Upcoming Competition: California Common, 31 August, 2013
Hi All,
As always, a huge thanks to all who entered the last competition. 19 entries, but our fantastic judges did a great job and hopefully gave some useful feedback. The brewer in 3rd place, Matt, chose the next style to be California Common. 7B in the BJCP guidelines: Full link here http://www.bjcp.org/2008styles/style07.php
Overall Impression: A lightly fruity beer with firm, grainy maltiness, interesting toasty and caramel flavors, and showcasing the signature Northern Brewer varietal hop character.
Comments: This style is narrowly defined around the prototypical Anchor Steam example. Superficially similar to an American pale or amber ale, yet differs in that the hop flavor/aroma is woody/minty rather than citrusy, malt flavors are toasty and caramelly, the hopping is always assertive, and a warm-fermented lager yeast is used.
Ingredients: Pale ale malt, American hops (usually Northern Brewer, rather than citrusy varieties), small amounts of toasted malt and/or crystal malts. Lager yeast, however some strains (often with the mention of “California” in the name) work better than others at the warmer fermentation temperatures (55 to 60?F) used. Note that some German yeast strains produce inappropriate sulfury character. Water should have relatively low sulfate and low to moderate carbonate levels.
| Vital Statistics: | OG: 1.048 – 1.054 |
| IBUs: 30 – 45 | FG: 1.011 – 1.014 |
| SRM: 10 – 14 | ABV: 4.5 – 5.5% |
Commercial Examples: Anchor Steam, Southampton Steem Beer, Flying Dog Old Scratch Amber Lager
Good luck to everyone! I have chosen a date as far from Beervana as possible so I hope everyone can make it out to Hallertau, 3 PM.
Cheers
Replies to This Discussion
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Permalink Reply by Dunc on
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I'll be there as usual to hand over my money. About time I had another win.
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Permalink Reply by Mark Jackman on
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I'll be there with my entry, not brewed it yet but hopefully it won't be as disappointing as my previous entries! I'm not too hopeful, I need to try more examples of styles before brewing ones I'm not familiar with. I hope the judges look for more than an oxidised Anchor Steam clone, I'm sure with the quality of judging and brewing on show that wont be an issue.
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Permalink Reply by Anatole Perry on
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Were bottling tonight - So we will have a nicely carbonated brew for the end of August....and should have been able to confirm it's quality with time to spare... Sample I had the other day from the fermentor was tasting promising!
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Permalink Reply by Adam Sparks on
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I've had some bad juju with the whitelabs yeast... It gushed out of the vial for a start, then didnt want to kick into life on the stir plate, so had to do a couple of 2litre starters to get it going, finally had a nice chunk of yeast to throw in and Pitched it into a slightly cooler wort than usual, I think my starter was about 15C and my wort was 10 out of the chiller.
Usual lag time and started bubbling by the morning.... And then it just shat the bed and went to sleep after chewing through 10 points.... Ive been stirring it and warming it and whispering sweet nothings into its lazy little ears for 5 days now but it doesn't want to budge. "ohhhh the worts to cold and I dont want to ferment" Your supposed to be a hybrid so harden up you little pussies!'
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Permalink Reply by Tilt on
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Ha Ha, bad luck man. Looks like you copped the "14yo on school holidays" variant strain of your yeast there. In contrast the SO5 in my 15 degree ferment is chugging on with no sign letting up - its a trooper!
Keep up the bribery and offers of warm mid-winter holidays somewhere tropical - it might just get there.
On the other it might just not ... and then some other buggar'll have a chance of winning for once!
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It still hasn't budged so Ill dump it this afternoon and start again tomorrow evening I think...
One thing I was very surprised with was the spicy aroma to the san fran lager yeast.... I know people say you can use 05 but Im not convinced after smelling this yeast...you think that strain will cut it Tilt?? I Have some wyeast arriving soon so will get that going... It will be good to compare the beers!
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I'm sad for you there - it cuts deep to dump a beer, especially when you've nursed it through a tough time.
I've had (and subsequently brewed a version of) Matt's 2012 NHC silver winning example of Cal Common using SO5 cold. I reckon the trick was the recipe is a bit bigger on all fronts (along the lines of Jamil's BCS recipe) and had a decent dry hop - so any lack of yeast spiciness is masked by the bigger hops and malt. Definitely looking forward to comparing the end result on these in a month's time.
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Well not to rub it in-0 Just tast tasted ourbrew- The "Ellerslie Steamer".....And I think with another month in the bottle it'll be in a happy place come race day :)
Bummer on a dud yeast- sounds like it had been out of refrigeration for a while? -
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Good to hear man!
The best before date on the vial was the same as the day I received it so thats always dodgy, but it grew up in the starters and there was plenty of yeast in the flask when I pitched it, so I must have shocked it into submission.
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I was going too, and then I saw an 8 wired tap takeover at Brothers and now Im doing that!!
Ill put put one down over the weekend.
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