California Common

13 January 2007 @ evening time | Comments (2)

As a tribute to the extraordinarily cold weather we’ve been having lately here in California, I’ve decided to “brew for the season” and hopefully avoid my ongoing too-cold-for-ale fermentation temperature issues.

Those of us living in old homes with poor insulation and no central heating, it can become challenging to manage fermentation temperatures, even with an insulated fermentation chiller box. Indoor nighttime temperature have been hovering between the upper 40s to low 50s, so ales have become difficult. Unfortunately, I also lack the resources to manage lager temperatures between 34°F and 55°F.

There is a small window of temperature within which I can work reliably during the peak winter months, between 55°F and 65°F. A perfect candidate for this temperature range is the California common, also known as “steam beer”. This recipe is slightly lighter than most steam beers and uses Saaz hops for flavor/aroma, which is normally associated with a Bohemian pilsner, but should make for an interesting interpretation.

The recipe

• Style: California common
• Type: All grain
• Batch size: 5 gal
• Color: 8 SRM
• Bitterness: 38 IBU
• OG: 1.058
• FG: 1.012
• BU/GU: 0.65
• Mash: Single decoction (75% efficiency)
• ABV: 6.1%
• Yeast: San Francisco Lager (WLP810)
• Grain:
  • 9 lb. Pale malt (American 2-row)
  • 1.0 lb. Crystal 40L
  • 0.75 lb. Vienna malt
• Hops:
  • 0.5 oz. Northern Brewer (pellet, 60 min)
  • 0.5 oz. Northern Brewer (pellet, 45 min)
  • 0.5 oz. Czech Saaz (pellet, 15 min)
  • 1.0 oz. Czech Saaz (whole, aroma)

The process

Breaking the standard BJCP Style Guide mold a bit here, I did a few things with this beer to merge it slightly with a Czech pilsner. This recipe uses both Northern Brewer and Czech Saaz, which should create a less woody/minty and more spicy/floral hop aroma. Additionally, I opted for a single decoction instead of single infusion in order to contribute more malt complexity. Finally, the saccharification rest was held at 156°F in order to increase dextrins for a bit more additional body.

Primary fermentation was held for 14 days at 59-60°F, then racked off to secondary for two weeks at 50°F. This is not a true secondary fermentation per se, since the beer will not be incrementally cooled down to 34°F over the course of weeks and lagered for an extended period, like most classic lagers. Nevertheless, this should serve to remove much of the sediment from the beer and clear out many of the impurities that may remain.

The result

March 20, 2007: Problems. Phenolics. Infection? Meh.

Lessons learned

• Water temperature management can be a bitch.
• During a decoction, prepare extra hot and/or cold water to adjust mash temperature after returning the boiled portion back into the mash.
• ProMash is worth the money, as is Parallels Desktop, which allows me to use ProMash on my Mac.