Cream ale

[drewlooker]

I've been working on a cream ale, I have never had a cream ale so I'm but confused what I should be looking for. I just opened the first bottle one week into bottle conditioning.. Carb is great and it looks and taste just like hoegaarden. Would that be accurate?

 

[gcdowd]

What yeast did you use?

 

[Jayhem]

Hoegaarden is a spiced wheat beer unless they also make a cream ale style?

Cream ales should be light tasting, dry, perhaps a hint of fruitiness and often they contain flaked corn and/or rice. Essentially a cream ale is an ale version of a lager in taste, body and appearance.

 

[drewlooker]

Yea it tasted and looked just like a wheat beer. Slightly sweet with a flightless fruity smell.. I like hoegaarden so I can't complain but from what my homebrew store told me I was thinking something different

 

[drewlooker]

What yeast did you use?

I can't remember the yeast.

 

[DocScott]

I've been working on a cream ale, I have never had a cream ale so I'm but confused what I should be looking for. I just opened the first bottle one week into bottle conditioning.. Carb is great and it looks and taste just like hoegaarden. Would that be accurate?

Not really... Hoeggarden is a Belgian white wheat brewed with coriander and orange (or lemon... Can't remember). It has slightly cloudy appearance due to the wheat, and a light, citrusy flavor.

A cream ale should be light and easy to drink. It typically has a clean flavor and clear appearance. Not brewed with citrus or spices. I suppose yours may have a citrus aroma/flavor depending on the hops you used. They are different categories in the bjcp guidelines, and should have characteristic differences.

This being said, there are many overlaps between styles and their flavors/aromas/etc. most important thing here, is that you enjoy what you made!

For a example of a cream ale, I think gennessee brewery makes a great one, and its fairly well distributed. Not sure where you're located as I'm on my phone app.

 

[drewlooker]

What could I have done wrong to make it so cloudy and not crisp ? The brewshop guy told me it should be similar to a budwiser but im way off

 

[aryoung1980]

What could I have done wrong to make it so cloudy and not crisp ? The brewshop guy told me it should be similar to a budwiser but im way off

If it has only bottled conditioned for one week, that could explain the cloudiness. With time in refrigerator it should clear up nicely. As for the fruitiness, my guess would be a high fermentation temperature. It's hard to say not knowing which yeast you used and the fermentation temp you had.