One of the best beers I have ever made was the 2019 edition of Alta California Lager, a Mexican-style light lager. Although I can buy excellent commercial examples easily enough at the grocery store, it is a fun challenge to make this somewhat unforgiving style. The 2020 version was okay, but not quite as good. That round used flaked corn instead of cereal-mashed grits, and I also had to use tap water (because I brewed it near the start of the pandemic, and wasn’t going out much) instead of mineral-light water built from RO.

My main changes for the 2021 version were to modify slightly for my Foundry system parameters, build up from RO water, throw in some BruTanB for clarification/oxidation mitigation, and use gelatin at the time of kegging for fining. I also went back to a cereal mash instead of flaked corn, in order to up the corn flavor and also hopefully get slightly better clarity. It’s also just a bit fun to do a cereal mash (sometimes)!

Alta California Lager 2021

• 6 lb. Pilsner Zero malt (Viking)
• 2 lb. Vienna malt (Weyermann)
• 2 lb. corn grits
• 4 oz. rice hulls
• 0.45 oz. Magnum hop pellets (10.1% alpha), 60 minute boil
• 0.5 tsp. BruTanB, 10 minute boil
• 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 5 minute boil
• 0.8 oz. Sterling hop pellets, 5 minute boil
• 1 tsp. Fermax yeast nutrient, 5 minute boil
• 1 pkg. Mexican Lager yeast (WLP940), prepared in 1.75L starter

Target Parameters

• 1.046 s.g., 1.011 f.g., 4.6% abv, 21 IBU, 4 SRM
• 6.5 gallons of RO water with 1.5 g CaCl to hit target parameter of 17 ppm Ca and 29 ppm Cl
• 60 minute full volume infusion mash with cereal mash, 152°

Procedure

• I made a 1.75L starter with 175g of DME, on March 4 (two days before brewing). I cold crashed the starter on the morning of the brew day (March 6), because fermentation had slowed greatly, but not quite stopped.
• For the cereal mash, I used 2 pounds of corn grits plus 0.5 lb. pilsner malt. I had to add ~1 gallon of water to get the right consistency. I added another ~0.5 gallon due to absorption over the course of the cereal mash. I held the mash around 158° to 160° for 5 minutes before bringing it to a boil. It was closer to a 40 minute boil instead of the planned 30 minutes, to compensate for the fact that the boil stopped as I added cold RO water.
• For the main mash, I added 6.5 gallons of RO water with 1.5 g CaCl in the main mash tun. This was heated to 150°. I added the hot cereal mash first, and then added the dry malts and stirred them. After adding the cereal mash, it hit around 146 to 148°; not bad! I let the mash settle for 10 minutes before recirculating at 152°. I did a 75 minute mash, just to be safe with full conversion. An iodine test showed full conversion after 65 minutes. Then, I raised the mash to 168° for 10 minutes, before removing the grains.
• In total, I collected 6.75 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.039, for 70% mash efficiency.
• I boiled for 15 minutes before adding the hops, to bring down the volume and bring up the gravity a touch. So, this meant a 75 minute boil total. Everything else followed the schedule in the recipe.
• After the boil, I chilled the beer down to ~70°, transferred to the fermenter, and chilled down to 48°. I oxygenated for 40 seconds and then pitched the yeast.
• I brewed this beer on 6 March 2021.
• Starting gravity was 1.045, and I fermented at 50°.
• I raised the beer to 54° on 12 March 2021, and then to 60° on 15 March 2021. On 29 March 2021, I cold crashed and let it sit near freezing until kegging on 5 April 2021.
• I did a closed transfer, and then briefly opened the lid to add 1 tsp. of gelatin in 1 cup of water, for fining.
• Final gravity was 1.012, for 4.3% abv.

Tasting

• Appearance
  • Brilliantly clear, light yellow beer with a persistent and fine white head. Gorgeous!
• Aroma
  • Very clean and crisp, with a subtle, slightly sweet note (probably from the corn) along with a grainy malt note.
• Flavor
  • The flavor profile is pretty subtle and unobtrusive on this one, making it a very easy drinking beer. There is a very light corn (not DMS!) note, layered on top of the grainy malt character. Bitterness is pretty low and very clean.
• Mouthfeel
  • Medium-light body, moderately high carbonation, smooth and light finish.
• Would I Brew This Again?
  • Absolutely! This is a really delightful beer, and I’m so glad that I made it again. It drinks so easily, especially on a warm afternoon, and is just about a perfect beer. The extra work for the cereal mash was perhaps worth it? The gelatin certainly helped the clarity, and I think the fact that I used BruTanB, did a closed transfer, and then purged the keg before adding the gelatin, followed by additional purges, probably helped stave off early oxidation. I’m so impressed by this beer! I might try it next time with flaked corn, and gelatin. My only other very minor note is that I could mash a touch lower, to lighten up the body a bit more…perhaps a 90 minute mash at 145° or so? That’s the only reason I gave it a 9.5 instead of a perfect 10!
• Overall
  • 9.5/10

For our November meeting, my homebrew club chose “British Brown Ales” (BJCP 2015 Style 13B) as our in-club competition. This is a style that I like (Newcastle and Sam Smith’s come to mind as good examples), but not one I brew very often.

My recipe research often begins on the American Homebrewers Association website, which has an extensive recipe library (some freely available, some available only to members). Many of the recipes are from National Homebrew Competition winners, so I figure they’re probably a decent representation of the style. Nick’s Northern English Brown Ale took gold in 2012, and I used that as my jumping-off point. My only real modification to the original recipe was in the yeast; I used Nottingham dry yeast, instead of West Yorkshire Ale yeast. A second minor modification was use of crystal 80 instead of the English crystal 77°, based on availability.

Baryonyx Brown Ale

• 5.5 lb. Maris Otter malt (Crisp)
• 3 lb. Vienna malt (Weyermann)
• 0.75 special roast malt
• 0.5 lb. brown malt
• 0.5 lb. caramel 80° malt (Briess)
• 0.5 lb. Victory (biscuit) malt (Briess)
• 6 oz. pale chocolate malt (Crisp)
• 1.25 oz. East Kent Goldings hop pellets (6.0% alpha), 60 minute boil
• 1 Whirlfloc tablet, 10 minute boil
• 0.5 oz. East Kent Goldings hop pellets (6.0% alpha), 5 minute boil
• 2 pkg. Nottingham ale yeast (Lallemand)

Target Parameters

• Infusion mash, batch sparge
• Claremont tap water, treated with Campden tablet
• 1.049 o.g., 1.011 f.g., 5.0% abv, 28 IBU, 19 SRM

Procedure

• I mashed in with 3.75 gallons of water at 163°, to hit a mash temperature of 152°. After 60 minutes, I batch sparged in two steps with 1.25 gallons and 3.5 gallons of water (with 10 minute wait and vorlauf between each).
• In total, I collected 6.8 gallons of runnings with a gravity of 1.046, for 78% mash efficiency.
• I brought the runnings to a boil, adding hops and finings per the recipe. After 60 minutes, I turned off the flame and chilled the wort.
• I pitched the yeast, and fermented at 68°.
• I brewed this beer on 19 October 2019. Starting gravity was 1.052, just a hair above target.
• I kegged the beer on 11 November 2019. Final gravity was 1.011, for 5.3% abv.

Tasting

• Appearance
  • Deep amber beer, fairly hazy still. Thin, tan head.
• Aroma
  • Lightly malty, slightly earthy
• Flavor
  • Malt-forward beer, with a chocolate note at the back end; hop bitterness hides behind the malt. Caramel notes are fairly minimal. The flavor deepens as the beer warms up in the glass.
• Mouthfeel
  • Medium-light body, moderate carbonation, smooth and extended bitterness on the finish.
• Would I brew this again?
  • Maybe? This isn’t a completely amazing beer, but it ain’t bad either. It’s smooth and pretty darned drinkable, which is not a bad target to hit. The main deficit is that it needs more caramel character, perhaps with an extra helping of crystal 80. The chocolate note is nice in this one. Clarity is also a disappointment when I did the tasting today; maybe it will drop clear with another week or two in the keg?
• Overall
  • 6/10

The beer was reasonably well received in our club competition; it scored in the mid-30s, earning third place after two other great entries. As I have mentioned before, I really like that club contests help push me to try out new things!