yet. The cran/blue turned out surprisingly well for being a last minute concoction.

 

[Nemleu]

Brewed this two months ago did 12 gallons I kegged five normal, and five with cranberry blue berry haven't tasted the regular yet. The cran/blue turned out surprisingly well for being a last minute concoction.

View attachment 54525

Interesting... Did you add the Cranberry / Blueberry after fermentation, i.e. bottling or keg?

 

[foonogg]

Added 2lbs cranberry to primary, then added 2lbs cran 16 Oz blueberry to secondary

 

[foonogg]

added 2lbs cranberry to primary, then added 2lbs cran 16 oz blueberry to secondary

then kegged

 

[BunzoBrew]

My hydrometer looks just like Canadian Dave's. It tasted very BMC'ish. Should be great for this Easter Sunday. Thanks BierMuncher

 

[Quaker]

After 11 days in primary, the yeast finally dropped out and it cleared up. However, day after day it's had a very strong yeast aroma. I decided to rack to secondary, which I normally forego. I sampled a glass, and yeast is the wrong label. The taste is all corn. Had a very healthy fermentation. I doubt it's DMS. I think it's obviously from the cracked corn. We'll see what a few weeks more will do for it.

I just opened my test bottle after 2 weeks conditioning. Corn flavor is all gone. Yeast cleared it up. Tastes like I believe it should. It'll fill it's purpose right nicely. Time to keg the rest.

 

[BunzoBrew]

This beer is about as light as you get. The BMC crowd likes this for sure. I think it'd be an excellent quaffer on a hot day.

Nice recipe Biermuncher.

 

[CanadianDave]

...from my last post (sorry I didn't keep right up on it) I secondaried, and bottled up this recipe this week. I didn't use any gelatin (only use it if absolutely necessary) and it cleared right up fine on it's own. As the other posters have said, it tastes great right out of the carboy, and I have high hopes for this beer in the next month or so. I think the pics tell the story better than I can.

 

[Gallagher]

I have brewed this once and it turned out fantastic. Great beer to have on tap.

 

[msa8967]

Has anyone tried lagering this beer for an extended time (a week or several) instead of cold crashing the beer? I have 5 gallons that I plan on kegging and wonder if I lager this for a week what effect that might have on the beer. I brewed it 3 weeks ago and bottled 1/2 of the batch today and have another 5 gallons in my lager fridge cold crashing overnight.

 

[jtakacs]

i just cracked an imperial version of this... kept it balanced, but kicked up the ABV to 9 plus...

very dangerous because of how drinkable this is. nice residual corn sweetness that i didn't think i'd enoy.. - finished dry and crisp. it's the kind of beer you'd slam on a hot day and then say "why did i just do that and can i have another?"

kudos to the author and contributors - it's not just a great recipe, it's a great springboard for others...

 

[G_Brew]

Something went wrong for me... I brewed up a batch of this yesterday right after kegging previous beer... pumped it onto prior yeast... EVERYTHING went perfect... efficiency was through the roof and got 1.052 OG..... THEN - 16 hours later, NO activity... no bubbles, nothing... i'm wondering if my minute rice had some sort of preservatives???? prior sluries usually bubble in a few hours... i'll let it sit longer but i'm very concerned about this batch...

 

[kapbrew13]

Something went wrong for me... I brewed up a batch of this yesterday right after kegging previous beer... pumped it onto prior yeast... EVERYTHING went perfect... efficiency was through the roof and got 1.052 OG..... THEN - 16 hours later, NO activity... no bubbles, nothing... i'm wondering if my minute rice had some sort of preservatives???? prior sluries usually bubble in a few hours... i'll let it sit longer but i'm very concerned about this batch...

Give it some more time.

 

[G_Brew]

Give it some more time.

I definately will... anxious to check it out when i get back from work... but in all honesty even if it still starts going, I still feel like something isn't right... should be going by now...

 

[Woodbury419]

I definately will... anxious to check it out when i get back from work... but in all honesty even if it still starts going, I still feel like something isn't right... should be going by now...

Don't fret bro, give it up to 72 hrs before doing anything. Should it it not be active just pitch some S-05 and call it a day. RWDAHB

 

[G_Brew]

Well... what can i say....... got home and the thing was fermenting... took almost 20 hours though... everytime i've reused yeast cake it's usualy going within 4-5 hours.... should turn out good! thanks everyone for the tips!

 

[kapbrew13]

Well... what can i say....... got home and the thing was fermenting... took almost 20 hours though... everytime i've reused yeast cake it's usualy going within 4-5 hours.... should turn out good! thanks everyone for the tips!

Wonder what the difference was this time? How many times did you reuse this cake?

 

[G_Brew]

Wonder what the difference was this time? How many times did you reuse this cake?

it's actually the 3rd batch with this yeast.. I'll usually go up to 3 max... but i've never had a problem doing this... and i've heard of people doing up to 5-6 batches on the same yeast... only thing i can think of that is different is the last batch sat on it for over 4 weeks instead of my usual 2 to 3 weeks...
also i cooled the wort to 70 but slowly cooled it down to 60-62 in the following few hours for a slower cleaner fermentation... might have slowed down the start time?

still usually with the billions of hungry yeast cells in a yeast cake desperate for fresh wort there's no stopping em... oh well...

 

[BierMuncher]

it's actually the 3rd batch with this yeast.. I'll usually go up to 3 max... but i've never had a problem doing this... and i've heard of people doing up to 5-6 batches on the same yeast... only thing i can think of that is different is the last batch sat on it for over 4 weeks instead of my usual 2 to 3 weeks...
also i cooled the wort to 70 but slowly cooled it down to 60-62 in the following few hours for a slower cleaner fermentation... might have slowed down the start time?

still usually with the billions of hungry yeast cells in a yeast cake desperate for fresh wort there's no stopping em... oh well...

I usually will take my saved yeast out of the fridge a few hours before pitching (at the start of the brew session) and submerge the container in a bucket of pretty hot water. The idea is to get the yeast up to approximately the same temperature as you would if you were hydrating dry yeast. The warming bath usually shaves several hours off of the fermentation lag time.

 

[seanybubbles]

Sorry I didn't want to read through 126 pages. In this recipe do the rice and corn count as the equivalent of a pound of grain for the mash, e.g 8.5lbs total for a 5 gallon batch? Also, what is a good lb/qt ratio for this beer? Thanks in advance!

 

[Crimsonwine]

Brewed this for an event and it was the second keg to tap out of 17 kegs. It was very popular... Only difference was I added 8oz of honey malt and did a fwh of first addition and a 20 min 2nd addition...it was a 5 gallon batch....

 

[Nemleu]

Sorry I didn't want to read through 126 pages. In this recipe do the rice and corn count as the equivalent of a pound of grain for the mash, e.g 8.5lbs total for a 5 gallon batch? Also, what is a good lb/qt ratio for this beer? Thanks in advance!

Yes, for my batches the rice (1 lb) and corn (2 lb) are part of my total grain weight, (11 lbs.) I think that is your question.

1.25 quart/pound ratio.

Cheers,

 

[D_Nyholm]

Made this as well as the Centennial Blonde and Yoopers Fizzy yellow beer and this one was the best tasting of the 3 in my opinion. The only problem is the color of the beer, mine came in very very light, just slightly yellow. Don't know if it is somehing I did or if it is just that light? If so, what would you reccommend increasing or changing to get a little more color? I would say mine is lighter in color than a bud light.

I just went back to the first page and mine is just a little lighter than the pic posted. Wonder what I did wrong?

 

[edmanster]

Made this as well as the Centennial Blonde and Yoopers Fizzy yellow beer and this one was the best tasting of the 3 in my opinion. The only problem is the color of the beer, mine came in very very light, just slightly yellow. Don't know if it is somehing I did or if it is just that light? If so, what would you reccommend increasing or changing to get a little more color? I would say mine is lighter in color than a bud light.

I just went back to the first page and mine is just a little lighter than the pic posted. Wonder what I did wrong?

Dont think you did anything wrong.. The color of this is determine to the grains.. Yours could have been a little more pale in color.. The corn adds little to no color at all same with the rice.. All that matters is if you like it

 

[ahacreative]

I have a 10 gal batch in primary right now. Bubbling away like crazy in the ferment cooler at 63F. I stayed really close to the original recipe...of course I had a little leftover williamette and just couldn't stand it. I threw some in at flameout. Love that smell!