Drinkable quick brew?

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sonofgrok

n00basaurus
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I am loving brewing so far. I have 2 meads and a braggot (all 5 gallons) in the works but from my understanding none of these are going to be remotely drinkable until late winter/early spring. Is there any kind of brew that I can make in the interim that will be drinkable within 3 weeks or so. Call it impulsiveness but I'd like to enjoy some fruits of my labors sometime in the near future. I am going to run out of carboys here soon so something that can go straight from the primary to a growler or bottles would be ideal. I am wanting to do a cider once my first mead is bottled (aka a carboy frees up) but even that is going to take several months to come around.

If not, then I guess patience is a virtue (just not one of mine).
Thanks!
E

P.S. I am swinging by the local homebrew supply tomorrow so I can pick up some stuff there if needed!
 
I was a winemaker, and meadmaker, long before I started making beer. But I felt like I needed something to make an drink in the long wait for my wines so I started brewing beer.

Beer is quick, certainly compared to mead anyway! Some beers, like a mild or a brown ale, can be ready to drink in just a couple of weeks.

If you're interested in a quick beer recipe, let us know what you'd like to drink and we can help point you in the right direction.
 
Might I suggest a light pale ale? EdWort's Haus Pale Ale is a great choice and can be ready in 3-4 weeks.
 
Well, when I comes to beer, I like dark and rich. Stout, porter... lol probably ones that take the longest. Amber's are alright. I am not too picky as long as it isn't light piss water. I kind of gave up beer (don't stone me!) when I got older and got into wines and avoiding a belly. I make the occasional exception for a good dark micro brew though. Brought myself home an excellent growler from Pagosa Brewing Co. on a recent excursion up there. When it comes to beer quality>quantity and I will usually just enjoy one or two in a sitting. And I mean really enjoy.

I will definitely make an exception in this case for any beer just to have something that I personally made to drink in the interim. I know, I know... I am a picky bi^&4. :D

P.S. never made beer so N00b me out. I only have EC1118 yeast and honey. I am guessing I'll need to pick up some other kind of yeast at the store tomorrow and some kind of a LME (hopped?). I'd prefer to prime with honey over corn sugar too if that is doable.
 
I'm drinking a berliner weisse styled beer I pitched 10 days ago. Got the idea from Sean Cotes blog. For something everyone promised would smell like hot vomit, I think it tastes an awful lot like 1809.

whoops, missed the dark and rich bit there, disregard
 
Well, when I comes to beer, I like dark and rich. Stout, porter... lol probably ones that take the longest. Amber's are alright. I am not too picky as long as it isn't light piss water. I kind of gave up beer (don't stone me!) when I got older and got into wines and avoiding a belly. I make the occasional exception for a good dark micro brew though. Brought myself home an excellent growler from Pagosa Brewing Co. on a recent excursion up there. When it comes to beer quality>quantity and I will usually just enjoy one or two in a sitting. And I mean really enjoy.

I will definitely make an exception in this case for any beer just to have something that I personally made to drink in the interim. I know, I know... I am a picky bi^&4. :D

P.S. never made beer so N00b me out. I only have EC1118 yeast and honey. I am guessing I'll need to pick up some other kind of yeast at the store tomorrow and some kind of a LME (hopped?). I'd prefer to prime with honey over corn sugar too if that is doable.

I'd skip any prehopped LME and buy some fresh LME or DME, some yeast and some hops.

A stout isn't hard. I can give you a great recipe. It comes from Brewing Classic Styles, and I made it ages ago.

5 pounds pale LME (unhopped)
2 pounds flaked barley
1 pound black roasted barley

2 ounces Kent Goldings 60 minutes

For yeast, use Irish ale yeast. If you want a dry, use S05.

Steep grains in 2 gallons of water at 150-155 for 30 minutes. Remove and bring to a boil. If you have a big enough pot and burner, bring your volume up to 5 gallons and add the LME. If not, bring to a boil and when boiling add the hops. After 55 minutes of boiling, add the LME by taking the pot off of the heat and stirring it in. Cool in a water bath, pour into a fermenter, top off to 5 gallons, and then add yeast. Ferment 10 days or so, until SG is the same for at least three days. Bottle, using .75 ounces of corn sugar ( or 4.6 ounces honey) by weight in 2 cups of boiling water to prime in the bottling bucket.

OG 1.042
FG 1.010


That should work well, for a quick stout recipe.
 
I have some great recipes for stouts....all will be ready three or four weeks. Chocolate vanilla java, brown sugar oatmeal, or a jet black chocolate based stout I call the obsidian. Let me know if u want recipes
 
Well, based on all the advice here, I guess I am delving into beer brewing this weekend. Seems a little more complicated upfront than what I am used to but I am sure I can handle it.

Thanks all!
 
old rasputin is from grain to store in 30 days-try the byo recipe
 
6 lbs extra dark dme

1/2 lb choc barley
1/2 lb choc wheat
1/2 lb choc rye
1/2 lb crystal 80
1/4 lb black patent malt

Steep grains at 155* for twenty min
Bring to boil
Add 1 oz magnum hops for full 60 min boil
5 min left in boil add 1 oz fuggles hops

Pitch either safale s-04 yeast or wyeast American ale 1056. Either preference.

This beer has exploded on me every time I have made it so watch carefully!

Any questions just ask me!!
 
Also if anyone makes this please let me know your thoughts!! This has become my new fav beer!!
 
I've never tested it. Lol. I base my brewing off of feel look and tastes. I'm not professional so therefore I tweak my beers with each batch until I find something I like. I've had great results brewing with out taking readings. Guess its a little old school brewing!!
 
Exploded in fermentation. Had to use blow off everytime for at least two days! This beer has excellent roasty and chocolate flavored!
 
Check into things like Joe's Quick Grape Mead and some of Joe Mattioli's other "quick" and "no-age" recipes on gotmead.com. He says the recipes can be drinkable in 3-4 weeks. YMMV, but I did his no-age mead and it was pretty tasty in about 5 weeks. Of course, it got much better after a couple months, but it was drinkable pretty fast.
 
If you like Wheat beer like Hefeweizens, many can be fermented and into bottles/keg within 10-12 days.
 
Alright. I hit the brew store today and picked up everything. I decided to go with a Breiss "Special Dark" LME so that should be interesting. The trouble is, I ran into another delema for those interested. Lack of expected primary. I want to start my beer since the barley is all milled and stuff if anyone wants to jump over to that thread and help out!
 
For simplicity sake, since its my first go and all, I went with Yooper's recommendation (slightly modified):
5 #s Breiss "Special Dark" LME
2 #s flaked barley
1 # black roasted barley
2oz Kent goldings
S05 yeast

I am definitely keeping the other excellent recommendations though including your obsidian. If this is a success, that will probably be my next brew.
 
Not a dark beer, but if you're open minded, a Hefeweizen may be a nice beer to try. Northern brewer has a good one. I did 5 gal extract. 10 days primary then bottled. It was good after 1 week in bottles and great at 2 plus weeks. Just a thought.
 
I am open minded. I remember liking hefe back in my early 20s. Then again I also remember liking natty light. Still, that is enough votes to try a hefeweizen that I think I will give it a go. I anticipate brewing a good 3 - 4 batches of beer before any of my mead is ready to consume.
 
I'm noob who loves hefe from the store.

My first ever hb batch was a brewers best witbier kit. I thought it was as good or better than anything from the store.

4 days in primary
2 1/2 weeks in secondary
2 weeks in bottles

Highly recommended
 
6 lbs extra dark dme

1/2 lb choc barley
1/2 lb choc wheat
1/2 lb choc rye
1/2 lb crystal 80
1/4 lb black patent malt

Steep grains at 155* for twenty min
Bring to boil
Add 1 oz magnum hops for full 60 min boil
5 min left in boil add 1 oz fuggles hops

Pitch either safale s-04 yeast or wyeast American ale 1056. Either preference.

This beer has exploded on me every time I have made it so watch carefully!

Any questions just ask me!!

How bitter is that going to be? I have never used Magnums.

I like dark beer, but I also don't like very bitter beer. One of the best dark, chewy beers I have tried is Irish Death, if you know that one... but I think it is available in the Northwest only.
 
If you like Wheat beer like Hefeweizens, many can be fermented and into bottles/keg within 10-12 days.

I have a hefeweizen (http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp300.html) at 7 days right now. I had assumed that more time on the yeast (within reason) was the way to go... why is hefeweizen different?

This batch fermented pretty vigorously for the first couple of days, and there is still a bubble from the airlock once in a while a week in.
 
Horseflesh said:
I have a hefeweizen (http://www.whitelabs.com/beer/strains_wlp300.html) at 7 days right now. I had assumed that more time on the yeast (within reason) was the way to go... why is hefeweizen different?

This batch fermented pretty vigorously for the first couple of days, and there is still a bubble from the airlock once in a while a week in.

I'm not sure but I think Hefeweizen is supposed to be "yeasty", and bottling before the yeast cake gets very compacted is the way to achieve that.
 
The beer isn't that bitter. IMO. It's a great stout!! U could always substitute, but I love it! It has a great flavor!!
 
Was looking forward to sharing a liter of this stout with my pops and brother after our planned grand canyon backpacking trip this winter break. Come to learn... I am the only one who likes a stout. Next up is an Amber for them. Hope it gets done in time. Any quick Amber recipes?
 
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