Commercial Versus Homebrewing Conditioning Times?

[cercueil]

I was at a brewpub the other day sipping on a beautiful double Wit that was 7.9% ABV. According to their placemat they go from grain to glass in 12 days. Now for most styles Im sure this is do-able. But how can you do this in 12 days? From what I've read on this forum and in books most big beers take 3-6 months minimum. Now I find it hard to believe that a Brew-pub would brew a beer and keg it and then wait 6 months to serve it (Unless they make small batches??). Is there something done on a commercial scale that speeds conditioning? I've also had belgian tripels in brew pubs and thought the same thing (Though never saw any barley wines). What about bottled beer? Do the companies really brew and store the beer for a few months before they ship it out?

 

[Saccharomyces]

I was at a brewpub the other day sipping on a beautiful double Wit that was 7.9% ABV. According to their placemat they go from grain to glass in 12 days. Now for most styles Im sure this is do-able. But how can you do this in 12 days?

My guess? Do a pressurized fermentation. Dump the yeast regularly. Drop in finings 72 hours after reaching terminal gravity (which you know because you have brewed the batch a million times before and it finishes the same every time), crash cool for a few days, and filter before kegging?

Most of those techniques I would call "cheating" for homebrew.

 

[Tenchiro]

I was at a brewpub the other day sipping on a beautiful double Wit that was 7.9% ABV. According to their placemat they go from grain to glass in 12 days. Now for most styles Im sure this is do-able. But how can you do this in 12 days? From what I've read on this forum and in books most big beers take 3-6 months minimum. Now I find it hard to believe that a Brew-pub would brew a beer and keg it and then wait 6 months to serve it (Unless they make small batches??). Is there something done on a commercial scale that speeds conditioning? I've also had belgian tripels in brew pubs and thought the same thing (Though never saw any barley wines). What about bottled beer? Do the companies really brew and store the beer for a few months before they ship it out?

Homebrewers have the luxury of time that most commercial breweries don't. We can afford to let a beer sit for months without worrying about meeting shipment quotas and whatnot. Most of them strive to get it out the door as quick as they can. And it isn't that they are cutting corners or anything, they mostly aim for a minimun turnaround time.

 

[Revvy]

Of course with the big beers they are still waiting...they're brewing in rotation, and they have kegs/brite tanks of the stuff at various stages of the aging/conditioning process. Just like I do as a homebrewer....If I plan well, I may have 2-3 batches of the same recipe going...one in bottles conditioning, one I'm drinking and one I just brewed.

Ask them about their brew schedule sometime, especially if they have things like tripels and barley wines on tap...if they know what they're doing then they will have a brewing/aging schedule that takes that into consideration.

 

[TheJadedDog]

I might be wrong but most commercial operations filter their beer so there would be no real benefit to aging after fermentation anyway. They also have significantly more control over the entire process and are able to pitch larger amounts of yeast which might contribute to the faster brew times, but those are just guesses.

Some commerical breweries do bottle condition some of their beers making them good options for cellaring.

 

[Saccharomyces]

I might be wrong but most commercial operations filter their beer so there would be no real benefit to aging after fermentation anyway. They also have significantly more control over the entire process and are able to pitch larger amounts of yeast which might contribute to the faster brew times, but those are just guesses.

Good point, they are careful on the quantity and quality of yeast pitched, and fermentation temp is controlled very precisely. When the yeast are not stressed you don't have to allow much time for them to clean things up after attenuation.

I keg, I pitch plenty of healthy yeast, and I have had a few brews which are quite drinkable when force carbed after two weeks. But I don't filter or use finings, so those beers still have a good bit of yeast in them, which causes some minor, uhh, digestive issues after consuming too many pints in the first week or two on the tap.