Sans Le Chat from "Wild Brews"

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bassbone

Well-Known Member
Joined
Mar 22, 2008
Messages
131
Reaction score
2
Location
Cincinnati
Yeast
WY3112 and/or WL650 and/or WLP 653
Batch Size (Gallons)
5
Original Gravity
1.062
Final Gravity
1.006
Boiling Time (Minutes)
90
IBU
20
Primary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
2 weeks at 65 F
Secondary Fermentation (# of Days & Temp)
2-4 weeks at 55 F or less
Tasting Notes
A nice, easy and quick pale sour beer!
"A Pale beer fermented with two or more strains of Brettanomyces. Primary fermentation with brett Lambicus or brett brux produces the characteristic wild, fruity aromas and flavors. the malt and hop character is kept very low. A slower, cooler fermentation increases the development of 'traditional' flavors and aromas"

OG 1.062
FG 1.006

Grain / Color (ASBC) / Grist % by Weight
Pilsener / 1.6 / 90
Wheat / 2.5 / 5
Acidulated / 2.5 / 5

Mash: 90 minutes @ 148 F

Hops: (Willamette suggested)
Bittering: 20 IBUs
Finishing: @ 2 min left in boil.

Yeast: Wyeast 3112 and/or WLP650 and/or WLP653 is suggested in the book. I used JP dregs instead.
 
This is still carbing, but based on how the sample I tried at bottling time tasted: suprisingly, yes.

Jolly Pumpkin Dregs have some pretty fierce bugs in them. Also, starting right away with the bugs instead of pitching onto a neutral yeast then adding bugs into secondary also speeds things up. Obviously, I expect flavor to improve with time but after about 5 weeks it was a very drinkable sour beer!
 
How was this? I'm working my way through Wild Brews now.

I am really enjoying this. Looking forward to see how it ages. I think this will be a regular in my brewing rotation. A very nice pale sour ale that is picking up more interesting sour characteristics the longer it is in the bottle.

I also just bottled the Donkere Geneeskunde yesterday. I started it on part of a cake of Saison yeast and added bugs after a week. That one smells AMAZING, but it will be a few months before I crack bottle open.
 
One more question. What's the idea there with secondary fermenting at 55 F or less? Got my hands on some JP and wanted to give this a go, but the best I could prob do is like 60-65 in my den
 
the only thing he mentions about it is that a cooler fermentation is supposed to increase the development of traditional "flavors and aromas"

I have not tried this recipe more than once, and thus have not tried this recipe at different fermentation temps, but I highly doubt that 55 deg is a magic number. If 60-65 is what you can handle go with that and see what you think.

Also, if you are concerned about the temp and not using a swamp cooler, that might put you down below 55 degrees. lots of threads explain it if you search here.
 
I bought the book wildBrews and read thru it, great book! Being new to home brewing I had a few question as the recipe for Sans Le Chat takes some interpretation. Here is what I have so far

I assume that I would be using this receipe for 5 gallons, please correct me if wrong

5 gallons of water
9 lbs of Pilsner
.5 lbs of wheat
.5 lbs of Acidulated
Williamette hops quantity unknown ??

Mash grains for 90 minutes - I assume that you cover grains with enough water to make into a oatmeal consistency.

Sparge with water until 5 gallons is obtained

Boil for 1.5 hours

Pour into fermenter (I will be using a 5 gallon glass Carboy)

Pitch Wyeast #3112 & #3536

Ferment for 2 weeks and then bottle for secondary fermentation??

In the book he says to use .25 oz at the end of the boil , but how much do you use before and how much??

Thanks for any responses and help, new to brewing but loving it!
 
Hi Tvalone-

Answers below

I would consider this book intermediate to advanced level brewing. Might be a good idea to start with John Palmer's How to Brew

You asked:
- I assume that I would be using this receipe for 5 gallons, please correct me if wrong Correct, batch size is 5 Gallons
5 gallons of water not exactly.... I would search Grain Absorption on the forum
- Williamette hops quantity unknown ??Quantity is known. IBUs tells you how much to add (I would search for IBU as well)
- Mash grains for 90 minutes - I assume that you cover grains with enough water to make into a oatmeal consistency. I would search for beginning all grain brewing to clear this up
- Sparge with water until 5 gallons is obtained you need enough water that after boiling for 1.5 hours you are left with 5 gallons
- Pour into fermenter (I will be using a 5 gallon glass Carboy) for 5 gallons of beer, you need a 6.5 gallon fermenter.
- Ferment for 2 weeks and then bottle for secondary fermentation?? Ferment until it is done. It will probably take much longer than 2 weeks
- In the book he says to use .25 oz at the end of the boil , but how much do you use before and how much?? this goes back to the answer about IBUs.
 
Oops forgot to report back... I brewed this last December and recently bottled half the batch, overall I was satisfied with my first go-round. It's hugely tart but also gives off some nice aroma and character -- I happened to have some Petrus Aged Pale (also very tart) and tried them back to back and frankly I thought this blew the Petrus away.

The other half of the batch I moved to a 3g carboy for further aging, nice pellicle formed. I'm gonna let it go for another 6 months or so and see how it changes, hopefully draw out some more of the Brett "funk" to complement the intense sourness. Or maybe the Lacto has simply dominated and it just gets super super sour, we'll see. Perhaps I'll blend it with a young brown ale or something. I like having the smaller carboy as a blending/aging option.

Oh and I followed a similar recipe -- again using only stepped up JP dregs -- on another batch I brewed on 9/2/13. I kinda want to experiment to see how quickly I can turn around half-decent sours. So for example, if I can get a consistent result after 6 months, I'd brew a new batch every 3 months to keep a decent rotation of sours going (while still splitting batches for further blending/aging).

Overall I just want to give a shoutout to you bassbone for inspiring me to start down this path. I think the next time I may pitch with one or two of the Wyeast brett strains just to see the difference as it ages
 
Just thought I would mention that I just brewed this again today and this time I stuck to the recipe suggestion about yest strains. I pitched WLP653 and WLP 644. Will report back once it is done!
 
Just thought I would mention that I just brewed this again today and this time I stuck to the recipe suggestion about yest strains. I pitched WLP653 and WLP 644. Will report back once it is done!

Bottling this batch this weekend (1 year +2 weeks). Sample smells and tastes GREAT.

Overall impressions of brewing this a few times (once sticking to recipe exactly and once tweaking the bugs used to ferment): stick to the recipe first. The all brett really turned out amazingly well. The recipe does work well as a backbone to try other bugs, though.
 
Brewed this up on 7/19/15. Unfortunately LHBS was not helpful knowing when they would get WLP650 or WLP653 so I went with WLP655 and dregs from The Bruery.
 
First week of October it had a nice solid tartness but not sour yet. Going for another sample soon (maybe November 7th?) to see if anything has improved otherwise I'll bottle and see what the second generation of bugs can do.
 
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