Fastest fermentation time?

[Seedly]

I started doing starters and noticed my time to reach target gravity going way down, even on some bigger beers.

The fastest I have experienced so far is a Porter that went from a 1.067 to a 1.018 in just 3 days. I had a very active air-lock in 4 hours and enough krausen to dirty the airlock over-night after pitching.

Granted, I left it for 2 weeks as there was no way the yeast was done! I was shocked though at how fast the gravity dropped.

So Im curious, what is the fastest that you have had a beer hit terminal gravity?

 

[jerrodm]

Does it make me a bad beer-daddy if I don't know? I leave all my beers in fermenter and don't even check gravity until about two weeks after pitching, by which time visible activity has almost always been finished for several days. I've just never been all that concerned with how long my beer takes to get there. Pitch enough yeast, keep your target temp, and leave the beer alone, and it'll get there--no need to hover like a helicopter parent.

OTOH, I'm not that kind of a parent to my "real" children either, so maybe it's a personal thing. I do think it's a little bizarre when you see people who have daily (or sometimes hourly!) graphs of their beers' gravity, temps, etc.--what are you people? Don't you have other things to do?

 

[Yooper]

The fastest times for me have been 24 hours, but they got quite warm since fermentation was so vigorous. Normally, it's about 3-5 days for most regular ales, and about 5-6 days for most regular lagers.

 

[Seedly]

The fastest times for me have been 24 hours, but they got quite warm since fermentation was so vigorous. Normally, it's about 3-5 days for most regular ales, and about 5-6 days for most regular lagers.

Yikes! Did it turn out alright?

Glad to hear that 3 days or so is normal for ales. Before when I wasnt doing a starter, it would take upwards of 24hrs before anything happened and was taking almost a full week to attenuate. Guess using a starter really does make that much of a difference.

Does it make me a bad beer-daddy if I don't know? I leave all my beers in fermenter and don't even check gravity until about two weeks after pitching, by which time visible activity has almost always been finished for several days. I've just never been all that concerned with how long my beer takes to get there. Pitch enough yeast, keep your target temp, and leave the beer alone, and it'll get there--no need to hover like a helicopter parent.

OTOH, I'm not that kind of a parent to my "real" children either, so maybe it's a personal thing. I do think it's a little bizarre when you see people who have daily (or sometimes hourly!) graphs of their beers' gravity, temps, etc.--what are you people? Don't you have other things to do?

I guess Ive always been more interested in the process and science of brewing (although the end-product is nice!). That and its a creative outlet. Besides, it takes all of 5 minutes to check and it gives me a better understanding of my beer.

And while I would not say that I am a helicopter parent (hard to be when they are only 9mo old...), I love being with and playing with my boy. I figure I dont have anything better to do than spend time with him!

 

[jerrodm]

No I get it--like I said, it's just not me. But more power to you!

I may not graph my attenuation and temperatures, but I do create elaborate spreadsheets to figure out my fixed and variable costs, to optimize my ingredient purchases and most importantly to justify buying more equipment to SWMBO. (See honey? My variable costs right now are .XX per bottle, but if I switch to electric brewing...) Different strokes for different folks!