Today, it's driving me crazy.

This hobby, that is. Today I want instant feedback on how my raspberry-IPA will taste in six months' time.

I know I should and have a pipeline.

I have some great brews and some not-so-great.

I love the excitement of AG/BIAB/extract/fruit/various hops (the engineer in me).

But today I have no patience.

B

As one vulture said to the other. "Patience my A$$, I'm gonna go kill something..." Go buy a nice sixer & kill it.. Cheers!!!

another homebrewing engineer... lol.

Why six months? That seems like a long time to wait for a fruit beer or an IPA. Generally, IPA's are better as fresh as possible.

birvine said:

instant feedback on how my raspberry-IPA will taste in six months' time.

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Not like an IPA.

When i feel like that I brew another batch - I obsess over the new one an forget all about the one that's aging. Then repeat!

JonM said:

When i feel like that I brew another batch - I obsess over the new one an forget all about the one that's aging. Then repeat!

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I'm convinced... I'll brew something else tomorrow!

B

I'm still pretty new to brewing, still on extract and only 7 batches deep. But I feel you...I get so excited and make recipes but it takes so long to get to the final product!

I'd say that I should get a kegging system which would help my impatience, but I don't drink all that much of my homebrew so I end up giving most of it away in bottles...

Anyway, my suggestion is to make your beer you need to age, then right after make a really fast beer. That way you can get excited for your new one and just forget about the other one

Once you get a really good pipeline going, you'll have the moments of "oh yeah - I forgot about that X I bottled four weeks ago and now it's perfect!"

That or the day you grab a keg that's "empty" to rack a beer into it and you pick it up and, WTF? hmmm what beer is this?

birvine said:

This hobby, that is. Today I want instant feedback on how my raspberry-IPA will taste in six months' time.

I know I should and have a pipeline.

I have some great brews and some not-so-great.

I love the excitement of AG/BIAB/extract/fruit/various hops (the engineer in me).

But today I have no patience.

B

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Lol yeah the key is to have a pipeline going. Best to have some long-term brews going and in various stages of aging, so the waiting is bearable.

Even though you are anxious for a particular brew, one that you were anxious about is now coming into its drink-on date . That's the best scenario, but man it sucks to have to wait and get the beer-aging-buffer built up.

I have to wait till this warm weather subsides befor I can get the spare bedroom cool enough to brew. The wait sucks. Lucky I'll have two 6 gallon carboys ready and waiting for Wort. I figure about every 3-4 weeks I can bottle and start another 2 batches. Its hard to have patience but its a must with this hobby.

You can do a grain to glass in 12 days. I haven't posted my recipe and process yet but I've got an amazing Belgian Pale Ale that I'm drinking now that I mashed just 13 days ago....and it's pretty damn good!!

DannPM said:

You can do a grain to glass in 12 days. I haven't posted my recipe and process yet but I've got an amazing Belgian Pale Ale that I'm drinking now that I mashed just 13 days ago....and it's pretty damn good!!

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I'm curious - what is the process you used?

B

Twelve days pretty much have to be kegging. But totally doable. Number one factor: pitch enough yeast!

birvine,

If you wait 6 months, your IPA will be past its prime. I make a clone of Two Hearted Ale IPA that is best about 6 weeks after pitching.

2 weeks in primary - I use Better Bottles, 5 1/2 gallons in 6 gallon BB with blow off tube.

1 week dry hopping in said primary, then rack to keg, force carbonate, 48 hour cold crash at 34 F in fridge, rack to serving keg - no secondary

wait 2 weeks, tap. Tastes great, improves for 2 weeks, starts to lose hop flavors and aroma after that.

If you bottle, then it is still possible to be drinking in 5-6 weeks.

birvine said:

I'm curious - what is the process you used?

B

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You have to use an aggressive yeast strain in proper amounts (I use Mr Malty). I used 3522 Belgian Ardennes. Pitched at 59, let it free rise and it lifted itself to 77 by day 3 and fermentation was done by day 4. After that I let it clear for till day 9, which wasn't a problem since it flocculates very well, kegged end of day 9, hybrid force carbed, set it at 14 PSI for 3 days, and it was good to go.

IrregularPulse said:

That or the day you grab a keg that's "empty" to rack a beer into it and you pick it up and, WTF? hmmm what beer is this?

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like finding money in an old jacket pocket. Just much, much better.

birvine said:

I'm curious - what is the process you used?

B

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The only time I entered a contest, I racked from primary to keg, cooled it for the day, then force carbed it as soon it was cool. I bottled a few beers when the keg settled down, and brought it straight to the Del Mar Fair homebrew competition and entered that 11 day old dry stout. I took 2nd place.

Interesting. To date any brews short of a few weeks are fairly 'green'.

B

Whether you keg or bottle, patience is your friend. Kegging is not an answer to patience issues.

birvine said:

Interesting. To date any brews short of a few weeks are fairly 'green'.

B

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It really depends on the yeast strain. Like I said, I used 3522 Ardennes but I could never do that with 3787, 1762, or 1388.