Creating a cream soda ale

[Nick Z]

I was thinking it might be interesting to try and make a cream soda beer. I don't know if it's been done before. I was hoping for advice and feedback.

For the "cream" part I was thinking of using lactose. It would also contribute sweetness.

Probably a lot of crystal malt to have unfermentable sugars.

Mash high with regular two row.

Stick a vanilla bean into primary or secondary.

I can foresee a couple of problems though: Too much lactose might make it taste gross and add too much body. Too much crystal malt might make it taste like coffee or caramel, even if I used something like C10 or C20.

Thoughts, please?

 

[VikeMan]

You're right, it's been done before. And I'd say Lactose and Vanilla are the way to go. As far as using too much lactose, that's entirely up to you. If you want it to be noticeably sweet, you'll need a lot. If not, use a little or none at all.

 

[Ayzala]

For my cream ales, flaked oats will give you the body, go with 1.5 lbs in a 5 gallon batch (be sure to add rice hulls to avoid a stuck sparge).
Skip the lactose, if you mash higher you will have the sweetness you need.
Go light on the crystal, Keeping the IBU's down in the 20's will also give you more malty sweetness.
The vanilla, soak a bean (to start, I'm up to two) in vodka for 2 weeks and pitch the whole thing at bottling/kegging otherwise you will lose the flavor.