10 replies to this topic

[denny]

https://www.experime...-speedy-brewing

The Brew is Out There!

This week, as summertime rapidly approaches, so does the need for more beer! Every time we turn around, there's another party, festival, weekend in need of some sudsy love. On this episode we'll walk you through our tips about how to speed up your brew day and shorten the amount of time it takes to go from grain to happy foamy glasses.

Sit back, and rest up, we're going to get speedy!

[Buscotucky]

Good stuff, thanks!

 

I've been itching to get back into brewing this summer & the long brew day is part of the hesitation. Shorter mash/boil especially are relevant to my interests!

[HVB]

Good stuff, thanks!

 

I've been itching to get back into brewing this summer & the long brew day is part of the hesitation. Shorter mash/boil especially are relevant to my interests!

I have been doing 30 minute boils for a a year or two now with no issues.  I think my fastest brewday was just under two hours.  It can be done!

[Buscotucky]

I have been doing 30 minute boils for a a year or two now with no issues.  I think my fastest brewday was just under two hours.  It can be done!

 

Mash too?

 

I make (made) 15 gal batches...assuming a little extra time to bring that volume to boil, or are you doing bigger batches?

 

Now if cleaning/sanitizing before & after could go faster, that'd be great.

[EnkAMania]

Thank you for denying yeast cleanup.  

[denny]

Thank you for denying yeast cleanup.  

 

Well, it's not like it doesn't happen.. It just doesn't happen post fermentation like homebrewers have been lead to believe.

[positiveContact]

Well, it's not like it doesn't happen.. It just doesn't happen post fermentation like homebrewers have been lead to believe.

 

good to know.  that means I get to drink beer a couple of days sooner

 

There are a couple of homebrewers I know that seem to think that fermentation goes on for weeks (AS IN 3 WEEKS!).  I've tried to mention to them that this is not normal but they don't seem receptive.  I have no idea what is going on at their brewery.  unhealthy yeast?  CO2 outgassing getting confused for fermentation?

Edited by pickle_rick, 19 May 2018 - 05:09 AM.

[denny]

good to know.  that means I get to drink beer a couple of days sooner

 

There are a couple of homebrewers I know that seem to think that fermentation goes on for weeks (AS IN 3 WEEKS!).  I've tried to mention to them that this is not normal but they don't seem receptive.  I have no idea what is going on at their brewery.  unhealthy yeast?  CO2 outgassing getting confused for fermentation?

 

Here's the reply I got from Palmer...

 

100-150 years ago, fermentation was open, followed by maturation in a wooden cask. The beer was prone to contamination. This could be mitigated by heavy hopping and long warm maturation to wait for the bitterness to die down, or by long cold maturation (lagering) to use temperature to keep the contamination down.

 

Yeast have 3 phases in their life cycle: Adaptation, High Growth, and Stationary. (See Yeast by CW and Jamil) They do not have a maturation phase where they clean up byproducts. Adaptation phase is where they take in oxygen and build sterols and other lipids, assess the sugar composition and build enzymes, etc. Once those activities are done, they start the High Growth Phase, eating and reproducing. The number of cell divisions is limited by their lipid reserves they made during Adaptation. These reserves are shared with each daughter cell. When those lipid reserves are exhausted, the cell stops reproducing. In addition, when those reserves are exhausted, the cell is old and cannot eat or excrete waste efficiently across it’s cell membrane. A yeast cell typically can reproduce about 4 times during a typical fermentation, after that it is old and tired and tends to enter Stationary phase where it shuts down most of its metabolism and flocculates, waiting for the next batch of aerated wort. Stationary phase is essentially an inactivity phase, resting on the bottom.

 

Like I said, no conditioning phase as far as the yeast are concerned. Byproducts can be consumed at any point during the high growth phase, but they are a lower energy source than sugar, so guess what? Byproducts are not a biological priority. The brewer therefore needs to plan his pitching rate and fermentation conditions such that the yeast run out of fermentable wort sugar before their lipid reserves are exhausted and they go into stationary phase. Now you have a majority of vigorous yeast that have only undergone 2 reproductions (for example), the sugar is gone, and they are still hungry, so they turn to acetaldehyde and diacetyl as alternate energy sources and maturate the beer. You can help this by doing a diacetyl rest by raising the temperature a few degrees after the first half of fermentation, to keep the yeast active and eating. Where in the fermentation? after the first half, 2/3 to 3/4, when most of the attenuation has occured and raising the temperature is not going to cause rampant growth and the off-flavors associated with it. 

 

Today, we have closed stainless steel tanks which allow us to prevent oxidation, pull the yeast, and control the temperature. This plus our understanding of the yeast cycle above changes the way we ferment lagers, so now lager beer fermentation is started cooler to control yeast growth and allowed or controlled to rise during fermentation to the diacetyl rest, such that ALL of the fermentation and maturation is complete before the beer is cooled to lagering temperature. The effect of temperature at this stage is strictly physical, increasing the strength of hydrogen bonds to coagulate beer haze and help it settle out. The yeast are still susceptible to temperature shock and lipid excretion, so the cooling to lager temperature 35-38F still has to be slow, i.e. 5F per day.

[HVB]

Good stuff, thanks for posting.

[positiveContact]

Indeed I say as I drink 2 week old lager.

[LeftyMPfrmDE]

As per the podcast- I had excellent results with a 12 day lager turnaround, grain to glass. 10 days is pushing it