Cali Common / Steam Beer Question

[TheGerman]

Hello fellow brewers of the HBT community,

I have been an avid reader here these past years and have learned a lot from reading through the forums however I now have stumbled across something that I could not find thus prompting a new thread.

Everyone knows that a California Common needs to have a lager yeast fermented at ale temperatures (preferably San Fran or Cali Lager yeast), an amber color, and the use of Northern Brewer hops....... but why Northern Brewer?

I understand that the only remaining steam brewery (Anchor Steam) uses these hops but Northern Brewer hops originated in 1932, much later than steam beer was first created in California, somewhere around the mid 1800s.

Anchor Steam also doesn't make any claims to actually be historically accurate with their beer which makes me believe that maybe everyone is cloning a beer style that may be inaccurately categorized (the category is simply based on purely Anchor Steam's beer).

After doing some research, I determined that Cluster is the oldest hop variety documented in America, and that is is an English variety most likely wildly crossed with US wild hops. Most of the steam beer brewed on the northern coast of California were created using hops grown along the Russia River. This growing region was however sadly wiped out due to mildew in the 1950s.

So making a long story short, if I wanted to brew a REAL (or as close to real as possible) historical west coast steam beer, would I need to use Cluster instead of Northern Brewer?

Would be really interested in your input and/or thoughts.

Greetings from Germany,

Cheers,

Chris

 

[friarsmith]

About 8 years ago, I did quite a bit of research on this very topic, including borrowing some old American brewing books, journal-type articles and publications through inter-library loan and microfiche. Yeah, I really geeked-out.

To make a short story long, I'm convinced that Northern Brewer is the preferred "style guideline" hops not because they were the most commonly used 100 years ago (the true strain didn't exist then), but rather because they're used now by Anchor. And Anchor is effectively the only large brewery bottling/distributing the traditional Cali Common/Steam type beer. Delicious beer, especially poured from a well handled keg, so I have nothing but love for it.

The conclusion from my research is that American brewers in the western states in the late 1800's and early 1900's were using a variety of 1) Euro-origin hops grown in the US, 2) Euro-origin hops crossed with then unknown indigenous US/Canadian varieties and 3) Indigenous US varieties. I've been growing hops for years, and, like wine grapes, they definitely take on the terroir after several years, so it is very likely, for example, that a Euro variety planted in California in 1890 would be very, very different (perhaps woody & minty) in less than a decade, depending on environmental factors.

Regarding color, I found that frontier style lagers (which I prefer to call them) of the day could be anywhere from light gold to amber.

For what it's worth, if I'm brewing a CA Common with intentions of submitting it for competition, I aim for a slightly maltier version of Anchor Steam which judges seem to like and use 100% NB hops. When brewing just for my own enjoyment, I aim for a lighter 6 SRM with 95% pale, 2.5% Victory and 2.5% Crystal 20. I prefer Crystal and Cluster hops to NB. Interestingly, Anchor's other lager, California Lager, is brewed with Cluster. And I prefer Saflager- Weihenstephan 34/70 fermented at 55-60 in a kegerator to WY2112 fermented at the same temp. It's just... more... lager-y

Moral to the story... keep experimenting and brew what tastes best to you.

 

[dmtaylor]

I don't think Northern Brewer is mandatory. A friend of mine brewed a Cali Common that scored 44 in competition that contained zero Northern Brewer hops, and I've stolen his recipe and plan to brew the same thing in near future using homegrown Hallertau among other things. It's all good. Brew the beer you want to drink and none other.

Cheers.

 

[catdaddy66]

I love steam beer and have made 4 batches of Cali Common beer while tweaking the recipe a bit each time. It always comes out delicious!

It is a style in my top 5 favorites and I always try to have some on hand. I have made a N German altbier that was basically a steam beer and it came out fantastically! I always use N Brewer hops but have seen a recipe that used Liberty hops instead.

I find N Brewer to be a very versatile hop as well.

 

[MrFancyPlants]

I'll add on a question, but do you guys pressure ferment? Isn't that part of the technique in addition to using a lager yeast at ale temps?

 

[dmtaylor]

I'll add on a question, but do you guys pressure ferment? Isn't that part of the technique in addition to using a lager yeast at ale temps?

I've never heard of that. I could be wrong but this sounds just like one of those false prophetic bad ideas like where people actually add lactose to a cream ale, or peat smoked malt to a Scottish ale, or the dregs of a barrel to a bock, based on misconceived notions of what the style came from and what it should contain.

 

[friarsmith]

It's done to suppress ester formation. No, I don't think it's necessary.