quick ferments for lagers with starters

Treat this as a poll (from someone who does not know how to properly set one up) Which type of fermentationist are you?

a) keep the beer in primary for a month and let those happy yeasts clean up after themselves

or

b) the beer has hit final gravity after 6 days, let it sit for 2 more and keg and carb that sucker, im thirsty!

I always make a step up starter for my ales. I usually always ferment for a minimum of 3 weeks in primary before crashing and kegging.

I just tasted my first lager which was barely in primary for 2 weeks and is lagering at 37 for 5 weeks now and it tastes great! I noticed it was done fermenting within the 6 days or so, so I forcefully let it sit tight for another 3 days before doing a 3 day d-rest.

I have a 2nd lager done again after a week and is now ramping up to d-rest (note that I pitch cool and am not "reqd" to d rest, but what the hey why not.)

When I only did ales I was always in the school of thought of let the beer sit on the yeast cake and clean up after themselves for a month before moving, but because I am hitting FG so quick I move them on to keg and lager.

Who here is the 1 mo primary minimum (for said reason) and who here is the "its at terminal gravity, lets get that sucker lagering (or kegged for ales) so we can carb and drink it.

I tasted my munich dunkel and it is close to the best friggin chewy wet liquid bread refreshment I have ever had, this alone is starting to change my mindset from the "rather be safe than sorry, let the yeast clean up compounds" to 2 weeks is plenty to ferment, clean up, and move on.
note again I always make nice healthy starters pitch appropriately, and with o2 (usually twice to cut lag time).
Havent noticed anything wrong with my dunkel yet, my dortmunder will be another month or two before I taste it, but I am moving them along cause I just ran out of my Munich Hefe!

note also that I have been reconstructing with RO and mineral additions thanks to BrunWater!

I cant get enough of the stuff!

It has been my experience that about 3 thirds of the advice on here is just someones opinion and not worth spit. Try out what you think is best. Keep good records, modify and adjust. Most of these guys will have your head spinning if you let them.

Agreed. its all about proof and what works for me, that being said... Which school of thought pertains to your methods sir?

I think if you pitch the proper amount of healthy yeast, oxygenate, and control fermentation temps the vast majority of beers(ales) can be kegged in 7-10 days. That is what I usually try to do...of course a lot of times I let it go a few days longer just because I am too lazy/busy to rack it into the kegs.

Phunhog said:

I think if you pitch the proper amount of healthy yeast, oxygenate, and control fermentation temps the vast majority of beers(ales) can be kegged in 7-10 days. That is what I usually try to do...of course a lot of times I let it go a few days longer just because I am too lazy/busy to rack it into the kegs.

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This.

If you need to leave a standard gravity ale or lager on the yeast for a month to "clean up after themselves", then you messed something up in your process (not enough healthy yeast, poor temp control, poor O2 levels, etc).

If you're worried about clarity, then finings will take care of that in 2-3 days, rather then having to wait weeks for the yeast to settle naturally.

Thanks all!

I always hit the correct o2, and pitch rates. I hit target FG quickly but always let it sit around "to be safe". From now on, I am going to keep my good practices, let it sit around for a few days or a week after Gravity stops dropping and move it on.

sudbuster said:

It has been my experience that about 3 thirds of the advice on here is just someones opinion and not worth spit. Try out what you think is best. Keep good records, modify and adjust. Most of these guys will have your head spinning if you let them.

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Listen to sudbuster. There are all kinds of fermentation schedules that will result in a great final product. Try it one way this time, try it a different time the next, and so on. Eventually you will figure out which way gives you the flavors you prefer. Keep in mind that this may change with different beer styles - particularly as color and ABV go up (or vice versa)