So I was visiting with a brewmaster friend last week, and again urged her to do some lagers, pilsners, and other bottom-fermented beers for Spring. She’s put me off when I asked her before, but this time she levelled with me. She said she’d love to do some, but ownership nixes anything but ales because… they don’t have the space, and they make more money with ales.
She went on to explain that her top-fermentation brews can be bottled/kegged within 10 days after starting, whereas worthwhile bottom-ferments take four months. I knew that they took longer, but I never thought about the difference from the perspective of small brewers having insufficient time, space and return on investment.
I think this goes a fair way toward explaining why such frenetic churning happens so much with ales.
