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Popcorn cream ale


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#1 EWW

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Posted 29 January 2011 - 01:48 PM

So, me and a few other club members are planning to brew a popcorn beer to be served at ExBEERience at Redhook. We're brewing superbowl Sunday morning. Here's the basic recipe that we came up with. There will be a lot of hop bombs at the event so we wanted to give another option. We figure the 'popcorn' will give us tap handle appeal. General thoughts and feedback are much appreciated. This will be one of the 12 club beers being poured from the WAHA jockey box Popcorn Cream Ale - 2/6/11 Style: Cream Ale OG: 1.051 Type: All Grain FG: 1.012 Rating: 0.0 ABV: 5.11 % Calories: 166 IBU's: 18.33 Efficiency: 73 % Boil Size: 13.00 Gal Color:    3.9 SRM   Batch Size: 11.00 Gal   Grains & Adjuncts Amount Percentage Name Gravity Color 5.33 lbs 25.39 % Pale Malt, Maris Otter 1.038 3.0 5.33 lbs 25.39 % Pilsner (2 Row) Ger 1.037 2.0 5.33 lbs 25.39 % Pale Malt (2 Row) US 1.036 2.0 4.00 lbs 19.06 % Air popped popcorn 1.037 1.3 1.00 lbs 4.76 % Cara-Pils/Dextrine 1.033 2.0   Hops Amount Percentage Name Time AA % 0.50 ozs 20.00 % Magnum 60 mins 14.00 2.00 ozs 80.00 % Saaz 15 mins 4.00   Yeasts Name Laboratory / ID California Ale White Labs 0001   Additions Amount Name Time Stage 2.00 tbsp Irish Moss 15 mins Boil   Mash Profile Single Infussion 75 min @ 150.0°F  Add 26.24 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 162.0°F   Notes - Drop yeast cake from conical at 14 days. - Crash cool at 14 or 21 days - Due to the turn around time, we may want to hit this with gelatin to help improve the clarity ETA: rice hulls will be added to help prevent a stuck sparge - Keg and force carb  

Edited by EWW, 29 January 2011 - 02:04 PM.


#2 Big Nake

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Posted 29 January 2011 - 03:06 PM

I remember Legman (on the NB forum) posting a recipe for this and I'll admit that it's very intriguing. Does the popcorn lend flavor, fermentables, none, both or what? I can't imagine what the mash would be like on a beer like that, but I would love to hear feedback on it after you guys have tapped and consumed a few glasses of it. Otherwise, the recipe looks very straightforward (except for the popcorn, of course) and as long as everything is done right I can't see your recipe letting you down. Good luck and please keep us posted.

#3 EWW

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Posted 29 January 2011 - 03:20 PM

I remember Legman (on the NB forum) posting a recipe for this and I'll admit that it's very intriguing. Does the popcorn lend flavor, fermentables, none, both or what? I can't imagine what the mash would be like on a beer like that, but I would love to hear feedback on it after you guys have tapped and consumed a few glasses of it. Otherwise, the recipe looks very straightforward (except for the popcorn, of course) and as long as everything is done right I can't see your recipe letting you down. Good luck and please keep us posted.

From my understanding the corn is just a cheaper alt. to flaked maize. Not much additional flavor from the popcorn, but an added freshness. We're talking about removing the MO and having a 50/50 split of pils and 2-row. Basically we're looking for a BMC that was spoon fed a little crack. Is the chico strain the best choice for something like this? I'll keep all posted on the results

Edited by EWW, 29 January 2011 - 03:22 PM.


#4 Big Nake

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Posted 29 January 2011 - 03:25 PM

I think 1056 or WLP001 would be very good for this. It won't really be MGD, etc. because the ale yeast will lend a little more flavor than a boring American lager yeast would. It seems like the recipe will create exactly what you have in mind and the Magnum & Saaz combo sounds nice too. Cheers.

#5 cavman

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Posted 29 January 2011 - 06:13 PM

Ferment with the chico yeast real low and it will be pretty clean. I've used it at 60 with no problems and heard of it fermenting even lower. As Ken said the hop combo should be nice, Magnum is super clean for bittering and I love Saaz.

Edited by cavman, 29 January 2011 - 06:14 PM.


#6 3rd party JKor

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Posted 29 January 2011 - 08:03 PM

4# of popped popcorn will probably fill a 55 gallon drum. How are you gonna get it in the mash tun?I don't necessarily see the need for the MO/Pils/2-row, but I don't think it'll be a problem.I fermented my last cream ale at 65 with 001. It's very clean.

Edited by JKoravos, 29 January 2011 - 08:03 PM.


#7 EWW

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Posted 29 January 2011 - 08:16 PM

4# of popped popcorn will probably fill a 55 gallon drum. How are you gonna get it in the mash tun?

when some things get wet they shrink. It'll fit if I have to force it in.

#8 Big Nake

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Posted 29 January 2011 - 08:17 PM

I have also used WLP001/1056 at around 60° and had it produce a very clean, pilsner-like beer. If you have a good amount of active, healthy yeast, it will ferment pretty nicely at those low temps. There is another discussion on this over here.

#9 EWW

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Posted 29 January 2011 - 08:46 PM

I have also used WLP001/1056 at around 60° and had it produce a very clean, pilsner-like beer. If you have a good amount of active, healthy yeast, it will ferment pretty nicely at those low temps. There is another discussion on this over here.

I'll have to give that a read. My inspiration was Earthtone's thread last summer We're planning on fermenting in the mid to low 60s.

#10 Big Nake

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Posted 29 January 2011 - 09:11 PM

Oh yeah, I forgot about ET's popcorn beer. It appears that this is a pretty popular thing because a surprisingly large number of people have tried it and/or heard of it. I don't have an air-popper so I'm out. But I would love to try someone's attempt at it. Have fun with it & cheers.

#11 EWW

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Posted 02 February 2011 - 07:50 AM

Oh yeah, I forgot about ET's popcorn beer. It appears that this is a pretty popular thing because a surprisingly large number of people have tried it and/or heard of it. I don't have an air-popper so I'm out. But I would love to try someone's attempt at it. Have fun with it & cheers.

I'll try to remember to pull off a few bottles before we take it up to Redhook. No promisses. A couple small tweeks by the 4 of us who are brewing this. Carapils eliminaed and base malts simplified. Here's the final recipe:
Popcorn Cream Ale - 2/6/11Style: Cream Ale	OG: 1.050	Type: All Grain	FG: 1.011	Rating: 0.0	ABV: 5.11 %	Calories: 163	IBU's: 18.47	Efficiency: 75 %	Boil Size: 13.00 Gal	Color:    3.4 SRM  	Batch Size: 11.00 Gal Grains & AdjunctsAmount	Percentage		Name	Gravity	Color8.00 lbs	 40.00 %		Pilsner (2 Row) Ger	1.037	 2.08.00 lbs	 40.00 %		Pale Malt (2 Row) US	1.036	 2.04.00 lbs	 20.00 %		Corn, Flaked	1.037	 1.3a couple handfuls of rice hullsHopsAmount	Percentage		Name	Time	AA %0.50 ozs	 20.00 %		Magnum	60 mins	14.002.00 ozs	 80.00 %		Saaz	15 mins	 4.00 YeastsName	Laboratory / IDCalifornia Ale	White Labs 0001 AdditionsAmount	Name	Time	Stage2.00 tbsp	 Irish Moss	 15 mins	 Boil
the only thing that we have yet to decide is how we want to mash this. Right now it's either 148-150F for 90 min or step mashing at 130f, 145, 155. The protein rest is the main reason we think a step mash may be nice for this, but we're still discussing if it's really needed.

#12 EWW

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Posted 04 February 2011 - 06:51 PM

So a few of us were at a local good beer bar and we got talking about this a bit. One person said too bad you're not hopping it up you could call it 'hopcorn.'. We all liked the name enough that we decided to do a split batch and hopburst half of it. We're thinking 25ish IBU all in the last 20 minutes + dry hops.Available US hops are:AmarilloCTZChinookCentsSimcoeWillamette What combo woul you use? I love the willamette, Amarillo, and CTZ route, but do that all the time. Cents and simcoe are a possibility as well. Thoughts?

#13 EWW

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Posted 04 February 2011 - 09:04 PM

So here are my draft of the recipes for Sunday ...one mash but written into two recipes to allow for hop calculations.  Let me know if you want to see any changes anywhere.HopcornStyle: Cream Ale OG: 1.050 Type: All Grain FG: 1.011 Rating: 0.0 ABV: 5.11 % Calories: 163 IBU's: 28.98 Efficiency: 75 % Boil Size: 6.50 Gal Color:    3.4 SRM   Batch Size: 5.50 Gal  Grains & AdjunctsAmount Percentage Name Gravity Color4.00 lbs 40.00 % Pilsner (2 Row) Ger 1.037 2.04.00 lbs 40.00 % Pale Malt (2 Row) US 1.036 2.02.00 lbs 20.00 % Corn, Flaked 1.037 1.3 HopsAmount Percentage Name Time AA %0.50 ozs 7.69 % Simcoe 15 mins 13.000.50 ozs 7.69 % Centennial 15 mins 10.000.50 ozs 7.69 % Williamette 10 mins 5.501.00 ozs 15.38 % Amarillo Gold 2 mins 8.501.00 ozs 15.38 % Columbus (Tomahawk) 2 mins 14.002.00 ozs 30.77 % Amarillo Gold 14 days 8.501.00 ozs 15.38 % Columbus (Tomahawk) 14 days 14.00 YeastsName Laboratory / IDCalifornia Ale White Labs 0001 AdditionsAmount Name Time Stage1.00 tbsp Irish Moss 15 mins Boil Mash ProfileSingle Infussion 75 min @ 150.0°F Add 12.50 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 162.0°F Popcorn Cream Ale Style: Cream Ale OG: 1.050 Type: All Grain FG: 1.011 Rating: 0.0 ABV: 5.11 % Calories: 163 IBU's: 18.47 Efficiency: 75 % Boil Size: 6.50 Gal Color:    3.4 SRM   Batch Size: 5.50 Gal  Grains & AdjunctsAmount Percentage Name Gravity Color4.00 lbs 40.00 % Pilsner (2 Row) Ger 1.037 2.04.00 lbs 40.00 % Pale Malt (2 Row) US 1.036 2.02.00 lbs 20.00 % Corn, Flaked 1.037 1.3 HopsAmount Percentage Name Time AA %0.25 ozs 20.00 % Magnum 60 mins 14.001.00 ozs 80.00 % Saaz 15 mins 4.00 YeastsName Laboratory / IDCalifornia Ale White Labs 0001 AdditionsAmount Name Time Stage1.00 tbsp Irish Moss 15 mins Boil Mash ProfileSingle Infussion 75 min @ 150.0°F Add 12.50 qt ( 1.25 qt/lb ) water @ 162.0°F 

#14 cavman

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Posted 04 February 2011 - 10:36 PM

So a few of us were at a local good beer bar and we got talking about this a bit. One person said too bad you're not hopping it up you could call it 'hopcorn.'. We all liked the name enough that we decided to do a split batch and hopburst half of it. We're thinking 25ish IBU all in the last 20 minutes + dry hops. Available US hops are: Amarillo CTZ Chinook Cents Simcoe Willamette  What combo woul you use? I love the willamette, Amarillo, and CTZ route, but do that all the time. Cents and simcoe are a possibility as well. Thoughts?

Amarillo, Centennials , Chinook and Simcoe would be a good combo. As a matter of fact I am kegging my session IPA that was hopbursted with that combo tomorrow. Subbing the CTZ for one or just adding it to the mix would be good to.

#15 EWW

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Posted 05 February 2011 - 01:03 PM

Latest tweek to the above recipe is to move the simcoe to FWH.

#16 EWW

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Posted 07 February 2011 - 08:20 PM

We hit our numbers dead spot on. The mash looked like cornpops®, but even without rice hulls (we forgot them) sparging went off without a hitch. Pitched an active slurry at 60F and will let each 1/2 free rise to 62-63F. Wort sample were tasty. All in all a great day of football and brewing.

#17 earthtone

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Posted 09 March 2011 - 05:01 PM

I'll have to give that a read. My inspiration was Earthtone's thread last summer We're planning on fermenting in the mid to low 60s.

hey awesome man! Funny I just thought about doing this one again as it was so good! Get some tasting notes up when you're drinking it, I think it is mostly novelty but I made a second cream ale right after with flaked and I swear it was missing that air popped aroma that came through in the first one! :angry:

#18 EWW

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Posted 11 March 2011 - 10:16 PM

hey awesome man! Funny I just thought about doing this one again as it was so good! Get some tasting notes up when you're drinking it, I think it is mostly novelty but I made a second cream ale right after with flaked and I swear it was missing that air popped aroma that came through in the first one!

:smilielol:

I think it's damn tasty! Out of the two versions I think I prefer the straight popcorn cream ale...so clean, refreshing, with a slight corn sweetness. I could easily drink liters of this on a hot day. Nice malt back bone, hops are there for bitterness, slight saaz flavor noticable. My brew partner on this thinks he picks up some D, but I don't taste it. Gimmick or not I'd brew the straight cream ale version again...the 'hopcorn version probably not. The proof is in the crappy pic:

Posted Image

The hop corn is a grapefruit bomb. Tasty for what it is, but I couldn't drink as much of it. Overall it's less refined, cloudier, and out of ballance (and I love hoppy beers). An equally crappy pic:

Posted Image

It would be interesting to do a triangle test with a popcorn cream and flaked corn cream ale to see if you could tell the difference...honestly I'm not sure I could, but the beer is tasty and I don't plan to make any changes to the recipe WHEN I brew the cream ale version again.

A blend of the 2 is very very good.

#19 EWW

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Posted 13 March 2011 - 10:10 AM

I took both kegs to a HB and pro tasting event at Redhook and both kegs blew. It could be the fact that we had a gimmick, but we were the only club to blow both kegs that we brought. It's always great to see others (probrewers, homebrewers, and beer lovers) enjoy the beers you make. :lol:


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