Cream Ale addition?

I like the idea of tweaking a cream ale (with the understanding that you are departing from the style guidelines). As others have said, you should be able to taste the corn in a cream ale and it's easy to over power that. I really like Don's Orange Creamcicle idea! Coincidentally I brewed a Cream Ale last Sunday. Maybe I'll see if the wife has any orange extract in her baking stuff and add a drop to a glass.
 
The Brew Mentor said:
1st rendition
I have some coffee blossom honey that is really awesome, so ill add that about day 4.
I dropped the % of adjunct and split again with rice to keep the malt light and let the honey shine.

https://www.brewersfriend.com/homebrew/recipe/view/1222508/black-friday-honey-ale
Thoughts?
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I'd keep the Honey Malt below 3 percent because it can get cloying and maybe make up the difference with your other crystal. An addition of it will enhance any residual flavor from the actual honey, though, so it's a good choice. You've got a lot of potentially drying simple sugars from the adjuncts, so the body should be pretty light despite the addition of crystal malts. I think you'll have a nice beer. :)
 
J A said:
I'd keep the Honey Malt below 3 percent because it can get cloying and maybe make up the difference with your other crystal. An addition of it will enhance any residual flavor from the actual honey, though, so it's a good choice. You've got a lot of potentially drying simple sugars from the adjuncts, so the body should be pretty light despite the addition of crystal malts. I think you'll have a nice beer. :)
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So maybe swapping the amounts on the honey and crystal malts is a good idea.
Also, even with a high mash temp and some crystal malt, I think it'll dry out, bit there'll definitely be some body left.
I'm feeling pretty good about where it's at after the last little tweek.
It'll make beer.
Thanks all!
Happy Thanksgiving
 
The Brew Mentor said:
So maybe swapping the amounts on the honey and crystal malts is a good idea.
Also, even with a high mash temp and some crystal malt, I think it'll dry out, bit there'll definitely be some body left.
I'm feeling pretty good about where it's at after the last little tweek.
It'll make beer.
Thanks all!
Happy Thanksgiving
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Yes, switching the percentages in your C-malts will work well, IMO. I'd trust the Crystal and the yeast to keep some body and drop the mash temp to no higher than 152. There'll be some perceived sweetness from the corn and rice and a little dry finish will help it feel settled and slam-able. :)
Good luck with it!
 
Genny...year round pounder in 1978 New Jersey when I thought that beer only came from the liquor store and not from barley and corn!
 
Pulled a carbonation sample today and it's really nice!
The honey came through in both the nose and taste.
I'll be serving for Christmas at my house!
 
FG on the Honey ale
 

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My buddy makes a really nice lemongrass cream ale with a little addition of orange peel...... Personally one of my favorites beers I had in Thailand (2020 Covid vacation) was a coconut cream ale. I have brewed my own version once before and planning to brew another batch soon.
 
I have a vanilla cream ale sitting on vanilla beans right now. Only 3 days to go. Took a sample taste (only 2 days) I dont pick up any vanilla. I used 3 vanilla beans split and cut 5 gallon batch. Then put in a muslin bag with magnets. Fermenting in an all rounder.

Some other flavors I would like to try would be
Orange Dreamsickle
Maple Bacon?
Strawberry
Chocolate
 
Cory001 said:
I have a vanilla cream ale sitting on vanilla beans right now. Only 3 days to go. Took a sample taste (only 2 days) I dont pick up any vanilla. I used 3 vanilla beans split and cut 5 gallon batch. Then put in a muslin bag with magnets. Fermenting in an all rounder.

Some other flavors I would like to try would be
Orange Dreamsickle
Maple Bacon?
Strawberry
Chocolate
Click to expand...
Wow, those are some big flavors!
 
I've never had a cream ale or brewed one.
Recently I brewed a beer with a fair amount of wheat flour and it came out very nice (I biab ;) ).
Seeing this thread I'm wondering if I should do something likewise but with mealie meal (sadza, nshima, umgali, posho, basically a coarse ground corn which is a staple here).
So base malt (80 - 85 %) mealie meal (15 - 20 %) sugar (0 - 5 %) and maybe some ginger and/or lemongrass.

Opinions?
 
Zambezi Special said:
I've never had a cream ale or brewed one.
Recently I brewed a beer with a fair amount of wheat flour and it came out very nice (I biab ;) ).
Seeing this thread I'm wondering if I should do something likewise but with mealie meal (sadza, nshima, umgali, posho, basically a coarse ground corn which is a staple here).
So base malt (80 - 85 %) mealie meal (15 - 20 %) sugar (0 - 5 %) and maybe some ginger and/or lemongrass.

Opinions?
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Well you'll need a decent percentage of malted grains to get it to convert. I'm not familiar with what you mentioned, but if it's similar to corn. Ithose grains would need a gelatinization step prior to mixing with your malted grains.
 
So maybe 50% pilsner or 2 row malt, and the rest of the grain bill would be what you mentioned above.
A bit of lemongrass would be fine in it as well.
About 15 IBU and then use the Bry- 97 off the 1st quarter beer
 
Zambezi Special said:
I've never had a cream ale or brewed one.
Recently I brewed a beer with a fair amount of wheat flour and it came out very nice (I biab ;) ).
Seeing this thread I'm wondering if I should do something likewise but with mealie meal (sadza, nshima, umgali, posho, basically a coarse ground corn which is a staple here).
So base malt (80 - 85 %) mealie meal (15 - 20 %) sugar (0 - 5 %) and maybe some ginger and/or lemongrass.

Opinions?
Click to expand...
Love that stuff! A friend from South Africa gave me several pounds when I was in college. I lived off of it for weeks

I used grits in a beer with malted barley and it worked great, so I'd assume your plan would be fine. I used 10% grits
 
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