need a brew ready in 3 wks

Do you need to bottle? or can you keg it? If you can keg, you're golden, if bottle, it's really close.
there's been a few articles in Zymurgy and Brew Your Own magazines, you can try to look up the articles there.
I don't know where my copies are, (plus I'm in the middle of a boil myself ) but if I remember right, you're best off looking at a low-gravity brew, and darker color would hide not-perfect clarity. Another option is to do a hefewizen or something that you don't need to have perfectly clear.
The articles also mentioned strains of yeast that would work, but I have no idea offhand what those are.

 

obviously, the beer has to be an ale.

pitch a boat load of yeast - maybe around a 2L starter thats been fermenting around 24 hours. if you dont have a stir plate, shake the starter often.

keep the gravity below 1.060, maybe 1.050-1.055 ish.

if you can, as soon as the fermentation is done, cold crash.

keg, shake often. bottling pretty much not an option.

if you do all of these things, youll be good, no matter which recipe you go with.

 

I've done the centennial blonde....1 week primary, 1 week secondary, kegged and added gelatin...ready in 3 weeks easy. And it's a great beer for both the BMC crowd and the craft drinkers

 

The gelatin thing: Stir one package gelatin into a cup of room temperature water. Let stand for about 15 minutes. Heat in microwave to 170-180 degrees. Let cool to around 115 or so. Stir well into beer fully fermented primary of secondary. Let sit for 2-3 days before bottling. You'll get better results if you can chill the mixture before bottling, but it will continue to clear in the bottle, too.

 

I just kegged a northern English brown that I brewed 2 weeks ago:

OG: 1.045

7 lbs Marris Otter
1 lb Crystal 20
0.125 Debittered Black Malt
0.125 Choc Malt

0.75 oz 5% EKG at 60 min
0.5 oz 5% EKG at 30 min

I used WLP013 (London Ale) without a starter because I was being lazy, but after two weeks it was perfectly clear and FG was 1.012. Tasted great, too. When I make this again I'll tone down the bitterness some.

 

A mild can go from grain to glass in a little over a week easily. Just use a quick floccing yeast like 1968 and you shouldnt have any problems

 

I happen to be drinking a homebrewed mild right now that seems like it might suit your needs

8lbs Maris Otter
.75lbs Victory
.75lbs Crystal 60L
.25lbs Chocolate Malt
.25lbs Flaked Oats

1oz EKG @ 60 minutes
.25oz Fuggles @ 60 minutes
.25oz Fuggles @ 20 minutes

Wyeast 1968/WL002

With 60% efficiency (no-sparge brewing) this had an OG of 1.045 and a FG of 1.014. If I was brewing this again I might add another .25oz of Fuggles at flameout.

 

Save yourself the trouble of dealing with gelatin and just use Biofine (SiO2) to drop the yeast. Its vegan friendly (Plus or a minus depending on how you look at it) and will be done in 2-24 hours. Personally, I had variability with gelatin and since switching to Biofine, it makes it incredibly easy to brew on a timeline (I do lots of parties and events for friends, wife, work).

If your issue is chill haze, PVPP will work wonders, although it obviously requires you to cold crash before hand to generate the haze.

If your problem is both, you can use PVPP and Biofine. I believe that there is a product that professional brewers use that is a mixture of PVPP and Biofine. I've used both in combination and had great luck producing clear, flavor stable beer.

 

You could have a low gravity brown porter ready fast and not have to worry about it clearing up.

 

The Nov/Dec 2011 Zymurgy has an article by Drew Beecham called "Grain to Glass in 6 Days". It is definitely worth a read if you have access.

EDIT: Here is a link to what appears to be an online version of the article.

 

If interested... BYO article on "speed brewing"

http://www.byo.com/stories/techniques/article/indices/19-brewing-tips/1429-speed-brewing

 

I've done grain to glass in 6 days and that was naturally carbonated too! But it was one of those brews when everything went right.A low gravity bitter (the lower gravity the quicker it's ready) , a very good yeast (strain not known, got it in a jam jar from a local brewer), the use of one-gallon secondaries to accelerate the clearing process) and a keg which draws from the top of the beer via a float thus serving the clearest beer.Clear, properly carbonated beer inside of a week.
Realistically, any low gravity beer of this type can be ready in two and certainly three weeks and if force carbonation is used even earlier.Using a high quality malt rather than domestic can give the same flavour levels in a weaker beer.

 

Yup -- I think mild is the way to go here. Gives you the flavor you're looking for, but ensures that you finish on time. No counting how many seven-day kegs I've turned around of the stuff. Want to have some fun? Toss half a sliced habanero into the keg right before carbonating; you'll end up with sweet heat that plays nicely off of the beer's malt base.

For the record, Hefe is also an easy way out, but it sounds like it's not what your friend likes.

 

I have done a "light" pale ale several times, that is in bottles within a week of brewing (I do not keg). The grain bill calls for 8lbs total for a 5 gallon batch, and yields 1.040-45 wort.

As the others have said, keeping the OG low (below 1.050) is key to getting the beer to finish quickly.

 

I highly recommend WLP002 - ferments super fast and then drops crystal clear. I did a 1.049 English Brown that was in the keg after 2 weeks no problem...

 

you might want to try an amber ale. those are pretty straightforward and can be on the maltier side of the spectrum if you do it right.