Never brewed a CA common before, how does this recipe look?
76% weyermann barke pils (I only have Barke pils or Golden Promise)
19% Weyermann Barke Munich
3.6% Briess caramel 40
1.4% carafa II for color
30 IBUS with galena at 60 minutes
2 ounces HMF at 5 minutes (don’t have Northern brewer hops)
ferment with 34/70 at 58 degrees
OG 1.052
FG 1.010
Not sure about what kind of water profile to use.
That doesn’t look like a California Common to me. This style is made with the specific San Francisco lager yeast and usually uses Northern Brewer hops.
You could probably get away with calling your recipe a Marzen. Might fool me in a blind tasting.
Anchor uses open fermentation in clean rooms using cool San Francisco air so we depart from their methods there so why not hops and yeast.
The guidelines basically describe Anchor Steam Beer. So, because Fritz Maytag chose Northern Brewer in his resurrecting the style we’re kinda stuck. Despite the Anchor choice, I find it interesting that, in a 2010 BYO article, Jamil said “Historically the hops would most likely have been California-grown Cluster hops.”
He goes on to say, “I have always thought Spalt would work well, with its interesting spicy and somewhat rustic character. You might also experiment with Cluster, Nugget, Perle, Santiam, Tettnanger or Liberty.”
The 34/70 yeast is an interesting choice. Interesting how close it is genetically to 2112 and WLP 810.
to make it more convoluted, I’ve been told that there were several types of cluster hops being grown in Ca that were distinct from one another.
I know its different from what Anchor steam does, which is probably my bad for calling it a common, maybe I should call it a ca commonish beer since its diverging from the style. trying to get close flavor wise with what I have on hand.
any thoughts on using the “steam lager” strain?
i really miss being able to get anchor beers. they may not have been something you would want every day, but they always seemed to have a lot of character. i actually really miss liberty ale
One of the big reasons to HomeBrew is to express yourself as a brewer. I believe brewing a Cal Common is different than brewing Anchor Steam beer. You can experiment with a broader range of variables to brew a style of beer than you can if you were attempting to brew a specific beer. Styles aren’t meant to be a clone beer exercise.
IIRC there were several hop growing areas in CA. Ones I remember from the Barth-Haas Hop Atlas (checked out from the Michigan State library system many years ago) were the southe part of the San Francisco peninsula, around Hopland CA in Sonoma county, and Sacramento in the central valley. The differences in climate would make the hops different i.e. Terroir. I don’t know if DNA tests have been run on differnt Cluster hops.
there was a small but somewhat significant hop growing in the Monterey Bay peninsula where I live that had a hop called the Mcgrath hop that was a probably a cluster derivative. I am planning on trying to get some rhizomes soon as I’ve located some growing
There was a hop marketed a few years back called Ivanhoe. It was said to be the OG CA Common hop. Don’t know what came of it.
Found this Ivanhoe reference. A California Cluster hop. Northern Brewer is a substitute.
Ivanhoe, thats a name I havent heard in a while. I worked at a homebrew shop about 20 years ago. Ivanhoe was an organic hop we sold. Was similar to cluster, maybe a little less sharp, quite a pleasant hop
