4 weeks to brew an IPA

Keep the OG low like you said, use a tiny bit of sugar to drop the FG easier, ferment with 1968 as it will go fast and drop out quick. Ferment for 4 days @ 68*F, up the temp by to 72*F on day 5 (and hold) to ensure it finishes strong and cleans up any Diacetyl, add the dry hops on day 6 straight to the primary, allow to sit for another 4-5 days with the DHs (maintaining the 72*F). Rack out from under it on day 10-11 to bottling bucket, bottle condition @ 72*F for 2 weeks, put in fridge for 2-3 days. It might not be mind blowing, it won't be an IPA at 5.5% ABV, but if you do it right any green beer flavors will be covered up by the DHs. If commercial brewers can get there beers packaged and out in 2 weeks, so can you (plus time to carbonate in your case as commercial brewers force carb and bottle).

 

Great advice, also make sure you don't bottle condition in cool conditions as this likely will slow it.

 

2 weeks in primary and then dry hop for for ~10 days. A heavily hopped beer (8+ oz) and you could just about have a barley wine ready in a month. High ABV is no problem if you have the hops to cut the fusel heat.

Edit: Oh, bottles? Ferment warm with US 05 for a week and check the FG and check again on day 8. If you're close, let 'er rip with a heavy dose of dry hops.

 

I would say 2 weeks should be enough as long as you have a good strong starter going and you're not looking at a huge OG.
Like others said, give it a week + a couple days, then dry hop straight in primary. 5 days of that, and bottle. Conditioning should be fine in 2 weeks. Toss in the fridge day of event and you should be good to go.
I normally give 3 weeks each for fermentation and bottling, but if needed I know I can use 2 weeks in bottle.

 

I would raise fermentation temp. to 68 f 2 days 70-72 f 2 days 75 f 2 days US-05 yeast performs very well at these temps.

 

You shouldn't make a starter for dry yeast. 1 packet will probably suffice. Make sure you rehydrate.

 

Based on what I've read in Gordon Strong's book (ok, i've read it cover to cover 3 times), he always double pitches dry yeast for anything up to OG 1050 and then adds another pack for every 25 pts above that. I've had good luck rehydrating in 95F water with some energizer as well. good luck!

 

http://beeradvocate.com/community/threads/favorite-quick-turnover-recipes.119800/

 

I just did something similar. The OG was around 1.059. I used one pack of 1056 with no starter but used yeast nutrient and aerated with pure O2. At one week I threw in the dry hops and it still had a little krausen. At two weeks it was down to 1.010 where my Ipas usually finish. It tasted a little harsh when I bottled. But tried one last night at one week in the bottle and it was almost all the way carbonated and tasted good. I do think another two to three weeks in the bottle will do some good. But it will be ready to drink in 4 weeks from brew day. Good luck

 

Here's what I'd do if I was bottle conditioning an IPA on a month timeline:

I'd pitch cool and then start ramping the temp up after 1 1/2-2 days to ensure it finishes in a timely manner. Start dry-hopping as soon as fermentation slows, say day 4-5, and then package after another 3-4 days. I'd rather have plenty of time to carb in the bottle since that part of the process seems to be hit/miss sometimes.

 

oh fwiw you could turn a beer like this in 7 days if you are kegging, I've even done simple ales (no dry hopping) and been drinking them on day 5, so it's certainly feasible. IMO your bottling is your biggest enemy in turning beers around quick (if you need to do so).

 

Don't bother.

 

Brew whatever strength IPA you want and keg it. If you're bottling, I'd forget it.

 

I'd say you could easily brew an IPA that's done with primary fermentation in 5-7 days, dry hop 5-7 days, cold crash, bottle, bottle condition ~ two weeks. Fairly standard, really. As others have said, I wouldn't go too high on the OG, use a clean yeast, and up the temperature after the krausen falls to speed up yeast 'clean up.'

 

You should keep the gravity low and over pitch slightly.

My accelerated schedule for this type of beer would probably be:

Ferment Chico or Nottingham @ 68F for 4 days,
add 1st dry hopping to primary on day 5 (80 - 90% of the total dry hops)
add the 2nd dry hopping to primary on day 9 (10 - 20% of the total dry hops) and up temp to 71F
crash cool at 35F - 41F (as cool as you can pull off) on day 14 and bottle on day 16
keep bottles at 72F up till 12 hours before you need to serve them and ice them down.

NOTE: Nottingham flocc's faster than Chico. WLP002 flocc's faster than Nottingham. You won't get much clarity if you double dry hop in primary on a rush schedule like this, but the yeast that flocc faster tend to produce a better fermented product in a "rush fermentation" situation IMHO.

 

Curious about the thought process or sceince behind the second addition of dry hop with such a relatively small amount.

 

Just something I picked up off of a morebeer interview with Vinny from Russian River. If I remember correctly, he would sometimes split the dry hops in half and do them in two equal doses but more often then not he would split them more along the lines of what was mentioned above. Almost as if the second dry hopping was adding an extra dash of seasoning towards the end to "freshen" up the aroma a bit. It's almost an attempt to get a blend of the "extended contact time" and the "short contact time" effects of dry hopping.

If you take a look at the Pliny the Elder clone pdf he released years back, you will notice that the dry hopping is divided up as follows...

3oz (80%) of dry hops for 12 days, 0.75oz (20%) added for the last 5 of those days

http://www.itrider.net/downloads/PlinyElderClone.pdf