california common

[Irish Kevin]

Fritz-
I am planning to brew an Anchor Steam clone this weekend myself. I have 10 G of porter to drink (FG at around 1.018) and I had hoped to have a nice clean "lighter bodied" highly attentuated beer as a counter balance to my porter. I considered leaving the carboy to ferment in the garage (~45 F) but when I spoke to John Plise at B3 (Morebeer.com) he recommend a fermentation temp of closer to 60 F. Apparently, the yeast need just a little warmth to get going strong. At garage temps, John thought that the fermentation time would take 4 weeks.
Question: Are you still going to try and let the beer "lager" for a couple of weeks?

[Irish Kevin]

Fritz-
Nevermind about my question, I just reread your post and got the answer myself.
Post your results and let me/us know what you think of the Common. I brewed this beer once before (in warmer temps) but I found it pretty unremarkable, drinkable but not mindblowing. I am hoping to have better temp control and to produce a better beer this time around.

[Fritz Eye]

Hello men,
So here is the end of the Cal Common saga.
I fermneted at around 58% in the primary for 3 weeks and then transfered to a secondary for 2 more weeks at around 48%, sort of mock lagering.
Despte it's amber color, it is one of the clearest beers I have made and racking was a piece of cake as the yeast was so compact.
After conditioning in a bottle for 3 weeks it placed first in Hybrid Ambers in a recent competition.
This was one clean tasting beers that reallylet the hops and specialty grains shine through.
I love using this yeast and I may experiment making some other styles of beer with it.
Any suggestions?
As always, thanks for your help.
Cheers

[BrewerB]

Fritz - might be worthwhile to try making an Altbier, Kolsch, or Blonde with that yeast strain. Though I'm certainly no expert on this strain's capabilities.

As far as your last batch, sounds like it went really well. Congrats on your first place in category. Nice work!