London Ale III for a cream ale?

[Yooper]

I have some fresh Wyeast 1318 that I'll use for a NE IPA in a month or so, so instead of building a starter for 10 gallons of it, I thought maybe I"d use it for a small batch of a lowish OG cream ale and harvest the yeast.
It sounds like it would work, and I love the idea of high flocculation for a cream ale.

Has anybody ever tried that- 1318 for a cream ale? I'm using 1007 in most of the 10 gallon batch but would split it to grow up the yeast for the NE IPA.

 

[Dcpcooks]

I have not used it in a cream ale but I’ve made a few APA’s with it recently. We started the first batch a bit warm at 69 and let warm to 72 in the first three days to get some stone fruit from it. It was kinda like a pale ale in the NEIPA style. When we kept a second and third batch a bit cooler and the stone fruit was a bit more subtle as expected but it played nicely.

It sounds like it would work if you keep it on the cooler side during the first few day. But I’d need to consider the hops impact on the flavor profile, perhaps maybe crystal and sterling would work well.

I make a farmhouse with crystal as a fwh and sterling to finish. That combo works really well with a bit of bubble gum from a hot saison II ferment. I can imagine that a subtle fruit note from 1318 and a subtle noble hop flavor from a slightly different play on Nobel hops could yield a really nice summer lawn mower beer.

You just sent my wheels a spinning, I’m thinking it would be a cross between spotted cow and apex predator with a hint of corn and unmalted white wheat and a touch of stone fruit at 4.5-5% abv.

Thanks for the inspiration!

 

[Yooper]

Exactly what I was thinking- all crystal hops! Five different grains (mostly because I want to use it up), a little wheat, flaked corn, flaked rice, and of course barley.
Here's what I have (10.5 gallons, but splitting the batch with different yeast of course):
OG 1049ish IBUs 20-22ish

10 lbs German Pilsner 50.0 %
5 lbs Brewers Malt 2-Row (Briess) 25.0 %
2 lbs Corn - Yellow, Flaked (Briess) 10.0 %
2 lbs Rice, Flaked 10.0 %
1 lbs White Wheat Malt (2.4 SRM) 5.0 %

2.00 oz Crystal [4.10 %] - Boil 60.0 min
2.00 oz Crystal [4.10 %] - Boil 10.0 min
1.00 oz Crystal [4.10 %] - Boil 2.0 min

 

[Yooper]

Ferment in the low 60s? I wonder how low I can push 1318.

 

[Dcpcooks]

That looks like a winner! It’s a low OG beer and it should be pretty fermentable wort so I think you could pitch at 60-62 and let it slowly creep up to 63. Then after three or four day when you’ve got the flavor profile set you could let it warm to 65-66 to finish. My buddy brews at Tighthead in IL and they start 1318 in the low 60’s for a few beers. With a nice dose of O2 and a health pitch they don’t have any issues with it.

I’ve got some pearl malt and floor malted pilsner on hand. I think I’ll swap out the two row with the pearl malt for my batch.