5 Days in May - Turbo Pale Ale Recipe

Beer of the Month

May 2023  - 5 Days in May

Each month we release a new recipe for our Beer of the Month. They are always recipes that we have personally brewed ourselves, and have to pass a taste test amongst all of the staff here (tough job we know!). The recipes will be easy to make and we will gladly assist new home brewers in the production of these beers. They will all be 5.5 gallons in size. We find that after fermenting and racking a 5.5 gallon batch turns into a standard 5 gallon batch pretty quickly.

At the start of every month we will post the recipe in store, as well as on our website, Facebook, and Instagram. We will also have a set price for the recipe that will include a discount of up to 25%!

5 Days in May

Turbo IPA/Pale Ale – 5.5 Gal - OG 1.051 – FG 1.012 – ABV 5.0% - IBU 31 – SRM 6

Purchase Online | Printable Instructions

This is a story we have heard before: you promised your best friend you would brew them beer for their wedding. You were prepared, brewed up a nice batch of beer weeks before hand except, OH NO, somehow it got infected!? Something like this will always hit you by surprise, the way that circumstances go. And now you need SOMETHING before the weekend.

Well as oddly specific scenarios go, this beer is for you. This is a beer we went from grain to glass in just 5 days. Our typical recommendation is a 10-day fermentation, but this recipe has some benefits that allow us to shave 5 days off the typical fermentation window. First, we are using Voss Kveik. This yeast ferments quickly and aggressively! Second, we are adding Yeast Lightning to aid the fermentation. Third, we fermented this warmer than normal, aiming for a 22-27C range.

All of this does not matter if the beer is not good, thankfully, the beer is delicious! It has great malt body balanced with strong hop bitterness and notes of citrus, tropical fruit, and pine thanks to the Idaho 7 hops.

This beer is great in all situations, but it has the flexibility to be ready FAST which can be really useful when you need something in a short period of time.

Important Tips on Brewing

• Be extra cautious when it comes to cleaning! Once you have stopped boiling your wort everything that gets in contact with the beer MUST be sanitary.
• The temperature of your mash is ABSOLUTELY CRITICAL. Not being in the 150-155f range can drastically affect your beer. Make sure you correct the temperature ASAP once all of the grain has been added to the mash.
• Always let your beer ferment for 10 days! Do not disturb it, do not open the lid. It is absolutely natural for the airlock to stop bubbling after a few days, it is still fermenting though.
• Oxidization: Airspace is always something to consider. When undergoing primary fermentation airspace is needed so that the beer can bubble up and ferment vigoursley without leaking out of the container. The fermentation creates a layer of CO2 that remains in the pail due to the airlock. Once primary fermentation is over, and the lid has been opened, the layer of CO2 dissipates, and oxygen replaces it. At this point airspace can ruin your beer. When racking into carboys make sure they are filled to the top, or you blast CO2 inside to prevent oxidization. Ask us for details on this!
• Before bottling, make sure you use a priming calculator (many can be found online) to verify the amount of sugar that needs to be added.

Instructions

(please note, most of these pictures are from other beers - but the beauty of brewing is that the majority of steps for brewing beers are very similar, and these photos are equally instructive for any style of beer.)

Mashing -> converting the grain into a fermentable liquid.

• Bring 6 gallons of water in your brew pot to 155°F. This is our strike temperature. Turn off the heat to the pot.
• If you are using standard Guelph tap water, add ¾ tsp of GYPSUM to the water. This raised the sulfates in the water which brings out more hop aroma, and crisper hop bitterness.
• Wrap the muslin/nylon bag around the brew pot and slowly pour all the milled grains into the bag. Stir them in while adding to prevent clumps. The addition of grain should drop the temperature down to 150-155°F.
• We want to mash the grain at 154°F for 60 minutes. It is very important to hold the temperature at 154°F. If the temperature rises above 155°F it hurts the fermentation, or if it dips below 149°F it can lead to a thinner tasting beer.
  1. The first 15-30 minutes are essential for the success of your brew. The temperature HAS TO BE IN THE RANGE OF 150-155°F. Sometimes adding the grain to the strike water does not lower the temperature enough, in this case add a little bit of cold water to bring the temperature down. Cover the pot with your lid and let it sit.
  2. Most brew pots will be able to maintain 154°F without adding heat for 20 minutes, we recommend checking the temperature every 15 minutes, and if it drops add more heat to bring it up. We recommend opening the lid and using a thermometer in the liquid.

• After 60 minutes, bring the temperature of the mashing grain up to 170°F and hold for 10 minutes. This is our mash out.
• Time to remove the grain. Lift the bag full of grain out of the brew pot. Let the liquid in the bag dribble into your wort. Once that is done, put the bag inside of a brewing pail, or another empty pot. There will be about 4 gallons of wort in the brew pot, we need to get it to 6 gallons before we can begin the next stage.
• Run warm water through the grains in the bag, aim for 170°f – let it run through the grains and add to the brew pot. Add until you reach 6 gallons.
  1. PSA: It is natural to think that the grains need to be squeezed to get all of the liquid out of them, DO NOT DO THIS. Aggressively squeezing the grains will lead to tannin extraction and a doughy taste in your beer. Lightly pressing the bag is fine, but do not try to squeeze every last drop out.

PSA: It is natural to think that the grains need to be squeezed to get all the liquid out of them, DO NOT DO THIS. Aggressively squeezing the grains will lead to tannin extraction and a doughy taste in your beer. Lightly pressing the bag is fine, but do not try to squeeze every last drop out.

Boiling -> Sterilizing the wort time.

• Bring 6 gallons of your wort to a rolling boil, and let it boil for 5 minutes, this is called the hot break.

• We need to cool the beer a bit before adding more hops. Our target temperature is 175°F. This will not take too long to cool if you’re using a wort chiller. Adding hops at 175°F will maximize the flavour of the hops but add just a little bitterness.
• Once the wort is down to 175°F, add 2 ounces of Idaho 7. Let the beer sit for 10 minutes. Do NOT actively cool the beer.
• After the 10 minutes are complete. Start cooling the beer down to 25°C, this is our yeast pitching temperature.

Fermentation -> Turning the wort into beer

• After the boil is done it is time to be extra careful in regard to sanitation. We recommend using a no-rinse sanitizer called Starsan. Mix ¼ tsp of it with water in a 500ml spray bottle. Before we touch any part of the beer, we spray it with Starsan.
• Transfer the cooled wort into your fermenting pail or carboy. Run it though a strainer to catch any hop or grain residue. With all of the hop matter in this beer, it might take a while to strain through all the hops.
  1. It is also good time to take a hydrometer reading. It should be around 1.056 give or take a few points.
• Make sure the wort has been cooled to at least 25c!!! Adding yeast at a higher temperature will likely kill it.
• Once the beer is in the fermenter, shake up and pour in the package of Voss Kveik yeast AND 1 gram of Yeast Lightning. The yeast lightning will assist the fermentation.
• Put the bung and airlock in the hole (make sure there is water filled up to the line in the airlock). If using a pail, make sure the lid is sealed tight. Put the pail in a room that is in the range of 21-27°c. (Voss likes it hot)
• This beer is going to start fermenting really fast! Voss Kveik is an absolute beast and gets started quickly. The goal is to go grain to glass/bottle in 5 days. Let the beer ferment, by day 3 the fermentation should be calming down. By day 4 it should be just about finished fermenting and settling out. By day 5 you should be preparing to bottle or keg it. If you are not in a time crunch the beer is perfectly fine to sit for up to 18 days in the fermenter.
  1. Optional step: You can add Biofine with 1-2 days before bottling/kegging to help with clarity. Not essential, but it makes the beer look pretty. ¼ tsp per batch.

• Now 5 days have passed. Take a hydrometer reading to ensure that the beer is in fact finished. And do a taste test.
  1. If there is a taste of butter, or butterscotch flavour then abandon the 5-day plan and let it sit for a couple more days. In this case the flavour you are experiencing is diacetyl and it is a naturally occurring compound that occurs in fermentation. Letting the beer sit for a few more days will remove it. In our brewing of this recipe this did NOT happen, but please be aware it is something that can happen, and the fix is easy – just wait.
  2. In the event you need to wait, make sure the fermenter is sealed up and if the lid on your pail was open for a bit, then add 100g of dextrose with water to the beer. This will create a small fermentation which will expel any oxygen that found its way in during the hydrometer and taste test.
• If the beer tastes good, then proceed to the next stage. Lately, we have been of the opinion that secondary is an unnecessary step. Unless you are kegging, we recommend proceeding to the bottling stage. Clarification can occur in the bottle rather than in a carboy, and the risk of oxidization is greatly reduced.

Bottling -> We’re getting close to Beer Time now.

• Rack the now fermented beer into a bucket.
• At the same time, mix the priming sugar with 300ml of boiling water and add to the beer. Stir it in VERY gently.
  1. Make sure to check out a priming calculator to verify the correct amount of sugar. Too much sugar and your beer will end up foamy, or even start blowing the caps off! Too little and the beer won’t be fully carbonated.
• Rack the beer into your bottles or growlers. Then, let them sit for 2-3 weeks at room temperature. Chill and enjoy!
• If you are kegging, rack the beer into the keg and put CO2 on it right away. 2 days at 30 PSI, followed by a 10 PSI taste test. If it is not carbonated enough yet, another day at 20 PSI before returning to 10. There are faster methods of carbonating a keg including using a Quick Carb, or by shaking the keg while attached to CO2 (ask us for details on that method)