First timer: how to brew in 14 days or less?

I think you can get this done in 2 weeks. But let's walk through a few questions.

1. These are 1 gallon kits? [Edited to add: I see you already answered this in the affirmative]

2. What kind of yeast is it? Are you located somewhere near a homebrew store where you could pick up a different kind of yeast?

3. For the gose, what is your source of Lactobacillus?

 

It is pretty important to recognize that this is your first beer.
Brewing is not the most difficult project you can attempt but it does require a solid understanding of many individual steps and concepts.

Namely (and broadly) Brewers make wort. Yeast makes beer.

The yeast does not have any sympathy for your situation. At all. Can it be done and ready to drink in two weeks? Maybe. But it is just not a good idea to force these things. Trying to get yeast to do their magic on your schedule is always usually a good way to screw up what should be a relaxing project.
Cheers

 

There are two phases to these beer styles:

• Primary Fermentation
• Bottle Conditioning

Primary Fermentation is dictated by the fermentation conditions: which yeast strain(s) you are using, the health of the fermentation, etc. At a minimum you should not package until you have reached final gravity. Depending upon the specific fermentation conditions a few days of 'extra' time in the primary may be needed to 'clean up' fermentation byproducts (e.g., diacetyl).

In my opinion bottle conditioning should be a minimum of 2 weeks (I personally prefer to wait three weeks). The beers may have carbonation in less than 2 weeks but there is other 'stuff' going on during the bottle conditioning process so in my opinion this stage should not be rushed.

I would recommend that you not rush things here. Primary Ferment for the time it takes, bottle the beers and if at the two week mark you would like to 'road test' a bottle with your friend then this is an option but it would be prudent to caution your friend that the beers will be 'green' at this point and will be improved in another few weeks.

Cheers!

 

These hops could be added to the end of boil to 'augment' the aroma of the APA if you are so inclined.

Cheers!

 

Fuckin' Brooklyn Brew Shop, they are the worst. Giving the borough a bad name.

I disagree with the others who have tried to dissuade you from brewing. You've got an externally imposed timeline, you're not trying to win a competition or anything, you just want to have some fun and share some beer with someone. To me this is a clear "go for it" type situation. In case the beer ends up not being good, just have some backup beers on hand to enjoy instead.

That said, I wouldn't brew with these kits if I'm reading you right that they are up to 4 years old. If you're at all near a homebrew store such as MoreBeer (I only mention it because I know it has California locations), then get replacement grains and fresh yeast. (Sounds as though you've already got hops covered.) In particular you should consider "kveik." This is just Norwegian for "yeast," but it has come to refer to Norwegian farmhouse yeasts that evolved to ferment at high temperatures without causing any off-flavors. The great thing about kveik is that it's fast as hell. It's marketed by several yeast producers including Omega and Yeast Bay (and probably others I'm not thinking of). There are different varieties, I've had good luck with "Sigmund's Voss," but Hothead gets good reviews as well.

If you go with kveik, you don't need the refrigerator. Or at least, you probably don't, the strains I mentioned ferment well up into the high 90s Fahrenheit. And as I mentioned, they are fast as hell. Fermentation should wrap up in a few days. Oh, and you don't need to pitch the whole package. For a one-gallon batch you can pitch, like... I don't know, 1/5 the vial or pouch or whatever should work. I guess to be on the safe side you could use 1/3.

[Edited to add: In my experience US-05 also works fine in the high 60s to low 70s Fahrenheit, so you could get a fresh packet of that and use your refrigerator. Again you would not use the whole packet, maybe 1/5 to 1/3. It would be fine, more traditional than kveik for this style, and still pretty quick.]

So that's what I'd do. Get replacement grains for the pale ale recipe, get some kveik, and have fun. We can give you some advice on hopping, but like, Citra and Amarillo and Mosaic, hard to go wrong I think. But we can help.

 

You could accelerate the rate of primary fermentation by raising the fermentation temperature but you should not do this. Yeast prefers to propagate at warmer temperatures but they do not produce ideal beer at warmer temperatures. The amount of esters will be increased, you run the risk of producing higher alcohols (fusel oils), etc.

Maintain a proper fermentation temperature and accept the time it takes to produce 'good' beer.

Cheers!

 

A couple of experienced and very knowledgeable brewers are tip-toe'ing around your question ... I will be more direct: No. If you want to impress a visitor with good beer go to a gourmet beer store and get some world-class beer. If you want the visitor to spread stories about how inept a brewer you are then dive right in.

Brewing is a great hobby, but like paragliding, or steeplechase, or rock collecting, no one starts out at a high level. Walk before you run and certainly take your time in learning. If you were to re-phrase the question to "how long should it take", most here would say 4 weeks minimum - six preferred.

If you do pursue the hobby (and I sincerely hope you do), come back in a year or two and re-read this quote . . .

 

You need to make sure you have reached the final gravity before packaging the beer. Get yourself a hydrometer.

Cheers!

 

You certainly could. Perhaps if there is sufficient quantity of grains you could could produce a barley & wheat Pale Ale (or Blonde Ale) (e.g., a 'replacement' for the APA you intended to brew). You certainly have the hop varieties available to do this.

Cheers!

 

All good info before mine.

IFF you decide to press on......
Are these the instructions that came with Gose?
If so, some generic observations that probably apply to the pale ale as well as future brews.

The instructions talk about a sanitizer packet but only mentions Brooklyn Brew Shop Cleanser. Cleansers and sanitizers perform different functions, both of which are needed. Pick up a bottle of Star San sanitizer concentrate when you get the yeast when you can. It’s relatively inexpensive, a little goes a long way and you’ll have it on hand when you’re ready for your next brews.

Step 5 includes adding tap water to top-up the fermentor to 1-gallon. Boil that top-up water first and let it cool to the suggested 70°. If you’re on municipal water, boiling will remove the chlorine. If you’re on well water, boiling will get rid of micro organisms that might harm the yeast.
Make sure the “other end” of the blow-off tube stays in the bowl of sanitizer solution.

What you’re calling ‘kettle’ is probably the fermentor. Kettles are used to bring stuff to high heat (hot side).

You have some good hops to play with, but 9 months is quite a while especially if they weren't stored properly. If you decide to throw them in, get some guidance on how much.

I say go for it….all while maintaining reasonable expectations, the most reasonable of which are it won't be ready in two weeks, and it probably won't be great.
The upside to that is you'll probably be in good company. (Was the first batch of any of the previous posters "great"?)

 

You certainly could. Needless to say the 'difference' would be the beer would be a combination of barley malt and wheat vs. all barley malt but that should be OK (if you are OK with that change). The other difference may be a difference in the original gravity of the beer if the grain quantities differ (but not a big deal in this situation IMO).

You could brew exactly as per the APA recipe or you could 'kick it up a notch' since you have other hop varieties available to you.

I have never brewed on such a small scale (i.e., 1 gallon batch) so I am uncertain about hop quantities so the below are just my best guesses for a potential hopping schedule:

• Use 0.25 ounces Citra for bittering (60 minutes of boil)
• Use 0.25 ounces of Citra (or other) hops for the last 10 minutes of boil (this is called the flavor addition).
• Use 0.25 ounces of Citra (or other) at the end of boil (and let it steep for 15 or so minutes).

The above schedule will 'showcase' the Citra (or other) hops.

If you want to get 'fancy' you could use one hop variety for the flavor addition and another for the aroma addition.

If you want to get real 'whacky' you could even do multiple additions of multiple varieties (e.g., a 50/50 split of Mosaic and Citra to achieve a total of 0.25 ounces per flavor/aroma addition).

Entirely your choice here.

I want to emphasize again that I am uncertain of the specific hop amounts above for a 1 gallon batch.

Cheers!

Note: I edited the above to nix Nugget hops since they are evidently too old.

 

+1 on this ^ ^