Recipe suggestions for Cal Ale yeast?

I'm calling on the expertise of my fellow homebrewers for suggestions. I misjudged the amount of beer I had left in the two kegs in my fridge (damn kegerator newbie) and they're both empty now. I'm attempting to refill them as soon as possible.

I currently have an American nut brown ale in the primary and will be racking it over to the secondary this weekend. The yeast in that batch is White Labs California Ale. I'm going to brew up another batch on Saturday (happy birthday to me) and want to dump it onto the existing yeast cake.

So, I'm looking for a recipe that will both compliment the brown ale once they're on tap and work with the Cal Ale yeast in the primary this weekend. I'm still relatively new to brewing so I don't have much of a repertoire to fall back on. I tend to like heavier beers during the cold months.

By the way, I brew extract with grain batches. Thanks in advance for any ideas.

Cali Ale, huh?

BREW A PALE ALE!!!!!

Try out something like a SNPA cloner....or for somethign more hoppy, a SNCA cloner!

I just drilled down through that thread to the recipe DeRoux's posted. What's with adding the LME in the last 15 minutes of the boil? I've never seen a recipe like that.

DrewsBrews said:

I just drilled down through that thread to the recipe DeRoux's posted. What's with adding the LME in the last 15 minutes of the boil? I've never seen a recipe like that.

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Maybe to keep it from darkening by boiling too long?

Cheyco said:

Maybe to keep it from darkening by boiling too long?

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That is exactly it, it keeps the wort from caramelizing. I haven't extract brewed in SO long it seems, but I believe it also helps in hops utilization. The extract experts can hopefully verify that for me.

Okay, while we're pondering that, I have another question. What is a "magnum" hop? I found a reference at one site to a Hallertauer Magnum. Same thing?

I just checked the website of my LHBS. They apparently don't carry this type of hop. At best, they carry a generic Hallertauer with 4-5.8% "average alpha acid". Is this close enough to the magnum, or should I just go with the Perle in the recipe and skip the magnum?

I suppose I could just guess, but I know how much difference hops can make and I wouldn't want to fark up the flavor of the beer.

DrewsBrews said:

Okay, while we're pondering that, I have another question. What is a "magnum" hop? I found a reference at one site to a Hallertauer Magnum. Same thing?

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Name: Magnum
Alpha Acid %: 13% to 15%
Typical Beer Styles: All beers, particularly lager, pilsner, stout
Possible Substitutions: Northern Brewer
Flavor Description: Known for bittering value and quality.

Wild

Thanks for the info.

Any other recipes ideas folks? Not that the pale ale won't do, but I was thinking of something a little more "wintery".

6 lbs pale liquid extract
2 lbs 2-row
3/4 lb. victory
1/2 lb. crystal 40

1 ounce chinnok (60 min)
1 ounce willamette(30 min)
1 ounce willamette (0-5 min)

cali ale yeast
ibu 40
og 1.055

You could use the yeast for almost any style ale you want to do that isn't heavily dependent on the yeast strain for the flavor profile (i.e., wouldn't work for a hefeweizen, but would work for an American wheat).

BeeGee said:

You could use the yeast for almost any style ale you want to do that isn't heavily dependent on the yeast strain for the flavor profile (i.e., wouldn't work for a hefeweizen, but would work for an American wheat).

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Ahh... that's the info I was looking for. Unfortunately, it also still leaves me with a blank because I don't know what types of styles fall into that category. Maybe you could type up a short list of styles that aren't dependent on the yeast strain (or that are, which ever is less work) and I could then go search for recipes...

Do you have an extract/grain recipe handy for an American Wheat?

DrewsBrews said:

Ahh... that's the info I was looking for. Unfortunately, it also still leaves me with a blank because I don't know what types of styles fall into that category. Maybe you could type up a short list of styles that aren't dependent on the yeast strain (or that are, which ever is less work) and I could then go search for recipes...

Do you have an extract/grain recipe handy for an American Wheat?

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Since you want a winter beer, I'd suggest a stout or a porter...you could get away with the yeast for those styles. I do have a recipe for an American wheat, but not handy. I can send it tonight.

Excellent - thanks.

I have a recipe for a porter that I really like, but it calls for an Irish Ale yeast. What flavor difference might there be between the two? Is one slightly sweeter than the other? I know they have different attenuation values.

Would a winter wheat work with Cal Ale yeast? Or would I be better off using a wheat strain for that style?

Yeah, the Irish Ale yeast I would expect to be less attenuative resulting in more sweetness and emphasis on the malt flavor. But I think you would be fine subbing the Cali yeast for the recipe. I've noticed that lots of styles when brewed in America (ESB, wheat, stout, porter, whatever) have the Cali yeast/1056 specified in the clone recipe. It would probably be the yeast I would go with if told I could only use one yeast the rest of my life.

Oh yeah, not familiar with the winter wheat...darker, more alcohol, like an Aventinus?

I'm not sure what the winter wheat is. Last time I was at the LHBS, one of the employees suggested it to me. I gathered that it was a slightly darker, more robust version. I'll have to ask again when I go for ingredients today. I'll try to remember to post it if I bring a copy home.

thats the beauty of a super clean yeast like cali ale, you can make any beer (ale) from it (save for a wheat, or belgian ale) 'joy of HB' has a good anchor porter clone, which is a 6 percent. Is that a willy warmer enough?

6 is a nice, even number, yes.

I was just at the Beer Recipator site and found a blueberry wheat that I believe Walker posted there. I like the sound of that one.

If you're watching this thread, Walker, please let me know how that came out.

BeeGee said:

Oh yeah, not familiar with the winter wheat...darker, more alcohol, like an Aventinus?

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I settled on the winter wheat last night. It seemed like the best comprimise between brewing something I hadn't done before and keeping within the warm and fuzzy winter beer range.

Recipe as created (I think) by my LHBS:

Winter Weizen (Wheat Beer, Bavarian Dunkelweizen)
7.0 lbs Briess Wheat LME (color 1.035)
0.25 lbs Carafa (potential 1.030, color 400)
0.25 lbs Caramunich (potential 1.033, color 70)

1.0 oz Hallertauer hops (whole hops, alpha 3.20, IBU 14.2, boil time 60 mins)

White Labs WLP300 Hefeweizen Ale (substitute WLP-320)

The guy who helped me said that dumping it on the Cal Ale cake will eliminate some of the "banana" flavor of the traditional Weizen, but other than that it should be pretty close.