Proposition 29

Yesterday I brewed my 29th batch and first lager-style beer, a California Common which I've dubbed Proposition 29. I won't really count Helmut Kölsch as a lager, since it is kind of a hybrid yeast and it was rather warm-fermented.

The Recipe:

9 lb 2-row pale malt
8 oz crystal 60°L

6 AAU (13g @ 13% AA) Nugget @ 60
8 AAU (28g @ 8% AA) Northern Brewer @ 15
8 AAU (28g @ 8% AA) Northern Brewer @ 5

Whirlfloc tablet @ 15

Wyeast 2112 - California Lager

Mashed at 150° for an hour and a quarter using 12 quarts of water. Batch-sparged using 180° water and collected 6.5 gallons for the boil.

O.G.: 1.050
Est. IBU: 44.9

This beer represents my first real attempt at temperature control during the fermenting stage. I would love to keep it in the 62-64° range at high kräusen; to accomplish this, I bought a $10 clear-plastic storage tub and placed my carboy inside it, then filled the tub with ice water. I will have to periodically re-ice the water to keep the temp down; it should be interesting to see how it works. Yesterday when I first filled it the temperature was about 59-60°; this morning it was up to 64°, so I re-iced again before leaving for work. I imagine this will have to be done every 12 hours or so.

Yesterday I also racked Employment Singel, which fermented very quickly and could probably just have been kegged, as most of the yeast had already flocculated out. Unfortunately, I also kegged Cherry Brevity and had no free kegs left for Employment. I guess this week I will have to drink a lot of homebrew to get my keg situation in order. Good lord ... do I already need another keg fridge?

Employment is tasting interesting; quite biscuity and nutty, and not super Belgiany. I shall have to see if a little conditioning helps it along, but I fear that fermentation was too quick to develop all those good flavors characteristic of the style. Cherry Brevity is also interesting; so long in the secondary cleared it right up, so it doesn't look like a cloudy witbier. It is bright red, however, and the cherry added a very subtle, dry fruit character which I think works well.