Two weeks ago I brewed up my favorite recipe for an American Cream Ale.
Not much to report as I have brewed this recipe a few times in the past. I love the the light but slighly sweet grainy character. This recipe also made me really start to admire Liberty hops.
I took a few pics of the night. I am still getting used to my pump and direct fired mash, but I’ll post more on that in the future after I get some more equipment focused pictures.
I needed to get these pics up because I’ll be diving into a Nut Brown Ale brew session this Thursday night.
Enjoy the pics:
Derek
I like the set up. What type of burners do you have, and do you like them?
Mike
I have one banjo burner from bayou classic. Its not the super huge one. Mine is about 6 inches across. I upgraded it to a 30PSI regulator when my 10PSI regulator went bad. Its a great but the burner tends to not be able to suck enough air to really go full bore at 30PSI. I think a 20-25PSI regulator would be better. I think about modifying the “carburetor” but I am not there yet. My other burner is one of those simple cast iron “cup” style burners its only 3 inches across. Its on a 10PSI regulator, I like that one just as much.
I used the smaller diameter burner under the MLT. Primarily because it gives off a smaller foot print flame pattern so as to not be heating the keggle outside of the false bottom. This keeps the wort from scortching. The larger burner is under the kettle so that once I get wort in there I can really let it rip to get things boiling. I also use that burner to heat sparge water in a 10 gallon pot that I have.
I’ll have to put up a post with just pics of my burners to help make it seem clear. I want to walk through my equipment for you guys as I spent a good part of last year semi-rebuilding my stuff and reworking my brewing process.
Mystic Brewing
I have a cream ale conditioning in the fridge right now. I used a repitch of Whitelabs Kölsch yeast WLP029. Normally I use US-05 but had just finished a Kölsch and figured why not. I’ll be making this one again for summer. Very light, crisp and refreshing. perfect for those hot summer days ahead. If you haven’t done a cream ale on WLP029 give it a shot..
John
Yes, Kolsch yeast is a good choice for the style. Thanks for the information.
Mike
I did a split batch last year on WLP001 and WLP029. I had high hopes for the Kolsch style but in the end I still preferred the WLP001 fermented a little cold (62F). For me in the Cream ale the corn softens the beer a bit. Kolsch tends to soften the feel of an all barley beer. I felt like the Kolsch yeast just maybe the beer very “soft” and not a crisp in its finish as with the WLP001… To each his own, and that’s why we homebrew. I might try the split ferment again in another couple months. I plan to brew a 10 gallon batch of this to be ready for the late summer months. Maybe I’ll do the Kolsch/WLP001 split again.