Screwy's California Steamin' Common Ale

[ScrewyBrewer]

Well boys and girls it looks like the Screwy Brewer is back in town, with a full month's brewing schedule planned out already. Tomorrow I plan to mash 1 pound of Crystal 80L with 10 pounds of US 2 Row at 156F for an hour. I'll modify my brewing water properties by adding 2 grams of gypsum, 2 grams of calcium chloride and 2.5 grams of Epsom salt to 10 gallons of distilled water. Adding 2ml of lactic acid will adjust the water profile enough to set room temperature mash pH to 5.44, just slightly higher than the lower end of the calculated pH range.

My interpretation of the California Commons style calls for a softer water profile an SRM of around 12 with about 48 IBUs. The OG should be 1.058 and using Nottingham yeast I hope the beer attenuates down to FG 1.014 to get a 5.6% alcohol content. I'll use 3 kettle hop additions using 2 ounces each of Northern Brewer (German) and Cascade pellet hops. I figure the Nottingham yeast, being known as a clean fermentor at 68F, should be similar to using a lager yeast and won't make that much of a difference.

Next weekend will be fun too, kegging and bottling the Clock Strukker IPA brewed last weekend. I'll even have time to wash the Nottingham yeast left in the fermentor and store it away in my newest yeast library. I can't wait to taste a sample of that beer today, I brewed it 2 weeks ago using a similar water profile, if it attenuated to around 1.016 today I will be a very happy camper. Today at Princeton Hombrew I even got to exchange some sodium metabisulphite Campden tables for potassium metabisulphite tablets to have handy in case DI water is unavailable. Maybe I'll even get to post an update on my site this month, I've been rewriting it for months now to make it easier to understand, and it's pretty close to completion.

[FrozenInTime]

Glad to see your back in action. That moving crap sux.... takes quite a while to get life back to normal.

[Banjo-guy]

I'm glad you are back in action. I've got your 420 Wheat set to brew sometime before the late spring.

[ScrewyBrewer]

Thanks folks it's feels good to be back too. I'll be moving again sometime this summer and staying put for the foreseeable future, that's when the fun really starts. Planning out the brewroom, hooking up all the mechanicals like plumbing and electrical then learning how to use the new brewing system. It's really true you don't know what you've got 'till it's gone.

I'm so excited to be brewing again I want to brew every recipe I've ever brewed before, including the 420 Special Wheat too! Using this modified water profile I'm anxious to drink that brew and compare it to memories of previous brews, it's an amazing beer to begin with but brewing it with a softer water profile should make it outstanding.

[Beer-lord]

Welcome back Vince. Sounds like a great spring beer.
If you want an ale yeast that mimics a lager yeast (I can't tell the difference) try 1007. You can ferment it down to 55 with no problems but I've used it at 60 twice (got a third one fermenting now) and have been very pleased.
I've read your water thread and am still trying to wrap my head around much of it but it's interesting reading.

[Brewbirds]

Whoo Hooo Screwy is in the house and brewing again.

Looking forward to hearing about your plans since adding/incorporating brewing water.

I think this will be a fun and educational ride.

[mashani]

It's good to see you making beer again!

[FedoraDave]

I'm glad the dust has settled and you're able to get your brew on once again, Vince.

Cali Common is a nice way to start, too. Good style, but I have to question the yeast choice. White Labs has a San Francisco Lager yeast strain that is pretty much custom-made for California Common. I'm still tinkering with my South Ferry Steam Beer recipe, but the WLP810 is my only yeast.

[ScrewyBrewer]

I'm glad the dust has settled and you're able to get your brew on once again, Vince.

Cali Common is a nice way to start, too. Good style, but I have to question the yeast choice. White Labs has a San Francisco Lager yeast strain that is pretty much custom-made for California Common. I'm still tinkering with my South Ferry Steam Beer recipe, but the WLP810 is my only yeast.

Hi Dave, It's great to be back brewing I really missed it and have a lot of ideas for new brewing projects ahead.

I hear you about the yeast choice too. I'm brewing again but my yeast propagation and fermentation controls aren't anywhere near where they were before moving. I agree the WLP810 would have been my first choice too if I were able to make a yeast starter and control fermentation temperatures yet.

A question I had is how much lager yeast to pitch when fermenting at 65F? I pitch twice the amount of lager yeast I would pitch if I were fermenting with an ale yeast. But that's because I've always fermented lagers between 48-54F. I chose Nottingham because of its clean fermentation character as well as dry yeast's ease of use. I was able to to rehydrate the yeast and oxygenate the wort before pitching it though which should encourage a cleaner faster fermentation.



Crazy looking hydrometer reading but according to the rules of meniscus OG 1.052 is what I recorded for yesterdays brew. I was happy with that because we put 6 gallons of beer into the fermentor.



The color came out exactly as I had hoped it would and we did a much better job of calculating the boil off rate this week, my daughter's stove has huge gas burners that put my old brewroom stove to shame. We were also happy with the changes we saw using our modified water profile. I've been brewing all grain on the same gear for years now but never had conversion rates as high as we've been seeing since tinkering with our brewing water.



I looked inside the mash tun after the lauter and was surprised to see what looked like fine sand in the grain bed. So this is why the right water profile produces clearer beer and better color! After lautering 6 gallons into the fermentor a hydrometer sample showed the gravity was still at 1.012, not bad considering there were only 11 pounds of grain in the recipe. The tweaks to the brewing water definitely do change the flavor and aroma of the beer too, in a very good way. I notice improvements to my go to recipes that could only have been made by a modified water profile.


This just in we have fermentation, look closely near the bottom and you can see the beer already making it's way up into the airlock

[FedoraDave]

I'd proceed as usual with a typical yeast starter. The more healthy yeast you have, the better, and 65 degrees is a good temperature for fermenting a Cali Common. I don't think you'd have any problems doing it that way. Nottingham is a good choice, being a clean fermenting yeast, and you'll definitely have a good beer in the end. But, as you know, it's not strictly to style. It would be interesting to compare it side-by-side with the same recipe made with the WLP810.

And, as long as you're brewing again, that's what's important.

[ScrewyBrewer]

I'd proceed as usual with a typical yeast starter. The more healthy yeast you have, the better, and 65 degrees is a good temperature for fermenting a Cali Common. I don't think you'd have any problems doing it that way.

Dave, Just to be clear, you'd recommend using the lager pitching rate, around 400 billion cells, and ferment at 65F?

[Inkleg]

Great to see you brewing and posting again Vince.

[ScrewyBrewer]

Great to see you brewing and posting again Vince.

Thank you, it's good to be back too. Last Saturday I added an ounce of Cascade hops and this Saturday I'll put the fermentor in the refrigerator. April 9th is the PALE ALES annual beer tasting competition and I plan to enter a bottle of California Steamin' and a bottle of Clock Strukker IPA. Spring is an exciting time to be a member of a home brew club, I was even invited to talk about brewing water at our June meeting.

[mtsoxfan]

Vince, good to see you posting again... Spring is a good time for anything, but makes brewing more comfortable for those of us brewing in unheated garages.... How about recording your brew club chat and posting a link here? I for one would be very interested in that...

[ScrewyBrewer]

Vince, good to see you posting again... Spring is a good time for anything, but makes brewing more comfortable for those of us brewing in unheated garages.... How about recording your brew club chat and posting a link here? I for one would be very interested in that...

I'll admit that sounds like a good idea and I'll see if I can persuade someone to make a recording. The format of our meetings are pretty laid back, I'll be interested to see how long the discussions go on for. Water properties are an advanced topic and will trigger plenty of questions and interaction among the members, a lot information will shared and would be nice to capture it for replay.