Quickest Ale to make

[thrstyunderwater]

What's the quickest ale to make, boil to drink? I'm going to be going specialty grain and was wondering about the whole process and time. From what I've read the longer you make it take the better it can be. That's fine and dandy and all but as they say, "there's the right beer, and then there's beer right now." I have patience but I don't want to use it for my first round. FYI I'm bottling, kegging isn't an option. I know it takes longer that way, to bad for me.

 

[killian]

I would say brew a HEFE or a mild.

 

[SMOKEU]

Go for a pale wheat beer. Keep the OG below 1.050.

 

[Orfy]

I'd say a dark mild.

Plenty on here have brewed and drank in less than 2 weeks from brewing.

 

[Richabt]

Anything with a low starting gravity as mentioned above (1.044-1.050).
You will likely see lower ABV, but you will see it soon.

 

[fratermus]

Mild. Try Orfy's MMA in his recipe dropdown. It's good.

 

[MultumInParvo]

I made a mild 3 weeks ago, drinking it now. Taste pretty good. Certainly the quickest turn around I've had...

 

[craven_morhead]

I've had very quick turns with hefes.

 

[Yuri_Rage]

Refine your technique, keep the temp in check, and cold crash. You'll rarely need patience. See here: https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f13/aging-beer-facts-myths-discussion-84005/

 

[LordHedgie]

I do extract hefes with force-carbing in kegs, and generally start drinking six days after boiling.

 

[elmetal]

I do extract hefes with force-carbing in kegs, and generally start drinking six days after boiling.

holy jesus?! HOW?! my hefe takes at least 8 days to ferment at 65

 

[homebrewer_99]

I do extract hefes with force-carbing in kegs, and generally start drinking six days after boiling.

I, for one, would like to see your recipe and notes...

There's a Speed Brew from BYO you can make on Sunday and serve it the following Saturday.

I made it and it works...HOWEVER, if you don't drink it all on Saturday DIACETYL will set in. This is because of removing from the primary before the yeast can clean it up.

I kegged mine and it was good at the time. I came back from a trip a week later and it was all butter...

I released the pressure, removed the lid and added 1/2 tsp more yeast and let it sit at room temp for another week before all the diacetyl was gone.

I dry hopped it for another 4 days and it was mighty tasty.

That was an experiment. If I make it again I will not rush it and ferment it like any other brew.

 

[HillbillyDeluxe]

I personally have a 10 day Wit. But i keg.

 

[shortyjacobs]

Biermuncher's Centennial Blonde went to glass in 12 days, tasted great.

 

[homebrewer_99]

I keg also...maybe we should start a recipe thread for brews that go from boil to bottle/keg in 2 weeks or less?

 

[elmetal]

I second that!! ^^^

The Paulaner Hefeweizen extract clone on this website was kettle to glass in about 3 weeks I think,. I don't remember it all got drunk so quickly

 

[Kauai_Kahuna]

Don't see the super fast thread, but here is my current favourite outside of a crystal wheat.
Well, not super fast, but here is a red that is good to go in the keg two weeks from boil. (three days to carb).
Once it's on tap it goes too fast. Matter of fact, I need to make some more.

8lbs American Two-row Pale
0.50 American Munich (Light)
0.50 CaraPils
0.50 American Crystal 60L
0.50 American Crystal 120L
0.20 American Roasted Barley
1.00 Willamette Pellet 4.8 90min
0.50 Willamette Pellet 4.8 30min
0.50 Willamette Pellet 4.8 5min
Mash at 154F for 90 minutes. just cause.

 

[JesseRC]

For me , ready means clear and done fermenting. Since a heffe shouldnt be clear, I would say the fastest ale to make is a heffe. I've never had ales clear before 3 weeks, then even after that I get chill haze.

 

[andrewp]

i'm thinking about putting together a wheat recipe to get done quickly. for you extract brewers out there, what can you do to keep the color light when brewing with exract?

 

[elmetal]

1. Use DME not LME.
2. Use late extract addition or a fullboil. I try not to mix the two.

 

[andrewp]

2. Use late extract addition or a fullboil. I try not to mix the two.

Late extract addition?

 

[yeoldebrewer]

Late extract addition?

https://www.homebrewtalk.com/f37/what-late-extract-method-50141/

 

[homebrewer_99]

Yeah, it's when you hold back a percentage of your malt, like 50%, to add in at the end of the boil.

It reduces carmelization (browning) of the wort and produces a lighter colored brew.

I've been doing them since 1994.

My process is to try to maintain a 1:1: ratio of gallons of water to pounds of malt in the boil. 1 gal: 1 lb, 2 gals:2 lbs, etc. When using this ratio you get a gravity of about 1.040 with DME according to Papazian's (see his Hop Utilization Chart in TCJOHB book), or 1.045 according to BYO mag.

After 45 mins I turn off the heat and move the pot to a cold burner to reduce any chance of scorching and mix in the remaining malts for the recipe. Then steep 15 mins.

My top off water begins as 4 gals of PUR filtered tap water placed in a deep freezer for 4-5 hours prio to brewing. When I pour it into the primary my temps are usually in the 60s in the time it takes to pour and stir.

But that's me...

I'm almost set up for AG now, but mostly do partial mashes with a reduced 3 gal boil and save about 1.5 lbs of DME for the end. Still using the same process or slightly modified.

 

[Arkador]

the Dunkel in my recipes is ready to drink in 2 weeks (force carbonation)

 

[Malticulous]

Bud Ale is served in two weeks.

 

[Cheaton]

I admit, I was a bit mystified last week. I went to the Sweetwater Brewery in Atlanta and did the tour and tasting. According to the tour guide they are typically two weeks from boil to bottle on a normal grav beer. They secondary some beers in wood casks, but those rarely go to the public. Their beers are good and don't taste "green". I even made a point of asking him again after the tour about aging, and he reiterated that they don't age after fermentation. Fermenting, bottling, straight to store. However, I know that my own beer, thus far, tastes better the longer it sits. Like I said, I'm mystified.

 

[TexLaw]

Bud Ale is served in two weeks.

Yeah, but they have a lot of stuff at their disposal that a homebrewer typically does not, not the least of which are filtering and high pitching rates.

Any ale (other than sour beers) with an OG at 1.045 or under should be ready to keg in two weeks or less (assuming force carbonation). Really, I would expect such a beer to be ready to keg on Day 7 (if not even earlier than that), as any healthy ale yeast should be able to ferment and clean up within a week with such an OG. Most anything 1.045 or under and brewed with a koelsch yeast also will be ready fairly quickly.

Just personally, I would probably go with a Mild, Ordinary Bitter, or (maybe) a Best Bitter.

You probably want to use some sort of post-fermentation fining agent (i.e., gelatin, isinglass), unless you go with a Witbier or Hefeweizen. Yeasts on the more flocculant end of the spectrum also help.


TL

 

[TexLaw]

I admit, I was a bit mystified last week. I went to the Sweetwater Brewery in Atlanta and did the tour and tasting. According to the tour guide they are typically two weeks from boil to bottle on a normal grav beer.

As I mentioned, above, they have some things that we homebrewers do not. For one, they pitch large amounts of yeast slurry at rates well above the typical homebrewer. That gives them very quick fermentation and, often, a maller cleanup job for the yeast after fermenting. I've pitched such stuff (after get such a slurry) and seen my airlock blow off within a few hours of pitching. It's similar to using a yeast cake on the bottom of your fermenter. A "normal gravity" beer can be done in just a few days.

Also, many commercial breweries filter to some extent. I don't know if Sweetwater does, but if they do, that helps speed things up.


TL

 

[Schlenkerla]

If you are talking ultra quick and easy, this is one way. The owner of my LHBS did this in his shop w/o any boil!!!!

Got a 3.3-4lb of Hopped LME (HLME). Soaked in the hot water. Added ~ 2-3 gallons of hot water to a sanitized 6 gal carboy. Added ~ 2 lb of DME and stirred well until dissolved then added the 3.3 of HLME. Added more hot water ~ totaling 5.5 gal.

Using a racking cane and drill he whipped air into and blended the wort. (FYI - The cane bend is in the wort). I tried this aeration method, it aerates well!!! Then pitched a camden tablet and added a sanitized air lock.

~ 24 hours later he pitched a pack of S-04 or 05 and let rip. Once done, he racked it to a keg with about 4 oz of cascade in a muslin sack and put CO2 on it.

It tasted pretty good, I would have never thunk it was done that way but oh well. It was pretty hoppy. The HLME was well hopped. I think he used an IPA kit.

 

[elmetal]

that's pretty cool.

the cane method I mean.

just kidding, I'd have to try a noboil to believe it. but it does sound doable.

 

[Malticulous]

My Dry Stout is less than 3 weeks for brew day and seems to be coming into it's own now. Most beers I brew I wouldn't even bottle until three weeks, but since it was under 1.050 and well brewed I went ahead and bottled it at 10 days. I don't regret it.

 

[LordHedgie]

I don't see the point in aerating an extract brew unless he boiled the water he added or somehow removed the O2 naturally in water. You need to aerate a full boil because you've boiled all the O2 out of the wort.

I liked the earlier post about not combining full boils with late extract addition. I'm now tempted to do a full boil with late extract addition using hopped extract.... Boil six gallons of water for an hour, add extract, chill.

 

[motobrewer]

Looking to brew something up for New Years. Porter, OG 1.050. Unfortunately, I won't be able to brew until the 28th, so that gives me almost 5 weeks exactly. Force carb might be my saving grace.

Do you think it'll be ready to drink by Dec. 31? If so, how would you carb? This'll actually be my first kegg'd beer.

 

[Yooper]

Looking to brew something up for New Years. Porter, OG 1.050. Unfortunately, I won't be able to brew until the 28th, so that gives me almost 5 weeks exactly. Force carb might be my saving grace.

Do you think it'll be ready to drink by Dec. 31? If so, how would you carb? This'll actually be my first kegg'd beer.

Yes, it should be ready. If you do a couple of things to make it drinkable sooner, rather than later. First, keep the gravity at 1.050 or even a little lower if you want. The less complexity in the grain bill, the more likely the flavors will meld well by then, so study the grain bill to make sure you don't have a lot of things going on in there. Use a flocculant yeast, so it clears well. That should make it doable.

 

[alexdagrate]

If you are talking ultra quick and easy, this is one way. The owner of my LHBS did this in his shop w/o any boil!!!!

Got a 3.3-4lb of Hopped LME (HLME). Soaked in the hot water. Added ~ 2-3 gallons of hot water to a sanitized 6 gal carboy. Added ~ 2 lb of DME and stirred well until dissolved then added the 3.3 of HLME. Added more hot water ~ totaling 5.5 gal.

Using a racking cane and drill he whipped air into and blended the wort. (FYI - The cane bend is in the wort). I tried this aeration method, it aerates well!!! Then pitched a camden tablet and added a sanitized air lock.

~ 24 hours later he pitched a pack of S-04 or 05 and let rip. Once done, he racked it to a keg with about 4 oz of cascade in a muslin sack and put CO2 on it.

It tasted pretty good, I would have never thunk it was done that way but oh well. It was pretty hoppy. The HLME was well hopped. I think he used an IPA kit.

How long before fermentation was done? What was the total turn-around time then, pitch to glass?

 

[motobrewer]

he less complexity in the grain bill, the more likely the flavors will meld well by then, so study the grain bill to make sure you don't have a lot of things going on in there.

well....here's what I have. Kind of a Sierra Nevada Porter clone....

6.00 lb Pale 2-row
2.50 lb Munich (7L)
0.50 lb Black Patent
0.50 Caramel 40L
0.50 Chocolate

1.50 oz East Kent Goldings (60)
0.50 oz Williamette (40)
0.50 oz Williamette (20)

Was thinking of double-pitching two vials of W001 because I won't have time to make a starter and wanted to ensure a good ferment.

Single Infusion, 154F for 60 min. 1.048 OG. Is this grain bill too complex?