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As Seen In |
AN UNCOMMONLY STEAMY STORY BY Bruce L Brode "Grand Hydro" (Published in the April 1997 Brews and News)
Brew Style of the Month: California Common Beer
With the Febrewary trip to the Anchor Brewery in San Francisco still fresh in our minds, it's time we visited their flagship product, Steam Beer. Please note that the term "Steam Beer" refers specifically to Anchor's product, in the legal sense, as they have trademarked the name. An alternative name to describe this general style of beer and its unique brewing method has been offered by the literary beer enthusiast of Portland, Oregon, Fred Eckhardt, and he calls it California Common Beer. Fred's name alludes to the days in post-Gold Rush California when breweries were springing up and expanding as fast as the rest of the San Francisco Bay Area communities as a result of the tremendous influx of people to the region; this was the style of beer 'commonly' brewed. The Nineteenth Century was a time of tremendous transition in the brewing industry, witnessing the rise of the Industrial Revolution and its devotion to mechanical technology, including steam power. During this time of such rapid growth, it was fashionable for the better-capitalized breweries to be able to boast of having a "steam brewery," meaning one that ran on steam power, as many do today. This is one theory on the origin of the Steam Beer term. Another big transition at this time was the rapidly growing popularity of lager beers. In more remote regions such as San Francisco, refrigeration technology was not available (indeed, it did not become widespread until well into the Twentieth Century), which made brewing lager beer difficult, since the alternative of ice was not readily at hand either. The Steam Beer fermentation method was developed to use lager yeast with the naturally cool, but not cold, ambient temperatures of the San Francisco peninsula. Very shallow fermenters (Anchor's are only two feet deep) allow a rapid ferment and settling of the yeast and may have originally preserved some fermentable sugars into the keg, which would develop substantial carbonation as a result. A powerful release of carbon dioxide upon tapping the keg signalled it as Steam Beer, from the steam pressure-like sound. This is the other theory of how Steam Beer came about as a term of reference. Let's look at the Falcons Competition Style Description for this brew: Class 9. CALIFORNIA COMMON BEER. An American original, resulting from attempts to brew lager beers without the necessary ice or refrigeration. Instead, cool ambient conditions in spots such as the San Francisco peninsula were used, providing temperatures intermediate between ale and lager. Lager yeast thus fermented "too warm" combines with the hops to form a characteristic fruity, yeasty, citric aroma and flavor which is usually supported by ample amber and caramel maltiness. Substantial hop bitterness may provide a dry finish. An intensely refreshing beer, medium-bodied, with light to medium amber color. Some historical examples may have sought to emulate the Pilsner, rather than the Vienna, lager style, resulting in a more pale and light-bodied beer. O.G. 1.044-1.056, IBU 35-45, alcohol 4.6-5.6% v/v. Commercial Examples: Anchor Steam Beer (U.S., Steam Beer is a registered trademark of Anchor Brewing Co.). Keys to brewing California Common Beer: 1. Your wort should be modeled after an amber or pale lager style, but hopped a bit more like a Pale Ale. Anchor seems to use a Vienna-style amber lager approach, though I suspect with domestic pale and caramel malts rather than European ones, and the signature hop used is Northern Brewer. My impression is that Anchor has toned down the original gravity and hop bittering levels a bit in recent years, to produce a beer that is more of a session beer, but consult the ranges listed above for guidance here. 2. Use an authentic yeast, such as the Wyeast California Lager strain or the Brewer's Resource "California Esteem" yeast, each of which are lager yeasts that are warm-tolerant and produce the characteristic citrus-yeasty flavor complex so unique to this style. 3. Give the brew a pretty high carbonation level, for the crisp, "steamy" effect. Time to get steamed up to brew some gruesomely Common Beer. Here's Doug King's First Place recipe from the 1994 Mayfaire Competition:
California Common Beer, by Douglas King: For 14 gallons: Grains: 24 lbs. American Pale 2-row malt. 3 lbs. 10 oz. 40L Caramel malt. 1 lb. 3 oz. CaraPils malt. Hops: For 34.1 IBU: 2.5 oz. Northern Brewer pellets at 7.5% A.A. boiled for 60 min. 1 oz. No. Brewer pellets boiled for 30 min. 0.75 oz. Cascade pellets at 4.7% A.A. boiled for 10 min. Also, 2.8 oz. (or 1 oz. per 5 gallons) Cascade leaf dryhopped in secondary fermenter. Yeast: Wyeast #2112 California Lager, 3 quart starter. Water: Charcoal filtered West SFV tap water. Amendments: 3 teaspoons Gypsum in the mash. 1.5 teaspoons Lactic Acid in the sparge water. Procedure: Mash schedule: Dough-in at strike 127 F., rest 30 min. Raise to strike 152 F., rest 90 min. Raise to mash-out at 170 F. Proceed to lauter and sparge. Collect 14.5 gallons runoff and boil 90 min. with hop additions during the last 60 min. as noted above. Ferment primary 22 days at 65 F., secondary 4 weeks (prolonged due to earthquake...). Prime at bottling with 0.75 cup per 5 gallons corn sugar. O.G. 1.055, F.G. 1.011. For another award-winning recipe, this one using extract malt, here's the First Place California Common Beer recipe from the 1996 Mayfaire Competition. Steve Rittenhouse is the past president of the Pacific Gravity home brewing club in the Culver City area, and has taken a number of ribbons at recent Mayfaire Competitions:
"Mort's Steamer," by Steve Rittenhouse, Los Angeles, CA: For 5 gallons: Grains: 5 lbs. American 2-row Pale malt. 1 lb. 40L Caramel malt. 0.5 lb. American 6-row malt. Extract: 3.3 lbs. Gold Syrup Extract. Hops: 1.3 oz. Northern Brewer, 8.8% A.A., boiled 60 min. 0.5 oz. Cascade, 4.9% A.A., boiled 10 min. 0.5 oz. Chinook, 10.7% A.A., boiled 10 min. 0.5 oz. Cascade, dryhopped. Yeast: Wyeast American Ale. Water: Tap water. Procedure: Mash grains at 155 F. for 40 min., then sparge with water at 170 F. Total boil time 60 min. with hop additions as listed above. Two-stage fermentation at 60 F. O.G. 1.050, F.G. 1.014. Well, that's all for now. Until next time, keep floatin', and steam ahead into brewing some uncommonly good Common Beer!
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