Fast fermentor

[Edbeenbreto]

So my question is, if home brewing takes three weeks to a month to properly ferment your beer, how do big breweries ferment their beer so fast? I was at my local brew house and he was saying it takes them roughly three to five days to ferment their 7bbl batch. SO what is the difference? Why and how can they do it so fast? Or was the brewer wrong? I’ve been to big breweries such as New Belgium and i can’t even imagine them holding up a Silo for 30 days to make their ranger. So I hope this makes sense, and if anyone can shed light that would be great.

 

[Gavin C]

... home brewing takes three weeks to a month to properly ferment your beer.....

This is typically not the case.

However once you get a pipeline going there is no rush and beer can be left in the fermentor for longer periods.

Unlike commercial breweries, we don't need to sell the beer to pay the bills.

 

[maddcow]

I don't know all of the logistics. But, shape of fermentor, temperature, and large pitch of healthy yeast have alot to due with it. Quantity of beer and pressure caused by the amount of liquid sitting on the yeast also have some effect. And if I recall correctly, most big brewerys ferment at a higher temp than we do as homebrewers. Also, as Gavin pointed out, it doesn't really take 3-4 weeks for homebrew to ferment. Usually, we give it time to be on the safe side and for yeast to clean up any off flavors. As an experiment, if you were to pitch a big pitch of yeast at high krausen on your homebrew set up, I'm sure you would see it would reach final gravity within the week. Take gravity readings everyday and see for yourself. I always leave in the primary for 2 weeks but most of my beers are done by day 6 or 7. If I am incorrect in any of this, someone please correct me.

 

[Edbeenbreto]

Gavin i agree that is not always the case but I was just throwing a timeline outthere for this topic. But like Maddcow was saying ive had a few batches get done by day 8. I was just wondering what are they doing differnt.

 

[zeptrey]

I don't know all of the logistics. But, shape of fermentor, temperature, and large pitch of healthy yeast have alot to due with it. Quantity of beer and pressure caused by the amount of liquid sitting on the yeast also have some effect. And if I recall correctly, most big brewerys ferment at a higher temp than we do as homebrewers. Also, as Gavin pointed out, it doesn't really take 3-4 weeks for homebrew to ferment. Usually, we give it time to be on the safe side and for yeast to clean up any off flavors. As an experiment, if you were to pitch a big pitch of yeast at high krausen on your homebrew set up, I'm sure you would see it would reach final gravity within the week. Take gravity readings everyday and see for yourself. I always leave in the primary for 2 weeks but most of my beers are done by day 6 or 7. If I am incorrect in any of this, someone please correct me.

Sounds good to me. I was going to say the same thing so if you are wrong, I'm in the same boat. Of course big beers take a little longer, but 10-12 days I'd say are about the typical amount of ferment time I use at home. What I end up waiting the most for is dry hop additions but its not that much longer maybe a few days.

 

[Gavin C]

They may be fermenting in a CO2 pressurized environment at higher temperatures to accelarate the process while keeping undesirable flavor compounds at bay.

There is a thread on this type of closed fermentation. Here it is. Some of this kind of info is covered. Might be worth a read to help answer your question.

Definitely a very different process and concerns from homebrew to commercial scales. I totally see where you are coming from.

 

[brew_ny]

all my ales go grain to glass in 12 to 14 days with an OG around 1.050ish

control you temps, pitch lots of healthy yeast and you don't create off flavors

keg your beer when it hits FG, when beer is done it's done

but as with any hobby it is what works for you

all the best

S_M