3 weeks- Grain to glass. Anyone else doing this?

My last thread brought up a question:

My usual brew schedule (for normal gravity beers) is this: 1 week in primary, rack to secondary to clear and/or dry-hop for 1 week, cold-crash, rack to keg to carbonate for one week.

I've been having gatherings once a month for the last 6-8 months. This schedule allows me to brew new beer style and replace popular beers for each get-together. Last gathering we had 22 adults and went through almost 15 gallons of beer and cider including the 10(!) growlers I sent home with people. People are asking for my beer, taking it as barter, and wondering when I'm going pro. (I've even had serious investment offers.) The gatherings have grown dramatically since the beginning and, by the looks of it, will continue to get bigger. My point isn't to brag, but to demonstrate that I make quality beers.

How long do most of you take to get from brew day to drinkable? I've seen people saying that they leave beer in the primary for 2-3 weeks minimum, and then may secondary for 2 weeks more. Five weeks seems a really long time to wait to drink my beer.

The beers I keg are usually pouring in about 3 weeks for average gravity beers. I think this is pretty normal.

So many beers... so little time.

I usually primary for 3 weeks then keg for a week or so.

Are you giving your beer away for free? If so are you concerned that people may actually like you for your free beer? Start charging them 10 bucks for a cup at the door and you will start getting some honest feedback.

Lol. Um, don't tell, but I do get "donations" for ingredients and such, especially when people take growler fills. Not worried about honest feedback. I have had a few complete strangers ask friends which brewery they bought the beers at.

I'm usually grain to glass in 4 weeks. I leave it in primary for 3 and carb in keg for a week.


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Most of my brews are in the keg at 14 days. Rarely, however, do I have an open tap for something that has just been kegged, but it has been known to happen.

I personaly primary everything for a month.
Most beers i no longer secondary.
I'm sure some styles you can get away with drinking young but
if you would save a few bottles from each batch and save them for a month or so later you will see WHY some people wait longer.

Depends on the brew for me. I can do a faux pilsner grain to glass in under 10 days. Most beers I can get grain to glass in under two weeks. Some just sit longer than others.

It's a good thing to know which beers you can get through quickly and how to do that. Especially when you've got gatherings and parties and whatnot that come up. It's a personal challenge of mine to see how short that g to g time can be and still get decent beer. I figure if one can't put out a decent mid strength (4-5.5%abv) ale in under two weeks then there is something wrong with the process prior to the end of that time. I hear of all kinds of people talking about conditioning and aging a APA for six months before it gets "good". If that's the case then there are problems earlier in the process.

Just my two cents.

I was turning beers around in 3 weeks, but almost universally friends who had both the inaugural pints and pints/bottles of the same beers a couple weeks down the road have enjoyed the aged beers better. Even on my hoppy styles. So I have stopped trying to rush the beers.

It has helped that I pretty much brew each weekend regardless of needs. If my pipeline is pretty full I just brew something that needs some long-term aging like a barley-wine or a stout.

Most of my beers are in the fermenter for about 14 days, more or less. Then I keg them. I generally am drinking most beers on about day 17-20 or thereabouts, but my lagers take a lot longer due to the lagering period.

I'm around 10-14 days in the primary then beer goes to the keg. But I usually only brew beers in the 4-6% range. I'm usually samping them as soon as they're cold and have a little carbonation (a couple days after kegging and being put on gas). But don't start drinking full pints until about a week after kegging.
Lagers, I usually give 14 days in the fermenter, 1 week of which is around 50-55F, then another week in the 60s. Then I keg and lager for around 4 weeks or until they're cleared. Lately, I've been playing with accelerated lager schedules.

You can speed up your times if you make a german hefe. Yeasty brew!

Also, you can shake your keg while carbonating it, maybe ready to go after a day or two.

I went through a phase a few years ago where I decided all my lighter ales had to go grain to glass in 10-14 days. Centennial blonde, hefe's, belgian wits, etc all tasted good initially, but they seemed to taste better after 3-4 weeks after bottling and sitting on a shelf. So now it's 2-3 weeks in primary, transfer to keg and sit in keg for 2-3 weeks before chilling and drinking.

Three week primary, cold crash, force carb. Drinking day 27 or so.

Primary for 1 month then bottle for a month then drink

I keg and usually break into stuff after a week or so in the keg. After two or three weeks in the keg, the beer is so much better. I've started waiting at least two or three weeks in the keg before I drink it.

Yeah, 2 months to wait for a beer is WAY too long. What if that is not an option? I have 3-4 weeks between gatherings at my place we have 20-30 people here drinking beer and cider and then I usually send 8-10 growlers home with people. My turn-around time has to be quick.

I did just upgrade to a 10-gallon system, so that should slow things down a bit, but given 3-4 weeks what can I do to make the best beer possible?

5B-brewing said:

Yeah, 2 months to wait for a beer is WAY too long. What if that is not an option? I have 3-4 weeks between gatherings at my place we have 20-30 people here drinking beer and cider and then I usually send 8-10 growlers home with people. My turn-around time has to be quick.

I did just upgrade to a 10-gallon system, so that should slow things down a bit, but given 3-4 weeks what can I do to make the best beer possible?

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Think about pro brewers. They don't have months to let beer sit to clean up off flavors, so the key is to not create off-flavors in the first place.

A well-made ale doesn't need weeks and weeks to be ready, generally speaking.

The biggest factor is probably yeast health. Pitching the proper amount of yeast at the proper temperature and holding the proper fermentation temperature means better beer.

Getting a good hot break, a good cold break, and having the proper mash pH generally means a well made (and clear) wort so that means a great deal in the final quality of the beer as well.

Some beers do take a bit longer to age. Things like lagers especially can use more time than for most ales. I have one recipe for an oatmeal stout that is best aged for a week or two in the keg before consuming. So making a relatively simple, lower OG ale without complex flavors that need time to mellow can really help get a beer ready fast.

Paps said:

I personaly primary everything for a month.
Most beers i no longer secondary.
I'm sure some styles you can get away with drinking young but
if you would save a few bottles from each batch and save them for a month or so later you will see WHY some people wait longer.

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Pretty much the same here. 3-5 weeks primary (depends on the yeast used), then rack already clear beer into the keg. Kegs are lagered until needed, but usually at least a few more weeks before I'll tap them. Some people prefer young beers, but I enjoy them more if given time to age.

Yooper said:

Think about pro brewers. They don't have months to let beer sit to clean up off flavors, so the key is to not create off-flavors in the first place.

A well-made ale doesn't need weeks and weeks to be ready, generally speaking.

The biggest factor is probably yeast health. Pitching the proper amount of yeast at the proper temperature and holding the proper fermentation temperature means better beer.

Getting a good hot break, a good cold break, and having the proper mash pH generally means a well made (and clear) wort so that means a great deal in the final quality of the beer as well.

Some beers do take a bit longer to age. Things like lagers especially can use more time than for most ales. I have one recipe for an oatmeal stout that is best aged for a week or two in the keg before consuming. So making a relatively simple, lower OG ale without complex flavors that need time to mellow can really help get a beer ready fast.

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I have reason to doubt this statement. I am sure it is better aged for a week or 2 but I think you are missing the best flavor by a lot by drinking it up before it ever reaches that point.:rockin:

I usually do a 3 week, primary fermentation then in the keg a few days waiting for kegerator space. Usually within 4 weeks I'm enjoying the beer but with some beers like my blacks and stouts, they don't really get good until a few weeks later.

RM-MN said:

I have reason to doubt this statement. I am sure it is better aged for a week or 2 but I think you are missing the best flavor by a lot by drinking it up before it ever reaches that point.:rockin:

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Since I make 10 gallon batches, I generally have a keg around for much longer. It doesn't improve all that much with age, but it doesn't go "off" fast, either. It takes me a long time to drink two 5 gallon kegs of oatmeal stout, so I generally have much of it on hand all winter.

Yooper said:

It doesn't improve all that much with age.

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If you are not perceiving a dramatic flavor change in stouts from very young to moderately aged then i wonder if it is because you are drinking it every day in small amounts and just not noticing. (like how people tend not to notice their hair growing)

If the stout was kept cold as it would in a kegerator the change would be very slow too. My bottles sit at room temperature until a few days before drinking.

I have a good pipeline going, so I'm never in a hurry. I average about two months from grain to glass with an ale.

I usually go with 3 weeks in primary and 2 in the keg. I make 10 gallon batches and will have some beers around up to 6 months.

The only beers that seem to have had a major improvement (in my opinion) are the my pale ales and ipa's that may have been overly bitter to begin with. Most mellow out nicely after 4-6 weeks in the keg.