Cream Ale / Standard Lager
Testimonials
"Brewed 6 gallons of the lager version of this... it tastes fantastic though especially for a light summer beer. Very clean tasting and cheap. Definitely great for non hoppy friends etc. Gonna do a hoppier pilsner next." - blazinlow86
"I made this brew as my 8th Electric Brewery brew. Since then I've searched for other cream ale recipes in an attempt to find, at least for me, the best cream ale. IMHO, this is it!. Kudos to Kal for the recipe. This is one of my top all time favorites. I need to brew more..." - KB
"Few weeks ago I brewed your cream ale recipe. And even though I'm an IPA guy 🤣 this beer is fantastic. Definitely will be on my todo list all the time." - boskarin
Introduction
This Cream Ale / Standard Lager is a crisp, clean tasting beer. It has slightly less malt flavour than our Blonde Ale / Premium Lager as it uses less grainy tasting domestic 2-row malt (1.8-2L) instead of pilsner malt (1.5-2.1L).
Our recipe also uses 10% regular table sugar to achieve an extremely crisp and dry taste (the beer is highly attenuated). Table sugar is 100% fermentable so it adds alcohol with very little taste. Other adjuncts such as flaked maize (corn) (0.8L) or rice can be used instead if desired. Rice has a very clean / neutral flavour while corn tends to add a subtle corn-like taste.
The choice of North American malt and hops makes this an American style beer.
We offer two versions of beer here where the only difference is the choice of yeast: Ale or Lager. The resulting beers are similar, but brewing with a lager yeast provides a cleaner tasting beer with a touch less fruitiness and yeast derived character. Patience is required however as a lager with its lower fermentation temperature means it can take longer to ferment if you do not pitch adequate amounts of yeast (make sure to follow our suggested pitch rates), and also requires a longer lagering (held near freezing) period after fermentation to allow the beer to mellow and smooth out.
Most people will find the Cream Ale therefore easier to brew as it does not require special fermentation equipment to maintain a lower temperature and the whole process takes less time. Curious about the differences? Try a split batch and brew both at the same time, using our two recommended yeasts.
Brew up a batch and let us know how you like it!
Cream Ale / Standard Lager
Size: 12 US gallons (post-boil @ 68F)
Mash Efficiency: 95%
Attenuation: 87.2%
Calories: 143 kcal per 12 fl oz
Original Gravity: 1.044 (style range: 1.042 - 1.055)
Final Gravity: 1.006 (style range: 1.006 - 1.012)
Colour: 2 SRM (style range: 2.5 - 5)
Alcohol: 5% ABV (style range: 4.2% - 5.6%)
Bitterness: 15 IBU (style range: 15 - 20)
Mash:
13 lb Domestic 2-row malt (1.8-2L) (86.1%)
0.5 lb Carapils or Carafoam (1.4-2.9L) (3.3%)
Boil:
3 oz Crystal hops (3.1%) - added during boil, boiled 60 min [14.5 IBU]
1 Whirlfloc tablet (Irish moss) - added during boil, boiled 15 min
1.6 lb Regular table sugar (10.6%) - added during boil*, boiled 10 min (add slowly)
Cream Ale Yeast:
Fermentis Safale US-05 dry yeast** (36g recommended or make an equivalent starter)
Standard Lager Yeast:
Fermentis Saflager W-34/70 dry yeast*** (72g recommended or make an equivalent starter)
*It's been said that moving the addition of simple sugars like table sugar to the end of fermentation can help if you have attenuation problems. (We've never had issues so we always add to the boil per our recipe). If you prefer to add at the end of fermentation, heat up some distilled water to near boiling (above 180F) and stir in about 1lb of sugar. Let it cool and add directly to the fermenter. Repeat this process of adding 1lb every 2-3 days until all of the sugar is used up. Why is this said to help with attenuation? Yeast likes to eat simple sugars (like table sugar) first before it attacks the more complex ones produced by the grain. By giving the yeast only the 'less tasty' stuff (complex sugars) first they're more likely to finish it all before moving on the 'tasty stuff' (simple sugars). Giving them both at the same time is like giving your kids dinner and dessert at the same time. They'll eat dessert first and then be too full to eat their dinner. Given them dinner first, and there's always room for dessert. 😉
**If you prefer to use liquid yeast, Wyeast 1056 American Ale or White Labs WLP001 California Ale are excellent choices as they are the same clean fermenting Chico strain as US-05. You'll need ~373 billion cells (3-4 fresh packs) or an equivalent starter.
***If you prefer to use liquid yeast, Wyeast 2124 Bohemian Lager or White Labs WLP830 German Lager are said to be the equivalent Weihenstephan sourced strains. You'll need ~747 billion cells (7-8 fresh packs) or an equivalent starter.
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Notes / Process
- Add 500mg potassium metabisulfite to 20 gallons water to remove chlorine / chloramine (if required).
- Water treated with brewing salts to our Balanced flavour profile: Ca=50, Mg=10, Na=16, Cl=70, SO4=70. (Hit minimums on Ca and Mg, keep the Cl:SO4 ratio low and equal. Do not favour flavour / maltiness or bitterness / dryness. For balanced beers.). For more information on how to adjust your water, refer to our step by step Water Adjustment guide.
- 1.5 qt/lb mash thickness.
- Single infusion mash at 148F for 120-180 mins. (A very long low temperature mash helps dry out the beer).
- Raise to 168F mashout temperature and hold for 10 mins.
- ~90 min fly sparge with ~5.6-5.8 pH water (measured at mash temperature).
- Boil for 60 minutes, adding Whirlfloc and hops per schedule. Lid on at flameout, start chilling immediately.
- Cool the wort quickly to 66F if making the Cream Ale or 50F if making the Standard Lager (we use a one-pass convoluted counterflow chiller to quickly lock in hop flavour and aroma) and transfer to fermenter.
- Aerate or oxygenate the chilled wort to a level of 8-10 ppm dissolved oxygen if making the Cream Ale or 14 ppm if making the Standard Lager. For more information refer to our Aerating / Oxygenating Wort guide.
- Pitch yeast and ferment at 66F if making the Cream Ale or 50F if making the Standard Lager (wort temperature). We use modified stainless fermenting buckets in wine fridges.
- Ferment until approximately 5 points from final gravity and then raise the temperature to 70-72F until finished. In our case we simply turn off the fermenting fridges and allow the beer to naturally rise to room temperature. Assume fermentation is done if the gravity does not change over ~3 days.
- Before packaging you may optionally rack to a brite tank (we use 5 gallon glass carboys) that has been purged with CO2 to avoid oxygen pickup, add 1 tsp of unflavoured gelatin dissolved in a cup of hot distilled water per 5 gallons of beer, and allow to clear for 2-3 days. In most cases we recommend skipping this step as the less you handle the beer and potentially expose it to oxygen, the better. The beer will drop brilliantly clear on its own during the conditioning period.
- Package as you would normally. We rack to kegs that have first been purged with CO2 and then chill to near freezing while carbonating at the same time in a 6-keg conditioning fridge. After ~1-2 weeks at serving pressure the kegs will be carbonated and ready to serve. In a hurry? Feel free to raise the CO2 pressure temporarily to 30-40 PSI to carbonate fast over a 24 period, and then turn back down to serving pressure.
- Carbonate this beer to around 2.5 volumes of CO2.
- The Cream Ale will improve greatly if conditioned just above freezing for 4 weeks before serving (6-8 weeks is recommended for the Standard Lager). Avoid keeping the beer unrefrigerated for extended periods. It will remain clean and crisp for months if kept near freezing.
For detailed brewing instructions, see our Brew Day Step by Step guide.
Enjoy!
Questions? Visit our Cream Ale / Standard Lager forum thread.
Pictures / Videos
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