Mike brewed a cream ale as it is one of his favorite beer styles. As a beginner homebrewer, he enjoyed the ability to make a light colored beer at ale fermentation temperatures. He’s been homebrewing beers for 23 years and he’s still tweaking recipes. This time, he experimented with his brewing water and simplified his water chemistry for this American Cream Ale. Watch this video for more details:

Cream Ale Recipe #12A

I am not sure of the number but thought it’s gotta be in that range.

Ingredients:

10 pounds (4.54 kg) of Pilsner malt
2 pounds (0.91 kg) of Flaked Maize
2 ounces of Tettnang hops boiled for 60 minutes (2.2% AA)
2 packets of US-05 yeast

Water: Added acid to brewing water to adjust pH to 5.5 and added small amounts of Calcium Chloride to the water.

Instructions:

Fermented at 58° F (14° C) for 10 days. Brought it to room temperature for 4 days.

Tasting Notes For This Cream Ale

If Mike’s objective was to knock out the flabbiness of his cream ale, then mission accomplished. This beer presented itself as a crisp lager with nice finish. Not as dry as a lager, but close.

His water chemistry procedure hit the mark properly. Also, his choice of yeast didn’t let him down. It fermented nicely at the lower temperature and presented like a lager.

The only knock on this cream ale was the lack of hop presence. Even with the amount of Tettnang hops he used, it wasn’t enough to compete with the flaked maize. It would have been nice to have an herbal/spicy hop note to balance out this beer.

Can’t wait for the iterance of Cream Ale!

Brew ON.