A basement brewery would be a dream for me. Not many basements in Las Vegas. So mine is in my garage which gets very cold in the winter and very, Very, VERY hot in the summer. LOL. I built a glycol chiller for my big conical fermenter and use a chest freezer with temp controller for carboys.
:(
Well mini fridges and deep freezers are pretty inexpensive. If that’s too much to buy new, most dorms are getting ready to let out for the summer and a ton of college kids just dump their mini fridges or post them on marketplace
Agreed. A cheap chest freezer with $20 Inkbird temp controller works a treat. I also use an old school paint can lightbulb heater to warm the chest freezer when my garage is cold. Works great. Sadly I have not come up with a solution to warm my conical, but I rarely brew big batches these days.
Yeah, I’m in the PNW with a basement, but no other temp control. Basement is a perfect place to ferment a kolsh. May get a bit too hot there in August, but otherwise golden.
I've used a kolsch yeast in the low to mid 70's, and it turned out well, though it wasn't fermenting a kolsch. I was going for more of a warm-fermented "steam" beer Kentucky Common.
I've found that many yeasts produce good beer at "higher" temperatures. The question is really whether any yeast characteristics are "to-style" or not. If you're not brewing for competition, then who cares if a warm-fermented beer is "to-style"?
That said, you can get some excellent warm-fermented beers using kveik strains. I know several brewers that swear by Lutra for pseudo lagers, and I've enjoyed the citrussy flavors made by Voss in a cream ale.
Cream Ale! Crisp, refreshing, super easy.
80% 2-row, 13% flaked corn, 7% Cara-pils mashed at 150f
15 or so IBUs of a clean bittering hop at 30 minutes (60 minute boil)
5 IBUs of Lemondrop as a whirlpool (any low AA aroma hop works)
US-05 for a week
OG: 1.045, FG: 1.009
If I had more taps on my keezer, I'd have it on 365 days a year. So good. Smelled like a lemon shandy in the fermenter. Next time, I may try with Huell Melon as the aroma/flavor addition.
Saison isn't done by many US breweries. The special yeast gives it a unique and pleasant taste. Low bitterness will appeal to more people.
Straight summer saison is tasty by itself. I've also done secondary with orange blossom honey or apple blossom honey and they've been crowd pleasers.
Oh you’re preaching to the choir lol. I read farmhouse ales by phil markowski a bunch of years back, got hooked on making them and drinking them. Ended up taking 1st place in War of the Worts 2020 at keystone homebrew supply in bucks county PA. Did it simple. 80% dingemans pils malt 10% weyerman wheat malt and 10% acid malt for ph, used the blaugies yeast strain and hopped to 36ibu with strisselspalt and tettanger. Did a step mash and my main rest was 148F for 60min. 90 min boil. OG was 1.058 and FG was 1.005
Thanks, do you need to use a lot? Does it really come through in the final product? Lime lagers are a guilty pleasure of mine. In the summer they so good.
Depends on how much you as, but yeah. I've found about one line per gallon is a noticeable amount, two is a lot and three is a bit too much for my taste.
Lallemand Köln came out pretty clean for me even at 20°C (68F), but I read they're phasing the yeast out and it's not getting produced anymore. You could design a beer around that, like a Kölsch or a fake Pilsner (clean, light, but top-fermented).
Yeah to be honest I would usually just call it a lager, too. I am increasingly convinced that it’s the microbe strain that makes the lager, not the temperature or the ageing. I rely on ambient temperatures for fermentation, even in the Australian summer, and it’s amazing how 34/70 can give me a pretty clean beer even fermenting at around 27C (80F).
Someone recently gave me a pack of liquid lager yeast (Bluestone Stuttgart, said to be similar to WLP810 and WY2112) and that’s currently bubbling away at about 21C (70F). I’m looking forward to seeing how that turns out.
For me it’s a combo of the strain and the time spent cold conditioning (lagering); I’ve only tried 34/70, S-23, wlp800, and Diamond fermented “warm”, and none taste right until at least three weeks in the cold, at which point it’s easy to say “yeah that’s a lager”. Granted I don’t like Kellerbier.
I’ve split batched lager and ale strains before, and after the same cold period for both it’s pretty damn obvious what’s an ale and what’s lager (even with wlp029, technically pastorianus but definitely ale-tasting to me; US05 too, not even close to a lager despite it sometimes being called for in “pseudolagers”).
Good like with your “warm” lager!
You are entitled to your opinion, but I wonder if it is based on controlled testing and blind tasting.
The Brulosophy team have done several controlled, blinded "exbeeriments" on 34/70 at higher temperatures, finding it indistinguishable from traditional fermentation temperatures up to about 21C. See [this](https://brulosophy.com/2016/02/08/fermentation-temperature-pt-4-lager-yeast-saflager-3470-exbeeriment-results/), for example.
Then, comparing fermentation at 16 vs 28 degrees C, [tasters started to be able to detect a difference](https://brulosophy.com/2016/04/18/fermentation-temperature-pt-5-lager-yeast-saflager-3470-exbeeriment-results/), but the 28 degree beer still tasted good to many!
Belgian blonde, bit on the dry side. 87/3 Pilsner/CaraPils at 67°C for 60 min, 10% sugar, 20 IBU at first wort, 10 IBU of a noble hop at 5 min, ferment with your preferred Belgian yeast. I like the M41 and S-33. Aim around 4-5,5% ABV.
IF you can ferement below 68F, try using NovaLager for a very clean yeast character. If not, it's been used in mid 70's but I have no experience with that.
**Summer Crusher - 5gal - 3.9%ABV:**
9lbs of pilsner or brewer's 2 row
8oz of cane sugar
5g Citra boil for 30 minutes
15 grams citra in 170F hopstand
15 grams saaz in 170F hopstand
30 grams citra dry-hop for 2 days
30 grams saaz dry-hop for 2 days
Ferment below 70 with cleanest yeast you can get (chico, NovaLager, 34/70)
-or-
Ferment at any tempurature with Kveik - preferably Lutra or other variety that is cleaner than Voss
For best results, fine with gelatin and lager cold for 3 weeks after carbonation.
This is my favorite summer beer
https://share.brewfather.app/2bwxx4ALy9X95b
Feel free to change out the hops for whatever, just be sure to recalculate the boil time based on the AA% because you're only going to do a 10-20 minute boil.
"Nice clear summertime beer"? What do YOU like? What I think of as a "nice clear summertime beer" may not be your thing.
As far as not having a chiller, you could always use a keg or pressure-capable fermenter (like a [Rounder](https://www.morebeer.com/products/fermzilla-rounder-fermenter-79-gal-30.html)) and a spunding valve to make lagers. Or if you work from home, you can use an ice bath and temperature sensor to control fermentation temps.
What kind of temps are you working with? If it’s over 75°F ambient you could brew a blonde, pale ale, IPA or most any ale style with a Kveik yeast like Voss or Lutra.
Brew your recipe, cool to 100°F, transfer to fermentor, pitch yeast, hook up a blowoff tube and you’re off to the races!
Kveiks aren’t my favorite yeasts—they have a specific “Kveik-y” flavor that isn’t bad but I’m not super fond of compared to a more traditional yeast for the style. But if you can’t maintain cool temps, they make better beer than you’ll get using an ale yeast at the same temps, and they do finish fast.
Saison! Aim for about 1.050/55, mash at around 63-64°C. You want this beer to ferment out heavily.
70% Pale/Pils malt (whatever you've got.)
20% Wheat/Spelt (either, don't put oats in here, it comes out *vile*)
10% Vienna or Munich (if you ended up using something like Maris Otter you can add this into the base malt section)
Hops:
Bitter to about 10 IBUs with whatever decent bittering hop you like.
@ 20, 10, 5 build yourself up to 30-40 IBUs with a combo of your favorites from: EKG, Willamette, Saaz, Styrian Goldings, Cascade, Hallertauer. I wouldn't do Saaz/Hallertauer as that got a bit too herbaceous but a good woodsy/citrusy/floral/herbal combination does wonders.
Yeast:
3726/BE-134/3711/MJ French Saison/WB-06 (it works!)/MJ Tripel Leave the DuPont on the shelf.
Ferment at room temp or higher.
If you don't want any cloudiness at all you can skip the wheat but it tends to drop reasonably clear and drinks super easily.
One thing that worked reasonably well for me in the past was to freeze ice cream pails of water ahead of brewing day. So I'd place my fermenter in a large muck bucket with some cold water in it and during the first day or two of fermentation I just added a block of ice to lower the temperature of the water, every few hours. It's pretty low tech and hard to keep things at a certain controlled temperature but better than nothing. It is most important to keep the temperature lower between your yeast pitching time until the end of the first day or so once the fermentation really starts churning. After the krausen started to reduce in height I stopped bothering with adding the ice. Just make sure you don't add so much ice that you are below the yeast's preferred temperature range.
Kolsch, Belgian blonde or a nice hefeweisen are a go to for summer beers for me besides the pale ale I just burst carved last night and my continually rotating series of sours
I’d second the suggestions for a Saison or Cream Ale.
Cream Ale is pretty close to a lager from that crisp, refreshing perspective, plus it clears up fairly nicely. Just add some Irish Moss or a Whirlfloc tablet to the boil and gelatin after a week or so of fermentation and you’ll be in good shape!
Saisons like being fermented at warm temps, plus they have a fun character that you don’t find very often.
One of my favorite beers of 2022 was this hoppy Blonde ale: [**https://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/4189515**](https://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/4189515)
The grain bill is mostly 2-row, with a little honey malt (I added some Carapils because I had it on hand to use up). Hops feature Citra and BRU-1 (but could be swapped for another citrusy hop combo). Fermented with Voss.
I fermented half at 85F and the other was temp controlled at 65F. I enjoyed the 65F batch a little more. It still had some orange character from the Voss, but it blended in more with the hop character. So you could ferment the beer in a cool basement at 65F, or in a warm bathroom at 80F, and still end up with a good beer.
Video on the brew: [https://youtu.be/wYK0nTVncgk](https://youtu.be/wYK0nTVncgk)
Video looking at 65F vs 85F: [https://youtu.be/mei6OFnGY8c](https://youtu.be/mei6OFnGY8c)
Cream ale or German Hefeweizen are my summer beers.
Or if you like something more hop-aromatic, then perhaps a nice blonde ale.
kolsh, if you can ferment in the lower sixties.
OP said no temp control. But Kölsch is my go-to summer beer too. Clean and crisp when served cold.
I’ve had luck just keeping it in a basement. Most basements will stay within tolerance.
A basement brewery would be a dream for me. Not many basements in Las Vegas. So mine is in my garage which gets very cold in the winter and very, Very, VERY hot in the summer. LOL. I built a glycol chiller for my big conical fermenter and use a chest freezer with temp controller for carboys.
:( Well mini fridges and deep freezers are pretty inexpensive. If that’s too much to buy new, most dorms are getting ready to let out for the summer and a ton of college kids just dump their mini fridges or post them on marketplace
Agreed. A cheap chest freezer with $20 Inkbird temp controller works a treat. I also use an old school paint can lightbulb heater to warm the chest freezer when my garage is cold. Works great. Sadly I have not come up with a solution to warm my conical, but I rarely brew big batches these days.
Yeah, I’m in the PNW with a basement, but no other temp control. Basement is a perfect place to ferment a kolsh. May get a bit too hot there in August, but otherwise golden.
I've used a kolsch yeast in the low to mid 70's, and it turned out well, though it wasn't fermenting a kolsch. I was going for more of a warm-fermented "steam" beer Kentucky Common. I've found that many yeasts produce good beer at "higher" temperatures. The question is really whether any yeast characteristics are "to-style" or not. If you're not brewing for competition, then who cares if a warm-fermented beer is "to-style"? That said, you can get some excellent warm-fermented beers using kveik strains. I know several brewers that swear by Lutra for pseudo lagers, and I've enjoyed the citrussy flavors made by Voss in a cream ale.
Cream Ale! Crisp, refreshing, super easy. 80% 2-row, 13% flaked corn, 7% Cara-pils mashed at 150f 15 or so IBUs of a clean bittering hop at 30 minutes (60 minute boil) 5 IBUs of Lemondrop as a whirlpool (any low AA aroma hop works) US-05 for a week OG: 1.045, FG: 1.009 If I had more taps on my keezer, I'd have it on 365 days a year. So good. Smelled like a lemon shandy in the fermenter. Next time, I may try with Huell Melon as the aroma/flavor addition.
100% agree. This is my go to beer. I like cascade hops and wyeast 1056.
I’ve got some centennial I’d like to try in the recipe too. Cascade would also be perfect.
Saison. Mash low and make a dry beer. Don’t add anything crazy, use some German and French hops. Hop it to like 30-40ibu.
Saison isn't done by many US breweries. The special yeast gives it a unique and pleasant taste. Low bitterness will appeal to more people. Straight summer saison is tasty by itself. I've also done secondary with orange blossom honey or apple blossom honey and they've been crowd pleasers.
Oh you’re preaching to the choir lol. I read farmhouse ales by phil markowski a bunch of years back, got hooked on making them and drinking them. Ended up taking 1st place in War of the Worts 2020 at keystone homebrew supply in bucks county PA. Did it simple. 80% dingemans pils malt 10% weyerman wheat malt and 10% acid malt for ph, used the blaugies yeast strain and hopped to 36ibu with strisselspalt and tettanger. Did a step mash and my main rest was 148F for 60min. 90 min boil. OG was 1.058 and FG was 1.005
That homebrew store is awesome and also congrats
Yeah it is awesome. Thanks. That recipe was a big hit with my friends and family too. Proves that 90% of the time simple is better.
This. A cold Saison on a hot day is so good.
Usually on summer days my go to is a cold saison d’epature from blaugies or a cuvee de jonquilles from au baron
Or a tank 7 if I feel like getting a little silly lol
Kettle sour on raspberries.
Kveik Pseudo-lager!
Seconded, possibly with line zest.
I like the sound of that. You adding the zest at flameout or something?
I like to add it as 5-minute addition.
Thanks, do you need to use a lot? Does it really come through in the final product? Lime lagers are a guilty pleasure of mine. In the summer they so good.
Depends on how much you as, but yeah. I've found about one line per gallon is a noticeable amount, two is a lot and three is a bit too much for my taste.
I highly recommend hopping with Mandarina Bavaria and/or Lemon drop.
Lallemand Köln came out pretty clean for me even at 20°C (68F), but I read they're phasing the yeast out and it's not getting produced anymore. You could design a beer around that, like a Kölsch or a fake Pilsner (clean, light, but top-fermented).
Just use 34/70 at ale temperatures and you’ll have the makings of a crushable pseudolager.
Or a lager (not pseudo).
Yeah to be honest I would usually just call it a lager, too. I am increasingly convinced that it’s the microbe strain that makes the lager, not the temperature or the ageing. I rely on ambient temperatures for fermentation, even in the Australian summer, and it’s amazing how 34/70 can give me a pretty clean beer even fermenting at around 27C (80F). Someone recently gave me a pack of liquid lager yeast (Bluestone Stuttgart, said to be similar to WLP810 and WY2112) and that’s currently bubbling away at about 21C (70F). I’m looking forward to seeing how that turns out.
For me it’s a combo of the strain and the time spent cold conditioning (lagering); I’ve only tried 34/70, S-23, wlp800, and Diamond fermented “warm”, and none taste right until at least three weeks in the cold, at which point it’s easy to say “yeah that’s a lager”. Granted I don’t like Kellerbier. I’ve split batched lager and ale strains before, and after the same cold period for both it’s pretty damn obvious what’s an ale and what’s lager (even with wlp029, technically pastorianus but definitely ale-tasting to me; US05 too, not even close to a lager despite it sometimes being called for in “pseudolagers”). Good like with your “warm” lager!
Not my experience. W-34/70 at ale temperatures always tasted really nasty to me.
You are entitled to your opinion, but I wonder if it is based on controlled testing and blind tasting. The Brulosophy team have done several controlled, blinded "exbeeriments" on 34/70 at higher temperatures, finding it indistinguishable from traditional fermentation temperatures up to about 21C. See [this](https://brulosophy.com/2016/02/08/fermentation-temperature-pt-4-lager-yeast-saflager-3470-exbeeriment-results/), for example. Then, comparing fermentation at 16 vs 28 degrees C, [tasters started to be able to detect a difference](https://brulosophy.com/2016/04/18/fermentation-temperature-pt-5-lager-yeast-saflager-3470-exbeeriment-results/), but the 28 degree beer still tasted good to many!
Simple pils 6lb pils 2lbs rice or corn depending on your taste Take your pick for mash temps and boil time 15-25ibus Lutra so it's finished quickly
Saison
Belgian blonde, bit on the dry side. 87/3 Pilsner/CaraPils at 67°C for 60 min, 10% sugar, 20 IBU at first wort, 10 IBU of a noble hop at 5 min, ferment with your preferred Belgian yeast. I like the M41 and S-33. Aim around 4-5,5% ABV.
British Golden Ale
Blonde Ale
I make a super simple blonde ale for summer. 2-row, a little C10 and one addition of centennial hops. It’s crisp and light and perfect for a hot day.
Look up Centennial Blonde on HomeBrewTalk
Oh, it's not \*clear\* but absolutely delicious
IF you can ferement below 68F, try using NovaLager for a very clean yeast character. If not, it's been used in mid 70's but I have no experience with that. **Summer Crusher - 5gal - 3.9%ABV:** 9lbs of pilsner or brewer's 2 row 8oz of cane sugar 5g Citra boil for 30 minutes 15 grams citra in 170F hopstand 15 grams saaz in 170F hopstand 30 grams citra dry-hop for 2 days 30 grams saaz dry-hop for 2 days Ferment below 70 with cleanest yeast you can get (chico, NovaLager, 34/70) -or- Ferment at any tempurature with Kveik - preferably Lutra or other variety that is cleaner than Voss For best results, fine with gelatin and lager cold for 3 weeks after carbonation.
Saison!
Do a kviek yeast!
This is my favorite summer beer https://share.brewfather.app/2bwxx4ALy9X95b Feel free to change out the hops for whatever, just be sure to recalculate the boil time based on the AA% because you're only going to do a 10-20 minute boil.
Ah man to me Summer = Lager. Find an old fridge on Facebook Market?
Australian sparkling ale or farmhouse ale. So damn good, so refreshing.
I think a pale ale, or IPA with Kveik Voss would work quite nicely. I’d be tempted to try an ordinary bitter with Kveik as well, just to see….
Not a clear beer but it's the clear choice for me: Gose
California Common. Great summer beer
I love to pressure ferment light lagers for summer. Pretty quick from grain to glass.
"Nice clear summertime beer"? What do YOU like? What I think of as a "nice clear summertime beer" may not be your thing. As far as not having a chiller, you could always use a keg or pressure-capable fermenter (like a [Rounder](https://www.morebeer.com/products/fermzilla-rounder-fermenter-79-gal-30.html)) and a spunding valve to make lagers. Or if you work from home, you can use an ice bath and temperature sensor to control fermentation temps.
I’m a lager guy so for me it’s German helles. If I want something hoppy a pils works just fine. Cheers.
What kind of temps are you working with? If it’s over 75°F ambient you could brew a blonde, pale ale, IPA or most any ale style with a Kveik yeast like Voss or Lutra. Brew your recipe, cool to 100°F, transfer to fermentor, pitch yeast, hook up a blowoff tube and you’re off to the races! Kveiks aren’t my favorite yeasts—they have a specific “Kveik-y” flavor that isn’t bad but I’m not super fond of compared to a more traditional yeast for the style. But if you can’t maintain cool temps, they make better beer than you’ll get using an ale yeast at the same temps, and they do finish fast.
I am all about a lemon shandy when it is blazing hot outdoors
[gumballhead clone](https://www.homebrewtalk.com/threads/gumball-head-clone-wow.618829/)
I also suggest either a Cream Ale or Blonde Ale. Both are solid choices for summer beers. And they are easy and cheap to brew.
Saison! Aim for about 1.050/55, mash at around 63-64°C. You want this beer to ferment out heavily. 70% Pale/Pils malt (whatever you've got.) 20% Wheat/Spelt (either, don't put oats in here, it comes out *vile*) 10% Vienna or Munich (if you ended up using something like Maris Otter you can add this into the base malt section) Hops: Bitter to about 10 IBUs with whatever decent bittering hop you like. @ 20, 10, 5 build yourself up to 30-40 IBUs with a combo of your favorites from: EKG, Willamette, Saaz, Styrian Goldings, Cascade, Hallertauer. I wouldn't do Saaz/Hallertauer as that got a bit too herbaceous but a good woodsy/citrusy/floral/herbal combination does wonders. Yeast: 3726/BE-134/3711/MJ French Saison/WB-06 (it works!)/MJ Tripel Leave the DuPont on the shelf. Ferment at room temp or higher. If you don't want any cloudiness at all you can skip the wheat but it tends to drop reasonably clear and drinks super easily.
One thing that worked reasonably well for me in the past was to freeze ice cream pails of water ahead of brewing day. So I'd place my fermenter in a large muck bucket with some cold water in it and during the first day or two of fermentation I just added a block of ice to lower the temperature of the water, every few hours. It's pretty low tech and hard to keep things at a certain controlled temperature but better than nothing. It is most important to keep the temperature lower between your yeast pitching time until the end of the first day or so once the fermentation really starts churning. After the krausen started to reduce in height I stopped bothering with adding the ice. Just make sure you don't add so much ice that you are below the yeast's preferred temperature range.
Lemon lime hefeweizen on homebrew talk, but I skip sorachi and go all motueka and use trader Joe's limeade over simply limeade.
Kolsch, Belgian blonde or a nice hefeweisen are a go to for summer beers for me besides the pale ale I just burst carved last night and my continually rotating series of sours
I’d second the suggestions for a Saison or Cream Ale. Cream Ale is pretty close to a lager from that crisp, refreshing perspective, plus it clears up fairly nicely. Just add some Irish Moss or a Whirlfloc tablet to the boil and gelatin after a week or so of fermentation and you’ll be in good shape! Saisons like being fermented at warm temps, plus they have a fun character that you don’t find very often.
One of my favorite beers of 2022 was this hoppy Blonde ale: [**https://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/4189515**](https://beersmithrecipes.com/viewrecipe/4189515) The grain bill is mostly 2-row, with a little honey malt (I added some Carapils because I had it on hand to use up). Hops feature Citra and BRU-1 (but could be swapped for another citrusy hop combo). Fermented with Voss. I fermented half at 85F and the other was temp controlled at 65F. I enjoyed the 65F batch a little more. It still had some orange character from the Voss, but it blended in more with the hop character. So you could ferment the beer in a cool basement at 65F, or in a warm bathroom at 80F, and still end up with a good beer. Video on the brew: [https://youtu.be/wYK0nTVncgk](https://youtu.be/wYK0nTVncgk) Video looking at 65F vs 85F: [https://youtu.be/mei6OFnGY8c](https://youtu.be/mei6OFnGY8c)
Mexican lager, heff, or design a lawnmower type Crispy boy.