Cream Ale in Europe

[ARock_DK]

Hi everyone,

My question is in two parts I guess. i am a homebrewer in Denmark, and I would like to make a cream ale for summer (my brother in the US raves about them). My problem is American malt is not available here, especially something like six row. Is there a substitute or something I can add to just plain old 2 row pale to make it seem more 6 row-ish?

A lot of my local small brew supply ordering places don't carry corn as a brewing adjunct. Is there a supermarket/cheap alternative like there is for oats? As in when I was a new brewer I bought oats from the brew supply places instead of just off the shelf.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[GrainCounter]

It is perfectly acceptable to use rice instead of corn in a cream ale. If a gelatinized rice such as flaked rice or minute rice is not available, you can easily cook white rice and then add it to the mash. The point of the corn/rice is to keep the body light and the finish dry, not to add a corn flavor.

If 6-row is not available, a 2-row pale malt would be fine. Your level of adjuncts should not be so much that you would require the extra enzymes of the 6-row.

 

[Black Island Brewer]

You don't specifically need to use 6-row to make a cream ale - I think it just is used for the diastatic power, to convert the corn. I've found that german pilsner malts work just fine for a cream ale. As for flaked corn substitutes, corn meal or polenta can be substituted, but they're not as convenient as flaked corn. Flaked corn is pre-gelatinzed and can be mashed directly, but if you're using corn meal you will want to do a cereal mash to gelatinize the proteins before you add it to the main mash.