Fine-Tuning The Cream Ale

[duncan.brown]

And I'm pretty sure it's filtered.

The last Spotted Cow I had (Thanksgiving 2019) was still cloudy, so I don’t think it’s filtered. New Glarus pasteurizes all of their beers so you can’t propagate any of their yeast, unfortunately. I believe Dan Carey has also confirmed in interviews that Cow uses a Kolsch yeast, but I have no idea which strain.

 

[duncan.brown]

Here’s the interview with Dan Carey where he confirms that corn was removed from the Spotted Cow recipe:

https://beerandbrewing.com/the-history-of-spotted-cow/

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Wyeast 2565 or similar.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Here’s the interview with Dan Carey where he confirms that corn was removed from the Spotted Cow recipe:

https://beerandbrewing.com/the-history-of-spotted-cow/

Interesting "Some people call Spotted Cow a cream ale, but it doesn’t fit into those style guidelines because it’s unfiltered, Carey says. At they brewery, they call it a farmhouse ale, but so long as people drink it, they don’t much mind what you call it."

IMO, if it tastes like a cream ale, it's a cream ale. Doesn't matter if it's cloudy or not. Geez... lots of homebrews are cloudy as they are not fined. A lot of homebrewers could care less. I recently did an experiment of cold crashing, cold crashing and fining and only fining. Analyzing data/results.

Dan Carey's explanation of "farmhouse" is quite different than what most think of a farmhouse beer. Think Belgians.

Also, the article has "When Carey first made Spotted Cow, the beer featured about 10 percent corn in the grain bill as “a nod to what the farmers might have used." My Spotted Cow used 17.8% flaked maize.

I also read their recipe is now all malt as the corn was removed due to GMO worries. Carey states "Very few people noticed." IMO, should be very obvious as corn provides a certain flavor/taste. I experimented by making several different cream ales. 1 with maize and 1 with flaked rice. I preferred the one brewed with maize.

I note another HBT brewer used honey malt and claimed, to them, this is the missing ingredient. I'm not so sure about using honey malt in a Spotted Cow.

"As for what makes up Spotted Cow, it’s a blend of Pilsner malt, white wheat, and caramel malt." Interesting. No Munich malt or flaked barley.

Normally CBB provides a recipe. Shame one is lacking for this article.

 

[duncan.brown]

Normally CBB provides a recipe. Shame one is lacking for this article.

Dan Carey is very cagy about New Glarus' recipes. That's actually the most information I've ever seen in one place about any of their beers (and I've looked hard, I'm a big fan).

Interestingly, in another interview he states that Totally Naked (their American Lager) is 10% corn, so it sounds like they are using corn again.

 

[duncan.brown]

Wyeast 2565 or similar.

As usual, the devil is in the "or similar." I few years ago in Denver, I had two otherwise identical Kolsch beers brewed by a pro with 2565 and another with a yeast from a commercial supplier (I forget exactly what... might have been BSI A-65 or BRY 401) and the two were noticeably different.

That said, 2565 is one of my favorite yeasts for both Kolsch and cream ales.

 

[duncan.brown]

I'm curious is anyone on has tried making a cream ale by blending wort fermented with a lager strain and wort fermented with an ale strain?

Apparently, this is how they make (or used to make) Genesee Cream Ale.

 

[z-bob]

The last Spotted Cow I had (Thanksgiving 2019) was still cloudy, so I don’t think it’s filtered. New Glarus pasteurizes all of their beers so you can’t propagate any of their yeast, unfortunately. I believe Dan Carey has also confirmed in interviews that Cow uses a Kolsch yeast, but I have no idea which strain.

The last I had was in February of this year, and I thought it poured clear, but I guess that doesn't mean it's filtered. Maybe the yeast just settled out and stuck to the can.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

October 11, 2020 compared, with a few friend and wife, actual Spotted Cow (in bottles) vs the recipe I brewed (with the recipe from HBT).

Pale Ale Malt (47.5%)

Pils Malt (17.8%)

Flaked Maize (17.8%)

Dark Munich (5.5%)

Crystal 20L (5.5%)

Flaked Barley (6%)

Northern Brewer (9.4 IBUs, 60 minutes)

Saaz (4.8 IBUs, 30 minutes)

Wyeast 1056 (repitch, plenty of yeast)

Color: Spotted Cow: Yellow in color. My Spotted Cow: Darker yellow – somewhat orange. IMO, I think this is not knowing. IMO, my Spotted Cow is a Pale Ale color.

Taste: Unfortunately, the real Spotted Cow in bottles were, at this point, several years old (they were kept refrigerated, out of the sun, etc). Everyone like my version much better than the real beer. However, I thought the real Spotted Cow reminded me of a Belgian Blonde. Others didn’t know any better and had no opinion when I mentioned the Belgian Blonde I brewed in 2014.

Aroma: See Taste notes above.

In general: Perhaps for my next Spotted Cow I should use a Belgian yeast? I honestly believe the real Spotted Cow reminds me of the Brueghel Blonde Ale (North American Clone Brews, page 119).

 

[Csuho]

I'm curious is anyone on has tried making a cream ale by blending wort fermented with a lager strain and wort fermented with an ale strain?

Apparently, this is how they make (or used to make) Genesee Cream Ale.

White labs wlp 080 cream ale blend is just that a blend of the 2 yeasts, but if you meant blend after fermentation maybe only brew that comes to mind is Sam Adams Sam 76'.

I brew more cream ale than probably anything else. I have pretty much kept it pils 80%
adjunct of choice 20%(white rice, flaked corn, popcorn,grits, corn meal)
10-15 ibu and a nice clean yeast either wlp 080 or notty
Now I have moved to
Pils 70%
Adjunct 20%
Wheat malt 10%
Centennial at 30 & 10
Wlp080

Keep it simple less to screw up.

 

[twd000]

I've just brewed and tapped an attempted Spotted Cow clone - it's a very good cream-ale, but it's not a Spotted Cow. I agree that the recipe was changed circa 2015 to remove the corn, and the best evidence is that the malt bill is some combination of pilsner malt, flaked white wheat, caramel malt.

https://beerandbrewing.com/the-history-of-spotted-cow/
The label says "Spotted Cow adheres to the Reinheitsgebot purity law using only four hand selected all natural ingredients - yeast, hops, water, and malted barley"

So he's lying either in the interview or on the label about the presence of wheat malt, but the haze leads me to believe it's in there and the label is wrong.

The Wyeast 2565 in my recipe was dead-on, so that's the one element I'm going to keep for the re-brew. My first attempt was:

55% 2-row
18% Vienna malt
5% flaked barley
18% corn
3% Crystal 20L

18 IBU Hallertauer @ 30 mins
1 IBU Hallertauer @ 5 mins

Wyeast 2565 Kolsch @ 66F

I'm going to keep this recipe as a great cream ale, but split off a second variant to try to get closer to the current recipe. Any idea on what the brewer might be using for "low-protein malt"? Also what proportion of flaked white wheat?