Beer Forum

I would like to brew a very fast beer.....I want to brew next saturday and be able to drink after a week. Is is possible?

So I am looking for a good brown ale recipe that matches that. So I am aiming for something like in the 1.030s so it will ferment out quickly. And I am going to brew 13 gal.

Even my quick brown I give 2-3 weeks, but I do bottle. If your kegging you might be able to in 2 and half weeks but anything less might be tough.

All grain or partial mash?

There was a BYO article recently on going grain to glass in a week. Maybe it was Zymurgy... I forget... either way, just brew something with a fairly moderate to low AG, have a healty and large yeast starter ready to go, and be prepared to force carb.

It won't be perfect, but it will be beer.

Here's one for 6gal of Mild Ale so double it for 13gal:

Amount Item Type % or IBU
5 lbs Pale Malt, Maris Otter (3.0 SRM) Grain 54.1 %
3 lbs Mild Malt (4.0 SRM) Grain 32.4 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt - 60L (60.0 SRM) Grain 5.4 %
8.0 oz Caramel/Crystal Malt -120L (120.0 SRM) Grain 5.4 %
4.0 oz Chocolate Malt (450.0 SRM) Grain 2.7 %
28.30 gm Goldings, East Kent [5.70%] (60 min) Hops 19.4 IBU
28.30 gm Fuggles [3.70%] (0 min) (Aroma Hop-Steep) Hops -
1.00 items Whirlfloc Tablet (Boil 15.0 min) Misc

This comes out around 1.037 O.G. so if you just double it for 13gal you should be OK. If you want to reduce the O.G. further then lower the amount of pale malt.
Use Wyeast 1099 or 1187 which are HIGHLY flocculent and will handle the higher temps. White labs has equivalents.

Ferment at Room Temp (I know it gets hot down there so do your best to keep it below 75f!) for about a week.

Rack to kegs that you have PURGED with CO2 first. Apply pressure according to the chart Kai sent you and at the same time shake the CRAP out of the kegs to force carbonate quickly.

CRASH cool these down to 35f if you can for as long as you can to clear the beer. Serve when you can't stand to wait any longer.

That said, ANY beer will benefit from a little aging. If you start drinking this after a week or two, the last glass will be MUCH better than the first.

Enjoy!

Rob

Here's a link to the BYO article on speed brewing that Thirsty mentioned.

http://byo.com/feature/1476.html

I brewed a fast brown ale a week ago (sunday) and I am planning to drink on the next weekend.

It was a 10 gal. Mild. So my OG was 1.030. I didn´t have a air pump so it fermented out only to 1.010. Is that too high for an attenuation? I think so...what do you think? (my yeast was nottingham ale yeast - dried)

I had fermentation temperatures up to 80 F sometimes during the day and I am afraid it will turn out bad....oh, and I also didn´t use a fermentation lock during the week of fermentation, only an aluminum foil on top of my carboy....I kegged some part of it and bottle (16 22oz. bottles) the other part....I will be drinking next weekend, so I will let you know how it went

I've done Hefs in a week but I bottled so it was really 2 weeks...
A hef with a good hef yeast is usually done in 1 week if you ferment at 70 ish.
BUB

I'm suprised the nottingham didn't bring it down further, but next time at least aerate with shaking or whisking or something even if you don't have an air pump or CO2.

Nottingham floccs out pretty well, so if you have it cold and force carb, I bet it is perfectly drinkable in a week. It'll be better in 3, but drinkable in 1.