California Common California Common (Anchor Steam Clone) Extract and AG

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Just an guess, as I will be brewing the cal common for the 1st time with my next batch, but cold lagering the bottles for a longer period of time should help.

I did another hybrid, an altbier, which I bottle conditioned, carb'ing up at warm temps for 2 weeks, then cold lagering in a fridge for 4 weeks. Not sure if the 4 week cold conditioning did it, or if it's just one part of the equation, but my alt was crisp and a bit lager-like despite the (german) ale yeast.

What was your FG?

savylemons said:
Made this 5 weeks ago and while the taste is great it lacks the crispness that I expected and mine seems to have more of a creamy, thicker mouthfeel than expected. My question is will this beer continue to get crisp as it cold conditions?

For reference: I hit OG and FG perfectly,
fermented at 58 degrees and at 1.020 did a D rest until complete, moved back and let sit two weeks at 55 degrees, then added gelatin and cold crashed 48 hours, bottled and carbed up for three weeks, and has only been in the fridge 48 hours since carbed.

Is the lack of cold time since carbonation have anything to do with it? I've only brewed ales and it's the first time I've used this strain, I just expected it to be more crisp, for I've gotten crisper results with WLP001 fermented at 62.
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Well, I can't say it didn't finish low enough then. ;)

I've had my cal common in the primary for 12 days now. Managed to keep it at 60° with the carboy in a bucket of water on the cold cement floor of my basement. Ferment was heavy for the first several days, and I was glad to have the blow-off tube in place! It recenty had slowed to a burp through the airlock every 12-13 seconds. I removed it form the tub of water and it's now around 65°. Figure I will let it go a couple more days and then rack to a secondary and leave it in the basement until the activity in the airlock all but stops. Will check gravity when I rack to secondary.

I am hoping to get a used fridge in to the basement within a couple weeks so I can lager this (in the bottles most likely). If I get the fridge sooner, I can lager the secondary carboy in it and then bottle.
 
I ended up with a beer I'm especially proud of. Was worried I let it get to cold during the two week primary fermentation. It finished out once I pulled it out of the swamp cooler before moving to secondary and a 2 week fridge lagering. Bottled and conditioned now for 3 weeks. Not quite the ale taste the original has but I'm not sure I would change much about it right now. Definitely will be made again.
 
Bgon said:
I ended up with a beer I'm especially proud of. Was worried I let it get to cold during the two week primary fermentation. It finished out once I pulled it out of the swamp cooler before moving to secondary and a 2 week fridge lagering. Bottled and conditioned now for 3 weeks. Not quite the ale taste the original has but I'm not sure I would change much about it right now. Definitely will be made again.
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What temp did you carb at? Seeing that the yeast ferments in the low 60s, I'm assuming I should use that same temp? Typically with pales and IPAs, I used cal ale yeast and carb bottles at 68°-70, but not sure that's appropriate with the Wyeast 2112
 
jimlin said:
What temp did you carb at? Seeing that the yeast ferments in the low 60s, I'm assuming I should use that same temp? Typically with pales and IPAs, I used cal ale yeast and carb bottles at 68°-70, but not sure that's appropriate with the Wyeast 2112
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Sure, 70 degrees is fine. I even carb my lagers at 70 degrees.
 
I just boxed them up and they were placed in a closet to carb up. So 70 ish degree. Everything has mellowed more and it's a great batch. Will make it again soon.
 
My cal common finished up at 1.014. I bottled and carbed it for 2 weeks around 70°. Just moved a case of it to the fridge to start lagering in the bottles. Tried one after a few days in the fridge, and noticed an odd off-flavor in the aroma and flavor. Hoping it's just because it's green. Can anyone comment on what I could expect from trying one without allowing lagering time?

UPDATED 6/21
Just popped another one. I'm wondering if it might just be the NB hops. I've used NB in several brews, but not typically for late additions. I think what I may be noticing is a little minty flavor? A little in the nose, and aftertaste.

UPDATED 6/24
Had another yesterday so my visiting brother in law could taste. Didn't notice the off-flavor... and finally was able to see sediment sludge at the bottom of the emptied bottle. So I'm hoping it's just that these needed more time in the fridge to drop the yeast and clear it up.
 
Yooper said:
This beer is good- but last night I tasted it head to head with Anchor Steam. One of my impressions is that the commercial version has more late addition hops. Maybe some dry hopping would help it come closer. I think NB hops tend to be harsh in later additions, though, so I'll keep my "clone" as is. My husband and I both prefer my version over the Anchor Steam due to the smoothness I have in mine.
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My friend and I brewed the all-grain version of your recipe and it was fantastic. I agree, it is substantially smoother than Anchor Steam. I will totally brew this beer again!
 
Just finished brewing this an hour or so ago, have it in the swamp cooler at ~60 now (first time using the swamp cooler). Pitched at 60 - I was expecting to pitch between 65 and 70, but the temp of this beer dropped lightning fast in the ice bath, and adding the chilled top-off water knocked me lower than I'd expected. Still well within acceptable ranges, so no worries. Except that I have two 16-lb bags of ice left over :).

Anywho, thanks for the recipe and the very smooth brew day.
 
Brewed this last week. After 9 days primary the gravity is at 1.030.
OG was 1.052. Is it time to rack to secondary and cold crash or should I give it some more time in primary?

On a side note: tasted the sample I took for measuring gravity, and this seems to be turning out extremely well, really smooth and balanced!
 
OmBoost said:
Brewed this last week. After 9 days primary the gravity is at 1.030.
OG was 1.052. Is it time to rack to secondary and cold crash or should I give it some more time in primary?

On a side note: tasted the sample I took for measuring gravity, and this seems to be turning out extremely well, really smooth and balanced!
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1.030 is too high! Did you double check the reading with the hydrometer tested in water?

If it's 1.030, it should taste pretty cloyingly sweet.
 
Yooper said:
1.030 is too high! Did you double check the reading with the hydrometer tested in water?

If it's 1.030, it should taste pretty cloyingly sweet.
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Yes, I`ve tested the hydrometer, and it is accurate.
There was some sweetness left, but really not overwhelming.

At what gravity should I rack to secondary?
 
I am currently pouring this beer. Although I've never tried this type of beer before, my batch is pretty bad - tastes rather "earthy" and not pleasant. I think my fermentation temps were a little high (64F) but it's definitely not sulphury..
 
daggers_nz said:
I am currently pouring this beer. Although I've never tried this type of beer before, my batch is pretty bad - tastes rather "earthy" and not pleasant. I think my fermentation temps were a little high (64F) but it's definitely not sulphury..
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Hmmm, I don't know why it'd be "earthy" unless it was infected or had another issue. Northern Brewer hops are sort of a minty/woody flavor, but not dirty tasting or like fuggle hops.
 
Yeah not sure what's going on. I had a single bottle in the fridge for about 3 days, had it tonight, tasted a bit better but the aftertaste is letting it down. It's gotta be something I did wrong along the line somewhere.
 
Would Warrior hops really change the profile of CA Common if used as bittering hop? My gut says no, but never brewed a CA before.
 
warrior and magnum are both neutral enough that you shouldn't notice much difference if they are just used for a 60min bittering addition as long as you adjust to compensate for the different AA% and target the same IBU
 
Sorry if this has been covered, I tried searching the thread and came up with no hits, but is it possible to make a California Steam Ale with S-189 dry yeast by Fermentis? I have a packet of it that has been sitting in my fridge for a while, to be honest it might be bad by now, and was wondering if I could make a starter with it and create a steam ale. Or does it have to be the California Lager yeast? I know there are no rules to brewing, but I don't want to make something that is going to suck and be wasteful.
 
Yooper,

I've been using 100% RO water treated with calcium chloride (per the primer). The method has been working MUCH better than my ultra-high pH mid-Michigan tap water.

I'm curious, though...would you add the Gypsum charge to this mash? Which of the primer water profiles do you think would work best?

Thanks!
 
Franc103 said:
Yooper,

I've been using 100% RO water treated with calcium chloride (per the primer). The method has been working MUCH better than my ultra-high pH mid-Michigan tap water.

I'm curious, though...would you add the Gypsum charge to this mash? Which of the primer water profiles do you think would work best?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Hmmm. I'm drinking one right now (as in right this minute), so that's a great question!

Here are my notes for a 10 gallon batch:
50% RO in mash- 50% tap water. 2 grams gypsum, 3 grams calcium chloride.
Sparge with RO water.
Predicted pH is 5.5. Actual pH was 5.29!

Since my tap water is not the same as yours, the final mash content is here:

Ca 66.7
Mg 13
Na 4.5
S04 55
Cl 19.5
Hco2 123

I sparged with RO water, so the final water profile was about half that.
 
Anyone have experience fermenting as low as 54 degrees? I had a 2L starter of WY2112 and oxygenated the wort well with pure O2. Pitched at 60 and has been right around 54-56 for 4 days. Showed signs of fermentation within 5 hours. Started off bubbling every 4-5 seconds from airlock and now every 10 seconds.
 
Racked to secondary today on day 14 and moved to garage to lager in the 40s. Can't wait to see how this turns out. My first quasi lager attempt.

image-1146260320.jpg



image-879673777.jpg
 
I took a crack at an Anchor Steam clone recipe, first attempt at a Steam/California Common. This has been my recipe, game plan...

Briess Gold LME 6#
Briess Gold DME 1#
Irish Moss 1 tsp.
Caramel 80 1# (steeped for 30 minutes at 150F)

Magnum (U.S.) - 0.5 oz. - 60 minutes
No. Brewer - 0.2 oz. - 60 minutes
No. Brewer - 0.5 oz. - 11 minutes
No. Brewer - 1.0 oz. - 2 minutes

Wyeast 2112 (CA Lager), used Yeast Starter (24 hours)

OG 1.053
FG 1.014
ABV 5.1% (approx.)
SRM 12

Fermented in primary for 11 days at around 60-61 degrees.
Racked and was in secondary carboy for 8 days.
Primed with approx 4.25 oz. of corn sugar and bottled. Beer looked clear, nice aroma, and sampled and wasn't too bad actually.

ETA is March 15, 2013.

So far everything seems to be going smooth, we'll see what the end product. Any beefs with my method/recipe above?
 
Yooper,

To date I have made a bunch of your recipes and recently did this one. Hit all of my numbers on the dot. Beer came out maltier then expected and when shared with a friend of reputable pallet, he agreed that this one came out tasting more like Dead Guy then your dead guy clone. I typically am against hoppy beers but agree that this one could probably use some dry hopping or something to balance out the maltiness. Have you played with this concept at all? I like the beer a bunch, dont get me wrong, just not what I expected
 
1van said:
Yooper,

To date I have made a bunch of your recipes and recently did this one. Hit all of my numbers on the dot. Beer came out maltier then expected and when shared with a friend of reputable pallet, he agreed that this one came out tasting more like Dead Guy then your dead guy clone. I typically am against hoppy beers but agree that this one could probably use some dry hopping or something to balance out the maltiness. Have you played with this concept at all? I like the beer a bunch, dont get me wrong, just not what I expected
Click to expand...

Out of curiosity, have you tried the original, Anchor Steam?
 
yes, I have had it a few times and really like it. The mouthfeel is good and has a lager "crispness" that I wanted to emulate. All of that is good in my brew, just maltier.
 
easiest thing to try next time is lowering the mash temp to say, 150-152. That should get it a little more crisp. Obviously you can start subtracting some of the heavier grains if the lower mash temp doesn't do the trick.
 
Just finished my first beer of this. Extract version, used maple sap and primed with maple syrup fermented for about 35 days, in bottle for 2 weeks and it is amazing! Great brew! Def doing another batch but with no maple sap 8-(
 
First beer I've kegged. Did some modifications to it for a 5.5 gallon batch after reading Yooper's notes on it and some articles online. A little Victory malt, an extra ounces of NB, and a more micromanaged hopping schedule that I usually do.

10# Breiss 2-row
1# Crystal 60L
0.5# Victory

Mash at 150F for 60 minutes

90 minute boil because something happened with the mash and the grains decided to release an extra gallon of wort from what I normally calculate.

1oz Northern Brewer (60 min)
0.5oz Northern Brewer (20 min)
0.5oz Northern Brewer, 1 Irish Moss tablet (15 min)
0.5oz Northern Brewer (10 min)
0.5oz Northern Brewer (5 min)

Continually hopped with things falling out of the flowering tree above the kettle

Wyeast 2112 at ~65 (did this in the bedroom with the AC 'set to 65', entered a heat-wave at about that time) for three weeks
No starter

Crisp, light, airy with almost citrusy tones to it upfront (need more experience with defining hop flavors) and some definite hop bite around the back. Kind of gets me thinking about doing a lager or two in the winter (Baltic Porter with San Fran yeast would be awesome). Drinking it out of a tulip glass gives a nose-full of that good Northern Brewer aroma. A little bit of breadiness but also maybe some caramel - the 90 minute boil didn't darken the nice orange color to it.

I seem to be having a chill haze problem or I'm pulling yeast off the bottom of the keg. When I did the boil, I didn't get any hot break so that seemed kind of weird.

Very nice, I'll have to pick up a pack of Anchor Steam to compare it to but this worked out as well as my 3F Alpha King clone that I pulled off HBT. American Pale Ale and it's like-minded brethren are definitely my favorite style to date. If I can convince the lady that it's similar to Blue Moon this might be the first beer I put into rotation.

I'll be out of town for a few weeks this month so we'll see what it becomes while I'm away. With three weeks in primary and one in the keg with a one day forced carbonation process it seems like this could still be quite green.
 
i've been brewing on a stovetop, and for the last several beers i've made (including this one) i add about half of the extract at the beginning of the boil and the other half at about 15 min. when adding the rest of the extract, this caused the wort to stop boiling, and it took a bit of time to get it started back up again. would this really make an appreciable difference in IBU or have any negative effect on the end result? and should i just compensate the lag time by adding it back on once it starts boiling again?
 
arturo7 said:
Yooper's recipe kicks butt.

The last couple times I made it I substituted Simcoe hops. Holy cow! What a great result.

for 5 gal
1/2 oz @ 60m
1/2 oz @ 45
1/2 oz @ 15
1/2 oz @ 10
1/2 oz @ flameout
1 oz dry
Click to expand...

Here is the schedules I've been looking for...
 
I have exactly the right amount of NB for this thing, so I just ordered grains for it. I'll be pitching old washed Chico in it which has been giving me slight peachy esters lately. Should be really good.

Would dry hopping with an additional half ounce of NB be appropriate or would that detract too much from the malt?
 
Yooper said:
No- you must do a diacetyl rest before racking when the yeast is active.

I kept the bottles at about 70 degrees to carb up.
Click to expand...

I’ve read through this post and found this one comment about dactyl rest which really didn’t answer my question: I’m going to ferment mine at 55 degrees in primary (conical)....THEN do a dactyl rest? And if so...at what temperature and for how many days?

My guess, slowly raise it to 60 - 65 degrees? Then once that’s done, pull the yeast, crash it back down to 55 degrees for about two more weeks? Does that sound right?
 
Mine has been in the keg for 11 days and I decided to pull a small sample. Really nice hop flavor and aroma, but bitterness is still pretty high at this point. Honestly it tastes like I imagine fresh Anchor Steam would taste.

image-89167589.jpg
 

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