Rushing the fermentation process to force keg and serve early?

[TsunamiMike]

Alright, brewing a dry hopped Pale Ale <Strada Gem Pale Ale from More Beer>, finished brewing on Sunday, 3 days into fermentation you dry hop <done yesterday> and then after 7 days your supposed to let it rest for 7 days and 3 days before kegging you drop in more hops.

My question revolves around the fact that I am having friends over on 4/24 and would love to serve this, here is my timeline:

Standard by the directions timeline:
4/11 - brewed
4/14 dry hop
4/18- would be the standard 7 day waiting period
4/22 - dry hop
4/25 - rack to keg and force carb
4/27 - drink beer

Rushed timeline:
4/11 - brewed
4/14 - dry hop
4/16 - check to see if beer has hit FG
If beer hits FG dry hop on 4/20
4/22 - Keg and start force carb
4/24 - drink beer with friends...

Thoughts?

 

[GoeHaarden]

TBH, that's not an extremely fast turn around and it'll work. I keg a lot of IPAs in ten days...

 

[TsunamiMike]

TBH, that's not an extremely fast turn around and it'll work. I keg a lot of IPAs in ten days...

Can you share your timeline or a timeline that may work for me?

 

[GoeHaarden]

Can you share your timeline or a timeline that may work for me?

I don't really have a standard timeline. The one you laid out seems fine. You can always dry hop in the keg if you feel you need the double dry hop. A lot of ale yeast pitched with a decent starter will ferment down in 3 days or less. Dry hop in day 3, wait 3 more days and dry hop again. Wait 3 more days and keg.

If you're doing a double dry hop and not pulling/dumping the 1st dry hop you may start to get some vegetal aroma/flavors if left for over a week...

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Thoughts?

Do you have fermentation temp control or what temp are you fermenting at? I will usually start my IPA/Pale Ales around 65F, then raise them to 70-72F as fermentation slows (usually around day 3-4). While I don't have hard data to compare, since I moved to fermentation temp control and boosting temps I seem to get more consistent and faster fermentations.

Since you are kegging, you have quite a bit of flexibility. If the beer tastes good, you can transfer to the keg without worry about bottle bombs or over-carbonation. It will probably look a bit hazy, but people like that these days.

 

[DuncB]

If you are able to pressure ferment you could get on with the carbing now, perhaps rack into a keg early on the hops to get this started and then transfer into final keg for serving later.

 

[tracer bullet]

Agreed it doesn't look overly aggressive and should be OK. 11 days to get it in the keg could be OK.

Hopefully you have a fairly high flocculating yeast used, so it's dropped out by then. 2 days in the frig will help a ton either way but for some strains you might have to be prepared to still pick up some bite from it.

 

[Tobor_8thMan]

Grasshopper... trust the hydrometer...

 

[TsunamiMike]

I have a fermentation chamber with temp control and I have it set to 66, plan to drop it before kegging to cold condition.

 

[Alan Reginato]

You may find that ok. But I found better results with 2 months after brew. Depends on style too. Darker usually require more time than lighter.

 

[khannon]

What yeast did you use?
What temp did you ferment at?

I know that I have had beers ready in 7-10 days, force-carbed and kegged. The second keg is almost always just a little better(I do 10 gals into 2 five gallon kegs). My experience is especially if you used a yeast that tolerates warmth you can turn a beer around pretty quick depending on the style..

The quick ones seem to be pale ales/IPAs/NEIPAs etc.. particularly with the Kviek yeast strains.. I've also heard great things about cold-dry hopping to get quicker results, but have yet to try it.

 

[Kickass]

Like others, waiting to hear what yeast you used.

Personally, with fast fermenting yeast and temp control, I go grain to glass in 10-14 days with my hoppy styles.

 

[youngdh]

I’ve done session NEIPAs going kettle to glass in 7 days fermenting with Voss Kveik at 95F.

 

[TsunamiMike]

CellarScience® CALI Dry Yeast
Yeast Fermentation temp is 59-72 degrees

I personally fermented at 65 degrees and have creeped it up to 70 degrees after 4 days and it is still slowly sputtering bubbles so it seems that fermentation is still going.

What to do next?

 

[mullet6577]

Next would be to check your gravity to see if you've finished fermentation instead of relying on bubbles from the airlock. As @Tobor_8thMan said above...trust the hydrometer

 

[Toxxyc]

Remember the more you raise the temp, even if fermentation is complete, the more you'll let CO2 out of the liquid and the more activity your airlock will show.

Use your hydrometer. Airlock activity is not a measure of fermentation.

Anyway, I've made a beer that fermented up to two days before serving. I then cold crashed, fined, transferred to the keg ice cold and force carbonated in the keg. Perfect the next day.

 

[CascadesBrewer]

Strada Gem Pale Ale from More Beer

I took a look at the recipe: StrataGem DDH Pale Ale - All Grain Beer Brewing Kit (5 Gallons) | MoreBeer

Some will say that the line between a "Pale Ale" and an "IPA" is that an IPA is dry hopped. I am not one of those and I dry hop my Pale Ales...but I have to wonder how a 6.2% beer double dry hopped with 5 oz of hops fits into the "Pale Ale" category!

It is probably not the best beer to rush through fermentation...vs say a 5% Porter.

 

[Brews and Blues]

I took a look at the recipe: StrataGem DDH Pale Ale - All Grain Beer Brewing Kit (5 Gallons) | MoreBeer

Some will say that the line between a "Pale Ale" and an "IPA" is that an IPA is dry hopped. I am not one of those and I dry hop my Pale Ales...but I have to wonder how a 6.2% beer double dry hopped with 5 oz of hops fits into the "Pale Ale" category!

It is probably not the best beer to rush through fermentation...vs say a 5% Porter.

Now that you mention it... what is the difference? Is there an IBU cut off for Pale Ales to where it becomes an IPA?

 

[TsunamiMike]

OK, just took a sample and reading:

OG 1.058
Current Gravity 1.016

If i did the match correctly i'm around a 5.5%abv and still have to drop 1 last batch of hops.

With that being said it seems that the fermentation IS complete. So i have some options, I would like to serve it next Saturday, should I:

1. plug it back up for 2 more days at 68 degrees, dry hop then wait 3 days and rack it to the keg?
2. transfer it now to a keg, wait 3 days, dry hop in a muslin sack for 3 days. pull the sack and start carbonating?
3. ???

@mullet6577 @Brews and Blues @CascadesBrewer @Toxxyc @Kickass @khannon @Tobor_8thMan @GoeHaarden @tracer bullet @DuncB @Alan Reginato @youngdh

 

[Beermeister32]

Looks doable. I think I’d go buy a backup keg of good beer to have on hand for the party if for some reason this keg disappoints you.

 

[TsunamiMike]

Does Miller Lite count? Lol, I have a 3 tapper

 

[Beermeister32]

No, Miller Lite does not count!

 

[SrLobaugh]

Alright, brewing a dry hopped Pale Ale <Strada Gem Pale Ale from More Beer>, finished brewing on Sunday, 3 days into fermentation you dry hop <done yesterday> and then after 7 days your supposed to let it rest for 7 days and 3 days before kegging you drop in more hops.

My question revolves around the fact that I am having friends over on 4/24 and would love to serve this, here is my timeline:

Standard by the directions timeline:
4/11 - brewed
4/14 dry hop
4/18- would be the standard 7 day waiting period
4/22 - dry hop
4/25 - rack to keg and force carb
4/27 - drink beer

Rushed timeline:
4/11 - brewed
4/14 - dry hop
4/16 - check to see if beer has hit FG
If beer hits FG dry hop on 4/20
4/22 - Keg and start force carb
4/24 - drink beer with friends...

Thoughts?

Do it, all you're doing is skipping 1 additional dry hop and drinking 3 days earlier. Dump all dry hops at same first dha and skip 4/16 check...you have already achieved fg at this time.

 

[Toxxyc]

If you dry hop at a high finishing gravity, just be careful with carbonation. I've had bottles get REALLY fizzy due to what's called hop creep.