I talked to my gf about brewing her own beer and she said she liked the idea of doing a cream ale for her first (with yours truly supervising of course). I’ve done some research, but I don’t trust basic google searches, you guys seem to make the best recommendations.
I’m fine with all-grain recipes, but I will have to convert it to partial mash so… sorry for any mutations to any sacred recipes.
Well, since we are here everyone who has made it seems to love our host, Northern Brewer’s, Cream Ale. I think it is one of their better selling kits.
I’ve made it and enjoyed it way more than I expected to.
I’ve made it and enjoyed it way more than I expected to.[/quote]
I actually have not but everyone seems to rave about it. There’s really not much to a cream ale so I guess it’s kind of hard to go wrong unless you do something crazy. I think the key would be a nice, consistent lower temp for a good clean fermentation more so than any secret grainbill.
Spotted Cow is a favorite beer of mine, I would suggest trying a clone on that.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/spec ... h-kit.htmlFor all the cream ales I’ve looked at there are recommendations of fermenting it fairly cold. Are most of them lager styled? The best I can do right now is about 63*F for cold temps w/o spending the money to get jackets or coolers for my carboys.
63 degrees would work great for a cream ale using American ale yeast (us-05, 1056, WLP001)
Speckled Heifer, but… I add things… Lately it has been bitter orange peel and coriander.
I call it Orange Cow. It can be very subtle or very brash depending or dosing.
Barry
I personally think the the biggest problem when making a cream ale is to avoid a very boring beer. I recently made a blonde ale and that was my biggest complaint with the stuff, it just did not hold enough interest for me (I made it to serve folks I knew going in were not craft beer drinkers so from that perspective I suppose it was a success). One thing about that style though, it’s probably not the best style to do for a new brewer since there is nothing to hide any mistakes made, just a thought. Anyhow, good luck with it, hopefully your’s comes out really well.
[quote=“Trimack”]Spotted Cow is a favorite beer of mine, I would suggest trying a clone on that.
http://www.northernbrewer.com/shop/spec ... h-kit.html[/quote]+1 I make this one all the time and is a big hit with my wife and everyone who has drank it.
This is the one I usually make. It doesn’t last long!
(11 gallon batch)
OG 1.044 IBU 17.7
8.5 lb 2-Row
4.0 lb Vienna Malt
3.0 lb Flaked Corn
1.5 lb Crystal Malt 10L
1.75 oz Cluster - added during boil, boiled 60 min
1.5 oz Mt. Hood or Hallertau - added during boil, boiled 5 min
Fermentis US-05
I use IGROWHOPS’ recipe. Ive made several batches of it, and it seems to please the light beer drinkers. Its a very clean beer when fermented low. Her recipe uses Amarillo hops, but I ran out last year and didn’t get around to reordering until supplies were gone. Amarillo is best, but I use centennial or cascade in place of them.
Six gallons
OG 1.052 ish
Grain
7 lb domestic 2 row
2 lb flaked maize
0.5 lb victory
Hops
Amarillo .75 oz (60)
amarillo 0.5 oz (0)
Mash @150
US-05, fermented at 60f
This is the last cream ale I brewed, in March of 2011 (something of an “Imperial Cream Ale”):
5lb pils
5lb munich
3lb flaked corn
Perle, whole, to 30 IBU’s
US-05
OG: 1.070
SRM: ~4
My tasting notes were a little hazy to recollect, but I recall it being quite good, and quite smooth from a month in the lagering fridge post-primary ferment.
Bklmt2000
I make NB’s CA a lot, sometimes with variations. My last one was a hop change replacing the hops with 1 oz Centennial for 60 minutes, 1 oz cascade for 1 minute. That was good. Another variation could be 1 oz of sweet orange peel, and or lemon peel, some crushed coriander. It’s a great recipe as is but also easy to tinker with and still make a good drinker.
A cream ale’s “tatelessness” is the very reason it or a wheat ale make great flavored (fruits and spices and such) beers.
BTW I recently did a Blackened Cream ale. Might just have turned it into some other style but whatever, I bottle it last night so we shall see. It was the standard NB CA recipe w/ some roasted barley added. I tasted it at bottleing. so far so good 
Barry
Speckled Heifer. I never thought I would brew a cream ale but did last year for Learn How to Home Brew Day. I gave half of it away and really enjoyed the other half!
So far she really likes the idea of a honey-cream ale. I had to explain that honey itself will do the opposite of what she wants to the beer, but I can’t remember how to actual infuse a honey flavor into the brew. Suggestions?
Honey malt, use it sparingly though as it is easy to go over board (learned that the hard way). Northern Brewer carries it.
Honey malt, use it sparingly though as it is easy to go over board (learned that the hard way). Northern Brewer carries it.[/quote]
How long would you steep that? I usually do about 45 min. @ 152*F for my specialty grains.
Just treat it like any other specialty grain, doesn’t need any special treatment.
