Can I/should I shorten my brewing times

[oldpathwhiteclouds]

I'm an extract brewer and have boiled about 5 brew's and I am wondering if I am overdoing my fermenting/conditioning times. I have settled into this method:

1. Steep, Boil, cool and pitch in 3-5 hours;
2. Ferment for 3-5 days, dry hop and leave in fermentation vessel for 10-15 days;
3. Rack to cask and condition for 1 week for each (.0)10 OG's (so say 4 weeks for a 1040 Og);
4. Bottle at the time I would drink from the cask and condition for 4-6 weeks.

I've been pretty happy with the results except for one that went sour (I guess from bacterial infection).

My question is this. Can I shorten the duration of my brewing process? It's taking me 10-12 weeks from start to end and I wonder if that's a little too long. Graham Wheeler suggests not bottling until the beer is ready to drink from the cask but am I doubling up conditioning time in cask and bottle?

My inclination is that being patient is a good thing and I probably can't overdo conditioning time but am I just taking too long about it?

Any opinions would be helpful.

 

[mike-os]

Ime 6 to 8 weeks conditioning is well worth the wait, rushing just means you are drinking beer that's not yet at its best

Brewing.. For me 2 weeks primary then hop, probably 3 if no dry hopping

I then bottle because no way will I get a keg in the house, and if I want to keep some to see what it's like in 3 months it's easy.

 

[GHW]

I always start drinking at 4 weeks in barrel or bottle (I don't use secondary) but as I don't drink that much I can still be getting through a batch months and months later. Also depends on your beer styles. I mostly make hoppy pales so prefer to drink them fresher.

 

[Leon103]

I guess it depends on what you are making.

 

[sponge_]

Maturation times will be very style-and-process-dependent. You could pump out some weizens, saisons, milds, etc force carb and have grain to brain in 7-10 days. If you're unable to force carb and prefer styles which take some time to 'settle' such as lagers, RIS, barleywine, then you'll be looking at minimum 10-12 weeks grain to brain.

A lot of the time having a beer in primary for 3 weeks is over the top (for most yeasts). If you're pitching healthy, active yeast, most yeasts should easily be finished after 7 days (and that's after a d-rest). Maybe closer to 10 days if dry hopping etc..

In saying this, good things do take time. Just brew enough so that once you bottle you can forget about that batch for at least a month.

 

[oldpathwhiteclouds]

Thanks for the replies.

I'm currently fermenting an extract clone of Dead Pony Club from the recipes recently released by Brewdog. The og was 1044.

As per my last post my intention was to ferment for 2 weeks, cask for 4 weeks and then bottle for at least 4 weeks.

My question is, "could I be looking to shorten that process or just stick to it?" I'm largely going from the information in Brew your own British Real ale by Graham wheeler who writes:

"all beer destined for bottling should be matured in a cask. Bottling straight from the fermentation vessel is bad practice and should be avoided...even the worst commercial breweries mature their bottled beer in a conditioning tank before bottling" then later "the ideal time to bottle is just at the point that the ale would be ready for drinking if it was to be a cask ale".

So I'm sticking to what he writes in his book so far. Any contrary views?

 

[mike-os]

I leave for 3 weeks to let it settle more than worrying about fermentation, I find I get almost no sediment and only a small amount of yeast in bottles

 

[Notlaw]

"all beer destined for bottling should be matured in a cask. Bottling straight from the fermentation vessel is bad practice and should be avoided...even the worst commercial breweries mature their bottled beer in a conditioning tank before bottling" then later "the ideal time to bottle is just at the point that the ale would be ready for drinking if it was to be a cask ale".

I guess all of us are bad brewers according to Graham Wheeler then...

 

[mike-os]

That would work for fairly flat beers

 

[MyQul]

If you want to cut down on times a) brew beers with lower OG's such as mild or ordinary bitters. b) use yeast that ferment fast and flocctuate quickly such as S0-04 or notty c) dont use a lot of highly roasted grains like choccy, black malt or roasted barley

I quite often drink my Ordinary Bitters (OG usually around 1.038) after about 4 days condtioning.These can be grain to glass in about 14 days

 

[Hoppyland]

I guess all of us are bad brewers according to Graham Wheeler then...

Not me sir! :lol:
I normally brew with genuine top-fermenting British Ale yeasts. My normal practice is a few (maybe 4-5) days in FV1, then (following the "double drop" idea) a week or so in FV2 (dry hops at this stage). I wouldn't dream of bottling it after this (too much sediment, worry how long it would stay top-notch). I rack it off into a "cask" (a 25l plastic jerrycan) where it sits for a fortnight under a blanket of cylinder CO2.
Then, very lightly batch-prime & bottle. It's normally almost clear by then. :) Takes at least 2 weeks to come into condition. Better after a month - or more, if I haven't drunk it by then! :-?

So, sounds a lot like Wheeler's recommendation. Good reason for that. Way back when, early books by Dave Line, and especially Graham Wheeler, transformed my brews from "homebrew" (thought of as **** at the time - largely justified!) into really good quality beer - better than anything then commercially available.
So, I've stuck by this as my main method - because it produces excellent bottled beer (I don't like fizzy!) almost infallibly.
Yep, it's probably 2-3 months before my beer reaches its peak - but for me it's worth it

I'm a total dinosaur of course. :-(
Chill the wort - what, never tried it. Cold-crashing? I've heard the term. But, to slightly change the wording of an Australian beer* advert "You wouldn't want a cold beer, would you?" I reckon my beers are like red wines - and don't need to be put on ice like fake champagne :smile:

*EDIT - on second thoughts, I'm not sure the ad was for beer. Fester? Fizzturds? Can't quite recall...

 

[Notlaw]

Not me sir! :lol:
I normally brew with genuine top-fermenting British Ale yeasts. My normal practice is a few (maybe 4-5) days in FV1, then (following the "double drop" idea) a week or so in FV2 (dry hops at this stage). I wouldn't dream of bottling it after this (too much sediment, worry how long it would stay top-notch). I rack it off into a "cask" (a 25l plastic jerrycan) where it sits for a fortnight under a blanket of cylinder CO2.
Then, very lightly batch-prime & bottle. It's normally almost clear by then. :) Takes at least 2 weeks to come into condition. Better after a month - or more, if I haven't drunk it by then! :-?

So, sounds a lot like Wheeler's recommendation. Good reason for that. Way back when, early books by Dave Line, and especially Graham Wheeler, transformed my brews from "homebrew" (thought of as **** at the time - largely justified!) into really good quality beer - better than anything then commercially available.
So, I've stuck by this as my main method - because it produces excellent bottled beer (I don't like fizzy!) almost infallibly.
Yep, it's probably 2-3 months before my beer reaches its peak - but for me it's worth it

I'm a total dinosaur of course. :-(
Chill the wort - what, never tried it. Cold-crashing? I've heard the term. But, to slightly change the wording of an Australian beer advert "You wouldn't want a cold beer, would you?" I reckon my beers are like red wines - and don't need to be put on ice like fake champagne :smile:

What a response... I have nothing, you've beaten me. :lol:

 

[dad_of_jon]

I'm an extract brewer and have boiled about 5 brew's and I am wondering if I am overdoing my fermenting/conditioning times. I have settled into this method:

1. Steep, Boil, cool and pitch in 3-5 hours;
2. Ferment for 3-5 days, dry hop and leave in fermentation vessel for 10-15 days;
3. Rack to cask and condition for 1 week for each (.0)10 OG's (so say 4 weeks for a 1040 Og);
4. Bottle at the time I would drink from the cask and condition for 4-6 weeks.

I've been pretty happy with the results except for one that went sour (I guess from bacterial infection).

My question is this. Can I shorten the duration of my brewing process? It's taking me 10-12 weeks from start to end and I wonder if that's a little too long. Graham Wheeler suggests not bottling until the beer is ready to drink from the cask but am I doubling up conditioning time in cask and bottle?

My inclination is that being patient is a good thing and I probably can't overdo conditioning time but am I just taking too long about it?

Any opinions would be helpful.

welcome to the small but perfectly formed section of extract brewing fans on the forum.

I do 2-3 weeks in the fermentor before bottling. That's 3 weeks for stronger beers and 2 weeks for the rest. with a dry hop five days before bottling, sometimes an additional dry hop from 10 to 5 days before bottling.

Then 2 weeks tops in a warm place but often 10 days. Then 1 week somewhere cooler, so I start the main stock as early 4-5 weeks after pitching. (the carb tester being drunk as soon as my plastic bottle goes rock hard)

For darker beers I add at least 4 weeks on top as the flavours continue to improve. For ipa's I find 6-10 weeks to be my favourite time.

leave hoppy beers too long and the hoppiness fades whereas with stouts & porters they get better with age. so it's down to what you brew really!

but yes you could easily be drinking within 6 weeks.

 

[oldpathwhiteclouds]

So judging from the replies I could leave my current brew in the fermentation bin for 2-3 weeks and then carefully bottle it directly from the bin. That way even if I condition in bottle for 5 weeks I am grain (or in my case extract) to brain in 8 weeks which is 2 weeks shorter.

Maybe i'll give that a go.

 

[MyQul]

So judging from the replies I could leave my current brew in the fermentation bin for 2-3 weeks and then carefully bottle it directly from the bin. That way even if I condition in bottle for 5 weeks I am grain (or in my case extract) to brain in 8 weeks which is 2 weeks shorter.

Maybe i'll give that a go.

Yeah. There's no need to rack to a secondary unless you have a specific purpose. Then depandant on OG/specialty grains you can be drinking anything from a 1-2 weeks after bottling