Good Fall/Winter Beer to Brew with Short Timeline

[acarter5251]

Just emptied another keg last night and need a good cooler weather beer to take its place. I currently have an imperial stout and a pumpkin beer going, but was wondering what another good cold weather beer to brew would be, preferably with a shorter timeline from grain to glass.

Thanks in advance!

 

[TheAleRunner]

I brewed a coffee brown ale that went from grain to glass in 2 weeks. Kegged it Tuesday and was enjoying it last night.

 

[dyqik]

English Mild. Should be drinking in 7 to 10 days.

 

[singybrue]

Good call on the mild.
Otherwise an American Amber or brown would be nice.

 

[tennesseean_87]

Mild is a good idea.

I also like to keep at least one 'change-up' beer around when I can. Fall usually means amber to dark malt-forward beers for me, but a good session pale that's slightly hop-forward never hurts to to mix things up. Maybe a Standard or Best Bitter would be good.

 

[JONNYROTTEN]

If your kegging pretty much any beer can be grain to glass in 2 weeks...and be very good.

I'm drinking an Octoberfest/Red right now that's fits the spot perfectly for this time of the year

 

[Northern_Brewer]

Maybe a Standard or Best Bitter would be good.

Proper bitter needs too long to condition properly.

Obviously it depends on personal taste, but I'd just knock out something APA-ish verging on NEIPA-ish - you don't want to condition hoppy beers for too long as it's all about catching the hops before they fade, and it's a nice contrast to the other beers on the bar. And it's the ideal thing to brew with the new season hops if you've got access to them - we're just starting to see the first 2017 hops appearing on mainstream retail sites, although direct-from-farm hops have been around for a couple of weeks.

 

[ericbw]

I brewed a coffee brown ale that went from grain to glass in 2 weeks. Kegged it Tuesday and was enjoying it last night.

Got a recipe for that? I agree that malt forward beers are good this time of year (cooler weather).

I just did a brown ale with Willamette at 60 and 15, then Mount Hood for dry hops.

 

[TasunkaWitko]

My vote would be for a winter wheat: Dunkels Weissbier

 

[TheAleRunner]

Got a recipe for that? I agree that malt forward beers are good this time of year (cooler weather).

I just did a brown ale with Willamette at 60 and 15, then Mount Hood for dry hops.

8 lbs 2-row
2 lbs aromatic
1 lb Carafa III
1 lb Crystal 60
1 lb flaked oats
8 oz chocolate malt

1 oz Nugget at 60

S-04 dry yeast

I put 8oz of whole beans directly in the fermentor for the last 24 hours, then kegged.

 

[dyqik]

Proper bitter needs too long to condition properly.

How long do you think bitter needs to condition?

It only takes me about 10 days, grain to glass.

 

[brewcat]

Dry Stout.

 

[EtchyLives]

Dry Stout.

I second this motion. WLP004 is a quick fermenter and nothing says "welcome to fall" like a nice dry stout. Check out "summer stout" in the recipe section. I've had that one ready for kegging in a week. With a good starter on the yeast the krausen drops in 4 days, give it two days at around 72°F to let the yeast finish up, crash cool overnight and into the keg on day 7.

 

[Kent88]

Altbier.

Might take an extra couple weeks, but that isn't too much.

 

[Northern_Brewer]

How long do you think bitter needs to condition?

It only takes me about 10 days, grain to glass.

At least a month, ideally 2-3 to reach its peak, but then I'd say the same of any malt-led beer such as most of the ones mentioned here. Many British breweries will flat out refuse to release beer within 2-3 weeks of packaging, even knowing that there's going to be a bit more time in the pub cellar.

By conditioning I'm not talking just about carbonation, but the time it needs for all the malt flavours to properly come together. The British are more fussy over conditioning than most - partly because the cask thing means that we view what happens in the pub cellar as a continuation of the brewing process, but it also means that we see a lot more under- and over- conditioned commercial beer, so some of us are rather more attuned to it.

 

[FriendOrDafoe]

I brewed an Oktoberfest but used Kölsch yeast instead of lager yeast and Kegged it in two weeks.

 

[dyqik]

At least a month, ideally 2-3 to reach its peak, but then I'd say the same of any malt-led beer such as most of the ones mentioned here. Many British breweries will flat out refuse to release beer within 2-3 weeks of packaging, even knowing that there's going to be a bit more time in the pub cellar.

By conditioning I'm not talking just about carbonation, but the time it needs for all the malt flavours to properly come together. The British are more fussy over conditioning than most - partly because the cask thing means that we view what happens in the pub cellar as a continuation of the brewing process, but it also means that we see a lot more under- and over- conditioned commercial beer, so some of us are rather more attuned to it.

A month seems a little bit too long as a minimum to my understanding, gleaned from years of talking to the brewers at Milton (just north of Cambridge) and Harvey and Sons (Lewes), and my friend who has run the Cambridge Beer Festival for the past ten years (I am British, btw). I think they stick closer to 7 days in the fermenter (maybe up to 10 at Harvey's in their Yorkshire squares - yes, in Sussex!). The amount of time cask conditioning obviously depends on the beer (Harvey's Old conditions for six months or so), but typical bitters only really need 7-10 days total conditioning before serving, AIUI. Longer may sometimes be better, of course, and I think they might use a bit longer for what milds they do.

My timeline for bitters (I've not done enough milds to have a system) is basically fermenter for 5 to 7 days, cask for 5-7 days to naturally carbonate. Tight temperature control on a small fermenter means I can get away with a shorter fermentation. The condition improves a bit after that (I'm using a cask breather, so I don't get too much oxidation from drawing off some beer, although I still get enough!), but the beer can be perfectly good at 10 days from brewing. It's usually better after/changes through 14-21 days from brewing, but after that it's pretty constant. It is important that the beer is naturally carbed though to get to that point - force carbing even to low levels will need several weeks to get to the same condition as the carbonation settles down (due to the time taken for the dissolved CO2/carbonic acid system to reach equilibrium).