It's a cream ale it was a kit from Defalco's in Houston. I tried to get away from kits on my way to All Grain but they had it on tap and after I tasted it I figured I would give it a shot. I used WLP080 Cream Ale Blend and fermented at 62 degrees. The temperature control has made by far the most improvement in my beer. I have found that a temperature probe hanging in the fridge to be the best possible way to do it. If you also put another probe in the wort to see what the center of the fermentation actually is. My freezer may be steady at 59 or 60 and the wort be at 62 or 63.
It was in the primary for 12 days at 62 then brought up to 68 after it hit FG. Then cold crashed for 3 days in the primary at 33 degrees. So it was a total of 15 days from brewing to when I put it in the keg. After a week in the keg I bottled a about a 12 pack with the BM filler for a party. That is by far the quickest I have turned a beer around in and it came out great. I wouldnt have rushed but I brewed it for the party and just got a late start.
On the LME I have added all at the start and learned just to add as slow as possible to make sure it ALL disolves before it reaches bottom. Usually a buddy to poor it while I stir at the same time.
I understand the freshness of the LME counts for a lot as Deflacos in houston orders in bulk and sales a TON so I assume its always extremly fresh. I have also not had any extract twang or anything else negative from the extract brew aside from a couple darker wheat beers I didn't follow my own advice from above.
