Pale ale: grain to glass in 2 weeks?

[MikeFallopian]

I've got some family coming down for a weekend soon, an empty keg, and a pale ale in the fermenter... the question is, can I go from grain to glass in two weeks?

The OG was 1.045, it's pale, pretty hoppy (Columbus, Cascade, Citra and Simcoe), fermented using US-05, and has fermented out in a couple of days. I was also planning on dry hopping it with Cascade, Citra and Simcoe.

Could I get this ready in time for when the family arrive?

 

[Rockn_M]

It's cutting it close but you should be able to.

Good Luck!

 

[Yooper]

Yes. The only issue might be that S05 is not very flocculant, and it takes forever for it to clear for me. You may find that finings like gelatin may help with that, but I haven't used gelatin in the keg so I can't say for sure.

 

[MikeFallopian]

Yes. The only issue might be that S05 is not very flocculant, and it takes forever for it to clear for me. You may find that finings like gelatin may help with that, but I haven't used gelatin in the keg so I can't say for sure.

I'm not too bothered if it's hazy - as long as it's not too green, but is tasty and drinkable. I brewed it on Saturday and it has fermented out already (Monday eve as I type this). I was thinking of dry hopping it tomorrow, then kegging on Friday or Saturday and force carbing in the kegerator at a low temperature. The family will be down the following Friday, and one is a big fan of pale, hoppy session ales, which is why I'm keen to get this one on tap in time.

Achievable? Would it be better to dry hop in the keg rather than beforehand - i.e. keg now with a hop bag?

Thanks!

 

[gregkeller]

should be fine. Dry hop it, then cold crash it to get as much out as possible. Personally I would cold crash in my primary fermenter when done dry hopping, leave it there until two days before serving, then transfer to keg, force carb and enjoy.

The couple days cold crashing in the carboy should drop lots of yeast and dry hop out of the beer, and also will get it cold before transfer, so you can get the CO2 into solution quickly. I've taken done milds and session ipa's grain to glass in 10 days and never noticed a "green" flavor. Good strong pitch of yeast, and temp control during fermentation prevents that.

 

[brick_haus]

What he said^^ I do it too sometimes.

 

[cjgenever]

I did a 1.068 ipa in ten with filter. You'll have no prob at that sg. It will be a bit green. Just describe it as super fresh, brew pub style

 

[MikeFallopian]

should be fine. Dry hop it, then cold crash it to get as much out as possible. Personally I would cold crash in my primary fermenter when done dry hopping, leave it there until two days before serving, then transfer to keg, force carb and enjoy.

The couple days cold crashing in the carboy should drop lots of yeast and dry hop out of the beer, and also will get it cold before transfer, so you can get the CO2 into solution quickly. I've taken done milds and session ipa's grain to glass in 10 days and never noticed a "green" flavor. Good strong pitch of yeast, and temp control during fermentation prevents that.

Unfortunately I don't have the kegerator space to cold crash in the primary. My plan was to dry hop in the primary today (Tuesday), rack to keg on Friday, then get it in the kegerator at a low temp and force carbonate for seven days.

Would this work? I'm not too bothered if it doesn't flocculate fully - just that the beer is carbonated and tasty.

 

[joshesmusica]

if you don't care about hazy beer, then just leave it in primary until two days before, keg and force carb. this way you give it the most amount of time possible on the yeast, which should help it to not taste so green. you could dry hop for the last few days of it, so like saturday to wednesday of next week, then when transferring to keg, just have a hop bag, or grain bag on the end that's in the fermenter. or don't even worry about that, and after you've force carbed, pour yourself the first couple of glasses to get any hop particles out that you may have transferred over.

 

[tagz]

Two weeks is a solid timeline imo. I do 5 ferment, 3 days dryhop, 2 days cold crash, 2 days carb on most low gravity beers.

 

[Conan]

My pale ales are about 8 days to glass, though they're hazy and tend to carb up better at the 15 day point or so. I only do the high pressure keg shake for a minute at best when I keg, though. Kyle

 

[MikeFallopian]

Two weeks is a solid timeline imo. I do 5 ferment, 3 days dryhop, 2 days cold crash, 2 days carb on most low gravity beers.

What psi are you setting your regulator at to carb in just two days?

 

[Clonefan94]

Unfortunately I don't have the kegerator space to cold crash in the primary. My plan was to dry hop in the primary today (Tuesday), rack to keg on Friday, then get it in the kegerator at a low temp and force carbonate for seven days.



Would this work? I'm not too bothered if it doesn't flocculate fully - just that the beer is carbonated and tasty.

I have cold crashed in a pinch using 3 - 1 gallon jugs of water, frozen set next to fermenter the wrapped it all in a big towel. Not perfect, but in my 60 degree basement I was able to get the beer into the lower 40s. It wasn't a true cold crash, but did drop a lot more sediment than it would have at room temp.

 

[Hello]

Two weeks is a solid timeline imo. I do 5 ferment, 3 days dryhop, 2 days cold crash, 2 days carb on most low gravity beers.

Even using US05?
I'm with @yooper here, US05 takes a while to clear for me and unless that thing took off within the first 6-8 hours of brewing, 5 days is not quite enough.

I think it can be done but unless you can clear the beer slightly, I think people will taste the yeast a bit more. I'd still try to do it. People have and done so with great success. I think I would have used a more aggressive yeast.

 

[MikeFallopian]

My main worry is getting it carbonated in time - I'm not too bothered about whether it drops bright or not.

My plan is to dry hop today for three days, then keg and carbonate for seven days. Any advice on technique or tricks for quick carbonation (apart from that shake method) would be most welcome!

 

[Yooper]

My main worry is getting it carbonated in time - I'm not too bothered about whether it drops bright or not.

My plan is to dry hop today for three days, then keg and carbonate for seven days. Any advice on technique or tricks for quick carbonation (apart from that shake method) would be most welcome!

Once you're ready to carb it up, get it in the kegerator and put it at 30 psi for 36 hours. NO SHAKING! Then, purge and replace to 12 psi. On day 5, pour a little bit to get out much of the sludge (about 3 ounces). Then, pour a tiny taste to check carbonation and flavor. It should be pretty good by day 5, and perfect by day 7.

 

[MikeFallopian]

Once you're ready to carb it up, get it in the kegerator and put it at 30 psi for 36 hours. NO SHAKING! Then, purge and replace to 12 psi. On day 5, pour a little bit to get out much of the sludge (about 3 ounces). Then, pour a tiny taste to check carbonation and flavor. It should be pretty good by day 5, and perfect by day 7.

Thanks!

 

[hogwash]

I second what Hooper said about carbonating. This is what I've been doing my last few kegs and it works great. I think you'll be good to go. Interested in sharing your recipe? Been looking for something like this.

 

[hogwash]

Oops "Yooper" not "Hooper". Stupid auto correct.

 

[cjgenever]

Yeah, 30 psi gets bubbles in 12 hrs and a drinkable beer in 36. The head retention will be crap and it won't have that smooth carbonation that comes with some time. The longer (and colder) it has to carbonate the better

 

[tagz]

Even using US05?

I'm with @yooper here, US05 takes a while to clear for me and unless that thing took off within the first 6-8 hours of brewing, 5 days is not quite enough.



I think it can be done but unless you can clear the beer slightly, I think people will taste the yeast a bit more. I'd still try to do it. People have and done so with great success. I think I would have used a more aggressive yeast.

Oh, no, just in general. I used to use 002 which clears super fast. Now I use 001 with gelatin.

 

[MikeFallopian]

I second what Hooper said about carbonating. This is what I've been doing my last few kegs and it works great. I think you'll be good to go. Interested in sharing your recipe? Been looking for something like this.

If it turns out good, I'll share it

I haven't made this recipe before - I designed it to use up some leftover hops from making the Pliny the Elder clone, which I highly recommend...

 

[MikeFallopian]

I have cold crashed in a pinch using 3 - 1 gallon jugs of water, frozen set next to fermenter the wrapped it all in a big towel. Not perfect, but in my 60 degree basement I was able to get the beer into the lower 40s. It wasn't a true cold crash, but did drop a lot more sediment than it would have at room temp.

My new problem is that while this beer has finished fermenting, the krausen is not dropping! A quick search has found that other people have experienced this with US-05, but for me it has always fallen after fermentation has finished in the past. I made a Pliny clone a few weeks ago with US-05 and the same thing happened, quick ferment but long-lasting krausen - I pitched a black IPA onto the Pliny yeast cake at the weekend and, after a violent and rapid fermentation, the krausen is still hanging around on that too! So, three beers with US-05 recently and an everlasting krausen. Bizarre.

Any thoughts? Fermentation is definitely over, so would i be able to rack from underneath the krausen? Or will I have to clear my kegerator to cold crash to get this krausen down before kegging?

 

[Clonefan94]

My new problem is that while this beer has finished fermenting, the krausen is not dropping! A quick search has found that other people have experienced this with US-05, but for me it has always fallen after fermentation has finished in the past. I made a Pliny clone a few weeks ago with US-05 and the same thing happened, quick ferment but long-lasting krausen - I pitched a black IPA onto the Pliny yeast cake at the weekend and, after a violent and rapid fermentation, the krausen is still hanging around on that too! So, three beers with US-05 recently and an everlasting krausen. Bizarre.

Any thoughts? Fermentation is definitely over, so would i be able to rack from underneath the krausen? Or will I have to clear my kegerator to cold crash to get this krausen down before kegging?

To get things to drop, I'll sometimes do a little agitation of the vessel, give it a little nudge, not enough to slosh any liquid, but enough to get things moving. Sometimes this works for me to get my dry hop to drop.

I would try the ice around it, unless you mean you did and it didn't work. Other than that, yeah, it is very possible to rack from under the beer. I have done it before and actually have noticed as the level falls in the fermenter, the yeast rafts actually move towards the outside and stick to the bucket, so sometimes, by the time the beer gets down to my autosiphon inlet, most of the rafts are stuck to the side.

Worse case, once the fridge does open, give it an extra few days to sit and it will still clear nicely.

 

[Malticulous]

If it's done don't worry if it has dropped or not. Go ahead and rack it. You will still have a lot of yeast in suspension. Once you get it cold some gelatin is a good idea. It only takes a few days.

 

[MikeFallopian]

If it's done don't worry if it has dropped or not. Go ahead and rack it. You will still have a lot of yeast in suspension. Once you get it cold some gelatin is a good idea. It only takes a few days.

Krausen has dropped now

I'm going to keg this batch either tomorrow evening or Saturday morning. Still undecided on gelatin though, as I haven't used it before. Will it make the beer drop bright in seven days? I'm guessing that this beer might be quite murky given how the yeast has behaved and having had 30g of dry hops in it. Haziness doesn't bother me, but excessive haze might put the guests off.

Decisions...

 

[tagz]

If you can cool the carboy down to the 30s or 40s, gelatin will produce a bright, clear beer in 2-3 days. I have never used it in the keg. Not sure if it will clog things up.

 

[MikeFallopian]

If it's done don't worry if it has dropped or not. Go ahead and rack it. You will still have a lot of yeast in suspension. Once you get it cold some gelatin is a good idea. It only takes a few days.

Will the gelatin still work if I add it when I rack to the keg without crash cooling beforehand? The keg will then be force carbonated for one week.

 

[joshesmusica]

aren't you just crash cooling it in the keg? i believe the common way to use gelatin is adding it before the cold crash anyways.

 

[Malticulous]

It just has to be cold to get the chill haze. Getting it cold first will drop more yeast too.

 

[hogwash]

If it turns out good, I'll share it

I haven't made this recipe before - I designed it to use up some leftover hops from making the Pliny the Elder clone, which I highly recommend...

Sounds good. Actually just finished a keg of Jamil Z's "Hop Hammer" which is pretty much a Pliny clone. Delicious and dangerous.

 

[hogwash]

Keg it, get it cold, then use the gelatin. It will definitely clear it in seven days. And you can carbonate at the same time. That's how I do it.

 

[MikeFallopian]

Keg it, get it cold, then use the gelatin. It will definitely clear it in seven days. And you can carbonate at the same time. That's how I do it.

Went shopping this evening...but forgot the bloody gelatin!!!!

Looks like it'll be hazy after all - gonna force carb it in the kegerator at around 1C/33F, so hopefully that'll help!

 

[MikeFallopian]

Once you're ready to carb it up, get it in the kegerator and put it at 30 psi for 36 hours. NO SHAKING! Then, purge and replace to 12 psi. On day 5, pour a little bit to get out much of the sludge (about 3 ounces). Then, pour a tiny taste to check carbonation and flavor. It should be pretty good by day 5, and perfect by day 7.

Did as you said on Saturday and hooked it up to 30 psi for 36 hours, then purged and reduced to 12 psi. I had a sample today (Tuesday) for quality control reasons, and it's perfectly carbonated already - it's gonna be awesome by the weekend! Thanks for the advice!

To return to my opening question, the answer is 'yes', you can get a pale ale from grain to glass in (less than) two weeks. Still hazy though as I didn't go down the finings route but it tastes great anyway!