I brewed an Ordinary Bitter on Tuesday, OG 1.035, and used an S-04 slurry that I had in a refrigerator and fed in a starter for 24 hours before pitching. Fermentation was very active when I checked it the morning after brewing.
The yeast seemed to really chew through this wort. It dropped from 1.036 to 1.011 in only two days (tracked with a Tilt hydrometer). Four days after brewing, it’s at final gravity of 1.009. It’s fairly clear (decent for S-04, I think) and smells great.
Is it a bad idea to keg it and start cold crashing it today, only four days after brewing? Is there a good reason to wait? I can’t recall another brew finishing this quickly, and I usually abide by the standard “two week” model before considering kegging, so this one has me second-guessing myself.
The main detractor in kegging too early is the amount of yeast solids your keg will have. That’s not a big deal to me. I actually keg all of my lagers early so that the keg will be spunded.
I don’t necessarily think you have to stick to any time-based timeline. Gravity should really tell you when to transfer the beer. If you REALLY need to transfer it, I think the gravity says it would be okay. If it were me, I’d probably wait at least one week before sending it to a keg although there is no specific reason for it other than I would want to make sure the beer was absolutely at it’s final gravity and also to allow yeast to settle as much as possible. If you were spunding the rules would be different but if not, I would give it a little more time.
I usually ferment at 66F, and then allow a free rise to 70F for 2 or 3 days before crashing to the low 40s. Another 3 to 5 days to drop clear and then into the keg. If the pipeline is running low I will skip the crash and keg. The main difference is a pint or 2 of cloudy beer.
The only reason I would wait maybe a week before kegging is to make sure the yeast has enough time to “clean up its mess”, i.e. re-absorb diacetyl and drop bright. If you don’t taste any diacetyl in the beer after this short time frame, then my opinion is go ahead and keg it.
I have an Irish red ale that has been in the primary for 9 days now. A couple days ago it was at 5.0 Plato and yesterday 4.85. Might take a chance on kegging today since it is probably done, but a gravity reading will tell me that. It tastes pretty damn good right now and a couple extra days will help drop the yeast out a a bit more (WY 1084).