After I announced my little misadventure in speed brewing, I was heartened by the number of forum members who stepped up with their own experiences and experiments.
Well now’s our chance to get it into print. I’ll be writing up an article for Zymurgy later this year, so I’d love to get everyone’s experiences, recipes, etc consolidated here.
What are your thoughts and experiences. I suppose we should say beers that went from grain to glass in 12 or fewer days.
Let’s make Denny’s teeth grind! 
I can do Popcorn Cream from a bottle in 14 days. I’d guess I could push 12 out of a keg.
That fermentation schedule can kick out beers fast, clean and very clear. Popcorn is neat but I’ve since converted to cereal mashing grits, cornmeal or rice. It’s too much like BMC for most homebrewers but I like to have it around. I lager it but that takes a month.
The fastest beer that I’ve brewed has been my stout. But I haven’t brewed it since I’ve started kegging. I wonder how fast I can get it into the glass now…hmmm…
I have been inspired to try a Bitter from grain to keg in 7 days.
Five days for a mild. Drinking it on the sixth. Gotta use a large pitch of flocculent yeast though. Ferment in the upper 60’s. I think you could even push it into the 1.045 range and get it done in time.
My last beer was my best so far and received a lot of positive comments (some of which I even believe).
12 days and could probably have been done in 10 if I’d been home for part of it to monitor the temperatures. There’s another batch going right now. Maybe I’ll name it Dozen Day Cream Ale…
I’ve done my house IPA in 10 days. Fourteen is ideal for it, but I was desperate to get something on tap. ;D
Sorry Drew; no such thing as speed brewing round these parts.
Fish are biting! I’ll brew tomorrow…
Surf’s up! I’ll rack da beer over next Tuesday…
Lava’s moving down da pali! I’ll keg next Saturday…
Wots da hurry?
For those that missed it, my most recent quick beer was an Irish stout. I brewed on a Friday, kegged on Wednesday (it had been done for at least 2 days), force carbonated and served on Saturday. Gone in ~3.5 hours, less than 8 days after the yeast was pitched.
From the other thread.
I chose not to respond but now I have a chance… :-[
I think that Barry was selling himself short. I think that there are brewers out there that can brew a
fast ferment beer that meets expectations and does not take a “normal” amount of time.
I know that there is a point relating to integrity, but if one takes the time to perfect a recipe that is a good
go-to beer that is known to have an outcome that is done quick, what is the harm. I guess it does defeat
the purpose if one goes through the trouble of finding a beer that can be brewed and served in a short
time span. But who is to say that some experimentation would not lead to that “Beer in my back pocket”
that if in a pinch I need a beer I could do it…
It would be nice to have a beer that could be good to go quick-like…
In the words of Barney Stinson…wait for it…
Challenge accepted! 8)
In the other thread I mentioned that I’ve got a Spitfire clone that I put in the fermenter Saturday. I’ll accept your 12-day challenge and pull it into a keg for force carbing next Wednesday (I have a party Friday and need the two days for carb). Will let you know how it is…
So does the 12 days include the total time it takes to get the beer ready or just from brewday to drinking? Or are we including total preparation time, including a starter? As in “Oh, $#!^ I need a beer in 12 days!”.
I did an ESB that was served in exactly 12 days. It was a clone of a brewpub beer that was open fermented with ringwood and crash cooled after 7 days. Came out great!
More info here:
Better duck! Here come the dry yeast groupies
I guess since my name has been invoked twice that I should try to clarify what I was saying…sure, it’s entirely possible to make a beer fast. What I was trying to get at is that sometimes the beer needs more time, no matter what you do to make it go fast, and you need to pay attention to what the beer’s telling you. If the beer says “I’m done, drink me!”, cool. But if the beer is saying “hold on, bub, I need more time” and you go ahead and drink it anyway you may be doing yourself a disservice. Believe me, I’ve been on both sides of that fence.
Shush, you. You’re officially the enemy of the “Speedy Brewer Force”!
Dude, I ain’t nobody’s enemy! I’m just a mellow old hippie…
FTR, Rye IPA from brewing to keg in 8 days…once…
Knowing that in a few more weeks I’m going to be locked in a room with you, I respectfully disagree with your characterization as “mellow” instead of “ripe”!
My last best bitter went from pitch to pint in 9 days, but the Maris Otter flavors didn’t shine fully until about day 14. I attribute that to yeast bite in the fresh brew, although it never did clear up completely and I didn’t take measures to quick-clear (cold crash or gelatin).
Is that where you found the mushrooms that make the beer talk? ;D