36 hours into first keg (questions)

[res291que]

For those of you against filtering and insisting on long term aging you should take a look into professional processes and talk to a few yeast experts. Most ale fermentations are complete in less than a week and most yeast experts say no longer than 14 days on an ale yeast cake. I personally have had a batch (or two) on the yeast cake for over 6 weeks with no off flavors. However, most beers are done within the course of 4-5 days. If ALL beers needed bulk aging for 3- 6 weeks prices of commercial beers ( not fizzy yellow stuff) would be astronomical and people like me would not be able to afford that luxury. I will agree most beers do benefit from aging and most homebrews fit into this category, but filtering does speed the process and there is absolutely nothing wrong with it so for this guy who just is starting out and wants to drink his beer now I say kudos!!!

 

[kombat]

res291que, we're all well aware that the large commercial breweries use particular techniques and equipment to get the turnaround time on their beers as low as possible, including filtering. The issue is that in addition to chill haze, filtering also removes yeast and flavour compounds, including hop character. While this may be a mere annoyance for home brewers who keg, it can be a deal-breaker for people who bottle-carb, as you NEED to leave that yeast in the beer.

 

[stratslinger]

For those of you against filtering and insisting on long term aging you should take a look into professional processes and talk to a few yeast experts.

Sorry, but professional process and homebrew process, when it comes to fermentation, and yeast pitching in particular, often are two very different beasts. The pros pitch a significantly higher cell count of significantly fresher yeast - they're not pitching a couple packets of dry yeast per five gallons of wort. That's going to dramatically change the characteristics of the fermentation they see, vs the fermentation we see. Plus you add in the additional dynamic of the increased volume of their fermenters that will lead to autolysis of yeast, where our homebrew-level equipment will now, and they have significant impetus to get the beer of the yeast for better or for worse that goes beyond the financial.

Bottom line, you're comparing apples to cadillacs.