California Common help

I will be brewing a California Common (recipe from Brewing Classic Styles) and am leaning towards using the Wyeast 2112 California Lager yeast and will be making a starter. I do not have the ability to lager but I can maintain 62f in my swamp cooler no problem and that is where the recipe says to ferment. I have heard many different things regarding length of time for fermentation. I was planning on leaving in primary for a month, but doing a diacetyl rest around 70f when I am at about 75% completion, then returning back to 62f. After the month long primary I plan to go right to bottles. I will let carb at room temp for 2-3 weeks, then stick in the fridge to "lager" for around 3 weeks unless I can't stand to wait . Does this sound like an ideal process? Please steer me in the right direction if my plan is wrong. Any and all tips and suggestions from people with experience in this style are welcome. I have spent several hours searching this style and the yeast over the past few days and haven't really found answers I am looking for.

I just popped the cap on my 3rd batch of my common, used 2112 as well and fermented at 60 for 3 weeks, bottled, kept at 70 for 2 weeks and then threw some in the fridge for a week. I did not do any rest.

Did a side by side with Anchor Steam, which is what I was shooting for, mine was a bit darker but otherwise they were darn near identical!

Cheers!

Your method is nearly exactly the way I ferment my Cali Common. I do my ferment at 59-60F, but I have a fridge and it was easy. I did my diacetyl rest at 68F for 2-3 days, until fermentation completed (i.e. I hit my expected FG). I then dropped the temp down into the mid 50s for 1.5-2 weeks. So my fermentation was about 3.5 weeks. I let it carb for 3-4 weeks at 70F and then it was ready to drink. I didn't do any lagering in the bottles, but rather bottles I was going to drink were put in the fridge a week or so before drinking. they turned out great. The recipe I used was very similar to the one in Brewing Classic Styles. I mashed at 154F, which gave me a little more body than I'd like. If I were to do it again I'd mash at 150-152F, drop the chocolate malt(makes it darker than I'd like and probably adds some body), and add more bittering hops.

Thank you both for the responses! I will drop the extended fridge time before drinking as waiting is not a virtue I have. Did you need to add any yeast at bottling, or was there plenty left for carbing?

I agree with duboman; I often brew a California Common beer using 2112, ferment on the cooler side for a month and bottle. It is one of my favorite and easily reproducible beers!

2112 is a fun yeast. I brewed a cali common, cream ale, and baltic porter off the same yeast. Once you're done with that first beer, consider trying a baltic porter and repitch some of the same yeast.

You don't have to wait, but I found my common was better after some cold storage. Could have been that I fermented a bit high though.

mjohnson said:

2112 is a fun yeast. I brewed a cali common, cream ale, and baltic porter off the same yeast. Once you're done with that first beer, consider trying a baltic porter and repitch some of the same yeast.

You don't have to wait, but I found my common was better after some cold storage. Could have been that I fermented a bit high though.

Click to expand...

I agree, my beer improved after a couple weeks in the fridge as well!

OClairBrew said:

Thank you both for the responses! I will drop the extended fridge time before drinking as waiting is not a virtue I have. Did you need to add any yeast at bottling, or was there plenty left for carbing?

Click to expand...

No need to add extra yeast at bottling. There will be plenty of yeast left in the beer to carb in a timely manner. In fact, I tasted one of mine after just one week and it was nearly fully carbed.

mjohnson said:

2112 is a fun yeast. I brewed a cali common, cream ale, and baltic porter off the same yeast. Once you're done with that first beer, consider trying a baltic porter and repitch some of the same yeast.

You don't have to wait, but I found my common was better after some cold storage. Could have been that I fermented a bit high though.

Click to expand...

Hmm.... I think the pipeline is full enough that I can try to wait a few weeks after sticking in the fridge to drink. This will be my first time using liquid yeast and I am definitely considering washing it to re-use. I will certainly consider the baltic porter.

So the LHBS only carries White Labs so I picked up the WLP810 San Fran Lager yeast. I have my starter going now and curious if that strain of yeast requires a diacetyl rest?

I don't know if it "requires' it. In general, I think if you pitch a bit cool, and slowly ramp the temps up over the course of the 4 days of main fermentation, you shouldn't need much of a rest. I don't know if I'd worry about it with a swamp cooler. I didn't do a d-rest (but I think I left it in the primary for 3 or 4 weeks) and I didn't notice any off flavors.

Let us know how it turns out.

I will keep you all posted! I set up my starter last night and don't have a striplate so I am using the frequently swirl method. When I woke up it looked like the starter had it's peak krausen and that it had fallen during the night. Now I have to decide if I'm going to stick it in the fridge later today so I can decant and pitch tomorrow, or let it go a few more days and brew next weekend...

Brewed this up yesterday and it is happily chugging along today. This is only my 3rd AG batch and definitely smelled and tasted the best so far. Also hit my best efficiency, I was expecting 70% as that is what I had been getting and hit 75%. Had about an oz less of the Northern Brewer hops than I thought and was planning on using, but it should still be around 37 IBU and tasty, just not as hoppy as I was wanting.

Just took a hydro reading and drank the sample. About 3 points lower on the FG than expected, but it is soooo tasty already!!! I could stick my head in the Ale Pail and drink as is!!! Now I just can't decide if I bottle this weekend, or wait a week or 2 more...

glad to hear it! I'm just getting to the end of the one I brewed Thanksgiving weekend. The hops (which were a bit assertive to start with) have faded to a really nice balance with the malt. Why oh why does this always happen when you have only 1 or two left.

So I cracked a "surveillance" beer from this batch and it blows me away after just one week in the bottles. I was surprised that it was well carbed and my wife even liked it, which made me proud since she usually only likes light lagers. I will definitely brew this one again, but I will be using more hops next time around as I wanted a little more hop bitterness and flavor since my recipe was very malty.