Brett in a keg?

So I've got this extra 5 gallons of saison (ABV around 7, FG 1.004) sitting around that would go just great with some brett funk. Can I just pitch it right into the keg and let it do its thing for a few months? It's my understanding that the brett mainly eats fermentation byproducts, but does it release any gas as a result? I'm concerned mainly with pressure building up and killing the yeast and/or over carbing the beer, but also pitching brett right into a 7% ABV beer. Thoughts?

7% ABV is nothing to brett, that will work perfectly fine, but yes the brett does release gas as it also eats some of the longer chained sugars that remain not just the byproducts, so you may need to occasionally vent to prevent over carbing.

Yes it will produce gas and be fine in that alcohol environment. Might take for than a few months to do its thing though. It can take anywhere from 6 to 18 months to really finish out, although in a keg you can chill it down when it's to your liking and it'll be fine.

Just be sure to swap out all of the rubber parts when you are done unless you are dedicating this keg to brett/sours. Also, IMHO I would dedicate all the equipment that touches this to sours after, eg ball locks, taps, etc.

Hopper5000 said:

Yes it will produce gas and be fine in that alcohol environment. Might take for than a few months to do its thing though. It can take anywhere from 6 to 18 months to really finish out, although in a keg you can chill it down when it's to your liking and it'll be fine.

Just be sure to swap out all of the rubber parts when you are done unless you are dedicating this keg to brett/sours. Also, IMHO I would dedicate all the equipment that touches this to sours after, eg ball locks, taps, etc.

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sure brett can continue to develop, but you don't need to wait 6-18 months, more like 3 months to finish out

there is also no need to dedicate the keg to brett/sours. brett is a yeast, star-san will kill it.

You are probably right on the three month thing. I guess I was thinking about souring things in general and usually that's how long you let it sit for so all the bugs can finish doing their thing. However, this is only Brett.

However, on the cleaning thing while you are correct that starsan can kill it, Brett can be absorbed into the pores of the rubber and plastic that it touches which is basically impossible to get clean. It doesn't matter as much with saccharomyces when this happens because that's what we use in brewing. A little Brett can go a long way and it's not worth it to take a chance IMHO. Brett is the gift that keeps on giving.

Actually, starsan doesn't kill yeast- we acid-wash our yeast with starsan every once in a while. In fact, starsan is only bacteriostatic (stops bacteria growing) but not bacterialytic (kills bacteria). Anyway, I'm not worried as it's a sanke keg and I'll be marking it off specially for this purpose. Glad to here it might work! Thanks guys.