California Common California Common- HBT Comp winner 1st place

I might as well ask this here, I think. I'm planning on brewing a Cali Common, and I got a copy of Brewing Classic Styles yesterday. In it, the Cali Common recipe (that this recipe is based on) seems very heavy on the pale malt - the AG version calls for 10 lb of pale malt, plus the same character malts as in this recipe. Is this a mistake in the book, or are they assuming very low efficiency? BeerSmith puts it at 1064 or so for my efficiency in a 5.5 gallon batch into the fermenter (6 gal post boil volume at 60F).

Just brewed this today. My only variation is using Maris Otter for the base malt, because that's what I had. Hope it's not to "Maris Ottery" if that's even possible.

Has anybody ever used any other hop substitutions on this? I know it wouldn't be true to the style I guess just wanting to make it and I just want to use what I have on hand. I have Willamette, EKG, Cascade and Centennial in copious amounts. What are your thoughts on any of those? Thanks.

sfgoat said:

Has anybody ever used any other hop substitutions on this? I know it wouldn't be true to the style I guess just wanting to make it and I just want to use what I have on hand. I have Willamette, EKG, Cascade and Centennial in copious amounts. What are your thoughts on any of those? Thanks.

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Heard from a couple folks that they subbed Cascade for N. Brewer. If brewed already, which one did you use and how did it turn out?

Just brewed this BIAB, and was just above the OG mark, and hit 1.058. Will look forward to this final results in a couple weeks.

Just brewed this today!

Revvy said:

Just brewed this today!

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Let me know how you like it, please! I am a real hophead, but I do like this beer a lot and I'm really curious to see how you feel about it as well.

I don't think I've ever had a beer take off so fast. Pitched yeast at 3:45 pm, and just got home at 10:30 and I have a 2 inch full krausen on it. I'm used to lager yeasts at lager temps, maybe being a little on the slow side. I have my temp controller running a heat belt to keep it at 62 degrees, so I guess lager yeast running hot must take off like gangbusters.

Revvy said:

I don't think I've ever had a beer take off so fast. Pitched yeast at 3:45 pm, and just got home at 10:30 and I have a 2 inch full krausen on it. I'm used to lager yeasts at lager temps, maybe being a little on the slow side. I have my temp controller running a heat belt to keep it at 62 degrees, so I guess lager yeast running hot must take off like gangbusters.

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When I've done this beer, it hasn't taken off so well for me but I've run it a bit colder, using ambient temperatures in the high 50s generally (one of the joys of living in a frigid climate. ).

Now I want to go out and buy some Northern Brewer hops, just to make this again. You've got me excited about this beer again!

We brew this very similar recipe at high 60's using S23. Works great and gets the flavours that the lager yeast makes at ale temps. As for the post about hop subs I would go with will as it has some of those earthy tones that NB has.

I brewed this in August. I fermented 14 days @62 and 7 days @56.
Bottle condition for 1 week before trying.
First impression was not good. Had a off flavor, initially like grain alcohol.
Figured it was due to not being able to ferment for the 4th week at 56.
Been trying a bottle about every week. As each week passed the off flavor was slowly dimensioning.
Today is 2.5 months from brew day. I can now say the grain alcohol taste is now gone. Now it has a very nice malty flavor. So much better now that it's aged 1.5 moths in the bottle.
Will definitely brew again but will make sure time allows for the 4th week of fermentation.

I have a question regarding the fermentation schedule.

Once the 14 day primary is complete, would I lager for 4 weeks then secondary for 14 days?

I would like to brew this again in December when the temps drop as i can't tie up my ferm chamber for a month to lager so I would do the lagering in my garage where temps would stay in the 40's to low 50's during the winter.

brew703 said:

I have a question regarding the fermentation schedule.

Once the 14 day primary is complete, would I lager for 4 weeks then secondary for 14 days?

I would like to brew this again in December when the temps drop as i can't tie up my ferm chamber for a month to lager so I would do the lagering in my garage where temps would stay in the 40's to low 50's during the winter.

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You can just finish the primary, rack and lager. You don't need to hold it for 14 days after lagering, as that would be counterproductive. I'd rather see lagering colder than warmer, at 33 degrees, rather than the 50s which isn't really "lagering".

Yooper said:

You can just finish the primary, rack and lager. You don't need to hold it for 14 days after lagering, as that would be counterproductive. I'd rather see lagering colder than warmer, at 33 degrees, rather than the 50s which isn't really "lagering".

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Thanks Yooper. I'll have to make sure this is the only brew I have at the time so I can drop the temps in my ferm chamber. Most of the time the winter months here are mild. We do see some temps in the 30-40's for a period of time but I'm not sure I would get 14 days straight unless I use my ferm chamber.