Imperial Cream Ale?

I had an imperial blond ale from Glacier Brewhouse in Anchorage, it was a long time ago, but I remember liking it. I say you brew a big cream ale and report back

 

Sounds fine to me if done right. I think a bad fermentation would shine through with this. I would pitch plenty yeast and myself would go with German ale or Scottish ale yeast with primary on the low end and lagered afterward

 

The beauty of homebrewing is that we can make any sort of beer we want. I can't think of any reason why an Imperial Cream Ale couldn't be a tasty beer. Just take a recipe for a Cream Ale and increase the grain bill; you could even substitute a bit of sugar if you want a beer that is dry.

I think that @kellyst made a good suggestion about using German Ale yeast; use Wyeast 1007 and ferment cool (e.g., around 60 degrees F).

Cheers!

 

Id work on making an excellent imperial cream ale before going ahead and adding things like peppers to it. Just my .02

 

http://www.homebrewersassociation.org/homebrew-recipe/bosmos-imperial-cream-ale/

That might help.

 

Good luck with your ICA...you must really like Cream Ale...

 

By the time you ramp up your IBUs and your late addition hops to cover the booze in an otherwise crisp dry beer, you could sell it as an APA or Double Blonde. Don't be afraid to rename it when it's done, is all I'm sayin`

 

I'm with @kellyst. If you can't control temps, don't bother. Pitch a big ol' starter

 

Not to throw a wet towel on your dreams, but folks here are more interested in the flavors than in the buzz. You'll find deep discussions about tweaking some of the nuanced flavors in a 2.5% sour or a 3.2% bitter. Frankly, bigger, for its own sake, seldom comes up.
If increasing the buzz is all you're looking for, then just add table sugar. 1# will boost your ABV by a bit under 1%. Keep the fermentation temp low to minimize fusels and you should be good. Or just add a shot or two of Vodka to the glass.

 

Depends on the batch size of course, but 1# of table sugar in 5 gallons of wort will boost ABV by almost 1.5%.

 

I assumed 5 gal. My recollection (too damn lazy to look it up right now) is 1.047/lb/gal SG for table sugar. That's about .0094 gravity points per lb in a in 5 gal batch. Assuming 100% fermentability, 131*.0094 is about 1.23% increase in ABV (your formula may differ). Hmmm... I always ballparked just under <1% increase per lb. I guess it's time to get up off my laurels.

 

Don't forget that 100% real attenuation is 122% apparent attenuation. So your estimated .0094 gravity change would really be .0115.

But really, table sugar is 46PPG (no fermentable is more than 46PPG).
46/5 = 9.2 points, so...
.0092 * 122% * 131 = 1.47% ABV

 

When you said:" All i care is that i can drink it and it wont take 11 of them to give me a buzz. I don't really care if it is out of style", I inferred that all you care is that you can drink it and it wont take 11 of them to give you a buzz and that you don't really care if it is out of style.

 

"Double Cream" Ale has a certain ring to it...


Here's one that I've made up and is on my list of things to brew, but have yet to brew it yet, so no guarantees!:

Style: Imperial Cream Ale
Boil Time: 60 min
Batch Size: 5 gal
Efficiency: 75%
Original Gravity: 1.070
Est Final Gravity: 1.017
Est ABV: 7.07%
Est IBU: 26.35
Est SRM: 3.74

10 lb American - Pale 6-Row (80%)
1.25 lb Flaked Corn (10%)
1 lb Cane Sugar (8%)
0.25 lb American - Carapils (Dextrine Malt) (2%)

0.5 oz Cluster Pellet 6.5AA @ 60 min (11.42 IBU)
0.75 oz Hallertau Hersbrucker Pellet 4AA @ 60 min (10.55 IBU)
0.5 oz Cluster Pellet 6.5AA @ 5 min (2.28 IBU)
0.75 oz Hallertau Hersbrucker Pellet 4AA @ 5 min (2.1 IBU)

White Labs - California Ale Yeast WLP001