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I know typically, hefeweizens and wits are best drunk while 'young', but what are the styles that are most conducive to a quick turnaround? I also know alcohol content is a factor. Have people had success with milds, O bitters, cream ales, and what are the timetables?

The reason I ask is most of my brews (including some of the 'best while young' styles) have seemed to improve with age.

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Even my dry hopped beers seem better after 2 weeks in a keg. Same for Hefe's. I don't try to go for super fast turnaround anymore, personally. – Graham Sep 6 '12 at 15:56

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Session beers at 1.045OG or less. Over pitched slightly coupled with the ability to keg, I've turned these types of beers around pretty quickly. Any style and yeast are fair game. Just pitch active yeast and keep the starting gravity low.

Specific styles that are great for fast beers are English Ordinary Bitter and Special Bitter. English dark and light Milds are great also. I've also turned around a low gravity dry stout in about 12 days, grain to glass.

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I like this. Low gravity, higher pitching, and moderate temperatures are key. You can turn around a small beer in a week to 10 days with the right conditions. The english used to do this with their second runoff. – mdma♦ Sep 6 '12 at 23:50
not to nitpick or belabor this, but is 'slightly overpitched' 1.5ish times the amount recommended from a calculator like Mrmalty? – Pietro Sep 7 '12 at 17:00
I use the word slightly too often and I think I even confuse myself. But 1.5 times sounds fine. I usually think something more like if I was making a 1.055 beer I'd pitch that much yeast into my 1038 beer to get it to go fast. – brewchez Sep 8 '12 at 12:08
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Most hop-forward styles are better when young. Hoppy pale ales, IPAs, etc. Hop aroma fades quickly over the first few months after brewing so it helps to drink them young. If you wait they will still make tasty beers but most of the hop contribution will be bitterness rather than pungent tropical fruit/grapefruit/piney notes.

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