Begin Brewing!

The finished beer While inventorying my home brewing supplies over the weekend, I realized I had a lot of flaked corn, which made me think a Cream Ale might be nice.  I also saw some dark agave nectar I'd bought a long time ago on clearance, which delivers a tequila-like flavor when fermented.  I figured adding some orange peel, lemon peel, lime zest, and lime juice might just bring that margarita flavor home. I could add some Hallertau hops (lemony) and Mandarina Bavaria (orange) to further enhance the flavor. I started with a national competition-winning Cream Ale recipe from the American Homebrewing Association web site as the base, then layered on Mandarina Bavaria hops, agave nectar, lime zest and lime juice, orange and lemon peel, and set things up in the Brewie+. Ingredients 2 pounds Swaen Pilsner Malt 2 pounds Briess 2-row Pale Malt 9 ounces Flaked Corn 7 ounces Corn Sugar (mash) 4 ounces Acid Malt 4.2 ounces Dark Agave Nectar (flameout) 1.5 tsp. pH 5....

The last Cream Ale I made was an experiment to see if a drinkable cream ale could be produced with a three-hour Zymatic brewing session. The result was a drinkable but slightly hazy, slightly tart beer. While not the equal of the original 1.0 version of the recipe, it was actually a great warm weather beer. This time around, I am going back to the original recipe, with only a slight change to the grain bill to get a little better head retention. I'm adding some cara-pils malt for that. Ingredients 2 pounds 2-row Pale Malt 1 pound, 13 ounces 6-row Pale Malt 3 ounces Cara-pils/Dextrine Malt 0.50 ounces Hallertau Mittelfruh hops @ 3.8% AA (60 min.) 0.55 ounces Hallertay Mittelfruh hops @ 3.8% AA (5 min.) 1/2 tsp. Irish Moss 1 packet Safale US-05 ale yeast 1/2 vial White Labs Clarity Ferm 3 gallons plus 12 ounces of starting water in keg Mash schedule: 20 minutes Dough-In at 102F 45 minutes Mash Step 1 at 149F 45 minutes Mash Step 2 at 154F 10 minutes Mash Out at 17...

A glass of the finished "Rapid Cream Ale" Last year, one of my favorite (and shortest-lived) beers was my cream ale. It began as the Kari's Cream Ale recipe on the American Hombrewers Association web site, which had won a gold medal at the national level in 2008. I made some minor changes to it, to bring it more in line with my own tastes. Specifically, I switched from 2-row Pale Malt to 6-row Pale Malt (supplemented with about 6 ounces of 2-row Pale since I didn't have enough 6-row), from WLP001 California Ale Yeast to Safale US-05, from whole Hallertau hops to Hallertau Mittelfruh pellet hops, and added a second mash step at 154F to possibly add some sweetness and body. Bitterness was also decreased slightly to 17 IBUs. Ingredients 1 pound, 14 ounces 6-row Pale Malt 6 ounces 2-row Pale Malt 2.25 pounds Briess Pilsner Malt 4 ounces Flaked Corn 4 ounces Corn Sugar 0.60 ounces Hallertau Mittelfruh hops @ 3.8% AA (30 min.) 0.75 ounces Hallertau Mittelfru...

One of the beer styles I've wanted to brew for a while is a cream ale. It's a nice, light, refreshing style that is easy to enjoy during the warmer months.  With summer approaching its end, I thought maybe it was time to brew it. The recipe I'm using in this case is based closely on the Kari's Cream Ale recipe on the American Homebrewer's Association web site. This recipe won a gold medal at the National Homebrewer's Conference in 2008, so it seemed like a good choice. Using BeerSmith, the BJCP style guide, and calibrations based on my recent experience with The Grainfather, I had to modify the existing recipe.  My brewhouse efficiency with The Grainfather is pretty consistently coming out at 80%, so the original recipe's grain amounts were decreased to get the beer closer to the figures stated in the AHA recipe. The Recipe 3 pounds, 12 ounces of 2-row Pale Malt 3 pounds, 12 ounces of Swaen Pilsner Malt 8 ounces of Flaked Maize 1 pound of corn su...