Cream Ale Cream of Three Crops (Cream Ale)

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Just pulled a glass off the keg - and again I have a sour flavor. That brew day I did a 5gal batch of a Grants Perfect Porter that also has a sour flavor..... Guess I need to look into my process and clean the heck out of everything for the next brew day...
One question - How long do grains keep? I work off a 50lb bag that lasts me 12-18 months and Im wondering if the grains could be causing some of this..??? could be grasping at straws too.
I did primary in glass with a foil wrap cover for 4 weeks - perhaps that allowed an ick into the batches.
I do wash all the equipment before i put it away and before use with diligent rinses to be sure there isn't residual soaps. I also use starsan and am extra cautious.... Thoughts welcome
I have the same problem. In my case its the yeast. I wash my yeast and try ro get the most out of it. Pretty much after 3 months in the fridge without using it is about the life of my yeast before things go sour. I have been sticking to SO5 for now and no sour beers this far.[emoji2]
 
so, I took a bottle to the lhbs and they commented on a green Apple flavor. suggested that I take the keg out of the fridge and let it warm for a couple days to see if the yeast would clean up the dms. they also commented on the recipe and the corn could be contributing as well as the hops adding too much bittering. was great to get some feed back by other brewers.
 
so, I took a bottle to the lhbs and they commented on a green Apple flavor. suggested that I take the keg out of the fridge and let it warm for a couple days to see if the yeast would clean up the dms. they also commented on the recipe and the corn could be contributing as well as the hops adding too much bittering. was great to get some feed back by other brewers.
after 4-5 days at room temp I can say most all of the sour is gone. I was s surprised by the body and malty flavors that were coming forward.
 
I brewed a batch of this about two weeks after BM originally posted it. (Can't believe that is ten years ago almost!) Followed it to a T with the exception of substituting Notty for the S-05. It was a big hit, and i brewed it a gain a couple months later, only I lowered the corn a bit, raised the rice a bit, and subbed a little white sugar as well. Used S-05 and bingo! Hit my taste buds dead on. For three or four years that was the formula i followed and was always happy. Then, for reasons i don;t remember, I brewed a batch right to original specs. Tasters change, and I found i really liked the original even better than my modified, so I went back to that! Been there since. My question is: HOW do you guys keep this in the keg of 5 or 6 weeks!!!???? I keg this up, and sit and forget for 10-days to 2 weeks, and there ain't no way there is any left around no 4-5 weeks later!!!! :D:cask:
 
My latest version;
5LB Avangard pilsner malt
2LB flaked corn
1LB minute rice
1ts. Amalyse in MLT
1.5 oz hersbrucker at 60 {2.8AA}
1 oz hersbrucker at 5
1 Liter Starter from harvested US-05
In the MLT as I type.
Should be ready to chug about the time sap starts to flow.
 
anyone interested in a bottle trade on this? would love to get feedback...

I would do this but it might be a few weeks if you can hold on to a bottle of it. I am in the middle of my sparge now. I'm trying to get better at critiquing/giving valuable feedback on beers so pm me if interested.
 
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Well this was by far the worst brew day I've ever had. Grainfather broke before I got it up to boiling...I had to transfer the wort into a bucket, split that up and do two separate ~3g boils since I only have one 5g pot. Now I'll have to pretty much "no chill" and pitch in the morning. Ugh. I'll be amazed if this is drinkable. Lol.
 
Well this was by far the worst brew day I've ever had. Grainfather broke before I got it up to boiling...I had to transfer the wort into a bucket, split that up and do two separate ~3g boils since I only have one 5g pot. Now I'll have to pretty much "no chill" and pitch in the morning. Ugh. I'll be amazed if this is drinkable. Lol.
What happened to the Grainfather?
 
Next weekend I will do my 7th version of this recipe and will use 2oz of Mt Hood to 20 IBU's. Also bumping the abv% up with a lb of vienna malt.
 
Brewing a version of this recipe today. Can't wait to see what this beer will taste like. I have no local homebrew store so I buy sacks of base grain, and 1LB of hops at a time from YakimaValley. Also, I don't have flaked rice or flaked corn on hand so I subbed instant grits and instant rice. Also I've got some saved US-05 yeast that I'll be using so cost is basically free, but I'll add it to the tally anyways.

Ingredient list/cost:
6LB Pale 2-row - $6
2LB Instant grits $1.07
.5LB Instant rice $0.70
1/2oz Willamette $0.40
1/2oz Tettnanger $0.50
US-05 $3 (packs of 3 on Amazon for $9)
Total cost for 5G - $11.67 :rock:

Hard to go wrong here.
 
Any way to do this with extract? I've about had it with extract- I've got the process down good and I'm making some great tasting beers, yet I feel very held back when I look at some of these recipes. I foresee myself buying an all grain setup very soon!

Go BIAB. Bags are super cheap, all you need is a 10G pot to do full volume mashes. I made the leap from Extract to BIAB and am so much more satisfied.
 
Go BIAB. Bags are super cheap, all you need is a 10G pot to do full volume mashes. I made the leap from Extract to BIAB and am so much more satisfied.
I'm not sure that he'll get your response considering he hasn't been on here since 2015 and the post your responded to was from 2008.
 
Made it yesterday.

Home brew supply suggested

3 lbs flaked corn
1 lb flaked rice
20 lb base grain.

I asked for one more pound of flaked rice. Then I looked up the recipe when I got home.
I ended up using

3 lb flaked corn
2 lb flaked Rice
12 lb Marris Otter

2 oz saaz
1/2 oz cascade to get the IBU to 20.

90 minute mash with temps in the low 150s
Brewed 90 minutes.

Overshot the gravity.
Ended up with 11.5 gallons OG 1.050

Its fermenting now.

David
 
Made it yesterday.

Home brew supply suggested

3 lbs flaked corn
1 lb flaked rice
20 lb base grain.

I asked for one more pound of flaked rice. Then I looked up the recipe when I got home.
I ended up using

3 lb flaked corn
2 lb flaked Rice
12 lb Marris Otter

2 oz saaz
1/2 oz cascade to get the IBU to 20.

90 minute mash with temps in the low 150s
Brewed 90 minutes.

Overshot the gravity.
Ended up with 11.5 gallons OG 1.050

Its fermenting now.

David
Sounds like you're on your way to some good beer.
 
Made this on 04/05/18 as per the original recipe in a test batch scaled down to 1.5 gals . Fresh out of the keg last nite and man is it good. I think it is gonna be my summer go to brew.
3 crops.JPG
 
Made it yesterday.

Home brew supply suggested

3 lbs flaked corn
1 lb flaked rice
20 lb base grain.

I asked for one more pound of flaked rice. Then I looked up the recipe when I got home.
I ended up using

3 lb flaked corn
2 lb flaked Rice
12 lb Marris Otter

David

This sounds a lot like Curt Stock's Craptastic Cream Ale: https://sites.google.com/a/sphbc.or...ure-recipes/curt-stock-s-craptastic-cream-ale

I made this last weekend. I used Lemondrop hops in mine. I recently tried some Founders Solid Gold lager made with Lemondrop and thought it would go well in a cream ale.
 
Been brewing this recipe per the original post for a few months now. Every time I have a keg ready its gone in a week. I love brewing this!!! Tastes great and it is simple which is what I like.

Went to a brewery yesterday with my wife and we had a cream ale with blueberry and vanilla added. It was pretty good. A quick question for everyone, I have two carboys of this in my fermenter now and it should be done in a week or so. Is there a way I can make one of them a Blueberry Vanilla Cream ale? If so where do i even begin? I'm new to all grain and I just made the switch a few months ago and I will never look back. I love this hobby! I was thinking maybe adding blueberry natural flavoring to the keg along with vanilla before i start to carbonate? Ideas? Thoughts ?
 
Just cracked my first bottle of my recent batch. I can't believe I waited a year to make this again. Great color and head, plenty of malt flavor with a slight hop bitterness. Delicious!
 
I brewed my first all grain biab using this recipe. I'm hopeful that all will turn out as it should. My OG was a little low at 1.041.
 
Second batch of this on a rolling boil right now, can't wait. Brewing this again on Sunday with an addition of Palisade peach puree that will go into the secondary. I have a close friend whose family runs an orchard on the Western Slope of Colorado. We exchange fresh Palisade peaches for fresh beer - this year she gets Palisade Cream Ale to start.
 
Made 10 gallons..

6 lbs 2 row
14 oz Minute Rice
2 lb flaked corn

Mashed 150 for 75

Boiled for 60

Willamette

.75 @ 5.5 60 min
.25 @ 5.5 15 min
Irish Moss & 15

US05 hydrated
1 week at 62
1 week at 65

Forced carbed

For my sons college graduation.. his frat brothers..

10 gallons gone.. in 2 hours[emoji106]
A little cloudy, they LOVED it!!
 
I have some rookie questions...lol I have yet to brew my first batch of beer yet, I’ve only made some ciders, just to get my fermenting feet wet. What is “Crystal”? The last ingredient? Sorry in advance for my ignorance...
 
I have some rookie questions...lol I have yet to brew my first batch of beer yet, I’ve only made some ciders, just to get my fermenting feet wet. What is “Crystal”? The last ingredient? Sorry in advance for my ignorance...

Willamette and Crystal are each a type of hop. They are added at specific times minutes remaining in the boil. Hop pellets are the most common and easiest form to use.
 
Just brewing this right now, nice rolling boil i came out after the mash at 1.048,
Very happy with that used my new grain mill for the first time and seem to be around 80% efficiency according to beer smith.

5.5 gallon batch
6lb8oz 2 row
2lb flaked corn
14oz minute rice
hop schedule as the original recipe.
 
Went down to the ferm fridge to pull the 3 crops out and rack to keg. I put 5.5 gallons into the fermenter at 1.048 and today, after sixteen days on 1 packet of US-05 I'm at 1.012 with green apple odor. Ran fermentation straight through at 68 degrees (thermoprobe). Brought it upstairs to sit in ambient 74 degrees to see if she'll finish out. Should I wait it out or pitch a little more 05? Was hoping to force carb and tap Monday afternoon - oh well.

**Update** - Had a small amount of airlock activity through the day yesterday. Seems to be slowed this morning. Not sure if it was just off gassing due to increased wort temp or if the yeast started up again. Will give it a couple days and test gravity again.
 
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I tried to sift threw some of this for an extract version (I use to brew all grain but moved to a condo and space is limited) with no luck so I decided to make a 5 gallon one for myself using beersmith. Going to buy the ingredients on my way home and brew this up in following days.

2.5lbs flaked corn
.6lbs flaked rice
3lbs pale malt
Steeped 30mins @152F

4.5lbs extra light DME

.5oz Willamette (60mins)
.5oz Crystal (60mins)
Irish moss

Safale S-05 yeast

OG: 1.042
IBU: 13
 
just taken a gravity reading, My tilt has it at 1.011, Took a reading from fermenter and hydrometer is saying 1.004. According to beer smith that is 90% attuention, i used white labs cream ale blend, fermented at 66 for 8 days and had it sat at 70 since then.
Going to start to cold crash and then keg in a week or so.
 
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