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

[Chris7687]

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.

 

[Dr. Francois]

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!

 

[Yooper]

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!

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.

 

[melche01]

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.

 

[melche01]

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.

 

[natefrog255]

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?

 

[BPhad]

Brewed this today per Yoopers original recipe. Hit 1.051 on the nose

 

[1van]

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

 

[tre9er]

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

Out of curiosity, have you tried the original, Anchor Steam?

 

[1van]

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.

 

[tre9er]

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.

 

[Joe0311]

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-(

 

[Arrheinous]

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.

 

[r3dapples]

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?

 

[crusader1612]

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

Sounds Tasty!

 

[crusader1612]

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

Here is the schedules I've been looking for...

 

[Mike37]

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?

 

[lhd7osc]

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.

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?

 

[ryansanders]

Yep! Primary ferment, rest, bring back down to temp. Here's the top google result for diacetyl rest. Hope it helps! http://www.howtobrew.com/section1/chapter10-4.html

 

[Mike37]

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.

 

[lhd7osc]

My OG was 1.045 and I've had it in my conical for about two weeks. I pitched a 1,600 Litter starter and right now, I have a stuck fermentation (not sure why) at 1.025 for the past four days.

Here's my question: should I repitch the same WLP 810 (San Francisco) yeast or will it be okay to use just a generic powder yeast (ale)? Since in theory the 810 yeast is a lager hybrid.

 

[Yooper]

My OG was 1.045 and I've had it in my conical for about two weeks. I pitched a 1,600 Litter starter and right now, I have a stuck fermentation (not sure why) at 1.025 for the past four days.

Here's my question: should I repitch the same WLP 810 (San Francisco) yeast or will it be okay to use just a generic powder yeast (ale)? Since in theory the 810 yeast is a lager hybrid.

Wow- it's so unusual to have a stuck fermentation with that yeast. Are you 100% sure that it's 1.025? You doubled checked your hydrometer, and didn't use a refractometer? It's very weird.

I would probably just pitch ale yeast at this point, something that is neutral and can ferment cool.

 

[lhd7osc]

Wow- it's so unusual to have a stuck fermentation with that yeast. Are you 100% sure that it's 1.025? You doubled checked your hydrometer, and didn't use a refractometer? It's very weird.

I would probably just pitch ale yeast at this point, something that is neutral and can ferment cool.

Ha ha....OOOO....SNAP! I am using a refractometer which = 1.005!!!

Okay, now for dacteyl rest. You ROCK :rockin:

 

[antwort]

Hi All, I have a two-part question about this recipe;

First, I am looking for this to be my first brew. Is this a good one for a first timer? I do have a degree in mechanical engineering and plenty of experience in lab setting so I am comfortable with the sanitizing, glassware, cooking, measuring etc. But, it is my first time so I'm sure I don't know what I don't know if you know what I mean ... if this isn't a good first time brew using extract recipe kit from my local HB supply store please let me know what you think would be. I'm going for a "neutral beer" in order to woo my not-as-excited-as-I-am fiancee over that me brewing beer is a great idea! So this or a Corona or something 'relatively bland' would be something she would also be able to enjoy and I can start working on my APA clones next for me and the guys.

Secondly, I have a storage room that I have observed to be at or just below 60*F for a variety of times across the day and night for the past week. The recipe is calling for 55*F fermenting temperatures, would the +5*F affect the brew significantly? If so I think I can wrap the carboy in wet towels to get evaporative cooling effect, possibly using a fan if required; my question then becomes is there such a thing as 'too low' for this recipe and can I cause just as much damage that way? I don't expect the wet bulb to be below 45 and depending on how effective of a towel swamp cooler I make I doubt I could approach that.. but who knows I like effective heat exchangers

Thanks in advance,
Michael

 

[Yooper]

The temperature sounds fine for this beer. I'm not sure how "hard" this would be to do as a first brew, but I think it's pretty straightforward and easy to follow.

 

[antwort]

Brew is going well today so far, thanks for keeping this thread active! I went through everything to date last night when I woke up at 2 am and couldn't go back to sleep in anticipation!

OK it's in the primary let's hope I didn't do anything un-sanitary... wort tastes good, sweet and a little bitter kind of like honey in tea? looks and smells caramelly.

 

[Flipadelphia]

I ended up hitting 1.060 on my version of cali common. I added a couple bottles of water to hopefully drop it down to 1.059. Will this be too strong for the style?

 

[tommyguner03]

i just brewed this up yesterday and i missed my target by 10 points .. lucky enough i had some dme around to get those 10 points back.. thanks for the reciepe

 

[tommyguner03]

did i screw up? i swear that after only three days i had hit 75%. and pulled out for d rest.. now should i of waited an extra day? 3 days seems to short? right?

 

[america]

My 3rd batch of this is cooling down right now. Added an extra half oz at flame out just because I had the hops and wasnt sure what else to do with them. Thanks so much for the wonderful recipe Yooper!