I needed beer for a party with little notice. Brewed on Sunday, poured on Friday and Saturday. Used a heavy pitch of wlp90. It was a good beer, but I would rather not have to do it that way again.
It’s not uncommon for big beers that have aged a long time, but pretty much unnecessary otherwise.
When you all say the beer is in the keg and your drinking it in 7-14 days, is the beer drinkable or peaking at that time? I find beer keeps getting clearer, cleaner, and better carbed for the first 2-3 weeks in the keg. So, I like to be patient when I can.
I think it only gets so clean or clear, so to me it comes down to how quickly I can get that done. Raising the temp to close out fermentation, crashing cold (32-33°) and using gelatin at kegging, and keeping it really cold through the first week it’s in the keg. I do use a very flocculant yeast strain, so I’m sure that helps. And I ferment in a conical FWIW.
These are low to average strength ales I’m talking about, but yeah, two days in the keg and I’m thoroughly enjoying it - one week in the keg it’s done. That usually falls on day 14-17 for me.
The improvement in carbonation (as Martin pointed out) is the only real difference to me once I get the beer crystal clear, but after about a week that seems fine too.
There’s been a lot of talk here recently about Marshall’s blog, and I think this is pretty close to how he’s doing it. His ale schedule is around 9 days I think.
for every beer there’s a season…or in this case a time to go thru the process and ready to drink. as mentioned its a typical 3 weeks and under for some, and others longer. then you add in personal preference and personal experience and the season changes. lots of right answers here.
Planning and patience is always the best course of action, but in a pinch a beer can be ready in a couple of weeks. Just pick a lower gravity recipe and go for it. Being drinkable and at its peak don’t necessarily match up in this scenario however, you can still have a decent beer to drink.
Any brewer who has a waiting problem should brew as often as possible. Sooner or latter, he/she will experience a beer queuing problem. ;D
Something like this…Beer Bottling & Kegging | MoreBeer
Carbing in an hour you say???
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- I’ve actually had to dump good beer to make room for better beer.
FTR I can have a bee carbed up in 10 minutes with a corny keg.
You lost me there. I’ve never put bees in my kegs, but it sounds interesting.
You’re taking information discussing maturation over a year and applying it to a few weeks. That is incomparable.
Certainly the beer is changing over time in the bottle but if you’re seeing sudden changes in the quality of the beer over a few weeks in the bottle then that is likely the yeast continuing to clean up fermentation byproducts that would not otherwise be there with good fermentation practices. That is not always the case but it is often the case.
With the Brulosopher lager system, I am enjoying lagers in as little as a month (24-30 days even). Some done without Whirlfloc needed some Biofine or gelatin.
Just curious, use Biofine yet ?
EDIT - I’ve had good luck with it. Curious to see how it works for others.
Yes, but did not yet sample - saving the beer for the big game Sunday! 2 kegs of Helles for a SB party at a friend’s house. I pushed them from the bright tanks (kegs) where I had added the biofine to serving kegs and the beer looked very clear in the line from keg to keg, but I did a closed system transfer under CO2 with a Spunding valve, so that it would be goodly carbed and I didn’t pour any off for myself. Now that is self-control!
That sounds great ! I can see a good Helles going pretty quick at a Super Bowl party (or anytime). And I salute your self control, sir. Mine wavers from good to ‘needs work’ , especially when the beer is especially tasty.