2 Week Primary & Then Keg

Hello All,

To make a long story short I have a party coming up on 11/25 and want to have a fresh brew ready to go. Life got in the way and I am a little short on time. The style I am thinking of brewing is a pale ale (sierra nevada clone) type.

My plan is to brew on Friday 11/6 and let it sit in the primary for 2 weeks. Then cold crash for 2 days (21st and 22nd) then force carbonate for 3 days. My question to the group is will this work? Has anyone done something similar and have any horror stories or successes? I think it should be okay but being relatively new to home brewing I just want to make sure. Thanks.

You should be fine, especially with a pale ale that is best consumed fresh. I keg and often go two weeks from grain to glass. I hope this helps!

Agree with @TMannion87...my pale ales are usually grain to glass in 21 days w/o force carbing.

Yep depending on the recipe. I usually base my recipes around a turn around time almost exactly like this. In fact I have a nut brown ale going right now that will most likely be g to g in 15 days (give or take a day). Just remember that the calendar does not tell you when the beer is done. Your hydrometer, taste buds and carbonation level will tell you

Awesome, really appreciate the feedback. As I said I'm relatively new to home brewing and have always thought longer = better but recently I read a few threads and articles saying ales and ipa's are best fresh and two weeks is fine.

Thanks again for the responses.

One other question, I really want to hit the correct color this time. My other homebrew's have all turned out darker then expected. I have the ability to boil 3.5 gallons right now, I know doing a full boil will help which I plan to switch to later.

If I add half of the extract at 60min and the rest with 15min left will that help me with hitting the color? Or should I add it all at 15min?

I'd go half and half as you have planned. Should help lighten it some, but IME, extracts are darker than their all-grain counterparts.