[jrhomebrewing]

I have a cream ale recipe that I want to get your opinions on and also a extra idea i have that I'm not sure what you would call it or if t would work.
 
for 5 gals
60 min mash
90min boil

4 lbs 2 row
1.5 flaked corn
12 oz munich
8oz cara pils
7 oz vienna
6 oz biscuit
1.5 lb dextrin 15 mins left of the boil

.12 oz of cascade at 60
.12 cascade at 30 mins
.12 nugget at 30
.5 cascade at 0

I also am wondering what it would be called or what it would be like if i added some kind of dark malts to make it black and just a little roasted notes (not sure what to add any suggestions and how much)? and also maybe add like 2 or 3 extra lbs of dextrin to ramp up the ABV...

What are your guys thoughts on this?

Im shooting for a smooth creamy easy drinking beer like a cream ale but making something different by adding something for black color and a hit of roast malty flavor.

[santoch]

I just lost a whole writeup responding to your recipe.

Here's the short answer:
Add more base malt and corn, and not as much Dextrose (dextrin is something different, but I think you mean Dextrose by your usage in the recipe and the question).

The mix of grains is ok, though non-traditional.  Traditional would be 6 row and corn (or rice).  You might not get much flavor out of only 6 or 7 oz of the Vienna and biscuit.
I stopped using carapils/dextrin malt, as I find I get plenty of MouthFeel without it.

The mix of hops is also non-traditional.  If you want traditional, stick with Noble-type or something like Cluster.  (American Noble-type hops such as Mt. Hood, Sterling, or Crystal are great too).
Keep the IBUs below 20.  Ferment it as cool as you can to minimize esters.

As far as an Dark Cream Ale, DO IT!  It will be the counterpart to Am. Dark Lager that Cream Ale is to American Lager.  Good versions of Am. Dark Lager can be REALLY tasty (ie, Full Sail Session Dark Lager).
I'd try Sinnamar and either Midnight Wheat or Carafa Special II (dehusked) to get the darkness.

[hopfenundmalz]

I will just add that you can use Midnight Wheat (my preference for coloring), and add it at the vorlauf step. Crush it very fine, as that helps extract the color. Other roasted malts will work, but will add more roast flavor.

[jrhomebrewing]

Thank you for your responses here is an update repine.

7 lbs 2 row
1.5 lb munich
1 lb biscit
1.5 lb flaked corn
1 lb vienna
1 lb caraf lll
6 oz cara pils
2 lbs dextrose and yes i meant dextrose at 15 mins of the boil

.5 oz cascade at 60
1 oz of willamette at 15
and american ale yeast with a starter

whats your thought on this santoch?

My program i am using shows IBU 16.4 the color is 36 and abs is 8.1.
What temp should i try t ferment at I normal ferment around 64.

[HoosierBrew]

Another $0.02 - it sounds like a good beer to me, but not necessarily a cream ale IMO. The grist is too busy, and the late hop addition out of place. It's closer to a good American blonde minus the corn.

This has done well in comps:

OG 1.048
FG 1.008
IBU 17-18 @ 60 mins

80% Rahr 2 row
20% Flaked Maize

WY1056 @ 60F

Mash 150F/90 mins


Easy peasy!



Edit - Just saw the carafa III. Thought it was a standard cream ale, not a dark version. I'd still simplify the grist. Just me.

[stpug]

From the standpoint of a "cream ale", I think the recipe is no good

From the standpoint of "how does this recipe sound", well it sounds like a serious drinker to me - just don't hand me a glass and call it a cream ale

There's nothing wrong with the recipe (except the 1lb of biscuit), it's just not a cream ale.  A dark drinker it IS!

[jrhomebrewing]

so whats wrong with the 1 lb of biscuit? ya i can't call it a cream ale what would you call this beer?

[santoch]

That looks like what you wanted when you were asking for a dark ale version of a cream ale.  I called it the Cream Ale counterpart to American Dark Lager.

It does not truly fit an existing style, but that's ok.  As they all stated, it looks good.  There's nothing wrong with biscuit malt in there either.  It's far too malty and dark to be a cream ale, but that's what you were going for, isn't it?

HTH-

[PORTERHAUS]

Thank you for your responses here is an update repine.

7 lbs 2 row
1.5 lb munich
1 lb biscit
1.5 lb flaked corn
1 lb vienna
1 lb caraf lll
6 oz cara pils
2 lbs dextrose and yes i meant dextrose at 15 mins of the boil

.5 oz cascade at 60
1 oz of willamette at 15
and american ale yeast with a starter

whats your thought on this santoch?

My program i am using shows IBU 16.4 the color is 36 and abs is 8.1.
What temp should i try t ferment at I normal ferment around 64.

What is it you are looking for in this beer? It comes off as a mix between a Cream Ale and a light Porter. Nothing wrong with getting creative and sometimes we have to learn for ourselves how things turn out but what happens a lot with too many grains at once is  nothing stands out, the little flavors you were looking to add kind of get lost in the mix. With a pound of Biscuit which is fine for a Porter or Amber ale is going to over power the corn flavor and even the light malty toasty notes from the Vienna and Munich malts.

There is just a lot going on in my opinion in a few different directions. I can't help but to suggest a simplified recipe. But that is just my opinion. Are you also shooting for high abv? What is the abv from this?

[Iliff Ave]

If you are looking for a dark cream ale I would go with Jon's suggested recipe and add enough dehusked carafa to get it dark which will also add some light roast character. I think a lot of the other ingredients are sending it in many different directions but that is not to say it would make a bad beer by any means.

[stpug]

Sorry for my previous post - I was feeling spunky and it came off wrong (even with the emojis) Porterhaus and goschman said what I was hinting at much better than I tried.

Like I said, it sounds like it would be a great beer for drinking, it just doesn't fall into a "cream ale" category (light or dark) with the last recipe you posted.  It's a very busy grain bill that might leave some of the subtle malt characteristics covered up with the specialty malts (biscuit, carafa).  I love biscuit malt, but rarely go over ~8oz in 5 gallons and find it's presence at that level to be obvious.  In lighter beers, more than ~8oz will guarantee a "toasty" malt character that is likely to cover up any biscuit/crackery/grainy/corn malt characters; but in rich dark beers you can go higher since it's hard to cover up the roasty malt characters.  I like carafa (special) III for color, but rarely need more than about 4-6oz per 5 gallons to get a color I'm after.  At 1lb of carafa special III you'll also get some roasty notes plus a pitch black beer, and the roasty notes will overpower some of the more subtle malt notes.  So with 1lb biscuit covering malt and 1lb carafaspecialIII covering malt, you'll finish with a roasty-toasty ale of high ABV considering the 2lb dextrose (assuming 5 gallon batch here).  If that's the goal then you could easily simplify the 2row, munich, corn, vienna, carapils down to one or two malts (replace all with maris otter).  You'll definitely be more porter-like, but again I think it could be a great drinker.

[jrhomebrewing]

Thank you for all the great help with this beer! My goal with it is to have a high ABV but a really smooth creamy malty dark drinking beer with just a hint of roasted notes. I went to a brewery and they had a beer called what the hell and i really liked it. It was really dark beer and they said it was their cream ale with extra dextrose and some dark malts but didn't say what. how I came up with the recipe is I have a friend that owns a brewery and he gave me the cream ale recipe and I messed with it to scale it down to 5 gallons and added the caraf lll and changed his hops too. Im up for any suggestions and love getting all your input and thought on this beer! Im just experimenting and messing around this this beer and hopefully it turns out great and how I am tasting it right now in my mind.

[stpug]

You may want to look into a Kentucky Common style beer because, from the description of your desires, it's in the ballpark (though usually a KC is not too high ABV). fwiw

[HoosierBrew]

You may want to look into a Kentucky Common style beer because, from the description of your desires, it's in the ballpark (though usually a KC is not too high ABV). fwiw

Yep, beat me to it. Sounds nearest a KC.

[coolman26]

You may want to look into a Kentucky Common style beer because, from the description of your desires, it's in the ballpark (though usually a KC is not too high ABV). fwiw

Beat me to this!


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