How do I speed up fermentation ?

[andy-10]

Any tips welcome about speeding up fermentation of beer ?

I'm using 90% spray-malt, 9% white sugar(inverted) and 1% honey.

I've added Youngs Yeast Nutrient, Yeast-Vit for vits and minerals, and dead yeast hulls.

Any more ideas ?

[delboy]

Any tips welcome about speeding up fermentation of beer ?

I'm using 90% spray-malt, 9% white sugar(inverted) and 1% honey.

I've added Youngs Yeast Nutrient, Yeast-Vit for vits and minerals, and dead yeast hulls.

Any more ideas ?

Im presuming you are using dried yeast, you could try rehydrating them before pitching which should mean they are happier than those pitched straight into the fermenter dry, you could also try pitching more yeast (ie 2 sachets but that get expensive) or you could try re-using yeast from one brew in the next which can give you very speedy fermentations, although you do have to be careful not to add to much yeast as may affect the flavour profile and not necessarily in good way.
Probably the single most effective thing you could do is to raise the temperature of the fermentation, the higher the temperature the quicker the fermentation (as the yeast are more active) its a balancing act though as you increase the temperature you will change how the yeast behave, generally speaking higher temps yield more fruity beers (22-25 ish)than those brewed at lower temps (18-20 C) and if you push the temps to high (approaching 30) you'll end up with solventy beer that gives you mega headaches.

Personally i ferment at 22C this seems to give me a reasonable ferment time and produces nice beer (it is strain depend also though to some extent, i use TV3 from brewlabs).

[boingy]

How long does fermentation currently take?
How fast do you want it to go?
An ultra-fast fermentation might not be the best way to make good beer.

[beerandgarden]

To get fermentation off to a quick start I've read that plenty of aeration of the wort and rehydration of yeast (if using dried) help. I tried both of these things on my last batch but it actually got off to a slower start than my previous 2 batches which were kit beers with kit yeast. However this was probably as a result of the type of yeast used and the fermentation temp - so I guess these are 2 more important variables in determining how fast fermentation takes off. With this batch I have been following the advise I've read about keeping temperature down around 20C whereas previous batches it was around 24C (and even starting off at 28C on second batch). So a warmer temp would probably get it off to a quicker start and ferment it faster but it is not supposed to give as good of results as fermenting at a cooler temp. I noticed in my first 2 batches the main fermentation action was over in less than 2 days but with this current batch active fermentation lasted about 5 days - slower but probably better. I'd imagine the strain of yeast have a big part to play in it too. I'd guess the kit yeast may be fast acting since they usually instruct a short fermentation time of about 1 week, whereas the speciality yeasts could possibly be slower acting. And probably OG is a factor - I'd imagine it would take longer to ferment down a higher OG beer as the yeast have more work to do. Plus more simple fermentables such as sugar may also help it go faster. So if you want to get fermentation as quickly as possible (and don't care about the quality of the beer):

- low OG recipe with sugar as part of fermentables
- use fast acting yeast (kit yeast?), and plenty of it
- rehydrate your yeast (then again I've read somewhere about some kit yeasts being designed to work better pitching dry)
- your yeast nutrients, vits and hulls should probably help too
- shake the living shit out of the wort to aerate as much as possible
- high pitching temp around 28C
- shake some more living shit out of the wort to aerate and mix in the yeast
- high fermenting temp 24-28C