Six weeks in tank is slow by any modern standard. Every consultant who has walked through this cellar has told us to cut the schedule, and the arithmetic they bring is always the same: more turns per tank, more beer per year, more money.

What the extra month actually does

A lager fermented cold and then left alone drops its rough edges on its own. Sulphur blows off. Diacetyl is cleaned up by the yeast that made it. Proteins and yeast settle out, so the beer clears without filtration and pours bright from day one.

Rush that and you are left with a beer that needs help: filtration to make it look right, and something sweet or hoppy to cover what the yeast never finished.

The arithmetic we use instead

Four turns a year on a tank instead of six is a third less beer. It is also the difference between a lager people order twice and one they finish out of politeness. We sold out of the first batch in nine days and have not shortened the schedule since.