First AG Recipe - Cream Ale Input Welcome

[demagxc]

So Ive done two extract batches and thought I would go for an all grain. Ive looked through a couple recipes here and pieced together my own. Not sure if its technically a cream ale but no matter. So here it is.

4 lb Pale Malt (2 Row)
4 lb Pale Malt (6 Row)
2 Lb Corn, Flaked
1 lb Crystal Malt - 40L
4.0 oz Lactose
1.00 oz Cascade (60 min)
1.00 oz Saaz (10 Min)
White Labs WLP080 Cream Ale Blend

Im thinking about adding some vanilla beans to the end of the boil. Tell me what you think. I would love some sugestions from those with way more experiance than me

 

[progmac]

it looks to me like it is out of style -- a cream ale isn't creamy in the way that requires lactose and it also isn't that hoppy. not to say it won't be good.

 

[pm5k00]

Personally i would loose the lactose and change the C40 to C10, otherwise it looks good.

 

[demagxc]

Thanks for the input! My original plan was to brew a cream stout, but then I decided I wanted something a bit lighter for summer. I wasn't sure what the style of this would technically be but the lactose is my attempt to give it some quality of the cream stout that I started with.

I was unsure about the hops. The amounts and combinations I don't have much of a grasp on. Do you have any suggestions on a different amount?

 

[Barnzy02]

Me personally, i would drop the lactose, switch the C40 to 20 or 10 (a cream ale should be real light in color!).

Also, if you're planning on mashing 2# of corn i'd add some rice hulls to your grain bill. I've only ever used 1# Corn in my Cream Ales, but it gets pretty sticky during the lautering and sparging. The rice hulls will help with that.

However, you could also try mashing 1# of flaked corn and adding 1# of Corn sugar during your boil.

I've made cream ales using all saaz and that turned out nice.

Don't have any experience with the Cream Ale blend, i usually just use US-05.

Also, i'd save the Vanilla for a stout or porter, as your original plan stated.

 

[progmac]

to be in style (15-20 IBU), you'd want a maximum of 0.6 ounces of each hop. i used this calculator. if it were me, i'd save money by just using one hop, 0.5 ounces at 60 and 0.5 ounces at 10.

you could keep your original recipe and just call it a pre-prohibition style cream ale, which were hoppier.