Brewery Vs Home - The Differences

[nickrjsmith]

Hi,

I recently bought some ale directly from a brewery near where I live. Sharpes brewery. I had a good long discussion about their techniques.

For their traditional English ales they brew for about 4 days, clearing tank (secondary) for about 4 days then it's ready to drink.

My question is why can't we as home brewers reproduce such fine results so quickly?

Nick

 

[Pappers_]

Baking great bread at home is very different than running a bakery, too.

One of the many differences between making beer at home and in a brewery is the size and shape of the fermentation vessels.

I do make beers that are ready to bottle/keg after 10-14 days, which isn't too far from the 8 days from the brewery you referenced.

 

[ArcaneXor]

My question is why can't we as home brewers reproduce such fine results so quickly?

Nick

We can. You just need the right equipment.

 

[Yooper]

My question is why can't we as home brewers reproduce such fine results so quickly?

Nick

You certainly can! You just have to do the same things they do- pitch the proper amount of yeast at the very beginning (probably about 4 times the "normal" pitching rate homebrewers do), keep the temperature under control, use a highly flocculant yeast strain that drops out when fermentation is finished, and use good water.

You can easily keg a beer after 5-6 days if fermentation has been completed for at least two days. I normally keg on day 14, though. Just because it's easiest for me.

 

[pcollins]

I'm so glad to read the responses in this thread so far.

There is absolutely no reason why we can't move beer through our systems the same way a commercial craft brewery can. I work in a craft brewery and the only difference between what we (almost) all have available and what the brewery has available is the filtration unit.

A few things that people don't/can't/won't do:

Pitch on yeast cakes. Granted commercial breweries are cleaning their yeast but they are absolutely reusing yeast.

Cold crash. True, some of us can't get the carboy/keg/conical to chill prior to serving or bottling.

Carbonate in less than a week/day/6 hours. Most of us don't have carbonation stones but that doesn't mean we have to wait a week for beer in a keg to carbonate. It CAN be done in under 24 hours.

This is secretly one of my favourite topics.

I have a grain-to-glass project that I come back to every once in a while to see how quickly I can get a basic pale ale through the system. Yes, I do let most of my beers sit for longer than two weeks but it can be done in well under that amount of time.

 

[cwheel]

I'm very interested in commercial filtration - do you, or anybody, have a good source for how they do it? Maybe with pictures and/or specs? I agree that most of my beers taste pretty good after a week fermenting, but only if I remove the yeast still in suspension. That's why a lot of people recommend waiting a few weeks minimum to keg/bottle...not necessary because it needs to "age", but because the yeast has to settle out.

 

[KuntzBrewing]

From what I've seen they use filter plates just look up beer/wine filter plates and that's what it looks like, except the brewey uses a much lager one

 

[CidahMastah]

Just my opinion, but I would never want to filter my brew. I believe that reason the brews I make taste so fresh (and often far superior to craft brews), with so much character, etc. is that they aren't filtered. When you filter you strip flavors out, even if subtle nuances.

I can see that many folks want to cruise through the brew for fast grain to glass but for me, no need to rush. Build a pipeline and let the yeast and brew do what it needs to in its own due time.

 

[pcollins]

I can see that many folks want to cruise through the brew for fast grain to glass but for me, no need to rush. Build a pipeline and let the yeast and brew do what it needs to in its own due time.

Agreed, and I do have a pipeline: One keg on tap, one carboy cold crashing, one carboy gelled in secondary, five carboys in primary.

I think it's one of those things that is a "good to know" trait about your beer and your process/pipeline what have you. Family gathering coming up in two weeks? Nothing in the pipeline to serve the BMC drinkers? How about a nice fresh blonde ale?

 

[bigljd]

I think English ales are meant to be turned around quicker too. I typically only primary my English ales for 5 days before kegging, and start drinking them after force carbing over 4 -5 days. I use WLP002 Fuller's yeast which drops out like a rock after it's done. The low OG and the high flocculation of the yeast makes them quick to brew.

If you leave EPA's on the yeast too long I think you lose some of the yeast flavors EPA's are famous for. There's a great thread on it here:

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f163/british-yeasts-fermentation-temps-profiles-cybi-other-thoughts-221817/

 

[CidahMastah]

Agreed, and I do have a pipeline: One keg on tap, one carboy cold crashing, one carboy gelled in secondary, five carboys in primary.

I think it's one of those things that is a "good to know" trait about your beer and your process/pipeline what have you. Family gathering coming up in two weeks? Nothing in the pipeline to serve the BMC drinkers? How about a nice fresh blonde ale?

I will file this under "good to know"

+1 on your impromptu family/friend gathering. As it stands right now that usually means I have to brew a hefe!

 

[wetzie]

I had a couple of craft brews at Hilton Head Brewery the other week. They were very good and tasted proper to the titles. I was surprised that most of the brews dated on their board as completed only 9-14 days before I was there.
My son commented about slow I am compared to them

 

[nickrjsmith]

Thanks for all the responses on this. It's interesting to hear people opinions.

I too have made beers over 14 days and over 28 days. The best tends to be the 28 days, but not always. I have often been astounded at the clarity I get over 14 days with a little irish moss and some basic 'Dr Oetker' gelatine finings. Not just clear, but realllllly clear.

It's the flavour differences i'm most interested in. I'm not trying to emulate professional breweries exactly. But even though my beer comes close, if I stood it up against British 10 keg ales, I could always pick out the 'home brew' flavour.

I'm going to try some wet yeast... I usually use dry. I also do a partigyle every time, in a 10 gallon container, then mix the two brews to get around a 4.5% english ale.

Great contributions to the thread! Thanks - N

 

[CidahMastah]

But even though my beer comes close, if I stood it up against British 10 keg ales, I could always pick out the 'home brew' flavour.

This really surprises me. Are you an extract brewer? if so I can understand this comment because, despite what others say, I can taste an "extract" flavor.

If you brew All Grain, your statement does surprise me. In the past I have done blind taste tests against commercial brews with clones and the results have shocked me. People prefer the home brew and used to say it was the brew that has a slight leg up on the other.

 

[zman]

Hi,

I recently bought some ale directly from a brewery near where I live. Sharpes brewery. I had a good long discussion about their techniques.

For their traditional English ales they brew for about 4 days, clearing tank (secondary) for about 4 days then it's ready to drink.

My question is why can't we as home brewers reproduce such fine results so quickly?

Nick

You can go grain to glass in 10 days or less, provided you keg and not bottle and that it is a low gravity beer. This months Zymurgy has a really good article hashing out the details

 

[ajf]

It's the flavour differences i'm most interested in. I'm not trying to emulate professional breweries exactly. But even though my beer comes close, if I stood it up against British 10 keg ales, I could always pick out the 'home brew' flavour.

Perhaps you should compare your beer against draught ales, rather than kegged. The kegged beers are pasteurized, filtered, and force carbonated. The draught beers are real ales that are not pasteurized, not filtered, and naturally carbonated.

-a.

 

[Brewerforlife]

Perhaps you should compare your beer against draught ales, rather than kegged. The kegged beers are pasteurized, filtered, and force carbonated. The draught beers are real ales that are not pasteurized, not filtered, and naturally carbonated.

-a.

Actuallty most U.S macro keg beer is not pasteurized, only the stuff they ship oversea's, as is improt beer shipped to U.S. Normally a large macro brewery isn't going to waste money on a product that they can control the cold shipping & storage of, without the costly pasteurizing process. Cheers!!

 

[ajf]

Actuallty most U.S macro keg beer is not pasteurized, only the stuff they ship oversea's, as is improt beer shipped to U.S. Normally a large macro brewery isn't going to waste money on a product that they can control the cold shipping & storage of, without the costly pasteurizing process. Cheers!!

But I was responding to somebody from the UK.
In the UK, kegged beers are very different than the draught real ales.

-a.