Jaymo

Recipes 

I aerated my all-Brett C and it ended up quite sour, but I wouldn't call the flavors pineapple really. I've also read the discussions on pineapple on the BBB forum and I don't think we've really figured out exactly what conditions lead to it on a consistent basis. Mine had a fruitiness to it, but I think that is percieved because it finished pretty high (FG 1.016.) The sweetness/body comes off very balanced with the high acidity though. As it has aged over the course of the last 4 months it has developed more of a classic (though far from overpowering and still very balanced) brettiness in additional to the clean sourness it had before.

From what I've heard/read from multiple sources, though, it sounds like the WLP Brett C is quite possibly a mixed strain.

Has everyone here used the White Labs vials, or has anyone used the Wyeast Brett C seasonal release?

scone

Recipes 

I brewed this yesterday. You guys weren't kidding about how slow Brett C. is to multiply in the starter. I made a 1.8L starter 72 hours before brewing. I don't have a stir plate but I gave it a good whirl every time I passed it in the house. Also had a 250w heat lamp on it which kept it around 78F. Stuck it in the fridge for 6 hours and decanted. It didn't yield that much slurry, I'm thinking I should have let it go for a week and stepped it up to a gallon to get a good amount of yeast. A day or more in the fridge would have probably been best for decanting since there wasn't a hole lot of settling that happened in 6 hours. Lesson learned. I'm brewing a low gravity beer so I hope I didn't under-pitch. The final recipe I went with is nearly the same as the original post, but I upped the hops a bit.

8 oz. honey malt
8 oz. acid malt
1 lb. red malted wheat
2 lb. malted rye
2 lb. 2-row pale
2.5 lb. pale LME

1oz of cascade (5.4%) and 1 oz of willamette (4.5%) for bittering
0.5 oz willamette @ 15 min.
0.5 oz willamette @ 5 min.

Mashed all the grains with 2 g. of water @ 155F for an hour.
Poured the whole mash through a colander lined with a grain bag, and then poured about 1 1/2 gallons of 176F water over it to rinse the grains.

FG was 1.048 (80%+ efficiency on the mini-mash, I probably rinsed/ghetto-sparged for too long)

I did late extract addition at 15 minutes to go, which puts my IBU's somewhere between 29 - 39 (higher utilization for the first 45 minutes due to lower gravity wort). It may be a too bitter this way, I wasn't accounting for the pretty low FG when I decided to up the IBUs in the recipe. My GU:BU is officially off the classic gravity vs. IBU chart but I hope it turns out. I'm a newb, what can I say...

I tasted the wort before pitching and it is waaaaay bitter. Much more so than the english brown, the belgian, and the stout I've done in the past. I'm not sure if it's from the hops, or tannins which may have been extracted during my rinsing. I can't tell the difference (yet). Possibly it's fine and pale ales are supposed to taste this way before fermentation?

It was the first time using my fancy new DIY wort chiller, and I let it go a bit too long. The wort was 60F when I pitched the yeast and I'm still waiting for it to warm up to the 70's (16 hours later). No airlock activity yet, the yeasties are probably hibernating. Or I killed them with thermal shock. I put my heat lamp next to the fermenter and I'm hoping this helps.

Jaymo

Recipes 

Scone,
I wouldn't worry too much about your yeast. Brett C beers can take several days to show activiy, even with a starter. I wouldn't worry about thermal shock either. Brett are pretty hardy little buggers. Just think of the lengths people go to to keep them out of some beers.

Higher IBUs can work well in these beers, so that shouldn't hopefully be too big an issue. Even if it's not what you were shooting for in the end, it should work well enough. I've had some great all-brett IPAs. Brett C can be pretty fruity, and sometimes sour. Both of these qualities are balanced nicely by some hops, at least in the brett beers I've had. Good luck!

flyerwire

Recipes 

how long would you let this sit in the fermenter? I want to try out doing a brett ipa but havent figured out if it should sit for 6+ months or less... i guess it depends on the sourness you want?

ryane

Recipes 

Brett doesnt really produce much of any sourness, with lots of time and oxygen it can produce acetic acida aka vinegar, but it can also make ethyl acetate aka nail polish/solvent with lots of oxygen

if you want the beer actually sour ala cantillon etc, your gonna need to add pedio, but I personally dont think something that sour would blend well with hops and lots of IBU's

flyerwire

Recipes 

yeah sour was the wrong word, maybe its just the general funk i'm looking for

ryane

Recipes 

as a primary strain they finish very quickly and the profile doesnt change dramatically with lots of aging

Personally I prefer Brett B to Brett L in a solo brett beer, the L really does need some acid in there to make the flavors pop, whereas the brett b is funkier without it

Sixbillionethans

Recipes 

On the topic of Brett C activity...

I did an all Brett C blonde on 21 Feb.
- 1.056 OG
- 70% pils, 17% flaked wheat, 4% acidulated, 4% Caravienne, 6% cane sugar.
- Mashed at 148F
- Multiple stepped starter.

Primary fermentation was almost completely done in 24 hours, I racked to secondary after 4 days w/ no airlock activity and SG 1.020.

It sat completely dormant for 2 weeks until yesterday (10 Mar) when suddenly some airlock activity started up, and now there's almost a kraeusen on surface with 1 bubble/minute or so.

I read/heard from Vinnie that Brett will take a beer to 1.020 in 1 week and 1.010 in 8 weeks. I didn't expect the lag in between periods of activity.

Anyone experience similar behavior?

Bsquared

Recipes 

Mine took it straight down from 1.072 to 1.008 in 3 weeks, but I pitched a 4L starter that was stepped up three times. The beer though was way better after 6 months than when it it finished after 6 weeks.

I have been reading on babblebelt about APS (yeast nutrient) enhancing the Pineapple aroma. I found that it is produced when the yeast a stressed, but will try with the next batch a pinch of yeast nutrient.

Sixbillionethans

Recipes 

don't know about the APS.

I purposely under-aerated my initial wort to create less than ideal fermentation conditions; lowered pH with acid malt as well.

I'm actually kind of excited with the "secondary" fermentation...I'm hoping now it acts like an addition of Brett C after primary ferment, and produces a bunch of stress-related byproducts (i.e. awesome flavor).