Brewing a clean pale ale in warm weather

What 'clean' means

A clean pale ale tastes of malt, hops and clean fermentation: no banana, no solvent, no butter. The main enemy in warm weather is yeast esters and fusel alcohols from hot fermentation. Everything in the plan below is about keeping the beer cool in the critical early days and hop aroma bright to the end.

A recipe for 20 L

This is a plain recipe, designed to be easy to control.

• Pale ale malt, 4.2 kg (91 per cent of the grist).
• Wheat malt, 0.4 kg (9 per cent).
• Bittering hop, enough for about 35 IBU, at 60 minutes. Use your software to work out the grams for your hop's alpha acid.
• Aroma hops, 60 g in a whirlpool at about 78 °C for 20 minutes.
• Dry hop, 40 g for three days.
• A clean ale yeast with a range up to the low 20s °C, or a clean kveik strain if you cannot cool the room.

With a mash efficiency around 70 per cent this lands near 1.050. Mash at 66 to 67 °C for 60 minutes. Skip crystal malt, which adds sweetness that hides in a clean beer and shows up as stickiness in warm bottles.

Water

Aim for a calcium level near 80 mg/L and a sulphate-to-chloride ratio that favours sulphate, for a crisp finish. If your tap water is very soft or from desalination, see homebrewing with desalinated water. Remove chlorine with a Campden tablet.

Fermentation: the three critical days

Chill the wort to the coolest temperature you can reach, ideally 18 to 20 °C. Pitch healthy yeast at a generous rate. Hold the beer at 18 to 20 °C for the first three days with a water bath, wet cloth and fan, as described in homebrewing in a hot climate. After day three, the worst ester production is over and you can let it rise a few degrees to finish and clean up diacetyl. If you cannot hold those temperatures, pick a yeast that suits the heat (see choosing yeast for a warm room).

Hops: late, cool and short

Heat drives off hop aroma, so put most of the hops in at the end. A whirlpool at about 78 °C extracts aroma without the harsher bitterness of a stand near boiling. Dry hop for just three days, at the coolest part of the fermentation, then separate the beer from the hops. A warm, long dry hop gives a grassy flavour. Keep hops frozen until use. See storing hops in hot weather.

Keep oxygen out, then package carefully

Hop aroma is the first thing oxygen destroys and heat speeds up the damage. Transfer gently without splashing and cap quickly. Prime with the right amount of sugar (see bottle conditioning in hot weather). Once the bottles are carbonated, put them in the fridge. A pale ale is best drunk within a few weeks.

Common mistakes to avoid

A few habits ruin a warm-weather pale ale. Pitching too little yeast leaves it stressed and fruity. Leaving the beer on hops for two weeks gives a grassy edge. Bottling too early gives gushers. Using old hops gives a cheesy note. Letting bottles sit in a hot room after they are carbonated makes oxidised, flat-tasting beer. Each has a clear remedy and each is simply a matter of habit.

Taste, compare and adjust

Pour a cold bottle in a clean glass. Smell first. You should find hops, a little bread and nothing sweet or solvent-like. If you smell banana, fermentation was hot. If you smell cheese, the hops are stale. If you smell wet cardboard, there was oxygen. Match each fault to its cause and change one thing in the next batch. This loop is the heart of learning and it is what we practise in class. A scaled-down version for a small kitchen is covered in scaling a homebrew recipe.

Treat the recipe as a starting point. If your efficiency is lower than 70 per cent, raise the grain by a few per cent. If your water is hard, cut the gypsum. If your hops are older, add a little more at the end. Make a note of each change and only change one thing at a time so you can see what it did. Within five or six batches you will have a pale ale that is yours.

Common questions

What is the best yeast for pale ale in warm weather?

A clean ale yeast with a wide range, or a clean kveik strain. Pitch generously and hold the first three days as cool as you can.

Why does my pale ale taste of banana?

Fermentation ran too warm. Hot fermentation makes esters like banana. Cool the first three days and pitch more yeast.

How long should I dry hop in hot weather?

About three days, at the coolest part of the fermentation. Longer, warm contact can give a grassy flavour.

Should I drink pale ale fresh?

Yes. Hop aroma fades with time and heat. Keep bottles cold and drink within a few weeks.