reduce corn flavor in Cream ale

[dirtbikejunkie]

I have brewed Brewing Classic Styles Cream Ale recipe a couple of times and each time it has a strong corn aroma/flavor that I would like to reduce.

I assumed the issue was my process and DMS. However I just brewed a Kolsch and do not taste/smell any corn flavor. This has me leaning towards recipe. What would be the best thing to try changing in the recipe below to reduce the corn flavor/aroma.

Grains, Weight lbs
2-Row, 5
Pilsner, 4
Flaked Rice, 1
Corn Sugar, 0.75

Hops, Minutes, Weight (grams)
Liberty 4.5% AA, Mash, 14
Liberty 4.5% AA, 60, 28
Liberty 4.5% AA, 1, 14

Mashed at 150 for an hour. Boiled for 90 minutes. Pitched a decanted 3.25L starter of WLP001.

See full recipe/notes here: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Aienk-yEIqKZdHR1a3hkd1JMcG11Y2Jjak9hWWRhaFE&output=html

[Beerd Man]

Just curious, what did your kolsch recipe like? I can't imagine where the corn flavor could be coming from looking at your recipe. How strong of a boil do you have? Did you use any pilsner in your kolsch?

I'm currently fermenting my first cream ale right now, but I did use flaked corn and a tad of flaked rice in the recipe, along with a shorter boil, but I'm TRYing to get a corn flavor in mine.

[brewinhard]

I really prefer that corn aroma and flavor in my cream ales. I always try to use the freshest flaked maize possible to achieve this. I too am having trouble figuring out where you are getting that aroma/flavor from when you are not using any corn in your grain bill. Could you have a possible infection? Your process appears to be solid...

[dirtbikejunkie]

Here is the recipe for the kolsch. Both are form Brewing Classic Styles. The kolsch is all pilsner + a bit of Vienna.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheet/pub?key=0Aienk-yEIqKZdFE0a2xlMTFjVEpYXzJSNmVzTnNDVVE&output=html

The only process change I made is increasing from a 90 minute boil to 100 minutes for the kolsch. I racked the kolsch 2 days ago and aroma and flavor are great with no hint of corn.

My wife doesn't sense the strong corn aroma/flavor in the cream ale. And the funny thing is after a few sips it goes away for me. I had the same result with this cream ale brewed a year ago. I have never had the issue with pale ales or any other light beers I have brewed so I am a bit stumped. Overall the cream ale tastes great and the keg kicks fast.

[BDawg]

Often, very light levels of DMS can volatize out of your glass pretty quickly.
You are probably more sensitive to it than most people, so you pick it up while your wife doesn't.
Otherwise, you can try to brew with a strain that doesn't produce as much sulphur.

You can try running Co2 in through the out tube (ha - sounds like a Led Zeppelin album) to try to volatize out any DMS and/or sulphur before you start to carbonate your kegs.

HTH-

[Nasty Nate]

I"ve had great luck brewing a cream ale and I use no rice. try 1 lb of flaked maize in your 5 gal batch and equal parts pislner & pale malt along with about a pound of Sugar at 1 min. Use 001 yeast as well.