Minimum carbonation time?

[thomajt]

Hey guys, just bottled my hefeweizen on 8/25 and wondering if you guys think it will be ok to drink over the Labor Day weekend. I keep searching for minimum carbonation times and everyone suggests 1-3 weeks, but also state that most of that time is to bottle condition. Since I'm going with a hefe that does not need to settle out and most say its best fresh, do I really need to wait 2 weeks?
I know this is a general and opinion based question, but I don't want to take a case down to the beach with family and friends and everyone think my beer tastes like �� because it's so flat.

So I guess my real question is, have any of y'all drank a hefe, or any other beer, 4-5 days after bottling?

Used corn sugar to carb and below is the recipe I came up with. Tasted pretty good flat and warm (similar to a franziskaner), and went from 1.05 OG to 1.12 in 6 days.

Hefeweizen (3 gal)
3 oz carapils
4 oz flaked oats
Steep for 45 min at 150
Wash grains with 170
Boil
26 oz wheat dme @ 60
.45 oz hollertau @ 60
.15 oz citra @ 60
5 oz belgian candi @ 10
18 oz wheat dme @ 10
.05 oz citra @ 5
Saf brew wb-06 (ferment @ 74)
OG - 1.05
FG - 1.012

 

[johngaltsmotor]

I've always found that anything before 3 weeks the remaining yeast simply haven't had time to reproduce enough to consume the priming sugar.
How long did you ferment? If you're saying that you bottled after only 6 days of fermentation then the yeast may still be active enough. HOWEVER, you might also have charged a batch of bottle bombs by not giving things time to truly stabilize and the yeast will produce much more CO2 than you had planned on.

 

[Nagorg]

My experience has been that 3 weeks is appropriate. Your beer should actually be carbonated by two weeks but not as good as it will be if you wait a bit longer. (I actually wait 4 weeks when I bottle...) If you just bottled on 08/25, I don't think it will be "ready" by Labor Day.

That said... You should try one and see for yourself. That's how I came to my opinion based on "My experience"!

 

[fosaisu]

So I guess my real question is, have any of y'all drank a hefe, or any other beer, 4-5 days after bottling?

I've tried beers a few times after a week and they've always been undercarbed. It's about 50/50 for me at two weeks, with half being perfectly carbed and some needing an additional week to get the job done.

I guess with a hefe, since you were probably aiming for 3 vols +, you might have some level of carbonation after a week, but probably not what you were aiming for.

If you really want to move things along, you could try raising the temp the bottles are sitting at into the mid 70s to speed up the carbonation process. Might be safe to use even higher temps without encouraging off flavors, but I've never tried it so I'd be a bit nervous about messing up the batch.

 

[Stealthcruiser]

Glass bottles, on the beach?

Tsk, tsk, tsk..............

 

[fosaisu]

Glass bottles, on the beach?

Tsk, tsk, tsk..............

At least they're less likely to break if dropped on sand! (Unless he's going to one of those Maine coast rock beaches, of course).

 

[thomajt]

Hey guys. I decided to just go for it and bring 12 bottles down with me.... And they turned out great. Definitely could have used a few more days to get the preferred carbonation, but still had a great head and taste

So, if anyone is in a time crunch, 4-5 days of carbonation, at least with this recipe, is possible. Hope everyone had a great Labor Day!

 

[Nagorg]

My beer usually tastes "okay" at bottle time. It just tastes way better with good carbonation and conditioning which has generally taken 3 weeks at a minimum.

Glad you had a good experience with such little time in the bottle!

 

[Wynne-R]

The quickest I have had beer carb up completely in the bottle is 5 days. That’s at about 82F. Usually it’s 10-14 days with a 1.050+ pale.

I usually bottle about ten days after pitching before the yeast has flocced out. If the yeast is dormant it will take about two extra weeks.