Brew Pub Brewing Times

Northern Brewer General
1

Brewmates,
I was in Columbus, GA recently and stopped by the Cannon Brew Pub. Great little spot in downtown Columbus. To my good fortune they had just tapped a pilsner/wheat beer hybrid. It was phenomenal! I strongly recommend it. What I noticed, however, was that it was brewed only 2 weeks before the “tap” date. I then looked at the rest of their board and noticed that all their beers were 2 weeks or so from brew to tap.

My questions is, how do these microbrewers get the beer ready so fast? Shoot, I’m 3 weeks in the primary on everything. Depending on the brew, maybe a secondary. I guess I’m looking for some practical insight here.
Chet

2

There are a number of different reasons that brewpubs and breweries can have a beer finished earlier than a homebrewer.

  1. filtering
  2. understand the house strain and knowing its limitations
  3. recipe formulation
  4. unhindered by equipment limitations

those are just the thoughts off the top of my head.

3

[quote=“brewin2me”]There are a number of different reasons that brewpubs and breweries can have a beer finished earlier than a homebrewer.

  1. filtering
  2. understand the house strain and knowing its limitations
  3. recipe formulation
  4. unhindered by equipment limitations

those are just the thoughts off the top of my head.[/quote]

5 - Motivation. They do this to make money.

Plus they age and carbonate in a day or two.

4

I recall reading that they ferment under pressure which allows them to ferment at a higher temperature without off flavors, I don’t know the science behind it though.

5

I thing you are right and I believe this leads to partial carbonation at the end of primary.

6

I have not seen any type of pressure regulator in the brewers that I have toured.

The one brewer I know used 1968 for the majority of his beers. It drops out of suspension fast and sets up like silly putty after fermentation.

And with a carb stone in the serving tanks they can be carbonated in 1 day.

Brew to glass, 10 days or less.

7

i work in a brew pub. it has a lot do do with knowing our system and yeast strain. We use 1968, and it drops out really fast like mentioned above. our fermenters are not under pressure.

once fermentation is complete (1-3 weeks) we can chill the beer within two days, then move it into a cellar vessel and drop the temp even more. after that we can carb the beer in 2-3 hours. the faster the beer gets out the door the better. we can get beer out the door in 2-4 weeks (depending on the beer of corse) and the beer does not taste like it was rushed

the easy answer is: What works on a larger scale, doesn’t always match what works on a small scale