Sometimes it just feels right

[FedoraDave]

I brewed a fiver of South Ferry Steam Beer this morning. An original AG recipe, using an extract recipe in "The Complete Joy of Homebrewing" as a jumping-off point.

Anyway, it's funny how sometimes things just feel right. Yes, I've got enough brewing time under my belt to have my process down to where I'm not agonizing over every little step. But there's a difference between making beer and really hitting the sweet spot. I can't define it in this instance, but everything just seemed to click; both the things I had control over, and the things that "just happened."

I made my yeast starter Friday night, when I got home from bowling. The next morning, after only six hours, it was starting to krausen, and it just kept building through Saturday and into Sunday. It just looked incredibly robust and healthy.

The mash went smoothly, striking at 174, and mashing out at 153, which I'm thrilled with. That's the ideal mash temp for a Cali Common, IMO. And the first runnings looked brilliant; clear and amber. Picture-perfect, and slightly more than 1/2 my strike volume, which is a little better than I anticipated.

Sparges went well, too, and I ended up with a pre-boil volume of a little over 6.5 gallons, which reduced to almost exactly 5.5 gallons after the hour boil. This is the first time since we got our new stove earlier this year that I feel I've got a handle on what my reduction is, so this was a valuable brewing session for that reason alone.

I couldn't chill it much below 70 degrees, but that's going to be close to the fermentation temperature, anyway, so I went with it. Again, everything just felt right throughout the whole process, and I'm really looking forward to getting this into the pipeline.

[Beer-lord]

Good on ya! Brew on!

[Yankeedag]

Did a off the cuff brew myself today.

[philm00x]

A question for ya, Hat: I understand that steam beers are supposed to be lagers. Do you brew, ferment, and store them as such? Or do you do so more like an ale?

[FedoraDave]

A question for ya, Hat: I understand that steam beers are supposed to be lagers. Do you brew, ferment, and store them as such? Or do you do so more like an ale?

Well, that's the signature of the classic "steam" beer, or California Common; using a lager yeast but fermenting at ale temperatures, as they did back in the day. The great thing is, White Labs is awesome-on-a-stick, because they have -- wait for it -- WLP810, San Francisco Lager Yeast! Yes, you could use any lager yeast, but White Labs has THE yeast tailored to the style. How great is that?! Pitched at around 68 or so (higher than I'd like, but not outrageous), and will probably ferment right around there, too, unless temperatures drop around here, which would be fine, too.

So I'm sticking with the style by NOT fermenting/storing at lager temps. It's one of the reasons I decided to do a steam beer, too. I figure it'll be ready in good time and help fill the pipeline, which is a priority at the moment.

[philm00x]

Well dang, I should've brewed one a long time ago! I've seen several strains of yeast labeled California Lager, or West Coast Lager... something to that effect. Guess I'll have to add this to my queue! Thanks Dave!

[FedoraDave]

Checked on it this morning, and it's really taken off. Very aggressive bubbling in the blow-off bottle. This may be ready in just two weeks!

[mashani]

I loves me a steam beer. :: adds to list of things to brew ::

[rickbray66]

I was very pleased with my version of the steam beer this past spring. I also used the same yeast Dave mentioned (WLP810). With the "ice-chest / frozen water bottle" method, I was able to keep this at 62 degrees. Worked great. I washed that yeast and kept it, but I'm afraid I've let it sit too long to use it again. I may try to make a starter out of it just to see.


Rick