Good Afternoon NB community. I am brewing an All Grain California Common this weekend and would like you all to take a look at my recipe/technique and offer any suggestions.
Grain Bill:
8.5 lb American Pale 2-Row
1.3 lb Munich Light
1.0 lb crystal 60L
Hops
1.5 oz Cluster 60 min
1.5 oz Cluster 15 min
Yeast
WYeast 2112 California Lager with a 2L starter
Mash Schedule
3.5 gallons of 139 degrees F. Rest at 130 degrees F for 30 minutes
1.5 gallons of boiling to get temperature to 152 hold for 60 minutes
2.0 gallons of boiling to get temperature to 168 hold for 15 minutes
2.5 gallons of 170 degrees sparge to reach a total pre-boil volume of roughly 7 gallons or a kettle gravity of 1.047
Ferment at 64 degrees F for 21 days. Rack to a corny keg and condition for three more weeks at 50 degrees F
That’s what I have thus far, please feel free to tweak it for me as this is my first California Common.
Quick question: is the grain/hop bill direct from NB?
Just shooting from the hip-
I would think no more than a half pound of munich (since its light, you may be ok with a full pound), but .25-.5 C60 at most. Note I am leaning toward lighter-colored steams these days as well.
Why the step mash? Single infusion should be fine for a common.
I also may start the ferment down around 62 for 5-7 days, then ratchet up to 68-70 for another 5-7 to keep it clean, then fully attenuate.
Cluster hops are pretty gnarly. I may shoot for moving more of those to late hop additions, and limit bittering to .75-1 ounce. You want a steam to be bitter, but not IPA bitter. Drinkable-APA bitter.
I also personally think a steam is not a steam unless it has lots of late Northern Brewer hops (but yes, back in the day, they had Cluster, so they used Cluster :mrgreen: )
Thank you Pietro for the input. This is an older BYO recipe (maybe from 2002-03).
I heard that a step mash is the method that Anchor uses, but now that you mention it, I really do not want to do one. It just seems like a little too much work. For now I will target 152 for 60 minutes, mashout at 168 for 15 minutes, recirculate, then sparge till I get to a kettle gravity of 1.047.
A lot of other recipes that I have read also call for Northern Brewer, so I am going to go that direction as well.
How do you think this would work for a hop schedule:
1.00 oz NB 60 min
0.50 NB 15 min
0.50 NB 0 mins
Thank you for the fermentation recommendation as well. I am going to go that route (as suggested). Would you still lager for a few weeks at 45?
Thank you Pietro for the input. This is an older BYO recipe (maybe from 2002-03).
I heard that a step mash is the method that Anchor uses, but now that you mention it, I really do not want to do one. It just seems like a little too much work. For now I will target 152 for 60 minutes, mashout at 168 for 15 minutes, recirculate, then sparge till I get to a kettle gravity of 1.047.
A lot of other recipes that I have read also call for Northern Brewer, so I am going to go that direction as well.
How do you think this would work for a hop schedule:
1.00 oz NB 60 min
0.50 NB 15 min
0.50 NB 0 mins
Thank you for the fermentation recommendation as well. I am going to go that route (as suggested). Would you still lager for a few weeks at 45?
I haven’t made my steam in awhile, but it is on deck for my fall brew on the 1/2 bbl system. We are likely going to almost try a similar method many uses for IPAs/APAs, ie FWH and heavy late hops.
So I would almost reverse what you suggested: .5oz at bittering (or get about half of your target IBUs, whatever weight that is), then FWH 1 ounce, and flameout 1 ounce.
disclaimer: I’ve never tried it that way! Most of the traditional steam recipes call for a more traditional hopping schedule (like the one you posted). I do think doing it that way will really get the distinctive woody/minty NB hop flavor and aroma in there though.
