California Common

Brew Day: 10/14/14

Extract kit from Northern Brewer. 

2.5 gals in the the kettle to begin with, though I added more later. Brought water up to 145, then added grains. Added 1/4 gal of 174 water to pot at to get from 145 to 168. Let heat up to 170 then took off heat, covered, and let steep for 20 mins.  Down to 166 after the 20 steep. Drained grains in strainer and brought heat back up. Poured 1/4 gal of 174 water through grain bag to rinse. Total pre-boil volume of 3 gal. (174 is how hot my microwave gets 1/4 gal in 4 mins)

Grains:

1.5 lbs US Crystal 60L

Brought to boil and started timer. 60 min boil.

3.15 lb Gold LME - 60 mins

1 oz German Northern Brewer hops 9.2% AA - 60 mins

*water addition - see below*

3.15 lb Gold LME - 15 mins

0.5 oz German Northern Brewer hops 9.2% AA - 15 mins

1 tsp of Irish Moss - 15 mins

0.5 oz German Northern Brewer hops 9.2% AA - 5 mins

1 oz German Northern Brewer hops 9.2% AA - 0 mins

*Brought 1 gal of water to boil in separate pot, then added to boil kettle. Trying for fuller volume for better hop utilization. 4 gal maxed out my kettle capacity. Added with 20 mins left in boil.*

Cooled with ice water bath in sink. Down to 95 in 20 mins. Used two 3 lb bags of ice. Siphoned out of brew kettle through double mesh strainer into bucket to get hop sludge out. Cleaned out strainer, then poured through it again into carboy, added 1 gal cold tap water to bring to total volume to 5 gal.

1.2 liter starter of Wyeast 2112 California Lager made the day before on stir plate. Pitched at 64.

Sharing the fermentation chamber with the Scottish Wee Heavy in secondary. Fermenting at 60. Attached the blowoff tube to get through the first 48 hrs of fermentation. Then will switch to airlock and bung.

OG 1.048 (12.6 brix)

est. IBU 51.1

est. FG 1.014

est. SRM 12.83

While I brewed, I listed to the Brewing With Style podcast about California Common on The Brewing Network.

Racked: 10/28/14

I put 1 oz of the hops I picked in August into a sanitized mesh bag and racked the beer on top of it. My first attempt at dry hopping. Maybe I should've let it sit in secondary for a week or so before dry hopping, but we'll see what happens. Still have the fermentation chamber set at 60. 

I took a gravity reading and it ended up at 1.013 which should make it approximately 4.59% abv. Pretty much right where it should be. Ever since getting this chest freezer as a fermentation chamber, I've been much more consistent in my fermentations. I highly recommend it. I got mine on Craigslist for around $100.

Here's a timelapse siphoning video from today.

Update: 12/01/14

I checked the gravity today, and it was down to 1.013. Right where it needs to be. I bottled up the English Bitter today so I may go ahead and bottle this one up too. I've already got the equipment out.

Bottling Day: 12/09/14

Had all my bottles out from last week when I bottled the English Bitter. Gave them a StarSan dunk to sanitize and put 1 fizz drop in each bottle. I find it much easier than making a sugar priming solution, and I've never had a problem getting enough carbonation.

Ended up with 40 12 oz bottles full (roughly 30 pints). As by evidence in the photo below, it turned out to be the clearest beer I've ever made. You can even see the vertical blinds hanging behind the glass 3 feet away. The sample I took tastes amazing and I can't wait to have them all carbed. Not bad for my first attempt at dry-hopping.