Planning Old Ale, questions about Brett - Page 2

barrooze · 02-05-2012, 05:37 PM

Sounds like its going to be good! How much of the molasses are you planning on using? I used 8oz treacle for a 5gal batch and it's definitely present, not overly so, but just right.

tdogg · 04-15-2012, 04:59 AM

I finally brewed this beast. After trying several brett beers I decided that I wanted a decent amount of brett flavor, so I pitched a vial of White labs Brett C today, and I will pitch a buttload of wyeast Thames Valley II in a day or two so the brett can get established. the recipe is as follows:

10# maris otter
5# golden promise
12 oz brown malt
8 oz amber malt
4 oz weyermann smoked malt
12 oz black strap molasses

2 oz target hops at 60 min

Mash at 155

I boiled the first 1.5 gallons of runnings for about 40 minutes quite vigorously to caramelize some of the sugars. Then I ran the rest of the wort into the kettle for a 75 min boil.

Due to a terrible crush and the fact that I am experimenting with my process, I only hit 1.075 OG (was aiming for 1.084), but if the brett dries it out the beer should still hit about 8.5% to 9% abv.

I'll keep you guys posted!

Calder · 04-15-2012, 02:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by tdogg

I finally brewed this beast. After trying several brett beers I decided that I wanted a decent amount of brett flavor, so I pitched a vial of White labs Brett C today, and I will pitch a buttload of wyeast Thames Valley II in a day or two so the brett can get established.

You want to pitch the sacc yeast now. The sacc will act quicker than the Brett and consume all the O2 in the wort causing the Brett to reproduce anaerobically, which is what you want to get the traditional Brett flavors and low attenuation.

If you let the Brett get established in the wort first, you may not get the Brett flavors, and will end up with a fruity beer.

tdogg · 04-15-2012, 02:48 PM

Good to know, Ill pitch the sacc today. It makes sense that stressing the brett with low oxygen makes it produce flavor, but I still dont understand why it doesnt attenuate as far if you pitch brett first.

tdogg · 05-13-2012, 02:55 PM

Quick update: I racked this into secondary yesterday and it tasted great! Slight hint of smoke, lots of molasses and caramel. I didn't get a gravity reading as my hydrometer was out in the garage. The color was a nice deep amber. I was hoping for something a little darker, next time I will have to boil the first runnings harder/longer. I am thinking about trying this process (caramelizing the first gallon or so of the runnings) for a SMASH barleywine.