Ideas and Suggestions for a Summer Beer?

As summer approaches, I will begin to ready myself for a batch of something light and session worthy. Normally you would insert a standard lager or pilsner recipe, but unfortunately, there's a 95% chance I would not be able to ferment my beer at the necessary temperature (around 55 F).

What can you guys suggest for a summer brew that I could ferment at ale temperatures?

Or, maybe there's a super cool way to lager a beer in an improvised cold storage facility? I was thinking about claiming a section of my fridge, buuuuut as I've never done a lager before, I'm afraid my food might take on some of the flavors expelled by the fermenter.

Any and all information is appreciated. Thanks.

The obvious suggestion here is a pale ale. They are simple to make and you can ferment them at ale temps. I personally prefer a wheat beer for those warmer months and since I live in the desert and can't afford fridge space I sometimes do a Saison which can ferment at 80-85 degrees depending on your yeast.

My favorites for summer are.
Lemongrass Wheat
Sam Summer Clone from AHS
Strawberry/Blueberry Blonde

Throw in a few standard Pale Ales or American Ales to have while the baseball game is on.

I've wanted to try my hand at a Kolsch ever since I hard Harpoon Summer last year. From what I've read those can be tricky.

+1 on the wheat beer. Throw a slice of orange in a mug and it is fantastic.

tomije87 said:

+1 on the wheat beer. Throw a slice of orange in a mug and it is fantastic.

Click to expand...

+2 on wheat. Cream ale is also a nice, light summertime brew.

NorthernBrewer's Patersbier. Belgian yeast so no worries about temp.

Great. I can't believe the idea of a wheat didn't register in my brain. For some reason I kept picturing a lager, but a wheat ale works just as well. The next step is finding a good recipe. Are any of you guys ever turned off by the idea of brewing another's recipe? I am, for some reason. I tend to try and write my own or change a few things in an existing one. Anyone got any ideas in mind?

I'm ordering a Honey Wheat recipe from Austin Brew House when I get home. It's not to be drank until July 4th. Cheers!

hefewiezen is a great summer beer.

A nice american amber is a satisfying beer in the summertime too IMO.

dukeredhair said:

The obvious suggestion here is a pale ale. They are simple to make and you can ferment them at ale temps. I personally prefer a wheat beer for those warmer months and since I live in the desert and can't afford fridge space I sometimes do a Saison which can ferment at 80-85 degrees depending on your yeast.

Click to expand...

My summer brews:
1 Saison
2 wheat (planning a peach hefe)
3 and a very nice estery Pale ale.

A bit of a build on the pale ale suggestion, brew a pale ale, but then when bottling, make a shandy! Add some fresh lemon/lime juice, zest, anything. Has anyone tried this, Ive been thinking about trying this for my next brew.

Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde is light and refreshing. One of my favorites.

brewsterk2 said:

......finding a good recipe......change a few things in an existing one. Anyone got any ideas in mind?

Click to expand...

You're welcome to use mine as the basis for your own if you'd like...(off to the left under Recipes)...

Doing the NB petite saison d'ete right now that should fit the bill pretty nicely.

I am going to brew the NB Honey Weizen this weekend. Should be good and ready for the summer months.

Boondoggie said:

NorthernBrewer's Patersbier. Belgian yeast so no worries about temp.

Click to expand...

+1 to this one. Let it ferment as warm as you please. It's dead simple and outrageously delicious.

LambChop4Prez said:

A bit of a build on the pale ale suggestion, brew a pale ale, but then when bottling, make a shandy! Add some fresh lemon/lime juice, zest, anything. Has anyone tried this, Ive been thinking about trying this for my next brew.

Click to expand...

I did something like this...only with lemon zest and corriander. it came out really good. It was basically a kitchen sink recipie with hops I had left over from previous brews. i have the recipie posted at BMW. The recipies ingredients match exactly on BMW, but the IBUs may be off depending on the hops AA%. I use Beersmith and if you want the recipie PM me.

basically it wasn't too much spice from the corriander either.

I plan on brewing a Wheat, a Strawberry Blonde and a couple of Pale Ales for summer. Can't go wrong with any of them.

Thanks all for the awesome replies.

Hoppy American Wheat similar to Southern Teir's Hop Sun:



My "interpretation" is all columbus, and uses white wheat. I love it!

osagedr said:

Doing the NB petite saison d'ete right now that should fit the bill pretty nicely.

Click to expand...

P.S. that sounds awesome!!

In my opinion, a smooth honey blonde (which is what I'm brewing for one of my summer beers) or a Kolsch/Lawnmower.

Can't go wrong with the Kölsch. That is the best summertime beer, period. And you don't HAVE to ferment them in the 55 degF range, they do well up to 70.

You could try a belgian blonde.

I "created" this recipe after completely botching BierMuncher's SWMBO Slayer recipe with an extract approximation. It turned out really nice though:

OG: 1.050
FG: 1.020

(I don't even know if this is right. I have a bad feeling about my hydrometer's calibration)

Wyeast 3844
.5# Flaked wheat
3# Light Pilsen DME
3# Bavarian Wheat LME
.5# Dark Belgian rock candy
~.25# Sweet orange peel
1.2oz Williamette (4.4 AA)
1# strawberries

Steep the flaked wheat for 60 mins @ 165°. Bring to a boil and toss in all of the above ingredients except the orange peel which you should steep with a mauslin bag for the last 15 mins of the boil.

If you have a dog around, have him take a few good laps of the wort after transferring it your fermenter while you're grabbing the yeast. That seemed to be the secret ingredient for me at least.

Leave in primary for two weeks. Expect an EXTREMELY vigorous fermentation so blowoff tube is an absolute must. Then rack onto the strawberries for a two week secondary.

After bottling I found it to be fully carbed @ 1.5 weeks but still some green flavors obviously.

I'm sure i'm leaving out some detail, but I'm sure you get the idea.

EDIT: I just remembered the detail I left out. I purchased a 1# bag of the dark Belgian candy, but only used about half a pound of it after picking out the darker pieces. I figured using the whole pound of dark candy would make the beer too dark/sweet for what I was aiming for. Ok. That's it. I swear.

This

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f71/blue-balls-belgian-wit-blue-moon-clone-24978/

is rediculous. So good as the weather gets hot. Just had friends over drinkiing it.

although I have not done it, the reviews on cheesefood's Vanilla Boom Boom Cream Ale sounds wonderful