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California Common Recipe

Since my basement in the winter stays a (pretty much) consistent 60°F in the winter, I think that a California Common or Steam Beer recipe would be good to try out since I have the correct temperature for fementation.

I always imagined that this beer would be my first lager attempt, but the beer fridge changed that trajectory.

Here is a recipe that I formulated to resemble Anchor Steam.

Ingredients:

9 lbs. 2-Row Brewers Malt
1 lbs. American Caramel 40°L
.8 oz. Northern Brewer (Pellets, 8 %AA) boiled 60 min.
.5 oz. Northern Brewer (Pellets, 8 %AA) boiled 15 min.
.5 oz. Northern Brewer (Pellets, 8 %AA) boiled 1 min.
Yeast: WLP810 San Francisco Lager Yeast

Predicted Results

Original Gravity: 1.050
Terminal Gravity: 1.012
Color: 11.11 °SRM
Bitterness: 38.1 IBU
Alcohol (%volume): 5.0 %

Notes:

I may need to recalculate the hops amounts based on the AA%. If it’s lower, I will need to buy and add more. Looking to collect enough wort for a 6 gallon boil for 60 minutes.

After the boil, I plan to chill the wort to around 58°F and let it warm up over the first few days of fermentation. Ferment for 2 weeks. Bottle after that.

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3 Comments

  1. Nice! Cal Common is not something we think about too often as a style to brew. Is Northern Brewer hops the classic hop for the style? Remember that O.Bitter I made last year that wasn’t that great. That was NB hops…. just something to keep in mind. What experience do other readers have with NB hops?

  2. Northern Brewer is the Anchor Steam hop variety. Everything I read stated that you want to stay away from citrusy American hops and go with NB…some people claim its woody, earthy tones mesh well with the yeast.

  3. I’ll have to go get a sixes of anchor steam to research that hop flavor a little more.

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