Tight timeline and help

[smark]

So long story short my boss asked me to brew some beer (20 gal) for a company picnic. I had a few extract kits already and said sure. Picnic is Oct 2nd. He gave me about 2 days notice on this.

few questions/issues:
I started the process almost 2 weeks ago (8/16). I did a red ale and pumpkin ale. They’ve been moved to secondary (I know not really necessary based on popular opinion these days but I kinda like it). My question for this is do you think the timeline to Oct will condition okay? Or do you think it’ll be too green?

Follow up to that. The following weekend I did a Stout and a Cider. I’m really worried about the stout making it on time.

And my possible final issue is with fermentation. My basement back room is my go to spot bc no matter what it sits at about 70 all year long, but of course I do this and this past week it’s creeped up to about 78/79 down there. Do you think this change is going to kill me/beer/timeframe ?
Sorry for the not so short story but really appreciate any input.
Cheers!

 

[TheMadKing]

So long story short my boss asked me to brew some beer (20 gal) for a company picnic. I had a few extract kits already and said sure. Picnic is Oct 2nd. He gave me about 2 days notice on this.

few questions/issues:
I started the process almost 2 weeks ago (8/16). I did a red ale and pumpkin ale. They’ve been moved to secondary (I know not really necessary based on popular opinion these days but I kinda like it). My question for this is do you think the timeline to Oct will condition okay? Or do you think it’ll be too green?

Follow up to that. The following weekend I did a Stout and a Cider. I’m really worried about the stout making it on time.

And my possible final issue is with fermentation. My basement back room is my go to spot bc no matter what it sits at about 70 all year long, but of course I do this and this past week it’s creeped up to about 78/79 down there. Do you think this change is going to kill me/beer/timeframe ?
Sorry for the not so short story but really appreciate any input.
Cheers!

The higher temps won't hurt your timeline but they will hurt the quality of your beer unless you're using Kveik yeast. I would recommend switching to Kveik and you'll get a quick and clean fermentation at 78F.

As far as conditioning time, are you kegging or bottle conditioning?

If kegging that's plenty of time. If bottle conditioning that's a metric crapload of bottles and barely enough time.

 

[3 Dawg Night]

How much beer do you already have on hand? Could you use that for the picnic, and let these new brews replenish your stash?

 

[AJinJacksonville]

You're already brewing more than I do to keep up with myself...haha. You should be fine...but like MadKing said...it depends on if you're bottle conditioning or kegging, etc. That's a tall order for 20 gallons of bottled beer...even without a timeframe. Hopefully he's good with kegged brew.

 

[Cellar_Dweller]

For subsequent brews I second using Kveik yeast. It's a monster. If anything you might want to shell out for a heater wrap and an Inkbird temp controller to get your temps into the 80's and 90's and above...though I think you'd get decent results in the 70's as well with maybe a blanket for insulation.

You have plenty of time for conditioning but I worry a bit about flavors at those temps. What yeast are you using?

 

[smark]

Thanks for the input everyone. I will be kegging all of them. Unfortunately I’ve been pretty lazy about keeping stock up and been w/o my own for a while. So can’t do the old bait and switch.
my boss wanted 3 but I went with four so I can come home with the rest. I also just got (arrives Monday) a 4 tap kegerator so I figured who wants a four tap with only 3 beers. Better get that 4th done
I can also use that in the future if I go low for fermentation’s.

 

[smark]

For subsequent brews I second using Kveik yeast. It's a monster. If anything you might want to shell out for a heater wrap and an Inkbird temp controller to get your temps into the 80's and 90's and above...though I think you'd get decent results in the 70's as well with maybe a blanket for insulation.

You have plenty of time for conditioning but I worry a bit about flavors at those temps. What yeast are you using?

Safeale 05/04/ Windsor British ale/ a cider one that I don’t recall. Dry something

 

[jrgtr42]

For kegging, you should be OK. Especially with force carbing versus natural.
My usual process is 6 weeks grain to glass, but I'm sure that I'd be fine most of the time with 4, or even less sometimes.
As long as the stout is a reasonable ABV - not a bit Imperial going for 10+ percent - there should be no issues there.
The only one I would worry about is the cider. Those tend to ferment far slower than beer, from the times I do them - it's usually several months before ciders are ready.
I'd think had about getting a pale ale or something going, just to have the fourth in case the cider isn't ready. If it is, then you have some for your own stash.

 

[smark]

For kegging, you should be OK. Especially with force carbing versus natural.
My usual process is 6 weeks grain to glass, but I'm sure that I'd be fine most of the time with 4, or even less sometimes.
As long as the stout is a reasonable ABV - not a bit Imperial going for 10+ percent - there should be no issues there.
The only one I would worry about is the cider. Those tend to ferment far slower than beer, from the times I do them - it's usually several months before ciders are ready.
I'd think had about getting a pale ale or something going, just to have the fourth in case the cider isn't ready. If it is, then you have some for your own stash.

Oi I thought the cider was going to be the quick and easy one

 

[Cellar_Dweller]

Oi I thought the cider was going to be the quick and easy one

I think if you can backsweeten, it might help things but think of cider as a wine, because it pretty much is one, and those like a little age. Brand new they are super dry and kind of hard to drink. Age makes the sweetness and apple flavor magically return. I have some ciders and graff that are around 2 years old and they are lovely.

 

[Cellar_Dweller]

Safeale 05/04/ Windsor British ale/ a cider one that I don’t recall. Dry something

I know US-05 is pretty sturdy and I've heard of people running it into the mid 70's with no problems. Could be just fine. If temp control is off the table for a bit I would definitely check out Kveik during hot months, especially for quick turn beers. I just brewed a Citra IPA with Hornindal Kveik and ramped it to 98. The smells from the airlock are delicious in a way that is different from the US-05 batches I typically do and the beer finished out in a matter of days. Brewed on Saturday and could have kegged it yesterday easily but work is making me lazy on that front this week.

Related... I've found that simple SMaSH beers in the 1.055 range are good to go in a couple weeks, even with basic yeast. 1 week of primary, another few days of dry hop, then quick carb in one day and it's super crushable right away.

 

[smark]

I think if you can backsweeten, it might help things but think of cider as a wine, because it pretty much is one, and those like a little age. Brand new they are super dry and kind of hard to drink. Age makes the sweetness and apple flavor magically return. I have some ciders and graff that are around 2 years old and they are lovely.

Yea I was going to backsweeten right in the keg and go with quick and easy. Although I am interested in trying one for the long haul