Cream Ale Yeast ?

[Fritz Eye]

Thinking of doing a Cream Ale for my "BMC" friends. I noticed most recipes use Cal Ale for yeast and not the Cream Ale style.
Is the Cream Ale yeast ever used? Is it like using a Kolsch or Steam yeast where you would ferment at 60 and then lager as best as possible fior a few more weeks?
I would like to give it a shot unless anyone has bad things to say about it.
Cheers.

[thatguy314]

Fritz,

I'm not sure if there is a classic cream ale yeast. I know WL makes a cream ale blend, which sounds like a blend of cal ale and sf lager yeast.

You definitely need to lager the beer to get the right character if you are looking for a very classic version of the style.

I think a cooler fermentation would work well, though I find Cal Ale to be very clean at the warmer temps. I've always fermented my cream ale at 68. When WHO, Ed K and I went up to the Knickerbocker comp, there wasn't much to drink up at the local watering hole by Ken's cabin. Lots of Genessee. I took the time to compare Gennesse Cream Ale and Gennessee Lager (which have a similar if not identical grain bill, and is also IMO one of the tastier American Standard Lagers), and really see what the difference was. I found the difference is a clean light fruitiness which I think is needed to give this beer a little dimension, and the cream ale had a little bit more body and sweetness. I'm not sure if that was from yeast differences or mashing. The sweetness may have been an impression lent by the fruitiness of the yeast character.

If you want to ferment cold, I know Cal Ale doesn't always ferment as well cold, so I have an old PacMan sitting in the back of my fridge that I was going to grow up precisely to do a cream ale (and maybe a shakespeare stout clone). Rogue typically ferments this yeast as low as mid-50s, so I think it would be able hand andle a cool fermentation well. It's just a project I've been waiting on, so we could do this whenever you like. It'll probably take a week or so to get a decent pitch of yeast out of an old smack pack. I'll probably freeze a little bit down in a glycerol stock so it'll be faster to grow up in the future.

[BenTheBrewer]

I recently used Wyeast 2112 California Lager yeast. White labs equivilant is WLP810 San Fran Lager. 2 packets for a 6 gallon batch. Fermented at 68°F. This yeast is said to be of the Anchor Steam strain. It is recommended that you actually ferment at higher temps. It came out crystal clear.

[BDawg]

I used the Wyeast 1007 German Ale (Alt) yeast before. Nice yeast, but you gotta fine it, filter it, or age it out.

[mordantly]

order of preference WY1056 1187 1728 1792

[Fritz Eye]

great to have so much great feedback, thanks for all your help. Right now I have a Steam beer fermenting at 58-60 degrees so the yeast choice for the Cream Ale will depend on when I have free space in the kegerator for cold crashing and when the event that it is intended for is.
Leaning toward the 1007 if I have the time and Cali Ale if less time.

I feel bad for the Cream Ale yeast, all dressed up and not place to go.

[ResQ]

I was wondering the same thing as I am waiting on my 6 row. I ended up getting the san fran lager yeast and will ferment it around 60*.

[SacoDeToro]

Wyeast 1056 is what I prefer to use for my cream ale. Increase your pitching rate slightly and ferment around 63-65 degrees. After primary is complete, it step cool it and then hold it at 35-40 degrees for a week. IMO, it ends up very lager-like with that method. Cream ales are a great way to prop up a ton of clean and healthy yeast. Lagering it for a week will help even more yeast drop out of suspension for multiple repitches.