ready to drink in twenty days?

[Newlander]

Hey everybody,

Procrastination has gotten the best of me. I have an event at the end of the month that I was planning to supply beer for, but haven't exactly gotten around to brewing it. Does anybody have a tried and true all grain ale recipe that can go from kettle to cup in 20 days? I keg and am not above giving it a shake.

All styles will be considered!

Thanks,

Newlander

 

[homebrewer_99]

The fastest easiest brew is Hefe Weizen...but almost any ale will do...

 

[ohiobrewtus]

You could have a Hefe ready to drink in that timeframe.

 

[Yooper]

The only thing I can think of that might be ready is a hefe. If you brewed it today, kegged it in 10 days, and tapped 9 days later, it might be ok.

Edit- I type slower than the guys, I guess.

 

[Poobah58]

Ed Wort's Haus Pale Ale!

 

[ChuckMoney]

Granted these aren't "ideal" conditions, but I've got some very drinkable beer in 3 weeks using white labs East Coast ale at around 75-80*F. At this temperature I get about 71-73% attenuation in around 5-6 days, then rack to secondary for a week, for dry hopping. and leave in bottles around 75*F for a week. I use this method when making my Sam Adams Boston Ale clone. It works pretty well and it's an overall good beer after about a week, and peaks at about two weeks.

 

[Evan!]

Yeah, not sure how much you need, but a hefe, and maybe an american blonde ale, would be the best choices. A witbier might work too.

 

[Bob]

Ed Wort's Haus Pale Ale!

+1. Haus Pale Ale - or BierMuncher's Centennial Blonde - a grain-to-glass in less than three weeks.

That's what I'd do, depending on the audience. If they're used to BMC or stuff like SNPA, a hefeweizen might be too out of the ordinary to be widely accepted.

A Mild, Ordinary Bitter or lower-gravity Brown Ale are certainly doable also.

Cheers!

Bob

 

[Newlander]

Thanks for all the prompt replies!

I actually have 3/4 of a keg of the Centennial Blonde that I've been trying to lay off of, hoping that it'll make it to the end of the month.

Anyone have a preferred hefe recipe? I've never made one, but it's always fun to try something new.

Thanks again,

Newlander

 

[bigjohnmilford]

you could always go over to Watch City and see if they'll fill your kegs.

 

[Newlander]

I'd have to see what they have on tap. Do you know if they've done that in the past?

 

[cubbies]

Honestly, you can get away with a lot in 21 days. Anything hoppy or roasty is out of the question, and anything with a high gravity, say higher than 1.050 is also likely out of the question. Hefe's work well as the yeast doesn't need to settle. However, you could make a plethora of tasty ales in 21 days. You could brew up an amber ale with a nice dosage of flavor hops and pitch a nice fat starter into it. let it ferment for a week and transfer to secondary. Secondary for one week and then crash cool for three days. Keg and carb...it would be good by the event I promise.

In my experience the only time beer needs longer is when there are harsh flavors (hops, roasted grains, alcohol) that need to mellow out. A lightly hopped ale that has no roasted grains and is lowish on the alcohol side can be completed and ready to drink in 21 days if you pitch a proper amount of yeast and if you can keg it; and it definitely helps if you can help the yeast fall out with finings and/or cold crashing. Obviously 21 days wont fly with bottles as you basically need half of that just to carb properly.

 

[BOBTHEukBREWER]

English style bitters, 4% ish, a week to ferment and ready to drink in another 7 days. Use crushed pale malt fuggles hops and 12 ounces of crystal malt MAX in 6 gallons.

 

[bigjohnmilford]

I'd have to see what they have on tap. Do you know if they've done that in the past?

I'm not sure. But they sell growlers and they're a very nice bunch over there. There stuff is usually pretty good. Is this party a bunch of beer people? If not you're better off just picking up a 30 rack of the silver bullet.

 

[Beerrific]

Most commercial brewers get their mid-range OG beers (pale ales, etc.) out in that amount of time easily. Most can't afford to take up tank space for longer than that.

IMO, the key to brewing grain-to-glass in three weeks is temp. control. If you can control fermentation temp you have a much lower risk of developing off flavors that need to aged. After fermentation is over it helps a lot to be able to crash cool it, this will drop all your yeast out fast and make the beer ready to drink sooner.

I have a hefeweizen that I brewed on June 20th that I sampled from the keg last night. It is ready to go.

 

[bradsul]

Keep the OG low (< 1.040) and keep the hop amounts within reason and pretty much anything will work. Orfy's Mild Mannered Ale is fantastic for example.

 

[DeathBrewer]

Thanks for all the prompt replies!

I actually have 3/4 of a keg of the Centennial Blonde that I've been trying to lay off of, hoping that it'll make it to the end of the month.

Anyone have a preferred hefe recipe? I've never made one, but it's always fun to try something new.

Thanks again,

Newlander

for five gallons:

6 lbs Wheat Malt
2 lbs Pilsner Malt
2 lbs Munich Malt

<1 oz Hallertau, saaz or tettanger at 60 minutes (bittering only)

WLP300

there's your hefeweizen recipe, easier than pie. ferment at around 60-65°F for up to three weeks, then straight to keg.

 

[Newlander]

I couldn't decide on which one to go with so I'm gonna do a double brew this weekend. Both the Haus Pale Ale and DeathBrewer's hefe. That way I can keep drinking off the tap and still have plenty for the end of the month.

Thanks again to everyone that responded.

-Newlander

 

[OllieS.Bishop]

mix some preferred american barley with a healthy dose of double crushed wheat and some crystal. think about a bit of flaked barley. take the chance with the modified malt and do a short rest at 120 then raise it quick to 156. let it linger and if you havent floated the grain after 1/2 hour. assuming your a qt/lb ratio is 1:1. so you will need around 3.25 gal for around a desired 13 lb bill. add/raise to 200 degree/h20 and maintain temp at 156+- gentle stirring with 1/2 gal of 200. 30 more mins. I wouldnt use less than 13 lbs for a 6 gal batch...sparge with 180 h2O. boil. pitch (something clean and new. east coast or 1010 wyeast. well tuned starter. cold crash secondary in fridge for 24 hours before bottling/kegging. both vessels will clarify well. pay attention. live your life. and pray.

=)

 

[devaspawn]

i recommend going to basicbrewing.com and searching for "going from grain to glass in one week." the date that this podcast came out was 4/20/06. PM if you want me to email you the file.

 

[FlyingHorse]

English style bitters, 4% ish, a week to ferment and ready to drink in another 7 days. Use crushed pale malt fuggles hops and 12 ounces of crystal malt MAX in 6 gallons.

+1. I once kicked a keg of ordinary bitter 3 weeks after brew date. Low everything (OG, hops, carb levels) = speed. 7 days in primary, 4 days in keg, tapped on day 11, kicked 10 days later.

 

[DeathBrewer]

i just reread the first post. why is shaking the keg a problem? i often force carbonate, most of my beer is aged well enough in the carboys and i generally have several glasses the night i keg. i've thrown many parties and kegged on the spot when we run out of beer. shake that sucker up, throw it in some iced salt water and you have instant beer.

i've never experienced anything which gives me cause to believe shaking the keg causes any negative effects. sometimes the beer smooths out after it's been sitting in the keg awhile but i attribute this to conditioning, especially if i'm going from room temps to the fridge.

the only thing that can be a PITA is foaming when the keg is completely full, but after a few pulls this isn't a problem and if you let it settle for even a short time, the issue can be minimized.

so, why are you not about shaking the keg? besides conditioning time, what are the disadvantages?

 

[abraxas]

http://***********/feature/1476.html

 

[devaspawn]

http://***********/feature/1476.html

I believe this may be the exact article that he refers to in the podcast I was referring too. :rockin:

 

[Newlander]

Thanks again everyone. I was brewing for a wedding, and was able to get the hefe and pale on tap in time.

Sorry that I abandoned the thread, but I had a honey moon to concentrate on.
It's not that I don't love you, I'm just not IN love with you.

i just reread the first post. why is shaking the keg a problem? i often force carbonate, most of my beer is aged well enough in the carboys and i generally have several glasses the night i keg. i've thrown many parties and kegged on the spot when we run out of beer. shake that sucker up, throw it in some iced salt water and you have instant beer.

i've never experienced anything which gives me cause to believe shaking the keg causes any negative effects. sometimes the beer smooths out after it's been sitting in the keg awhile but i attribute this to conditioning, especially if i'm going from room temps to the fridge.

the only thing that can be a PITA is foaming when the keg is completely full, but after a few pulls this isn't a problem and if you let it settle for even a short time, the issue can be minimized.
so, why are you not about shaking the keg? besides conditioning time, what are the disadvantages?

I was just trying to let everyone know my situation. I know some people are anti-shaking, I'm not.

 

[devaspawn]

It's not that I don't love you, I'm just not IN love with you.

I've heard this before...