I’ve been doing Cal Lager yeast for awhile now, thinking it was really good. But today I compared two Marzens, one fermented with a Cal, and the other with a blend of Chech Pilsener-German Bock. The pilsener-bock was far superior at this stage of the game, about 1 month old, not carbonated yet. The Cal had a bitterness in it that I didn’t care for. It will get better with time, but I’m thinking of ending my affair with Cal Lager yeast. Can I get a witness?
For any German lager I would use one of the German lager yeasts. For a Czech lager a Czech strain. Use the proper amounts when you pitch, O2, and control the temps to where the yeast performs the best.
Get the right tool for the job and learn how to use it. That is what my old man would say. It holds true here too.
I’ve never agreed with the idea that the CA yeast makes good lagers. I’ve always gotten far better results on pseudo lagers using WY1007. It’s just seems cleaner and crisper than the CA. And like you say, there’s nothing like using a REAL lager yeast.
Yep, I’ve had good luck with the CA yeast on darker beers, schwarzbier especially, really good luck. But on this one, barely a Marzen, SRM 7, my own malt build, 48% Vienna, 38% Pilsener, 14% Munich, it’s weakness was revealed. As you guys know better than I, the light lager malt build will display, even advertise, your brewing choices and techniques on center stage, whereas you can hide a lot of “stuff” in a dark build. Anyways, good lesson learned.
I used Cal Lager yeast in Cal Common as well as dark beer.
I have to say first I was hesitant but I got good results.
That was at 60F fermentation temp.
Now I am quite fond of that yeast.
I also agree if you want German lager use German yeast.
If you want Czech Lager, use Czech yeast.