Continuing to take a Half Hearted IPA clone recipe and evolve it into new beers, I added Simcoe hops to the mix as well as some honey directly into the fermenter at high krausen.
Grist:
8 lbs Briess 2-row
1 lb Briess Caramel 40l
1 lb Munich Malt
Hops:
1oz Centennial 60 min
1.25oz Centennial 20 min
1oz Centennial 5 min
1 oz Simcoe 2 min
Dry hop 1oz Centennial, 1oz Simcoe, .5oz Cascade (7-10 days)
Yeast:
S-05 cake from Pale Ale
Mash 4.8 gallons 165 degree water target 153
Sparge 3.4 gallons 186 degree ater
60 min boil
Target OG 1.070 Actual 1.067 (before honey)
Brew Date 11.22.13
Update: The honey really dried this beer out over time...different, but very good
Saturday, November 23, 2013
Sunday, November 10, 2013
Common Denominator
California Common is a New World beer style. In fact it is one of two classic styles that everybody agrees are genuinely American, the other being cream ale. California Common is an odd beer, essentially a lager that tastes more like an ale. Some people call it a hybrid beer; others are less genteel and call it a bastard. It is a quaffing brew for the common man and woman, a brew reminiscent of the rough and tumble days of the Alaska Gold Rush of the 1890s, when many of the mostly male inhabitants of San Francisco lined up on the docks waiting to be transported to the riches of the northern frontier.
Obviously, in those days before the Panama Canal, there was hardly enough “imported” beer available to satisfy the collective thirst of the disparate lot of prospectors, thrown together from all corners of the country, even the globe. Not surprisingly, enterprising publicans quickly filled the void by brewing their own beer on location, and because German immigrant brewers used to dominate American brewing, including California brewing, at the time, the brews these California pioneer brewers made were lagers . . . but lagers with a difference.
California Common, a can-do and make-do style
Before man acquired the technology to control the entire brewing process as well as the transportation network to make locales irrelevant, he could only make the beers nature allowed him to brew, and do so with local materials. In the cold winters of Munich, for instance, near the foothills of the Alps, lager emerged, because only bottom-fermenting yeasts can work in such a climate. The Rhineland, by contrast, never got cold enough for lager brewing nor warm enough for ale brewing by the British way. The result was the cool-fermented Altbier and its blond cousin, the Kölsch. In the British Isles, on the other hand, warm-fermenting brews thrived, which resulted in a cornucopia of ale styles from the blondest pale ale to the darkest stout.
In far-away California, however, it was much warmer and the brew equipment was primitive. According to the Anchor Brewing Company Website, the California brew scene was run mostly by German-born entrepreneurs in the 19th century. They had such names as Behlmer, Böse, Freyer, Garms, Hage-mann, Hansen, Lurmann, Schleemann, Schröder, Schwarz, Thode, Veen, Win-deler and Wunder. True to the tradition of their native land, they used lager yeast, probably hauled in from the Eastern seaboard. As for grain and hops, they probably used whatever happened to become available on the local market. From these ingredients, they made their beers in flat open fermenters. Even after the invention of refrigerated beer vats in Munich in the 1870s, such technologies were not yet available in the pioneer outposts at the Golden Bay.
Whichever lager yeast these early brewers might have used initially, it is likely that it mutated rapidly in the unusual, non-lager-like environment. Not surprisingly, the character of the San Francisco brews began to reflect the character of their times and circumstances. The result was a beer, which, though bottom-fermented, tasted more like an ale, probably with plenty of fruitiness and butter-scotch flavor.
Initially this brew from the steamy shores of San Francisco was called “steam beer.” It is not clear where the name came from, but according to one fanciful theory, the cask-conditioned California brews of the 1890s gave off plumes of “steam” when their bung holes were opened prior to tapping. Another theory suggests that the name relates to the early steam engines installed in some California breweries. As these steam-equipped breweries proudly bragged about their modern machinery in their promotions, their brews came to be known as “steam beer.”
Whichever is the true explanation, for legal reasons, the descendants of these beers are now universally called California Common, because “Steam” has since become a trademark owned by the Anchor Brewing Company of San Francisco. The steam beer style had nearly faded into oblivion by the 1960s. Fewer and fewer breweries bothered to make it, while generic mass lagers were capturing an ever-increasing market share. It was then that Fritz Maytag purchased one of the last steam breweries — namely Anchor. This brewery was founded in the 1850s by two German immigrants. In 1896, it had fallen into the hands of two German-born steam brewers, Otto Schinkel and Ernst Baruth. After several changes in ownership, Fritz Maytag acquired the brewery in 1965, just before it was to be closed down, and he turned it into one of the biggest success stories of the American craft brew revival.
Not a difficult beer too brew if you have a temperature controlled environment:
Grist:
9lbs 2-Row malt
1lb Crystal 20l (should be 60l, see Simple Pale Ale
1lb Munich mALT
Hops:
1oz Northern Brewer 60min
.5oz Northern Brewer 15min
.5oz Northern Brewer 5min
1oz Northern Brewer 1min
Yeast:
Wyeast California Lager
Target OG 1.048 Actual OG 1.051
Ferment 2 weeks at 60 degrees and one month at 50 degrees
Crash cool to 40 for one week, then I kegged the beer.
This was outstanding and amazingly clear by Christmas.
Obviously, in those days before the Panama Canal, there was hardly enough “imported” beer available to satisfy the collective thirst of the disparate lot of prospectors, thrown together from all corners of the country, even the globe. Not surprisingly, enterprising publicans quickly filled the void by brewing their own beer on location, and because German immigrant brewers used to dominate American brewing, including California brewing, at the time, the brews these California pioneer brewers made were lagers . . . but lagers with a difference.
California Common, a can-do and make-do style
Before man acquired the technology to control the entire brewing process as well as the transportation network to make locales irrelevant, he could only make the beers nature allowed him to brew, and do so with local materials. In the cold winters of Munich, for instance, near the foothills of the Alps, lager emerged, because only bottom-fermenting yeasts can work in such a climate. The Rhineland, by contrast, never got cold enough for lager brewing nor warm enough for ale brewing by the British way. The result was the cool-fermented Altbier and its blond cousin, the Kölsch. In the British Isles, on the other hand, warm-fermenting brews thrived, which resulted in a cornucopia of ale styles from the blondest pale ale to the darkest stout.
In far-away California, however, it was much warmer and the brew equipment was primitive. According to the Anchor Brewing Company Website, the California brew scene was run mostly by German-born entrepreneurs in the 19th century. They had such names as Behlmer, Böse, Freyer, Garms, Hage-mann, Hansen, Lurmann, Schleemann, Schröder, Schwarz, Thode, Veen, Win-deler and Wunder. True to the tradition of their native land, they used lager yeast, probably hauled in from the Eastern seaboard. As for grain and hops, they probably used whatever happened to become available on the local market. From these ingredients, they made their beers in flat open fermenters. Even after the invention of refrigerated beer vats in Munich in the 1870s, such technologies were not yet available in the pioneer outposts at the Golden Bay.
Whichever lager yeast these early brewers might have used initially, it is likely that it mutated rapidly in the unusual, non-lager-like environment. Not surprisingly, the character of the San Francisco brews began to reflect the character of their times and circumstances. The result was a beer, which, though bottom-fermented, tasted more like an ale, probably with plenty of fruitiness and butter-scotch flavor.
Initially this brew from the steamy shores of San Francisco was called “steam beer.” It is not clear where the name came from, but according to one fanciful theory, the cask-conditioned California brews of the 1890s gave off plumes of “steam” when their bung holes were opened prior to tapping. Another theory suggests that the name relates to the early steam engines installed in some California breweries. As these steam-equipped breweries proudly bragged about their modern machinery in their promotions, their brews came to be known as “steam beer.”
Whichever is the true explanation, for legal reasons, the descendants of these beers are now universally called California Common, because “Steam” has since become a trademark owned by the Anchor Brewing Company of San Francisco. The steam beer style had nearly faded into oblivion by the 1960s. Fewer and fewer breweries bothered to make it, while generic mass lagers were capturing an ever-increasing market share. It was then that Fritz Maytag purchased one of the last steam breweries — namely Anchor. This brewery was founded in the 1850s by two German immigrants. In 1896, it had fallen into the hands of two German-born steam brewers, Otto Schinkel and Ernst Baruth. After several changes in ownership, Fritz Maytag acquired the brewery in 1965, just before it was to be closed down, and he turned it into one of the biggest success stories of the American craft brew revival.
Not a difficult beer too brew if you have a temperature controlled environment:
Grist:
9lbs 2-Row malt
1lb Crystal 20l (should be 60l, see Simple Pale Ale
1lb Munich mALT
Hops:
1oz Northern Brewer 60min
.5oz Northern Brewer 15min
.5oz Northern Brewer 5min
1oz Northern Brewer 1min
Yeast:
Wyeast California Lager
Target OG 1.048 Actual OG 1.051
Ferment 2 weeks at 60 degrees and one month at 50 degrees
Crash cool to 40 for one week, then I kegged the beer.
This was outstanding and amazingly clear by Christmas.
Saturday, November 9, 2013
For Starters
This beer is based on one of the rarest beers in the world, brewed in the Belgian town Malle solely for consumption by the reverent Cistercian brothers. This ale is not served or sold to the public. Made only from pilsner malt, hops, and yeast, the complexity that results from these simple ingredients is staggering: perfumey floral hops, ripe pear fruit, sour apple, spicy cloves, candied citrus and a slight biscuit character on the drying finish ... a monks’ session beer.
Grist:
9lbs Belgian Pilsner malt
Hops:
1oz Tradition 60min
.5oz Saaz 60min
.5oz Saaz 10 min
Yeast:
Wyeast #3787 Trappist High Gravity
The yeastcake for this beer will also provide the starter for #10 in December, a traditional Trappist Ale to be cellared for one or more years. (Of course there will be test bottles too:))
Mashed in 4.3 gallons of 158 degree water, no mash out, target 147
Sparged with 3.5 gallons 185 degree water
Boil time was 75 minute to adjust for volume
Target OG 1.047
Actual OG 1.049
Update: I mashed this beer very low and the result is a very dry, highly drinkable Belgian single with hints of clove and pronounced fruitiness from the yeast. Bottle date was 12/8, brew date for #10 was 12/9.
Grist:
9lbs Belgian Pilsner malt
Hops:
1oz Tradition 60min
.5oz Saaz 60min
.5oz Saaz 10 min
Yeast:
Wyeast #3787 Trappist High Gravity
The yeastcake for this beer will also provide the starter for #10 in December, a traditional Trappist Ale to be cellared for one or more years. (Of course there will be test bottles too:))
Mashed in 4.3 gallons of 158 degree water, no mash out, target 147
Sparged with 3.5 gallons 185 degree water
Boil time was 75 minute to adjust for volume
Target OG 1.047
Actual OG 1.049
Update: I mashed this beer very low and the result is a very dry, highly drinkable Belgian single with hints of clove and pronounced fruitiness from the yeast. Bottle date was 12/8, brew date for #10 was 12/9.
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