Best brews to ferment in winter?

[ManyBrews]

My basement is in the 58-60 degree range. What are some good beer styles and yeasts to use at this temperature? Better to wait until it warms up a little for typical ales?

I'm thinking kolsch, steams, maybe lager by sticking fermenters in water and adding frozen bottles? What's up with these styles?

I've got 6 or 7 nice ales under my belt brewed during fall.

 

[nelstrodomus]

I would recommend scotch ales, or an ale using nottingham dry yeast (my personal favorite).

At 58-62F I find that this yeast ferments out incredibly clean and smooth. Great for harvest or generic dark ales.

 

[dale1038]

I just finished a hefeweissen with wlp300 that fermented at 60. I like going low with my temps lately. You'll be fine with almost anything.

 

[Nugent]

German ales work very well at those fermentation temperatures - altbier, kolsch, etc. The German ale yeasts go like gangbusters in the low 60s / high 50s.

I used Wyeast 1007 for a Northern German alt in the fall on my deck. Awesome!

 

[FlashRedGLS18T]

My basement has been 58 for the past week, so I'm doing a Kolsch this weekend.

 

[philrose]

just in case- you might want to measure the temp a few times in the day/night to see how consistant that is.

 

[Neonsilver]

Don't forget you have to add a few degrees to the temp because active fermentation creates heat. Really though, I would love those temps for brewing just about anything. I brew most of mine in 65 ambient close to an outside wall so it's probably a little under that.