BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde - Grain to Glass in 1 Week?

[Jiffster]

Brewed this yesterday. Fermentation in high gear. Anybody ever went grain to glass in 1 week with this recipe?

My OG was 1.045

 

[maazak]

I tried mine 6 days after fermentation started. It was okay. Still a bit green. Much better a week later.

 

[Subdivisions]

One week is pretty ambitious for any beer. Two weeks you could do easily.

 

[Citizen86]

I tried mine after probably more than a week... Still tasted very young.

I did however do a simple dry Irish stout that used Wyeast 1335 British Ale II. Grain to glass in one week, and it tasted great, had it in time for my brother's visit and he really liked it. He also got me into brewing, but he was really surprised it was only 1 week old.

Hard to say though, it always depends on a lot of factors. Although since this is a blonde ale, I bet imperfections stick around a while longer as they don't have something like say roasted malt to hide behind

 

[applescrap]

I go ten days all the time with various types of beer. And im sure i have gone a week here and there. I don't use hydrometer so its a little more intimidating. If final gravity is stable then sure carb it and drink it. Note it will change a little over time. Struggling to not say better. It will just be different after a couple more weeks. Less fresh, but more refined.

 

[Jiffster]

One week is pretty ambitious for any beer. Two weeks you could do easily.

So what would 2 weeks look like?

I.e. 9 days in primary, 2 days cold crash w/gelatin, 2 days carb at 30 psi?

 

[ericbw]

So what would 2 weeks look like?

I.e. 9 days in primary, 2 days cold crash w/gelatin, 2 days carb at 30 psi?

Are you carbing cold? I usually carb cold at 25 PSI for 24 hours, then 1-2 weeks at serving pressure (about 12). But that first day, it isn't really cold yet since I don't cold crash.

But that seems about right, I think you might be better off crashing for 1 day and carbing for longer. Or not crashing, just in the keg with gelatin. The first pint might be muddy, but clear after that.

I'm in the same boat right now, hopefully brewing a blonde tonight that I hope is ready to drink by July 15. I wanted it for July 4th, but it didn't happen!

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

So what would 2 weeks look like?

I.e. 9 days in primary, 2 days cold crash w/gelatin, 2 days carb at 30 psi?

This would work.I always get carbonic bite after the force carb that gives a bitter metallic taste that fades a few days after the 48 hours force carb.Not really tasty till then

 

[applescrap]

So what would 2 weeks look like?

I.e. 9 days in primary, 2 days cold crash w/gelatin, 2 days carb at 30 psi?

To me it could look like 14 days in primary then force carbed and drinking 2 hours later

 

[Jiffster]

To me it could look like 14 days in primary then force carbed and drinking 2 hours later

Seriously? My goal is to serve it on July 10. That would be 14 days from brewing.

I've only used force carbing via 36 hours at 30psi and then set to CO2 volume target pressure and then drink a few days to a week later.

Would I need to shake the corny?

Never carbed that quick before.

The beer would be cold after cold crashing.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

To me it could look like 14 days in primary then force carbed and drinking 2 hours later

I wouldn't go this route.Carbonic bite is a real thing and shaking will only make it worse.Plus they'll be no time for the beer/carb to balance out. I'd stick to your original plan.The beer will condition in the keg while its balancing .Regardless Of how long I primary it always takes the same 3 days or so for the beer to balance out after force carbing.Those 3 days make a huge difference in taste/quality and (to me) are more important then a few extra days in the primary....your beer,do as you will

 

[Jiffster]

I'd stick to your original plan.

So 9 days in primary, 2 days cold crash w/gelatin, 2 days carb at 30 psi?

 

[applescrap]

No I like your plan to. Johnny Rotten makes some good points. I'm not sure about Carbonic bite and all that but the beer I think does well when it has a chance to settle. Your plan is good and you have plenty of time. I guess I'm just offering another way of thinking for perhaps if you only had 7 days. I brew beer I drink it I brew it again. It's never some big trip to me. That being said if I had a pipeline going I would probably condition my beers a little better or a little longer. I don't like having a lot of extra stuff around and I have many hobbies Brewing is just one of them. One of the main problems with Force carbonating is if you have a bunch of trub and yeast in there it will get shook up when force carbonating. If you cold crash and then gelatin fine I don't see how force carbonating can do anything other than carbonating the beer. There is a thread on force carbing check it out if you are interested. As a side note make sure you have no leaks when you leave it on at 30 PSI for a couple days that's a good way to lose all your gas.

One way to force carbonate is.....
Purge air from The Keg. Then reattach gas. Crank the gas above 30 and put the Keg on the ground on its side. Air side up. Airside down would probably send the gas to the Beer better but I always put it up. Put a towel on the ground to protect your keg and keep it from walking around. Then using your foot or I like to get on my knees and use my hands roll the Keg violently back and forth. You may hear or feel Bubbles and will also hear the gas going in. People say they do it for a minute or two minutes I listen for when the gas slows going in. Stopping short of going overboard. But make no mistake you are Force carbing 5 gallons of beer and it will take an effort. Turn The Keg upright and take the gas off. Don't try to release pressure right away or you will get a sweet little gift. Think a shook up can being opened. Put it in the fridge and let it sit an hour or two. Come back and release the excess gas and put the gas on at serving pressure. Here you could let it sit a few days and you will have the same result as the overnight I would guess. I always Force carbonate warm so I think if the beer is cold it will take less to carbonate it. I have a 20 pound CO2 tank hooked up to a Sodastream and carbonate liter after liter of soda in it. So I'm used to the idea of carbonating something. I'm not sure I've never noticed any off taste from Force carbonating soda. Be sure to take the gas off before turning the pressure down because you don't want beer to shoot back up in the line. That's why you let it rest and release the pressure.

As a last note with a blonde ale you could add flavor in the Keg when you keg it. I don't know what you would want to add but there's a lot of different stuff from jalapeno tinctures to blueberry flavor.