bierhaus15

Recipes 

I'm not unhappy about the beer, it is very tasty and I've been enjoying drinking and sharing the few bottles that I have left of it. My problem was that the beer turned out to be a bit more 'Belgian' in flavor than what I was expecting. I think much of that comes from the brett (lots of cherry juice and old port/sherry flavors) without much of the amber and brown malt character I was hoping for. My beer wasn't bad at all, it just isn't the English Old Ale I was hoping to make.

Honestly, I don't know what would work best. I would like the sacc yeast to be a bit more 'robust' in flavor and I'd imagine any malty English strain would be a better choice. As for the brett, I was surprised to hear that Wyeast recommended using Brett L instead of C, as it is not the traditional brett used in these types of beers. However, a good friend of mine used the 9097 yeast in a pale 'strong' beer - just pale malt and some wheat and low hopping, and the beer turned out absolutely wonderful. The fruitiness of the brett in such a pale beer was really superb. Had I not known what yeast was used, I would have said the beer was Belgian strong with brett. I have heard other people say they had better results with this yeast in paler beers than the darker ones too.

tdogg

Recipes 

Good call on posting in "wild brewing". heres the new post: http://www.homebrewtalk.com/f127/planning-old-ale-questions-about-brett-295821/#post3677882

ghack

Recipes 

I've had good results with the claussenii strain. It is a bit milder than some of the others and a good place to start.

An possible strategy would be to pull a gallon or two off of secondary and pitch a couple of different strains. If one stands out rack it into the bulk, and blend in the others later on.

GuldTuborg

Recipes 

That's a fair assessment. Mine came out much the same, but it's so good I don't really care! That, and I didn't really know what to expect from it to begin with. Yes, I've had beers marketed under the "old ale" moniker, but none with a significant amount of brett, so I knew mine would be different. I was surprised to hear that brett L is what they used in 9097 as well, but given the flavor profile we all got, I suppose it isn't surprising from that perspective.

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smokinghole

Recipes 

Most Old Ales don't have brett in them nowadays. The only one that I know that still is made in the traditional ways of blending old and young beer is Green King Old Suffolk. It's pasteurized of course.

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tdogg

Recipes 

I'm ramping up to do this brew soon! I have my vial of White labs Brett C, Black strap molasses, a beer building a yeast cake of WL005 and an empty fermenter. Im hoping to brew next weekend.

Side note: On friday night I attended "winterfest" in St Paul, MN. It was a showing of many of the best craft brews that Minnesota has to offer. I was pleasantly surprised to see several sour/brett beers on tap. Rock Bottom even had a Brett IPA! super tasty stuff. made me even more excited for this Olde Ale.