Making craft beer, how long does a microbrewery take？

How Long Does It Take to Brew Beer From Start to Finish? Generally speaking, it takes 4 to 8 weeks to get from ingredients to finished, ready-to-drink beer, with a 3-4 week timeline being the most common. Many factors affect the overall brewing timeline, which is why there is such a range.
The three main factors that will affect your brew time are:
Beer Style – Ale vs lagers?
Brewing Equipment – microbrewery or home brew methods? Bottling or keg filling?
Brewing Method – Extract brewing vs. all grain?
Each will add or subtract from the amount of time needed to complete a batch of beer. To further explain the timeline, let’s go over the main steps of the beer-making process and how long each takes:
The 3 Steps to Making Beer
Brewing Beer
Primary Fermentation
Carbonation
making craft beer, brewing time, microbrewery brewing, brewing beer, brewhouse, beer fermentation tank, fermenter unitank, TIANTAI Beer Equipment, brewery system

making craft beer, brewing time, microbrewery brewing, brewing beer, brewhouse, beer fermentation tank, fermenter unitank, TIANTAI Beer Equipment, brewery system

Overall, the fundamental steps involved with the beer brewing process are relatively consistent and usually take about 4-8 hours from start to finish. The timeline largely depends, again, on equipment and brewing methods. For a more detailed explanation of the beer brewing process, check out our post on how to brew beer. Once you have finished brewing your beer, you have what is called wort. Wort, pronounced “wert,” is pre or unfermented beer, which brings us to our next step, fermentation.

Primary Fermentation:
At this stage, brewers yeast is added to the wort, and the fermentation process begins.
The amount of time needed for fermentation from here is based on the yeast/beer style.
The typical fermentation takes two weeks when making ale and four to eight weeks when making lager. For more on the distinction between the two, see our post going over the difference between ale and lager. Once the primary fermentation is complete, you’ll have a beer, but it will be flat, which brings us to our next step, carbonation.

Carbonation:
Depending on the equipment, and method, carbonating beer can take as little as 30 minutes with forced co2 methods and up to two weeks through bottle conditioning. While kegging (forced c02, brite tanks, unitanks) can take under an hour to 2 days.
Typical Microbrewery or Commercial Brew Timeline:
Timeline: 16+ days
Brewing Beer: 8 hours or less
Fermentation:
Primary Fermentation Ale: 2 weeks
Primary Fermentation Lager: 4-8 weeks
Carbonating Beer:
Unitank or Brite Tank (Bright Tank): 1-2 days
Bottle Conditioning: 2 Weeks
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Typical Homebrewing Timeline:
Home brewing without kegging equipment: 28+ days
Home brewing with kegging equipment: 15+ days
Brewing Beer: 8 hours or less
Fermentation: Fermentation Ale 2 weeks, Fermentation Lager 4-8 weeks.
Carbonating Beer: Corny Keg – 1-2 days, Bottle Conditioning: 2 Weeks

Do Large Batches of Beer Take Longer to Make?
No, the brewing process and fermentation time remain the same whether you make 1 gallon or 10,000. The recipe is scaled up, and you use larger equipment and more yeast.
More beer brewing knowledge, welcome you discuss further with us! TIANTAI Beer Equipment Company is a professional beer brewing equipment manufacturer. We will study your proposal and provide you a customize and specific brewhouse system, beer fermenters, brite tank, a turnkey microbrewery/commercial brewery project to be suitable for your beer making process.

Edited By Daisy Cai
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