Charlottesville Area Masters of Real Ale

I brewed a cream ale on Sunday afternoon and, based on the bubbling rate, it looks like it's almost done.  That's right, less than 48 hours to finish. Here's the trick: this is the third time I've used this yeast, WY1728.  First, I brewed a scottish -/80, then a chili pepper ale, and now a cream ale.  Each time, I just poured the cooled wort into the carboy containing the big fatty yeast cake.  I finished brewing by 5:00, and by 8:00 it was pumping out the blow-off.  I thought this was pretty impressive.
So my question to you guys:
What is the fastest ferment you've had?

I have heard Jamil and others say that it takes a couple of batches for reused yeast to really hit its pace and after three or so, it really rocks the house.  The only thing I would be worried about using the whole yeast cake time after time would be dying yeast cells and trub building up.  I have read about rinsing your yeast to harvest the healthy cells and leave behind the dead ones, but I have not done it.  My brother does it almost every batch and says it is really easy.  There was a Brew Strong podcast about it a while ago, you can find it here:

http://thebrewingnetwork.com/shows/543

The fastest I have ever had a fermentation finish was probably 3 days.

I'd say that 90% of the time my ales are done in 48 hours.  I usually ramp up big starters and aerate, and I think that has a lot to do with it.  It think it also helps to start ales at ~68 degrees (not always appropriate for Belgians, etc.) and to let them ramp up to about 72 at the end. That minor heat increase I think picks up the activity and keeps it from lingering in final stages of fermentation.

Now that isn't to say that those beers are ready to drink on the 49th hour. The best case scenario involves them sitting in primary for about two weeks to clarify and let the cake absorb off-flavors.

Of course, to make a liar out of me, my Belgian Dark Strong (which I had a 1 gallon starter of WLP530 Abbey for) went painfully slow.  It might have been 75% complete during the first 48 hours, but it took another 5 days to get to the last 25%.


Sometimes it is the strain.