While adding a new brew to the site, I came across this in the brewers description: 2025 SILVER AWARD WINNER of the ® Washington Beer Awards, American Style Amber / Red Ale category. California Common Ale, Historically from Bavaria Germany, associated with the West Coast in the mid 1800's. Called "steam beer" because grains were malted using steam heat. It is a unique hybrid beer style that uses Lager yeast and fermented at Ale temperatures, giving it a unique flavor profile of moderately rich malt character and dry finish. Also "1848" is named for our rich family History. This is the first time I've heard of this as being the reason for being called 'Steam' beers. Any truth to this?
First for me too. @jesskidden ever heard of this? I've used a fair amount of steam jacketed kettles over the years, and different shape and all, but I just can't imagine the physics of steam heat for making malt. Definitely not for drying/kilning, at least. Maybe lightly steaming the raw grain to provide the moisture and heat for them to actually sprout? But that seems like it would really hard to control. I could see steaming cereal grains to gelatinize them in place of a traditional cereal mash, though.
I don't think they mean steaming the actual grains, just using steam powered heat to perform the malting process. I'd always heard that the temperature differences created a steam like vapor, and that's where the style got it's name.
LOL! There are two long term descriptions for why these beers were termed “Steam” beer, from my article: “These beers were commonly referred to as Steam Beer in the1800’s with lots of lore surrounding this name. Nobody knows for sure but one story is that as the wort cooled in shallow vessels on the roof of the breweries, the steam that was seen coming off was the source of the term “Steam”. Another story is that these beers would be highly carbonated and as the barrel was tapped would make a hissing sound reminiscent of escaping steam. The Anchor Brewing Company has trademarked the term “Steam Beer” so the beer style is now referred to as California Common beer.” I suppose we now need to add “because grains were malted using steam heat” to the list? Cheers! P.S. The malting of grains (barley) involves steeping the grains in water to get the grain to sprout (germinate), then during the germination process they are in a warm place (could be floor malting) to further permit the germination process to continue and then the germinated grain is kilned to arrest germination and provide color to the grain for certain types of malt. I am not aware of any malting company that applies steam (which is very hot, e.g., 212 °F) during the malting process.
Back in the olden times, before electricity or maybe even gas, where would they get the heat to malt? I could there having been wood or coal fired boilers to create steam to make the heat for the floors.
The internet to the rescue: “In the 1800s, heat for floor malting barley came from fires beneath perforated floors, using wood or coal (later coke), with maltsters controlling low, slow drying (around 130°F/55°C for pale malt) by manually turning the grain and adjusting airflow, a skill-intensive process limited to cooler months for quality, producing rich, aromatic malt with a unique character. Heat Source & Method Underfloor Fires: Fires were lit in a furnace beneath the malting floor, with hot air and combustion gases rising through the grain. Fuel: Wood was common, but later, coal (especially smokeless coke) was used. Control: Maltsters manually raked or shoveled the grain (a laborious task known as "monkey shoulder") to ensure even drying and temperature, using their senses to monitor. Temperature: Ideal temperatures were low for pale malts (around 31°C/88°F) and higher for darker malts (around 46°C/115°F), with kilning lasting days” Steam at 212 °F would be too high of a temperature. Cheers!
Well, sure. The same way using steam to directly heat a room would be too hot. But, much like institutions with multi-building campuses (universities, large corporations, etc) have a central steam plant to send the heat to where it needs to be, it just seemed to me that they could have controlled the heat from steam to be a viable heat source. Whether anybody ever did or not is a separate matter.
Henceforth, all dark beers that get their color from roasted malt shall be known as Wheeler's beer, due to Daniel Wheeler patenting the malt roaster. Porters, stouts, schwarzbier, and tmave pivo no longer exist.
If you've ever lived in a building with an old school radiator, you know that it's not really in your control.
This is what I thought also, piping carries the steam under the malting floor which gets warm or hot and dries out the wet sprouted grain spread on top of the floor, so no direct contact between the barley and steam. This would probably qualify as hydronic radiant heat that some people heat their flooring with. Or it means this: They're pilin' in the back seat They're generatin' steam heat Pulsatin' to the backbeat
I doubt that the account of steam heat malting in 1850s California is correct. Generally direct fire was used for malting in those days. Steam heating was just getting started, and would have added mechanical complexity to the malting process then being performed in a fairly non-industrial environment.
Regardless of how a maltster derives the heat for the operation, that summary is a misunderstanding. There is no variety of malt exclusive to California Commons; breweries’ malt bills may vary for their recipe, but they’re using the same malts in other beers too so there’s no reason to identify that beer style by the malting method.
Steam Beer sounds like something big alcohol got together with the vape companies to design a new vape cartridge to get you drunk.
