Never brewed one of these before and I made the recipe based off of Ray Daniels book. Any advice on the ingredients or for using a the California lager yeast at ale temps would be appreciated. I’m pretty new to the whole writing recipes thing but this one seems pretty simple.
Let me know what you think.
California Common Beer
Type: All Grain Date: 3/22/2012
Batch Size (fermenter): 5.25 gal
Boil Size: 7.00 gal Asst Brewer:
Boil Time: 60 min Equipment: Our Garage Stuff
End of Boil Volume 6.00 gal Brewhouse Efficiency: 70.00 %
Final Bottling Volume: 4.85 gal Est Mash Efficiency 73.3 %
Ingredients
Amt Name Type # %/IBU
9 lbs 8.0 oz Pale Malt (2 Row) US (2.0 SRM) Grain 1 90.5 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 2 4.8 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 80L (80.0 SRM) Grain 3 4.8 %
1.00 oz Northern Brewer [8.50 %] - Boil 60.0 min Hop 4 32.1 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 10.0 min Hop 5 3.8 IBUs
0.50 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Boil 5.0 min Hop 6 2.1 IBUs
1.0 pkg California Lager (Wyeast Labs #2112) [124.21 ml] Yeast 7 -
1.00 oz Cascade [5.50 %] - Dry Hop 0.0 Days Hop 8 0.0 IBUs
Beer Profile
Est Original Gravity: 1.051 SG Measured Original Gravity: 1.046 SG
Est Final Gravity: 1.013 SG Measured Final Gravity: 1.010 SG
Estimated Alcohol by Vol: 4.9 % Actual Alcohol by Vol: 4.7 %
Bitterness: 37.9 IBUs Calories: 151.6 kcal/12oz
Est Color: 10.1 SRM
Mash Profile
Mash Name: Single Infusion, Medium Body, Batch Sparge Total Grain Weight: 10 lbs 8.0 oz
Sparge Water: 4.32 gal Grain Temperature: 72.0 F
Sparge Temperature: 168.0 F Tun Temperature: 72.0 F
Adjust Temp for Equipment: FALSE Mash PH: 5.20
Mash Steps
Name Description Step Temperature Step Time
Mash In Add 16.75 qt of water at 158.9 F 150.0 F 60 min
Sparge Step: Batch sparge with 3 steps (Drain mash tun, , 2.16gal, 2.16gal) of 168.0 F water
Mash Notes: Simple single infusion mash for use with most modern well modified grains (about 95% of the time).
Grains look good. Hops are typically all Northern Brewer but I see no issues with your hop lineup. Wyeast 2112 or White Labs 810 in the mid-50s if possible, lower 60s would work okay as well. This yeast is very clean and nice when used at the lower temps. Depending on your temp control capabilities, maybe you could place the primary in a tub of cool water with some frozen water bottles or something to keep it cool. If you have a fridge or temp-controlled freezer, all the better. When I used 2112 at warmer temps (mid 60s), I did not care for it quite as much as I did when I used it in the mid 50s. There is a recipe on my site called Barrelhouse West Coast Lager (link is below, go to RECIPES) that comes out quite nicely & the recipe can be adjusted to suit your tastebuds. Cheers.
Yeah, from Ray Daniels book I gathered that most people use only Northern Brewer because that is all that Anchor Steam Beer features which is the standard. However, he did mention a lot of homebrewer’s use Cascade and I have some laying around so I’ll go with it.
So I brewed this recipe list above a few weeks ago to the tee except I swapped out the California Lager Yeast for the White Labs San Francisco Lager because the guy at the the shop said it fermented out a little cleaner in his experience.
I racked to the secondary and hit a FG of 1.010 putting me at an 83% apparent attenuation probably due to the 149* mash. The beer flocculated beautifully and it is already crystal clear. A little bit of dry hops and another few weeks to age before kegging and I think this beer will be a keeper. I’m ready for summer!
