Calif. Common that ferments about 70F?

Hi -

For my second ever beer I'm thinking of a Steam/California Common beer. I generally think of the style as "beer made with lager yeast that's fermented at ale temperatures"... but looking for recipes I found this thread:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f12/steam-california-common-bastard-lager-7967/

...where they're fermenting at 60F or lower. I'm new and have no way of controlling temps -- does anyone know of a recipe I can use to make steam beer fermented around 70F? Or do I have to wait until I get more equipment?

If there are such recipes, then one that uses all extract would be good... I haven't tried partial or all grain yet.

Thanks!

The Cal Common yeast is good to 65 at the upper temp range. It will produce the lager like qualities if fermented a bit lower. It might throw off some fruity flavors if fermented much higher.

Do you have a cooler you could place use for a water and ice bath to lower the temperatures during fermentation? It would help not only with this yeast but with all your brewing. Fermentation temps can make a huge quality difference in the beer.

I've used Wyeast California Common lager yeast at 72, and it was really good. It was a bit fruity, and if you're looking for an Anchor clone you need to lower the temp somewhat, but I liked it.

check out this Cheap Swamp Cooler. Depending on the temp where you are fermenting, this might be enough to get the beer cold enough for a steam beer (60 to 65 degree range).

I fermented the AHS California Common this past June with a dry lager yeast and my average temp was 69-70 in my crawlspace. It great. You should have seen my neighbors face when he took the last pull off my keg and it didn't fill his glass.

A belated thanks for the answers! I'll look into making one of those cheap coolers, but I don't know if I'll do it for my next beer like I was planning. Good to hear that you can get some respectable results at 70F, anyway.