Young beer styles

[drunkEnough4U]

I heard recently that some variations of kellerbier or zwicklebier are intended to be drank relatively fresh, like 10 days out of primary fresh. So in the spirit of that I'm wondering what various styles of brew are intended to be drank specifically young?

 

[Pappers_]

Not ten days fresh, but a beer with lots of hop aroma will do better young - the hop aroma tends to diminish over time. So, IPAs. Smaller beers (lower original gravity) like an dry Irish stout will tend to be ready more quickly.

 

[JonM]

Hefeweizen. 17 days grain to glass and that was with set-it-and-forget-it keg carbing. I bet with burst carbing 10 days is probably doable.

 

[drunkEnough4U]

Hefeweizen. 17 days grain to glass and that was with set-it-and-forget-it keg carbing. I bet with burst carbing 10 days is probably doable.

What abv?

 

[LKABrewer]

English session beers, like bitters and milds, are ready to drink in a week. The yeast flocs fast so the beer clears fast, and it tastes best right out of the fermenter.

 

[Pappers_]

Hefeweizen. 17 days grain to glass and that was with set-it-and-forget-it keg carbing. I bet with burst carbing 10 days is probably doable.

Truth. Belgian Witbier, too.

 

[JonM]

What abv?

About 5%, maybe a little less. I use 5 lb pilsner, 5 lbs white wheat for a 5.5 gallon batch, or last year i did 7 lbs white wheat and 3 lbs pilsner (I think I'll do that again!)

 

[Desert_Sky]

wheats are incredibly fast

 

[Gnomebrewer]

Hefeweizen. 17 days grain to glass and that was with set-it-and-forget-it keg carbing. I bet with burst carbing 10 days is probably doable.

Hefeweizen is one of the few styles that, IMO, tastes better naturally carbonated. Anybody who says "CO2 is CO2, there's no difference" needs to try them side-by-side. And the good news - using WY3068, natural carbonation is as fast as set-and-forget keg carbonation. I ferment mine for about 8 days (not too long or the banana starts to fade) then keg for a week with priming sugar (aiming for 3.2vols), then chill for a day or two (I do like a touch of sweetness to stay behind though). In bottles, they taste good after two to three days conditioning - the yeast is that fast. And yes, this is definitely a style best had young.

 

[eyebrau]

A couple months ago at a homebrew comp I judged a kellerbier pilsner. Had to read through the guidelines, it was the first kellerbier I'd ever had. It is basically supposed to have some diacetyl, and possibly acetaldehyde and DMS, plus be more bitter, a bit hoppier in aroma and flavor, and lower carbed. Turned out to just be a good pilsner, nothing young about it. I was almost disappointed. Don't remember the score I gave, but it probably would have been higher if it was entered as a normal pilsner.

At any rate, I've never had the balls to brew a beer I meant to drink young. I'm pretty patient and never really had the drive to get it drinkable ASAP. With that said, I don't see why a hop heavy session IPA couldn't be served young. The hops will cover up most any young beer off flavors, except maybe diacetyl, which could be avoided using a clean yeast.

 

[eric19312]

Truth. Belgian Witbier, too.

What yeast? I've brewed twice wilt WLP400 and both times took longer than I hoped to finish fermenting. I tried to rush a batch 2 weeks ago so I could use my fermenter after 8 days in primary. Had ramped fermentation temp during days 5-8 fro 70-74 to get it to finish fast but was still at high Krausen with about 6 points to go when I racked it out of primary into kegs to finish on day 8. Looked back at previous attempt with this yeast and seems it took 3 weeks to finish.

 

[Pappers_]

What yeast? I've brewed twice wilt WLP400 and both times took longer than I hoped to finish fermenting. I tried to rush a batch 2 weeks ago so I could use my fermenter after 8 days in primary. Had ramped fermentation temp during days 5-8 fro 70-74 to get it to finish fast but was still at high Krausen with about 6 points to go when I racked it out of primary into kegs to finish on day 8. Looked back at previous attempt with this yeast and seems it took 3 weeks to finish.

I've never had an issue of slow fermentation with witbier yeast, but I don't doubt your experience. You would definitely want to make it a small witbier if you needed a fast fermentation. Some folks brew witbiers with other Belgian yeasts, although I've never tried that.