Fermenting and Brewing Process - YOUR THOUGHTS.

[Tasered]

Ok, I've discussed this with a few people already but I would like to hear other brewer's thoughts on this...

For a Micro (with zero On Premise Sales)

Traditional/Normal Brewing Process until I...

Ferment in Unitank for 10 days @ appropriate temps and rests for VDK's. Transfer to either a spare Uni or "Other Tank" that has been prepared with a calculated amount of primings.

I won't be adding additional yeast as I believe the selected yeast in suspension and conditioning time will be adequate.

Let sit for 30 minutes or so - then package directly into bottles/kegs and warm condition (20C-25C) for 2-3 weeks. Then chill.

This means I won't initially need to purchase Brite Tanks, Filters and have built a reasonable sized coolroom - maybe in the long run I will convert to this more popular method.

1) What problems do you think could/will occur with this method (I'm aware of a few probs)?
2) Can Quality Beer Still Be Produced (personally I think YES)?

Thanks for any opinions, thoughts and ramblings

Happy Brewing

Tasered

[danlow35]

from my experience at home, cause the brewery i work in is sold on site only, i have found that by adding more yeast with beer at bottling cuts down the amout of time you have to wait for the beer to be carbonated in the bottle. Before, I used to bottle by using your method and it took about 2-3 weeks for the carbonation to build up. Lately i have been adding about 40 ml of slurry to my 23L batch at bottling and the beer is ready in about 2-3 days. This was advice from my head brewer and i found it works great.

dan

[Jephro]

I might suggest instead of priming your beer with sugar like a homebrewer would, try incubating a sample of your wort to determine its terminal gravity. With this information, you should be able calculate when to to bottle and condition without adding "artificial" sugar.

I used this method with another company where we bunged the fermenter and attached barby kuhners to carbonate naturally at the end of primary.

[Beersmith]

Quality beer can certainly be produced without filtering - in fact I firmly believe that properly-brewed unfiltered beer is superior to filtered beer.

Potential Problems:

-10 days may not be long enough for your beer to properly clear before packaging.

IMO, Using some conditioning tanks in your process would better allow your beer to naturally brighten before being packaged - you can pick up some single wall tanks for much less than jacketed ones. It sounds like you have cold room space.

-You will need to be very meticulous in your brewing methods in order to get consistent CO2 levels. If it were me trying to package in the way you have described, I would let the beer fully attenuate, then drop bright, and dose with fresh yeast (a strain that floccs really well) and primings prior to packaging. Also, I think if you are priming at the same rate/time for both keg and bottled product you will have problems.

[Larry Horwitz]

don't guess on your yeast counts...buy a microscope and count those buggers. It is cheap, easy, and you won't have to guess.