Dear Replicator,

We have a top-notch brewery in Belgrade, Montana called Big Hole Brewing. They make my favorite beer of all, Wisdom Cream Ale. I would sure be interested in a clone recipe for this beer, as I have had slim luck brewing cream ales.

Replicator replies:

I talked to the head brewer at Big Hole, Doug Frey, about Wisdom. This cream ale is a relatively new addition for them, with production starting last fall, so he was pleased to hear that you love it. The name “Wisdom” reflects the Native American theme that all their beers share.

Doug said they produced this beer for the “lighter” crowd and described this ale as an easy drinker. They use only two-row pale malt in the grain bill and keep the hopping level low to give the beer a balance that tilts toward the malty side. If this were a lager beer, you would probably compare it to a German-style Pilsner.

This is a great beer to make for warm-weather drinking. The cream- ale style is a light-colored beer with subdued maltiness and low hop bitterness to give it a light, balanced flavor.

Doug suggested keeping a close eye on fermentation temperatures. You want to avoid temperatures above 70° F to keep down the fruitiness from esters. He also mentioned that they have fairly hard water in Belgrade, so if you have soft water you may want to add some gypsum or “Burton” style brewing salts.

I suggest that you use dry malt extract, since the dry malt extract tends to give you a lighter beer color than liquid malt extracts.

You can get more information about Big Hole Brewing and their beers at (406) 388-7953.

Wisdom Cream Ale Clone (5 gallons, extract)

OG = 1.053
FG = 1.014
IBUs = 14–16
ABV = 5.1%

Ingredients

• 6.0 lbs. Coopers Light dry malt extract
• 4.0 AAU Tettnanger hops (bittering)
• (0.9 oz. of 4.5% alpha acid)
• 7.4 AAU Saaz hops (aroma)
• (2.1 oz. of 3.5% alpha acid)
• 1 tsp Irish moss
• White Labs WLP002 (English Ale) yeast or Wyeast 1968 (Special London) yeast
• O.75 cup of corn sugar for priming

Step by Step

Since there are no grains in this recipe, it is simple to make. Add the malt extract to three gallons of hot water and bring to a boil. Add the Tettnanger (bittering) hops and Irish moss and boil for 60 minutes. Add the Saaz (aroma) hops for the last two minutes of the boil.

When you are done boiling, strain out the hops. Add the wort to two gallons of cool water in a sanitized fermenter and top off with cool water to 5.5 gallons. Cool the wort to 80º F, aerate the beer and pitch your yeast. Allow the beer to cool over the next few hours to 68–70º F and ferment for 10–14 days. Bottle your beer, age for a minimum of two to three weeks and enjoy!

All-grain option

Replace the light malt extract with 10 lbs. of two-row pale malt

(2° L). Mash all your grains at 155º F for 45 minutes. Collect enough wort to boil for 90 minutes and have a 5.5-gallon yield.

Decrease the amount of bittering hops to 0.75 oz. of Tettnanger to account for increased hop extraction efficiency in a full-wort boil. Chill the wort, aerate and pitch yeast. Bottle and condition as explained in the extract recipe.