The Impatient Brewer

So, for lack of a better term I am impatient. When it comes to tasting and brewing etc. I already started my 2 beers an IPA and a Belgian style triple. But lately to fill the gap I have been fermenting apple cider on a 9 day cycle, because I get it to the way I want it in 9 days.

Does anyone have any other things that brew relatively quickly because cider season is almost over.

I would just buy some beers from the store. One of the reasons I started brewing was to have more choice, but at the same time there are tons of great beers to enjoy. I have no intention to drink my own products exclusively. I wouldn't overlook brews you can buy in a store to tide you over.

"Must catch buzz faster!!!"

I don't brew anything quickly because I know that quick beer usually equal poor beer. Of course there are some beers that you can turn around in a few weeks that are still good, I don't go out of my way to find quick brews.

Stick to planning brews accordingly, or fill the gaps with commercial beer. But don't brew something extremely fast just for the hell of it.

If you bottle, the beer will take a while.. Although I have done wheat beers that were very drinkable in 3-4 weeks (2 weeks primary, 2 weeks in bottle). If you can get a keg setup, you can cut that in half by eliminating the bottling stage and force carbing. Aim for lighter/simple beers - lower OG in the 0.04's, no hop bombs, low specialty malt bill

The best advice is to get more fermentation vessels and build up a pipeline so you always have fresh stuff coming ready as you brew new batches for 4-6 weeks down the road.

wfowlks said:

So, for lack of a better term I am impatient. When it comes to tasting and brewing etc. I already started my 2 beers an IPA and a Belgian style triple. But lately to fill the gap I have been fermenting apple cider on a 9 day cycle, because I get it to the way I want it in 9 days.

Does anyone have any other things that brew relatively quickly because cider season is almost over.

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These folks are a bunch of cork sniffers. Power to you for making some drink in a hurry.

JonK331 said:

These folks are a bunch of cork sniffers. Power to you for making some drink in a hurry.

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Yeah! Pour it in a trough! Slop it up though a beer bong!

THe problem arose because I did just start, and I did buy a few extra fermenters, however, everything seems to disappear within 5 days of kegging/bottling.

I should probably stop letting SWMBO dishing it out to everyone.

wfowlks said:

THe problem arose because I did just start, and I did buy a few extra fermenters, however, everything seems to disappear within 5 days of kegging/bottling.

I should probably stop letting SWMBO dishing it out to everyone.

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Yeah, that'll make it go pretty fast! And even if it's great, chances are not everyone will like it. If they do, they'll keep coming back for more! Sort of lose/lose unless you have plenty of disposable income and are a very giving person.

Low gravity simple styles can turn around pretty quickly, as others have said. I just brewed an English mild from the recipes section that's popular around here. Just bottled so I'm not sure how it turned out yet, but everything has smelled/tasted great thus far, and was ready to bottle at 10 days. Bitters, brown ales, low gravity American pale ales...there are plenty of options.

Happy brewing!

Build a pipeline and learn patience.

The patience part is kinda tricky - I still sample beers after two or three weeks in the bottle even though I know better. Every single time, I'll taste that same beer after five or six weeks in the bottle and it's liquid gold every time I think " I wasted six of these beers by drinking them when they were undeveloped and crappy!" Someday I'll learn.

There are several ways to keep you beer from getting pilfered and mooched to death.

1-Get an idea of what styles you like and that the friends and relatives don't like. Then brew that for a couple of batches until they shy away. (Most BMC drinkers I know hate IPAs and high-gravity beers)
2- Start kegging. Don't show anyone how to hook up or use the regulator. Leave it closed or disconnected when you're not around. There are also Lockable taps available. No bottles to get passed out (and not returned) and force carbonation is faster.
3- Have lots of cheap BMC on hand for the moochers.

But they are correct: Develop patience, buy & try some new commercial craft brews, and have a fat pipeline.

The Nov/Dec issue of Zymurgy has an article called "Express brewing: From grain to glass in 6 days". There is a bunch of recipes that can be made quickly.
I tried one the author calls a "session IPA" called Pliny the Toddler. So far so good.

Tony

I'm in the minority here, but I think a lot of folks here take the "patience is a virtue" maxim to the extreme. I don't see anything wrong with wanting to sample the fruits of your labor in a reasonable amount of time. It by no means indicates that you're only interested in brewing swill. Just about every commercial beer you've ever had spent less than three weeks in the fermenter / bright tank, and there's no reason you can't do the same thing.

If you do everything correctly, keg, force carb, and use fining agents, you can take almost anything from grain to glass in just a couple of weeks. I usually turn around a standard gravity (1.050ish) ale in about 21 days total. Higher gravity or darker beers take another week or two to mellow.

wfowlks said:

So, for lack of a better term I am impatient. When it comes to tasting and brewing etc. I already started my 2 beers an IPA and a Belgian style triple. But lately to fill the gap I have been fermenting apple cider on a 9 day cycle, because I get it to the way I want it in 9 days.

Does anyone have any other things that brew relatively quickly because cider season is almost over.

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i curious as to your cider recipe? must everything i've read suggests letting it age for a couple months. would really like to get a key of apple cider ready by christmas.

regarding your quick turnaround, wheats (some) can be done in a couple weeks if your kegging. but i have to be honest they do taste better at 4 or so weeks.

edie said:

i curious as to your cider recipe? must everything i've read suggests letting it age for a couple months. would really like to get a key of apple cider ready by christmas.

regarding your quick turnaround, wheats (some) can be done in a couple weeks if your kegging. but i have to be honest they do taste better at 4 or so weeks.

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The first time I tried it I let it ferment out all the way, but I as well as SWMBO did not like how it tasted, and we were more so looking for a classic cider taste, because after it fermented out it was to dry and even back sweetening it wasn't great.

So I am still working on perfecting this recipe, because I am looking for that good balance of natural cider taste, alcohol and sweetness. But out of 6 batches this is the recipe that has produced the best results for me:

1.5 lbs Dark Brown Sugar
1 lbs of Honey
A smidgen of Cinnamon
5 Gallons of Cider
1 pkg of Nottingham yeast

Take about 5 cups of cider and warm it to about 90 degrees. Mix in the sugar and honey till they are dissolved.

Add the smidgen of cinnamon to the bottom of the fermenter, and pour the sugar/honey/cider on top of it. Then pour in the remainder of the cider into the fermenter. Pitch the yeast, and put it in a closet for 7 days.

7 days later, check the taste as well as the SG, (I have found that it tends to be ~ 6.5% ABV after the 7 days).

Optional Step but recommended:
Put it in the fridge for a day, to let the majority of the sediment fall out and it will also solidify a bit making it easier to siphon to the bottling bucket and not get as much sediment. Otherwise be prepared for 1/4 inch of sediment.


Then after it sits, put it in a bottling bucket and bottle the cider. Make sure to fill a 20 oz coke bottle because this is how you will know how much carbonation is in the bottles and when it is time to bottle pasteurize.

And then I pasteurize the bottles once the coke bottle is firm to the touch (Usually about a day) using the bottle pasteurization method in this thread: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f32/easy-stove-top-pasteurizing-pics-193295/

Then I start enjoying my cider that day... Because I am impatient and it tastes good.

Impatience: That's why one of my first cheesemaking endeavors was the 30 minute mozzarella or ricotta cheeses. Instant feedback and satisfaction. Now for aged swiss:cross: