Since we have been brewing a lot of really big and complex beers the last few times out, we decided to lighten things up a little and go for a Cream Ale. If you have been reading for a few months you’ll remember that I did a vanilla cream ale (no link because I think I did not blog about this one…interesting, I am brewing so much I forget beers)this summer and was really pleased with the outcome. This time we are going for a more simple brew and we are going to cold store it for a few weeks secondary.
The recipe is pretty straight forward:
You don’t wanna why it’s ‘Cream Ale’
Brewer: Travis&Nick
Asst Brewer: Meatball
Style: Cream Ale
TYPE: All Grain
Recipe Specifications
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Batch Size: 10.00 gal
Boil Size: 12.55 gal
Estimated OG: 1.040 SG
Estimated Color: 4.1 SRM
Estimated IBU: 15.3 IBU
Brewhouse Efficiency: 59.0 %
Boil Time: 60 Minutes
Ingredients:
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Amount Item
14.00 lb Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) 74.7 %
3.00 lb Corn, Flaked (1.3 SRM) 16.0 %
1.00 lb Caramel/Crystal Malt – 10L (10.0 SRM) 5.3 %
0.75 lb Cara-Pils/Dextrine (2.0 SRM) 4.0 %
1.50 oz Saaz [4.00%] (60 min) 12.2 IBU
0.50 oz Saaz [4.00%] (30 min) 3.1 IBU
1 Pkgs Kolsch Yeast (Wyeast Labs #2565) (Yeast Cake from Kolsch)
Mash Schedule: Single Infusion, Full Body
Total Grain Weight: 18.75 lb
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Name Description
Mash In Add 5.86 gal of water at 170.5 F158.0 F 45 min
Mash Out Add 2.34 gal of water at 196.6 F168.0 F 10 min
Honestly I have a hard on for fly sparging because I have never done it, I need to get over that hump before I can move on and make an educated decision about which I prefer. (Are the perverse overtones of this post too blatant?)
Overtones? What overtones? What a nice necklace that young lady has on. What? You didn’t notice it?
The last cream ale I had was a Genessee Cream Ale years…and years ago. Probably when I was the age of that young lady in the picture.
Cream Ale is a pretty misunderstood beer. It has a nice refreshing taste that is not quite lager, but not quite ale either.
It’s a session beer for sure.
Interesting…I’ll have to taste one sometime soon. I noticed you used a kolsch yeast. I’ve used one of those. Is a kolsch the same as a cream ale? I guess I could go do some research and find out, but, what are comments on blogs for anyway?
Cheers!
Cream Ale is technically a hybrid, meaning that ideally you would use some kind of mix of a ale and lager yeast.
In my case, I am using the kolsch (an ale) because we had it left over from the kolsch beer we just did. When I checked up on the handy-dandy Wyeast website yeast strain guide I noticed that the kolsh yeast can be used for a cream ale.
You can use an American or California ale or lager yeasts as well. Really the important part of the cream ale is cold storing it in a long secondary.
I am all about this answering and asking questions on blogs, it’s great feedback and it makes me feel smrt!
Cheers.
“I am so smart, S-M-R-T” Ralph Wiggum
Excellent! I like that you were using what you had available and saved a few bucks doing so. I also like that you take the time to help edumacate me
Very interesting. Thank you.
Not a problem. I like that we have a nice network of bloggers going. It’s good stuff.
Cheers!