Help! Quick-Turn-Around Beer Needed

I did a Dark Mild last year that was grain to glass (kegged) in 9 days. Used 1968 and was very happy with it:
6 gals
7.5 lbs pale malt
6 oz C-60
6 oz C-120
5 oz Black Patent
5 oz Crisp Chocolate

0.75 oz EKG at 60
OG 1.041; FG 1.012; ABV 3.8%; SRM 25; IBU 19

 

I would recommend a mild (@Buck89's recipe looks fine) or a basic hefe... Wheat DME to desired OG, an ounce (for 5 gallons) of noble hops @60 minutes and Wyeast 3068.

ETA: 3068 is often sulfur-y, but in my experience it's dissipated by the end of a week.

 

Table saison. Mash to glass in about 6 days if kegging and force carbing. Shoot for 3.5-4% ABV. Flavorful and quick. I try to always have this on in the summer.

A hefeweisen would be good too.

 

Ditch the extract . . . the secret to quick beers is low OG and heavy pitch count. My favorite is Patersbier; basically pilsner malt, a touch of noble hops, and a decent Belgian strain (Westmalle, Ardennes, Abbey). Shoot for an OG no more than 1.040'ish and pitch a lot of healthy yeasties. I did this in 11 days and it won BOS. If the brother is a Monk, I guarantee he'll go wild over this.

Regarding 1 week primary/2 week carbing. I would shift this to at least 1:1 ratio. If you really want to slow-carb quickly (ha!), fill two kegs to the half mark. It'll be done in 3-4 days by setting serving pressure only. If you really want to carb quickly I suppose you could fill three kegs to the 1/3 mark and it'll be ready in 2-3 days. Are you and Fr Brother gonna drink it all the first day?

 

My vote goes to a Trappist single (patersbier). Low OG. Pilsner malt and sugar. Noble hops. Belgian yeast strain. Add some gelatin at keging and you're good to go.

 

And my vote is a low gravity English Pale (Bitter) Ale.

I prefer Maris Otter Pale Malt with a bit of English Crystal Malt. My preferred yeast is Wyeast 1469. Mildly bitter hop but use some East Kent Golding hops for flavor and aroma additions. Make sure to ferment warm to encourage esters from the yeast

The combination of malt flavors, and stone fruit flavors from the yeast and earthy flavors from the East Kent Golding hops are glorious!!

Cheers!

 

As the others have said, low OG, session beers have quick turn around times. Milds, bitters, table saison, heffeweisen, etc. Since it is so hot (Texas is mid 90's currently) I would opt for heffe, saison, wit, etc. Here are some session recipes I doubt you will be disappointed with.

https://www.experimentalbrew.com/session-beer-day-recipe-bonanza-14-recipes-you-brew

https://www.maltosefalcons.com/tech/express-brewing-speed-brewing-grain-glass-less-10-days-0

 

I say a regular 50/50 wheat pils hefeweiss with 3068. By day 4-5 it should be done fermenting, a week in the keg it'll be prefect. And it's not a small beer. No need for additional time to grow up yeast, a single(healthy) smack pack is all that is needed.

 

Why two weeks to carb?

Once kegged, put it at 30-40psi and let sit for 24-36hrs... Then reduce to serving pressure for 2-3 days and it will be all set to go. No shaking or risk of over-carbonation, I do this on nearly every batch and it's ready to go in 2-3 days from kegging.

This way, you have a bit more time to cleanly ferment and all that fun stuff.

 

As said above a low gravity session beer will help with quick turnaround. The other thing that can help speed things up is yeast strain. Every beer I have made with Fermentis T-58 and with WLP013 have finished real quick.

 

I'm all for a session APA in that situation and keg hop it (I usually dry hop an ounce for my not-too-hoppy-APAs) to save time. You can easily bang out a 5% APA that will ferment quick and clean with a Chico yeast, and lightly hopped as not to be offensive.

I'd do a SMaSH personally to keep it simple, 2 Row and Centennial (Two Hearted is almost this combo but adds a little crystal grain) is usually a favorite of most anyone I've given it to. Throw some crystal grains in there if you want some sweetness and color.
Expected: 5.25 gallon 75% efficiency 75% attenuation
OG 1.050 FG 1.013 ABV 4.94% IBU 29.00 SRM 3.35
9.5 lbs 2 Row
.5 Oz Centennial @ 30
1 Oz centennial @ 10
1 Oz centennial @ Keg Hop
1056/05

 

Hefe, wit, Table Beer, mild. All of those sound good to me. And I agree with others, ferment for 1.5-2 weeks, then keg and start at 20-30 psi and drop after a couple days to serving pressure.

 

I recognize that it sometimes seems 'popular' on the BA homebrewing forum to make mention of extended fermentation timeframes. Having stated that but for a lower gravity beer there is no reason why fermentation can't be complete (i.e., reached final gravity, no fermentation off-flavors,...) in less than a week.

I personally do not keg beers but the advantage of carbonating over a longer timeframe (e.g., 2 weeks) is that CO2 hydration will be complete resulting in a finer and more pleasing carbonation of the beer.

Cheers!

 

2 weeks to condition and carb will do nothing but help the beers. You could serve them in less time than that. But 2 weeks would be great.

 

This is a great idea. All base malt or just extract, EKGs or Fuggles, and S04. Couldn't be easier.

 

I've made some great milds based on a recipe found in Ron Pattinson's blog... It was tweaked because I didn't have confidence in stopping the yeast mid fermentation and I wanted a low abv beer.

The recipe is:
5.5 lbs Pale Malt
8 oz Amber Malt
2 oz Black Malt
2 lbs flaked corn
15 oz of Lyle's Golden Syrup with 1 oz of Blackstrap Molasses
Then .5 oz of Cluster at 60min
1 oz of EKG at 30min
Danstar Windsor Yeast

Instructions: I mashed high at about 156 F.

In 5 gallons this came out to 3.5% abv but did not really taste light.

Edit: I suggest this recipe because I brewed a batch on Sunday June 4th. I kegged it on the 11th just 7 days after but that's because I went out of town.

It went from 1.044 to 1.016, but when I measured the gravity on the 6th because the airlock seemed to have stopped it was at 1.018... It nearly finished fermentation within 48 hours. I would have kegged it before 7 days but as I said I was out of town...

 

Maybe something like this?
http://www.globalbeer.com/belgian-beer/bruegel

 

I'd go Hefe or low abv Saison