CS7 - Cleveland Steamer

[Matt]

 

Style - California Common Beer aka Steam Beer

 

42L batch

 

Golden Promise 7.00Kg (71.8%)

Melanoidin  0.40Kg (4.1%)

Munich 1.50Kg (15.4%)

Caramunich II 0.75Kg (7.7%)

Chocolate 0.10Kg (1.0%)

 

Northern Brewer 20g @ 60min (14.8 IBU)

Northern Brewer 85g @ 15min (16.8 IBU) 

Northern Brewer 85g @ flameout (0 IBU)

 

Mashed at 68C, fermented at 17C with Wyeast 2112 California Lager

 

OG 1.058

FG 1.012

 

~6% ABV (despite what it says on the label)

 

Carbonated a bit higher than usual as per the style, this only went into the keg a week ago so best to leave in yer fridge for a couple more weeks if you can...

 

Malty woody nuggets of joy to you all

[Tilt]

Wicked label Brew Sci - and looking like the beer inside will more than live up to the artwork - it'll be a challenge to wait but will take your advice and let it sit for a wee while to be at its best.

[vdog]

Picked this out of the box just for the name... Pours a nice clear brown, fairly big off-white head on top. Aroma is pretty much malted chocolate, which also comes through really nicely in the flavour. Wouldn't have picked the abv if you hadn't mentioned it above, this really slipped down very easily indeed - the bottle did not last very long at all. Good clean ferment, nice and smooth, great job!

[Reviled]

I thought long and hard about what I wanted to drink tonight, and I thought this beer might give me what I was after... It did!!

Pours a deep amber verging on brown, nice fluffy head, high visible carbonation. Interesting aroma like rich fruits dusted with cocoa. Really full mouthfeel, rich and malty but it doesnt last before an assertive bitterness kicks in and other than hints of toasted caramel, dominates through to the finish in true west coast style!!

Awesome work mate!!

[Matt Smith]

Poured hard and got a small beige head which left a nice lace. A very clear and attractive deep red color. This is the first time ive tried a beer with northern brewer hops that I can recall and it caught me by surprise. I found that earthy/woody/grassy flavor and aroma quite strange at first but now that my palette has adjusted I'm really enjoying how well it sits with the clean malty caramel flavors.

Overall a very well brewed beer and a great introduction to a style I haven't tried until now.

Cheers !

[Barry]

Picked this out to go with a beef stew on a rainy Autumn night.

Third case swap beer and first ever steam beer!

 

Beer pours bright clear, a beautiful coppery brown with a pillowy off-white head.

On the nose there is some caramel/toffee and a touch of spice.

First sip is super smooth, delicious toffee maltiness followed by a cleansing but balanced hop bite. Great mouthfeel and a superb dry finish.

 

Awesome beer, loving it, and a great match for my dinner. The malt melds will with the beef and the hops are just enough to cleanse the palette.

 

Really well brewed beer mate, loved it.

 

[Matt]

Glad you guys are enjoying this, Matt I too struggle to weigh up the NB hops, I get strong popsicle stick bitterness (put that in your beer descriptor handbook). On top of the fairly hefty specialties and unsuspecting crispness of the lager yeast it makes for a pretty all round confusing beer I reckon. One that goes down easy and seems to work though... Thanks for the comments.

[Reviled]

Its interesting reading the comments re northern brewer hops because I myself sort of hated them when I had them the first time in Anchor Steam - it sort of takes some adjusting to, but when you do, it becomes moreish.. Wierd!

[Bambule]

I had this one last night.  Never had a steam style beer before or Northern Brewer hops.  Where did you get them from btw?

 

Pours a lovely deep matai shade of brown.  On the nose I get a slight smell of pineapple or maybe pineapple lumps of all things!  Good malt flavour and crisp finish with cleansing bitterness.  I've used 2112 once beofre and I enjoyed its ability to give that lager-esque finish without all the hassle of a lager yeast.  I'm going to have to try it again soon I think.

Really nice beer, I could drink lots of it. 

 

I also really loving this case swap!

 

[Matt]

Northern brewer from brewerscoop (now in penrose). I see them show up in a few diff recipes but mostly seem to appear at the bittering end of things

[Martin Bridges]

They say the first sip is with the eyes, so this beer is off to a great start! Crystal clear, lovely tawny colour. Small white head which persists fairly well. Carbonation higher than I tend to like, but I agree it goes with the style.

 

Not a huge aroma, but hints of malty sweetness in there if you sniff hard enough.

 

Beautiful palate. Rich, warming, slight toastiness. Lots of malt sweetness without being cloying. I really REALLY like this beer. I could drink copious quantities. Perfect autumnal beer, and comes close to toppling Barry's beer as my favourite of the Swap so far. Excellent work fella!

[Stu H]

Great label! Great title. My flatmates didn't believe me when I told them what a Cleveland Steamer was so we've been having a fun time on urbandicitonary.com

 

Appearance: Deep amber, thin, tight creamy head. Dissipated quite quickly

Aroma: Molasses, malty

Flavour: Strong bitterness, balanced by the sweetness, lightly burnt tasting, good malt kick.

Mouthfeel: enjoying the carbonation on this one, and the hoppy bitter aftertaste.

 

Dude I didn't look at the recipe when I was trying to work out what I was tasting, and I wouldn't have picked the lager yeast! I think you've nailed a pretty sweet American Amber! Thanks!

[Richard Jack]

Last night saw me partaking in a Cleavland Steamer. My first steam beer.

Firstly, Love the name and label. Poured a nice bright brown-red, looked beautiful when I held it up to the light. not a huge head on mine from a pretty vigourous pour, but it hung aorund well.

Aroma was chocolate and a hint of berry, maybe rasberry? Confused me a bit, there is something fruity / tart that I couldn't quite define, I enjoyed whatever it was though.

The taste was toffee with hints of chocolate up front, and then that crispy finish hits you and lingers. I think you nailed it with popsicle stick bitterness! Again, the toffee / choc folowed by that dry crispness kind of confused me a bit, But on reflection I think it made me enjoy the beer more, because I was trying to figure out what was going on the whole way through the glass, so I'm going to say that it's a good thing, and probably just due to me not really knowing the style.

It was certainly very drinkable. I had it a bit cold when it was poured, so it was sipped at slowly, a bit of a challenge due to the drinkability... I think on balance it was better after it warmed, the specialties came out to play a bit more.

Thanks for the beer mate!