Need a beer ready for a competition in 4 weeks

So, I've got 4 weeks to brew/ferment/bottle condition a beer for an upcoming competition. I know that's rushing things greatly, but I really want to try and make it happen. I assume I would be better off doing a half batch (2 1/2 gallons or so) rather than a full batch given my limited time constraint. Any other suggestions?

The beer itself is a simple stout with an OG of 1.070.

I also have a keg setup so I could keg the beer after fermentation and then bottle off of the tap, though I can never seem to get them to retain carbonation...

 

You'd be better off doing a lower gravity ale, a mild for instance, rather than a big stout. 4 weeks is enough time, but I'd be afraid of a bigger beer like that in a short amount of time, especially a stout (at least for me, mine are always a bit harsh at the beginning and some of the harsher roastiness mellows after a bit of aging).
Can you switch gears to a different beer or are you set on the stout?

 

Try brewing a mild instead?

I hate to be the guy who gives that answer, as I know that you probably have a good reason to want to enter this particular stout into this competition. But unless you know that you can get a 1.070 beer from grain to glass in four weeks, it seems to me that you are going to be asking the judges to give you feedback on a green beer and possibly under carbonated beer, and I don't know that you are going to get that much benefit out of that kind of feedback.

I suppose that you could do a huge pitch, aerate the hell out of it, add yeast nutrient, use a fast fermenting yeast like Ringwood, and cold crash after a week, but that still isn't much time.

Or learn how to use that beer gun quickly, which would give the beer a little more time to bulk condition, but still, you are pushing it, as far as I can tell.

Here is a byo article about speed brewing, with some tips for a quick turnaround.

 

Yeah, I'm still debating whether or not to do it. The competition has a category of specialty stouts this year and was really hoping to do one, but I may just hold off...

 

nope, 4 weeks isn't going to work with your stout plan.

You can do a low gravity ale, wheat beers or some funky yeast style belgians that you could ferment at a high temp to speed things up.

I do a belgian wheat in the summers that gets done quick.

 

You'd probably do better with a lower gravity dry stout.

 

Yeah, I'm just going to hold off. I don't want to have to rush a beer just for a competition...

 

Also keep in mind that if the beer is due in 4 weeks it might not be judged for another 2 weeks after that. A couple weeks of continued conditioning in the bottle can do wonders for a beer that is best fresh. Plenty of stuff can be ready to deliver in 4 weeks but your stout at 1.070 is probably not one of them.

 

A good Hefeweizen can be ready in 3 weeks,something to ponder.

Cheers

 

Yeah you're right, the entry is due 3/30 but judging isn't until 4/13. I'm thinking I could knock out some DME from the recipe and do more of a dry stout style as suggested above and bring it down to 1.050 or under. I'm also thinking of kegging it and then bottling from the keg instead which would give me more time...