Upcoming Competition: California Common, 31 August, 2013

[Barbara Joppa]

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

[Tilt]

There ya go - good to know Adam.  Which one behaves better in the ferment (attenuation, floccing, SO2 etc)?

[Adam Sparks]

Well for a start Ive only used whitelabs 029 kolsch so thats what Im comparing Wyeast 2112 with, and the characteristics are very similar. I guess any of the hybrid strains would do a good job.

I found WY2112 attenuation much lower than WL029
WL029 just chugs at a steady pace right to the finish line however Ive found that 2112 needs to be warmed up as its finishing to keep things moving. I really don't like having to babysit a ferment.
However 2112 seems to make less sulphur and so less conditioning time.
WY2112 has a very high flocculation compared to WL029.

Mind you all of those differences could be to do with dissolved oxygen, cell counts etc so don't take my word as gospel,

[Peter Smith]

as I said earlier when 2112 drops out its good nigh nurse, cant believe how fast the floc took,    re attenuation I didnt quite make what I though I would get but you could add in mash temp, oxygen levels in wort etc as possibles.    I reckon you could have used US-05,  but my bottles need another week to make sure there isnt any residual sugars from carb.  

IMHO this with us-05 and some serious late NZ hops and dry hopping would make an interesting NZ beer.    I get a nice lingering bitterness from NB and mint, most of the wood has mellowed from the sucking on popsicle sticks flavour.

[Adam Sparks]

It still tastes dry even with the low attenuation though which is nice, cool yeast!

[Matt Smith]

Have you all noticed much variance with how these yeasts deal with hops? Just trying my attempt now, its a rebrew of previous version that used US05 cold, this one is with 2112 and slightly less caramel malt, and its way less hoppy than the US05 version.

[Adam Sparks]

2112 is very malt driven and has a slight spiceyness to it, which is why NB work so well I guess. What was your FG Matt, attenuation will impact the hop profile quit e a lot? I think there's an unmistakable character to the fermentation, and Id say if you used 2112 last year instead of 05 you would have gotten a gold.

[Matt Smith]

FG was 1.011 vs 1.014 with the US05 version. I mashed much lower with this one given the lower attenuation listed on the specs for 2112 compared with what I get out of US05. Your right, super malt driven yeast, I'll be dropping a whole bunch of munich from my recipe next time

[Tilt]

I cant comment on the 2112 - but my cold US05 version has plenty of hops - too much really after dry hopping it for too long. 

I was  looking foward to trying the different yeast versions side by side but I'm gutted I now won't be able to make it on Saturday after a last minute change in work schedule. 

I'm keen to enter my beer though.  Any chance I can find someone to courier my entry up there?

[Adam Sparks]

Yeah Ill take it up for you Mark

[Tilt]

thanks - I'll pm to work out a drop off time etc.

[Matt Smith]

Stoked people are getting into this! I can't brew for 2 or 3 weeks, but I'll have a nice fresh entry. Moving back home to Hawkes Bay in a few weeks, but I'll have to time a trip back up to include this, last one was great fun.

[Barbara Joppa]

I have been notified that Shane from Steam Brewing has 20kg of US Northern Brewers Hops if anyone is interested for their using in their entry. Shoot me an email to let me know: [e-mail]