Tips for hurrying a beer through the process?

I know, the first tip would be "don't rush your beer through the process." Believe me, I'd rather not. Skip to the last sentence for my question, or read on if the back story interests you

I thought I had my pipeline pretty well managed, but I blew a keg last night that was supposed to last through Thanksgiving. I had a few friends over to help me cut down and buck up a HUGE old apple tree, and as thanks I grilled some steaks and gave them all the beer they could drink after we put the saws away. You know the rest of that story...

So now because of work I can't brew again until November 7, and I need a beer kegged and carbed by Thanksgiving Day. I know I'm cutting it close. For simplicity I'm going to make the Northern Brewer Brickwarmer, all grain.

I've been brewing all grain for a couple years, but this is the first one I'm trying to take from grain to glass in 21 days. I figure if fermentation is complete in 10 days, I can cold crash for 48 hours, then keg and have it cold conditioning and carbing for 9 days before the first pour. We'll see how it goes from there. I've got a case of Sierra Nevada Flipside in the basement just in case.

I'm not looking to be talked out of it. I'm going to do it. What I'm wondering is if anybody has any tips based on having made a drinkable beer in short order. Or, would you like to share your quickest successful grain to glass?

Keg the beer after 10 days in primary. Set the regulator to serving pressure and leave it for a week.

This is what I do for almost all my beers.

First pint or two will be cloudy.

Over pitch yeast

Go with a wheat ale

If you follow good fermentation practices there should be no problem with what you want to do.

The beer should be done fermenting in 7-10 days and you can crash in the keg to clear and carbonate in time for the big bird!

I've done in in probably a touch over 21 days. Ferment for the 7 - 10 days, and force carb HARD. Like 30 psi for a few days, shaking it. Testing often.

One of the big advantages to kegging, IMO

If I were you I would brew up a lower gravity beer. Much quicker turn around generally speaking. BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde is one that I have brewed up many times and you can easily be drinking it in 3 weeks.

proper fermentation temp control (especially in the beginning), and a nice fresh, healthy pitch of yeast....prevent off-flavors from forming in the beginning so you don't have to wait around for them to disappear at the end.

Its rare that I don't have a beer ready to keg in 14 days, tops. I have kegged as soon as 10 days.

I've done 21 days before... Fermenter for a couple weeks, carbing/conditioning for a week. Not great beer, but still good.

It seems like properly oxygenating the wort really helps kick fermentation off quickly. Pick a style of beer that is fine fermenting warm to speed things up (Heffe, Nut Brown, etc.)

Good advice folks, thanks! It seems like I'm thinking along the same line as most so far.

I am a bit concerned that the 1.062 OG is a bit high for a quick turn around, but I've already got a light lager on tap and didn't want to make another beer that was too similar.

I've never tried it, but if I were in such a rush I'd be tempted to go with pressurized fermentation. Ferment in a corny with a pressure regulator blowoff to maintain volumes of CO2 you want in the finished product. That way when you rack off it will already be carbonated. You will be able to give yourself the most time to ferment and clarify that way.
You'd need a few new parts, but that's the way a lot of German breweries do it to conform to the Reinheitsgebot and I've heard comments that it's pretty straightforward from a few German homebrewers who do the same.

Fishin-Jay said:

Good advice folks, thanks! It seems like I'm thinking along the same line as most so far.

I am a bit concerned that the 1.062 OG is a bit high for a quick turn around, but I've already got a light lager on tap and didn't want to make another beer that was too similar.

Click to expand...

Your schedule sounds great. 21 days is pretty standard grain to glass time for me. Shouldn't be a problem for a 1.062 beer.

I do it all the time. We just kicked a keg Saturday night of beer I made on 9/29. It was 27 days old when it was gone!

A couple of keys- keep fermentation temperature under control! That recipe calls for S04? If that's what you're using, make sure it stays under 65 degrees or it gets weirdly estery and needs some age to mellow. If you're using liquid, make sure to pitch three packages or a properly sized starter and keep it at the proper temperature as well.

Pitching temperature is crucial- chill the wort to 62 or so, and pitch the proper amount of yeast, and then let it rise up to your fermentation temperature (probably 65 degrees).

Using S04, the beer will clear within two days of reaching FG, and it can be kegged then.

I just re-read your post, and you asked us to share stories of our quickest grain-to-glass beers. One that sticks in my mind is an English mild.

We did a beer swap of milds a few years ago, and the rule was we had to ferment, carb, and ship out our beer on day 10.

Here's the thread:https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f38/project-10der-mild-10-milds-10-days-month-10-a-77758/

I've done it since with other beers, but that is the one that sticks out in my mind the most. A great tasting beer, swapped to others, and all on day 10. That is really what started opening my eyes to making beers properly and then not needing to give them weeks (months!) to age out.

A well made beer shouldn't need time to age out. You see "born on" dates and "drink by" dates on most commercial beers. Sure, a few beers need some time to come together, but that is rare. A well made "regular" beer should be drinkable much quicker than many people seem to think.

You got this like yopper said keep your fermentation under control. I would also say to agate the fermenter a couple times on day one and two. Then you could bump the temp up to 68-70 at the end to make sure its finished.
Plus you could force carb for about 10 minutes and then let sit cold 32f for a day or two at a 25-30psi and for a winter warmer that should be darn close.

Brew a real(ish) ale - e.g. a best bitter or ESB. Ferment with WLP002/WY1968 (using a correctly sized starter) for 1 week in primary at 64-68F, then naturally carb in the keg for a week, and it'll be ready to put on gas at a low pressure for serving at around 55F. Gives you a week of grace for extra aging if required (best spent letting it clear and continue carbing at 55F.

I've got some of my beers to a reasonably carbed state in bottles in 3 weeks - 10-14 days in primary, bottle, and had good carbonation in 1 week at 70F. They're further carbed and less green after another week, but acceptable in 1 week. Longest I've taken is 4-5 weeks for a saison with 3711.

21 days is no problem. Hell, I bottle my beers and I can still squeeze one in under that time limit. My suggestions:

1) Keep the ABV down. 1.060 OG or less. Gives the yeast less distance to travel.
2) Make a beer with big strong flavors, like a dry stout. That way if the beer is a bit green early on, it'll be covered up.
3) No secondary additions. ie. fruit, dry hopping, etc. Too much time.
4) Make sure you've got a super healthy pitch, lots of oyxgen, fresh yeast, some nutrient, and a nice big starter.

That's all I got. I turned around a coconut porter in 21 days from grain to glass last month (including bottle carbing) following those rules and it was great.

Great encouragement everyone! Now it isn't feeling like so much of a rush. I ferment in a chest freezer with a brew belt and a 2 stage temp controller so I'm sure I can keep the fermentation in the zone as I have always done in the past. Cooling below my pitch temp is great advice I hadn't ever seen before so I'll be following Yooper's advice. Thanks again!