Recipe suggestions for Minnesota brew

[Saunassa]

My brew club here in north central Minnesota is doing a club brew day. The local brewery is going to make up a batch of sweet wort and give it free to those in our club and also those that want to try their hand at home brewing.
We may do a simple cream ale recipe so that folks can add specialty grains if they want. It will be up to the individual to boil and supply the hops and yeast or whatever else they want to add.

Maybe a winter ale or a different beer type?

Big part is they don't have the expense and time to make the base wort.

Suggestions on what can be done to a cream ale recipe?

 

[hottpeper13]

To make it truley Minnesotain you could do a Cream of Three Crops recipe with blue corn and wild rice.

 

[BongoYodeler]

A guy in our HBC adds jalapeño to his cream ale. Personally I wouldn't want a whole keg of it, but an occasional glass is nice.

 

[Saunassa]

Well I will have 5-10 gallons of wort to play with. I wonder if i could make something like a west coast IPA type of beer and also 5 gallons of cream ale? I always have a pound or 2 of wild rice in the pantry plus assorted specialty grains.
Or if enough of us want we could just start with a west coast IPA grain bill? I usually do pales, cream ales, stouts, hefe and ambers.

 

[tracer bullet]

Some 2-row with a little Munich and C40 could be a base for all sorts of beer. By the time everyone decide on a hop and yeast choice, you could end up with a lot of different results. It'd be fun to get back together.

I did somethign like this with friends once, we all brewed the identical recipe and then got together a month or so later to compare results. Amazing how different the beer was even with the same ingredients.

As for your own versions, yeah, put some American C hops in one a little on the earlier side of the boil, some Australian fruity hops in another towards the very end of the boil, with the appropriate yeasts? Could also head a Saison kind of direction if you like those.

 

[Saunassa]

Some 2-row with a little Munich and C40 could be a base for all sorts of beer. By the time everyone decide on a hop and yeast choice, you could end up with a lot of different results. It'd be fun to get back together.

I did somethign like this with friends once, we all brewed the identical recipe and then got together a month or so later to compare results. Amazing how different the beer was even with the same ingredients.

As for your own versions, yeah, put some American C hops in one a little on the earlier side of the boil, some Australian fruity hops in another towards the very end of the boil, with the appropriate yeasts? Could also head a Saison kind of direction if you like those.

That's our thought, if everyone takes the same base home we can see how it comes out. With all the hops and yeast out there and fermentation temps we should have quite the variety.

 

[hottpeper13]

Since you're getting wort at about 160* in a bucket,you could have the different steeping grains milled and in a bag and let them steep on the way to your brewery. Get home and start the boil!

 

[Saunassa]

How hot can the wort be before causing the plastic bucket to warp or melt?
Sounds like a cream ale will be the base beer. I do not know if he uses corn in it or not. If I get 10 gallons then I will make 5 gal as a variation of the three crops (which I love) using liberty and Willamette or maybe a different hop? Nobles?

What about the other 5 gal, do I add a bit of crystal malt or honey malt or Vienna to get it a bit darker and use something like Simco and Amarillo? I have quite a few different hops I need to use up. Crap load of mosaic and cascade on hand, plus others.
I drink lots of pale ales as I can get distracted by my daughter for a week at a time so I have not dry hopped yet.
I have quite a few different dry yeast too.