Leah's Birthday Brew

[MIWI]

I have been working on a Cream Ale recipe for about a year now. Only been brewing for four years and still use extract and grain. I brewed coffee my granddaughters fist birthday party. Turned out a smooth low IBU and 4.99%ABV beer.

6.6 lbs Pilsen Light LME
12oz Gambrinus Horney malt
4oz Belgian Biscuit malt
1.5oz Briefs Smoked Cherry malt
3oz corn flakes
25 minutes steep
1oz Glacier hops 60 minutes boil
Irish Moss
WPL 080 yeast
Fermenting at 64 degrees for 20 days and bottled.

Everyone loved the beer even the true to Bush Light drinkers.

 

[MIWI]

I have been working on versions of a Cream Ale recipe for about a year now. Maybe not a officially Cream Ale. Only been brewing for four years and still use extract and grain. I brewed this beer for my granddaughters first birthday party. Turned out a smooth low IBU and 4.99%ABV beer.

6.6 lbs Pilsen Light LME
12oz Gambrinus Horney malt
4oz Belgian Biscuit malt
1.5oz Briess Smoked Cherry malt
3oz corn flakes
25 minutes steep
1oz Glacier hops 60 minutes boil
Irish Moss
WPL 080 yeast
Fermenting at 64 degrees for 20 days and bottled.

Everyone loved the beer even the true to Bush Light drinkers.

 

[Velnerj]

Horney malt?? I think autocorrect got the better of you there or some serious Freudian slip going on

Also, do your grains have any diastatic power? If not the cornflakes aren't going to convert to fermentable sugars... What do you think they bring to the beer?

 

[IslandLizard]

Look very good! Do you have a picture to add to it?

12oz Gambrinus Horney malt
4oz Belgian Biscuit malt
1.5oz Briess Smoked Cherry malt
3oz corn flakes

All these would certainly benefit from a mini mash with a pound of 2-row, instead of steeping.
Mash in 3 quarts of water at 152-154F for 45-60' in a pot in a prewarmed, but turned off oven. Lauter, sparge.

Are those "flaked corn" which are hard yellow shavings, or Kellogg's corn flakes?

 

[MIWI]

Yes the auto correct was giving me issues. I was told by a local craft brewer that by adding corn flakes it will give the beer a creamy head. I originally found a recipe on line of a cream ale that the brewer added marshmallows to wort at the end of the boil. I asked the craft brewer about this addition and he recommended the corn flakes. I am not a chemist just one who will experiment with different recipes.

 

[MIWI]

Look very good! Do you have a picture to add to it?


All these would certainly benefit from a mini mash with a pound of 2-row, instead of steeping.
Mash in 3 quarts of water at 152-154F for 45-60' in a pot in a prewarmed, but turned off oven. Lauter, sparge.

Are those "flaked corn" which are hard yellow shavings, or Kellogg's corn flakes?

The hard yellow pressed corn.
I have not gotten to the brewing level of all grain yet. This is my next adventure. What is the conversion for extract to base malt?

 

[MIWI]

Horney malt?? I think autocorrect got the better of you there or some serious Freudian slip going on

Also, do your grains have any diastatic power? If not the cornflakes aren't going to convert to fermentable sugars... What do you think they bring to the beer?

So you got me interested in diastatic power! After researching a bit I referred back to Briess website and they list the DP degrees Lintner. I also found one needs at least 35 degrees Lintner to be self converting. So with that said how is the DP of each of the malts used determined and how is extract DP determined. Is all the DP of each malt used added up to a aggregate DP? Will higher DP affect the fermentation differently? Or once a certain level is reached conversion level has been satisfied?

 

[Velnerj]

I'm no scientist but I believe diastatic power is related to the availability of enzymes to perform conversion of starch to sugar. Most lightly kilned base malts have enough enzymes to self convert and convert other materials in the mash.

In this respect there are three types of grains. The grains that have diastatic power. Grains that don't have diastatic power but must be converted (i.e. Corn, oats and flaked grains etc.) Lastly grains that don't need to be converted because the kilning process has "caramelized" the starches (Crystal malts) or completely roasted them out (roasted barley). Usually these last grains are "steeping" grains for extract brewers.

For your recipe I think all the grains are steeping grains except the flaked corn. I'm afraid the flaked corn is probably not bringing anything significant to the table here without conversion process.
Look into mini-mashes if you're not prepared for all grain. That may help.

 

[IslandLizard]

The hard yellow pressed corn.

That's "flaked corn," not corn flakes!

I have not gotten to the brewing level of all grain yet. This is my next adventure. What is the conversion for extract to base malt?

Doing mini mashes is a great way to get into all grain, eventually.
Mini mashes really don't take that much effort and time when you plan ahead a bit. I started doing them before I knew what they were called.

Technically, only crystal malts and darker roasted malts are steeping grains. Specialty malts, such as Honey malt, Biscuit malts, Melanoidins, etc. should ideally be mashed together with enough diastatic malt, for best extraction. All base malts, from the lightest Pilsner malts to the darkest Munich varieties need to be mashed.

The 3 oz of flaked corn is such a small amount I doubt you'd ever be able to trace that back in a beer. I've never heard of (flaked) corn contributing to foam/head formation.

 

[MIWI]

Thanks for all the replys. I am still learning this brewing process and is a very interesting process. I wish chemistry interested me more way back in my high school days. I just purchased John Palmer's book How To Brew. Was told it is a very good book for all brewing. Thanks again for all the info shared.