ultra-fast fermentation

LuizArgh · 05-27-2009, 12:22 AM

folks,

I've been invited as a guest speaker in a design congress, and because of my "other interests" as a homebrewer, I decided to offer a workshop on beer production and beer culture, featuring a live brew!

Problem is: the workshop would be held on the wendsday, and the congress closing is on the saturday. My intention is to bottle the beer live on the last day, but that would leave 3 days for the fermentation!!

Is that even possible, with little to none sacrifice to quality? If so, what what can I do to "speed up" the process?

Please note some things:

1) the congress is 2500 km from where I live. So NO, i can't take an "already-fermenting" beer to the congress, nor can I take a keg or something like that (my bags are usually heavy enough, thank you!) to carbonate it without primming.
2) I plan to age and let the carbonation happen in the beer simultaneously, in a friend's house, AFTER the congress. So after I bottle it, I have plenty of time.
3) Quality is obviously not the priority here - if the beer sucks, that's ok, because no one in the congress will prove it, as the first bottle will only be open a week later. If it is ANY good, me, my buddy and some folks on the organization of the congress will drink it. =)

In any case, I think of this as a challenge and a hell of a good beer exercise.

Ideas?

**Yooper** · 05-27-2009, 12:25 AM

I think you'd have a very good chance of handing out bottle bombs, I'm sorry to say.

**Revvy** · 05-27-2009, 12:54 AM

Demo how to brew beer...and leave it at that. Don't have them taste what you brewed in three days.

Or is you insist on a taste test...have them sample the wort before you pitch the yeast...and tell them that this is what beer taste like before the yeasties do their magic...and since they know what beer tastes like...they can see how important the yeast and the conditioning process are to the final project.

Don't forget SOMETIMES fermentation doesn't even begin until 72 hours...it's called lag time....

This isn't making koolaid, it's a natural living process....we are not in charge, the yeast are. Three days just isn't enough time...and honestly if you handed them subpar beer, let alone bottle bombs...then you would be doing a disservice to homebrewing, yourself and beer culture as a whole....

If you are serving green, yeasty, and nasty tasting beer to people who have never tasted homebrew then they won't understand..what it's supposed to taste like....

They will think that EITHER you suck as a brewer, ALL HOMEBREW SUCKS (and you'll prolly go blind anyway) or those BMC commercials were right, anything other than fizzy yellow beer, especially homebrew taste like a$$, and we should stick to bud light..."THat's what TV says, so it must be true, right?"

You won't be a great ambassador to the world of homebrewing presenting 3 day old beer....

We get variations of this all the time, someone wanting to rush the process so people at a party or gathering can taste the beer....

I don't understand why, if you are hauling homebrewing equipment and ingredients to your demo, you can't also bring a keg, or case of your beer...or even a nice micro in the same style that you brewed....

I understand and applaud you wanting to demo brewing...but either bring some homebrew, or micro beer to sample...or just leave the tasting part out of the demo....but don't have them taste 3 day wort...it won't be pleasant, and really won't be good for erasing all the negative press we have gotten since Anheiser Bush came on the market.

**Cpt_Kirks** · 05-27-2009, 12:57 AM

I double pitched US-05 in a blonde ale once just to see what would happen. It went WILD! Lots of blow off, and it was basically finished in less than 72 hours.

Don't think I would bottle it. How about putting it in a keg and force carbing it?

It would be a little funky, but you could drink it right away.

Green beer for everybody!