California common fermentation ?

What is the best temp to ferment and bottle condition this type of beer. I have read anywhere from 55-70.

What yeast are you using?

Ray Daniels says if you are doing it below 60F you should use a german lager strain. If you are doing it between 60-65F you should use the San Francisco lager strain. And if the fermentation is going to get above that the American ale yeast strain would be best.

Bottle conditioning should be done around 70F.

It is a San Francisco lager strain. This is what confused me because the label says 68-70 but I heard otherwise for this type of beer.

Pharmguy said:

It is a San Francisco lager strain. This is what confused me because the label says 68-70 but I heard otherwise for this type of beer.

Click to expand...

I fermented mine at 63F and got excellent results, it was recieved well by the club and scored well in competition. As long as you have a nice big pitch of yeast it will do just fine in the low 60s.

Yep- I love mine fermented at 58-62 or so. Crisp like a lager, but flavorful like an ale.

There's probably some controversy about this....as it's even debated about why a California Common is called "Steam" beer. I would say just brew it the way you want to. If you want it fruitier, ferment it at 70 degrees. If you want it more lager like, ferment at colder temps.

I notice some yeast manufacturers call their California Common strains "ale" yeast and some call them "lager". IMO, the main distinction a California Common has from a lager is that it's lager ingredients brewed at higher temps. For what it's worth, my favorite California yeast is White Labs WLP001 California Ale Yeast. It also recommends fermenting at around 70...and I prefer these temps myself (I'm usually fermenting at 68 with a California Common). I notice that in order to get good results using lager yeasts in ale temps, those manufacturers that call theirs "lager" strains are rated towards the ale range...so there's really a gray area. Michael Jackson says that Anchor Steam ale is fermented anywhere between 60-72 degrees.

Bear in mind, this originated 150 years ago and a lager yeast that produced decent results at 65-70F was unheard of. Since 50F was normal for lager fermentation and near freezing for aging, 70F was steaming. (Don't forget steam power the the next big thing at that time) The yeast allowed fermenting lager year-round in San Fransisco without refrigeration.

Very clean ale yeasts can do the same job.

When I did a Cal Common with the San Fran yeast I pitched it at 59-60 but then didn't bother to control the temp or anything, just kept it in a moderately cool room. It turned out nice and clean.

I just brewed one of these yesterday. The guy at the store basically told me not to worry about the temperature. He had done his up to 75.

Yeah, I kept it around 64. Drinking it now, turned out nice.

I went on the Anchor Brewing tour last weekend while in San Francisco and they ferment their steam beer at 60 degrees in a shallow open fermenter. They ferment all their other beers at 68 degrees in a deeper open fermenter. Their fermenters must be trade secret, because after you pass the copper kettles no more pictures are permitted and they don't allow any video of any of the tour.