california common

[Fritz Eye]

What the hell, lets call it a Steam Beer.
I am going to brew an Anchor clone using White Labs San Francisco lager yeast.
I should be able to ferment at around 58%.
I am guessing 1 week in primary at 58% and maybe raise 2-4 degrees for a second week and then trasnsfer to secondary for 2 more weeks, hopefully in the low 50's. Of course I could be totally off target with this plan.
I have not seen to much information on this yeast strain and any tips will be greatly appreciated.
Cheers.
Fritz
BTW, great new thread, good work Justin!

[DannyW]

That is a very easy to use, versatile yeast. It should do just fine at 58F; I have run it at 50F before and it reaches terminal gravity with no problem.

Ramping up the temp is a fine idea, but why not just keep it in one vessel for the whole 3 weeks?

[BDawg]

With a name like Fritz, how can your Steam Beer possibly go wrong?

Sounds like a winner to me. You may want to raise around 10 degrees for a diacetyl rest. 2-4 degrees won't really be much of a jump to get the yeasties chomping on that diacetyl.

Good luck-

[Fritz Eye]

Thanks Danny and BDwag.
Keeping in one fermentor is a great idea. Sometimes simpler is better.
Hopefully the link with Mr. Maytag will keep true.
Cheers and have agreat holiday.
fritz

[Brew Engineer]

I've even used this yeast at 65/66 and got a real nice combination of flavors from it.

[J.Brew]

You may want to raise around 10 degrees for a diacetyl rest. 2-4 degrees won't really be much of a jump to get the yeasties chomping on that diacetyl.

Is that 10 degrees a standard rule of thumb regardless of your fermnent temp?

[BDawg]

Yeah, it's pretty standard in everything I read. I recall seeing it again in Noonan's book the other day.

[DannyW]

FWIW I've found no significant diacetyl (or sulfur for that matter) produced by this yeast. It burns pretty clean cool or warm.

Last time I fermented it cool was 50-ish for 2 weeks, then crash to 30F for filtering, then 45F to serve. No butterscotch was noted.