Quick fermenting beers

[tykenfitz]

Hey guys, how's it goin?

Anyway, pretty new around here, loving the new hobby (read: obsession ) but the thing that's killing me as well as others is the wait! I've got a hard cider that's going and should be done fermenting in 4 weeks and then they suggest conditioning in bottles for 4 more weeks, damn that's forever!

Anyway I'm looking for something that can go from boil to belly a little quicker and I hear hefeweizens and weissbiers ferment quickly and are meant to be drank with little or no bottle conditioning and I've really like the commercial wheat beers I've tried. There's a lot of awesome recipes here but unfortunately I'm stuck doing extracts for now till I get a bigger place and some AG equipment

Have any of y'all tried any of the wheat beer kits from Midwest or elsewhere?
I'm considering trying Hank's Hefeweizen, reviewers say it hits FG in less than a week.

On another note, i've got a 5gal plastic carboy and 5 gal fermenting bucket, I think a 5 gal kit would be too much to fit in either one of them, can I ferment 2.5gals in each or would the extra headspace be a problem?

Thanks guys, and sorry for the noob questions

 

[pricelessbrewing]

Short Answer: Anything low abv (low OG).
English milds, session pale ales work great.

Slightly Longer answer:
Use a yeast that ferments quickly, has little issues, and can go a little warmer without issues/off flavors. Use nutrients if needed, aerate well, rehydrate dry yeast/Use an appropriately sized starter.

Contradictory short answer:
Most beers can be made in a short time with ideal conditions.


Fermentation vessel, you want about 20% headspace. 5.5 in a 6.5 is good. 4 in a 5 is good. etc.
More headspace, in most cases, is fine. Less can be a problem if the fermentation is vigorous. As always, for a secondary fermentation vessel, you want as little headspace as possible.

 

[Yooper]

Most wheat beers are quicker to bottle and drinking than many others, but you're still looking at a minimum of about 5 weeks from brewday before consuming.

The beer should ferment in 3-5 days, and then there is a 24 hour "clean up" phases when the yeast digests some its own waste products created during fermentation. After that, suspended solids like big globs of yeast and proteins from the grain will fall out to the bottom as trub. At that point, usually at least 10 days after brewday, the beer can be bottled.

Sugar is added to the beer to prime it for carbonation at that point, and then the mini-fermentation in the bottle carbs up the beer. This takes an average of about 2 weeks, depending on the temperature.

I'm all for drinking young beer, if it's well made, but even the fastest beers need some time to not be a yeasty mess.

If you're enjoying cider that is only 4 weeks old, that is remarkable. I have a cider now that I kegged a year ago, and it's very nice. Remember that drinking liquid with tons of yeast in it may not be palatable, and may give some digestive, er, issues.

 

[giraffe]

+1 to the above. Also, hefes are the best 1.050 ish beer that can be made quickly. Also conveniently they work reasonably well with an all extract brew.

 

[FloppyKnockers]

The quickest beer I've ever had is in the beer aisle at my local grocery store (about 12 minutes round-trip). As far as making 'quick beer' I agree with the Hef answers above. We won't get into what constitutes a 'real' hefewizen here though, that's a whole other thread, so I named it 'hefe-whatever-izen'. Here's my recipe. It went from boil to belly in about 3-4 weeks. This recipe is for a half batch (3.5 gallons).

Extract:
2.4 lbs wheat DME. A 3 lb. bag will get you enough for priming too.

Malts/Grains:
.5 Munich
.5 Crystal 40

Hops:
Hallertauer Mittlefruh (mouthful, right? I just call it the 'H' one) 60 min.

Yeast:
German ale (or Belgian if you want, just don't tell the Germans)

 

[Sailingeric]

I hate the wait too but do what I have been doing, do smaller batches more often. I have some cider close to bottling, porter to bottle next weekend, some hef the week after. I will probably get another half batch going the same weekend I bottle the hef.

 

[ABVIBUSRM]

Anything with a low OG 1.040-50 quick turnaround

 

[EO74]

Patience grasshopper......time is on your side with most home brews tasting better with a little bit of age, I had the same problem when I started my solution was to brew more ie get the pipeline going

 

[dkevinb]

My typical schedule for what I normally brew (pales, ambers, browns, bitters, milds, wheats, etc., all with an OG of 1.055 or less) is 2 weeks in primary, 2 weeks in the bottle, and as long as it takes to get cold in the refrigerator. Aerate the wort well, pitch the right amount of fresh yeast, rehydrate the dry stuff and make starters for the liquid stuff, pitch and ferment at the right temperature, and you'll have good beer in a month. If you keg you can cut at least a week off that.

The trick to getting around the waiting problem is to keep the pipeline full. At any given time I have a batch or two fermenting, 1 or 2 bottle conditioning, and 1 or more in the fridge. I'm still anxious to try the bitter I brewed Saturday and the American wheat I bottled Sunday, but in the meantime I can enjoy the Citra golden ale I brewed 3 batches ago while planning what I'll be brewing next weekend.

 

[ABVIBUSRM]

Patience grasshopper......time is on your side with most home brews tasting better with a little bit of age, I had the same problem when I started my solution was to brew more ie get the pipeline going

This right here ..best brewing advice you can get...brew more

 

[ChelisHubby]

Honestly I would brew more and then go to the liquor store and do research that is buy several different beers even those that you might not like so you can pass time and find out more of what you do and don't care for.