Fastest Recipe for Getting Drinkable Beer

[FensterBos]

I brewed a holiday ale for a party coming up in a few weeks and it got me thinking, "How fast can I go from brew day to imbibing drinkable beer?" I know good beer takes time to develop in the fermenter and in the bottle/keg, but I was wondering what factors are needed to brew "quick beer". Low sugar? Light grains? Two weeks? Poor taste buds?

 

[flabyboy]

A quick drive to the local liquor store would do the trick. LOL

 

[waldoar15]

I don't brew them, but a wheat beer might work.

 

[Yooper]

You're right- a low OG is usually the place to start. Some other things, like a quick acting well attenuating and flocculate ale yeast, a recipe without much complexity, and not too much bitterness will help.

A mild is a super quick beer! A couple of years ago we did a mild exchange (see the thread 10der and mild) where we brewed, kegged, and sent out our beers for sampling/trade on day 10. So, in less than 10 days, we all had sampled that beer and had it carbed up.

Beers with roasty qualities usually need more time to mellow, as well as beers with big bitterness or deep malt complexity, or a higher OG.

Generally, a simple beer with an OG of 1.045 or less using flocculant yeast (and the correct amount of yeast) will be done soon. Correct fermentation temperatures are important- you don't have to give the beer time to reduce off-flavors if they aren't created in the first place!

I'd say off the top of my head that a mild, hefeweizen, American wheat, English better, and a low OG APA could be ready to drink in two weeks.

 

[Brewer_Steve]

A wit is pretty quick.

 

[flabyboy]

could you really have something ready that quick if you are bottle conditioning??

 

[Yooper]

could you really have something ready that quick if you are bottle conditioning??

Probably not. Carbonation takes a while. Even if you bottled on day 8, it might take a couple of weeks for carbonation to occur. Kegging fixes that, though.

 

[SteveM]

Two weeks in the fermenter and a week in the bottle might just get you in under the wire and it should qualify as "drinkable" but if you have the luxury of waiting until New Years eve, you would be better off.

 

[UrbanBrew]

A Hef. or wheat is best when young. But if you could rent a keg setup. You could force carb and save a couple of weeks. There is a good article on how to reuse the coors home draft kits. http://danvillebeerclub.com/main/?page_id=522 . you could try to knock off a few of those over the next few weeks then use them to force carb.

Good luck,
:fro:

 

[dvdanny]

I got a hef that went from kettle to fermenter to bottle then to pint glass in a month and it is very drinkable. I was lucky though, beers usually don't fully carb after a week.

 

[KeithMoonsLiver]

I'd do a bitter using S-04. This gives you a couple of advantages- it's a low OG beer plus a yeast that ferments and flocs very quickly. A week in the primary will probably be enough. That would give you about two weeks for carbonation, which will be less of a concern since this is a style that isn't carbonated very much to begin with.

 

[FensterBos]

I guess it is too bad that I don't like wheat/hefs or low abvs. Patience it is.

 

[D0ug]

You could try Bee Cave Brewery's Haus Pale Ale, that's pretty quick. I was drinking it after a week in the bottle. I know it will get better the longer it sits, but I'm not sure how much will make it that long.

 

[elproducto]

BM's Centennial Blonde was real quick. I think I drank the first one just shy of 3 weeks after brew day (bottled). It was a HUGE hit at my party last night.

 

[kkezir]

I am trying to get my 1st ready for news year eve. My husband and I have been talking about brewing his own beer and me being the research freak figured out what we would need to get started.

I stopped by our local brew supply store on Thursday (12/2) to purchase and ask ALOT of questions. I purchased a fermentation bucket w/ spigot, airlock, sanitizer, caps, malt and Muntons Mexican Cerveza style beer kit. All with the hopes that we can get this done by new years eve.

We are currently fermenting and hope to bottle next Wed or Thur.. although I still have a lot of questions and we are still looking for more bottles.

 

[Yooper]

I am trying to get my 1st ready for news year eve. My husband and I have been talking about brewing his own beer and me being the research freak figured out what we would need to get started.

I stopped by our local brew supply store on Thursday (12/2) to purchase and ask ALOT of questions. I purchased a fermentation bucket w/ spigot, airlock, sanitizer, caps, malt and Muntons Mexican Cerveza style beer kit. All with the hopes that we can get this done by new years eve.

We are currently fermenting and hope to bottle next Wed or Thur.. although I still have a lot of questions and we are still looking for more bottles.

That's really pushing it, but you should have something to drink by then. Usually, it takes about 3 weeks in the fermenter and 3 weeks in bottles for the beer to start being pretty well conditioned, depending on the beer. But some styles, like hefeweizens and milds, are pretty good earlier. I'm not a fan of those Munton kits, but you will have something drinkable out of the kit.

For the next kit, stay away from Munton's and Cooper's and try a Brewer's Best kit or a kit like them from a store like Austinhomebrew.com. Big online stores like AHS have hundreds and hundreds of choices for kits, and they contain freshly crushed grain, fresh extract, and great instructions. The quality is better than the Munton's and Cooper's too. You can find good kits at other stores, too, like northernbrewer.com and midwest (can't remember the actual .com address but you can easily find it!). The better kits don't have corn sugar to make up fermentables, and use malt to make the beer.

In any case, keep the temperature no higher than 70 degrees, and you should be safe to bottle in about 10 days if you need to. Check the gravity with the hydrometer on day 7, and then again on day 10. If it's the same, it's ok to bottle. (It's not preferable to bottle so early, but it's ok as long as the SG isn't changing). More time in the fermenter allows the beer to clear more, so you have a "cleaner" tasting beer and less sediment in your bottles. But for the first time it's so hard to wait!

 

[FensterBos]

Kkezir,
From my experience, the average fermentation and bottle conditioning time is around four weeks (one week ferment, three weeks condition), so you should be in the clear. The beer might be a little early, but from my understanding, cervezas shouldn't need a lot of conditioning time compared to more complex beers. But I'm also a beginner and trying to figure all of these things out.
Quick question: When you say "fermentation bucket with spigot" are you fermenting AND bottling in one pail or do you have two separate pails? Be careful with doing both in the bottling bucket because there can be sanitation problems in the future. ....from what I've heard.

 

[D0ug]

Fermenting in the bottling bucket can also make it difficult to bottle your beer with out getting a lot of yeast and trub in your bottles, the spigot is at the level that all that stuff will settle out to.
If you ferment in a 6.5 gallon pail or carboy all that stuff gets left behind when you rack over into the bottling bucket.

 

[FensterBos]

Fermenting in the bottling bucket can also make it difficult to bottle your beer with out getting a lot of yeast and trub in your bottles, the spigot is at the level that all that stuff will settle out to.
If you ferment in a 6.5 gallon pail or carboy all that stuff gets left behind when you rack over into the bottling bucket.

Yeah...that's what I meant...errr something

 

[D0ug]

Yeah...that's what I meant...errr something

 

[Dynachrome]

Safale 04 yeast and Nottinghams both finish pretty fast.

 

[FensterBos]

Safale 04 yeast and Nottinghams both finish pretty fast.

I've been pretty happy with using Nottinghams for majority of my brews, but I'm looking to use something slower for my next batch or two.

 

[Skarekrough]

Austin Homebrew has kits that are specific to getting the beer from the kettle and into the bottle in ten days. If you're kegging then it will be another ten to condition the beer.

Of course, some of this may sacrifice taste, but that is always an argument of peoples opinions.

One thing to keep in mind that is an x factor and always screws me up is the temperature. If you want good full fermentation in as short a time as possible use something like a brew belt that will keep the temp up, especially with Ales. My fermentation chamber is my basement and I have found that Ales just won't get a full fermentation down there; they need to be upstairs and with a brew belt to maintain the temp.

 

[Dynachrome]

The Porter I just did sat 14 days in HDPE buckets with lids. After two days in the bottle it was really tastey. I know it will get better with age.

The pumpkin porter was right along side it, and just as good.

....there are minor hazards related to drinking "green" beer.......